Top court upholds Canadians' $290M victory over Microsoft

For Owen, who is as well chairman of the Fight Network, the ruling from the top court in the U.S. is a victory for the patent system and marks a new beginning for i4i.

"This has become one of the most important business cases in decades that the Supreme Court has taken on, and we're anyway you look at it very pleased with the outcome," Owen said in an interview. "We've been operating in accordance with a cloud, and that cloud of litigation has truly impeded our ability to grow our business."

i4i launched its suit against Microsoft in 2007, claiming the Redmond, Wash.-based company infringed on U.S. patent No. 5,787,449 -related to the XML computer programming language -when the research titan created its Word 2003 and Word 2007 software.

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