By Jennifer Bosavage

This fall, Microsoft was briefly barred from selling Word because of a dispute over XML code that i4i claimed infringed on one of the Toronto, Ontario-based company's patents. That trial is ongoing. While some observers questioned why Microsoft didn't resolve the dispute early on, others are interested to see how the dispute will play out and how patent rights will be determined

Alternatively, the inventor could rely on trade-secret law to protect the software. If trade secret (as opposed to patent) protection is used to protect the software, then the inventor must have appropriate safeguards in place, so that the software will, in fact, be classified as a trade secret by a court.

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