A federal court has upheld a ruling against Microsoft, forcing the company to pay a $290 million settlement and remove all copies of Microsoft Word, the company's second most famous app, from store shelves. It all revolves around an offending feature, tied into "XML formatting," that another firm had patented.

It might seem like patent trolls—companies who file all matter of tech minutiae to claim ownership—have won out. That's why the original trial was held in Texas, notorious for siding with said trolls. But from the look of it, the plaintiff was actually quite the little guy group of developers who'd originally tried to license their tech after discovering MS's offense.

Anti-MS folks will love this ruling in particular, as MS has been vilified by nerd sites like Slashdot for engaging in their own patent trollery from time to time. Fair play. But this is quite a blow to a company on the rebound; profits from Windows 7 will surely be spent replacing all those store-shelf copies of MS Office (and digging up $290 million).

Microsoft has announced that a replacement edition of Microsoft Word will reach store shelves in time to clear all legal hurdles.