The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments last month in Microsoft Corp. v. i4i Partnership. In the case, Microsoft is accused of infringing a patent covering an invention for editing a computer language, referred to as “Custom XML,” with its Microsoft Word product.
After losing at trial and on appeal, Microsoft petitioned the Supreme Court to hold that its burden for proving an invalidity defense should have been a preponderance of the evidence standard, rather than the longstanding clear and convincing evidentiary standard adopted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
