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The U.S. Federal Court of Appeals has upheld the jury verdict against Microsoft in its patent case with small company i4i, over the customizable XML used in Microsoft's extremely popular Word processor.

With the ruling upheld, Microsoft must pay i4i $240 million USD, as well as continue to sell Word 2003 and 2007 stripped of certain custom XML features.

"A reasonable jury could have concluded that Microsoft 'willfully' infringed the '449 patent based on the evidence presented at trial," wrote the judges in the new ruling. "Similarly, there is no evidence Microsoft ever made a good faith effort to avoid infringement; internal emails show Microsoft intended to render i4i's product 'obsolete' and assure 'there won't be a need for [i4i's] product.'"

Evidence presented at the trial showed that Microsoft employees had been part of i4i demos and received sales kits that clearly identified the software as patented technology.

Of the decision, adds Loudon Owen, chairman of i4i: "From our perspective, there are only so many more avenues for appeal for them. It also resulted in an even more detailed and structured decision in our interest."

Apple has announced the Battery Replacement Service for the iPad today, and notably the company has decided to not only replace the battery, but replace the entire device for $99 if you ever need a battery replacement.

"If your iPad requires service due to the battery’s diminished ability to hold an electrical charge, Apple will replace your iPad for a service fee," says Apple. However, buyers will "receive a replacement iPad that will not contain any of your personal data."

The service is $99 and $7 shipping, and Apple says it will take about one week turnaround from the time you send in your dead iPad to the time you receive your replacement.

To not lose your data, Apple suggests syncing first.

"Before you submit your iPad for service, it is important to sync your iPad with iTunes to back up your contacts, calendars, email account settings, bookmarks, apps, etc. Apple is not responsible for the loss of information when servicing your iPad."

According to government officials, it appears that the Android Marketplace may be banned from South Korea, as its game contents have yet to receive approval from the nation's regulating body, the Games Ratings Board.

The Ratings Board sent a letter to Google's Korea branch detailing what must be done, and board official Lee Jong-bae adds: "If Google does not take any measures, we may block the Android market here."

Over 4000 games have not yet been rated by the country's board, but still remain available to South Korean users, which appears to be the problem. Korea has two Android devices, from Motorola and LG, with up to five more promised for 2010.

Google is currently reviewing the letter.

AndroidCentral reported yesterday that Verizon's Nexus One listing in the Equipment Guide showed a reference to HTC Sense, the user interface seen in most HTC-made Android devices, but not used by the current T-Mobile Nexus One.

Today, the carrier has removed the reference to HTC Sense, replacing it with "Google Experience UI," which makes much more sense.

Also notably is the fact that Verizon will not offer the phone in retail stores, and will be available only at google.com/phone, squashing rumors that users would be able to demo the phone in Verizon's thousands of retail shops.

Fortune magazine writer Philip Elmer DeWitt is reporting that Apple sold 90,000 iPad tablets in the first 6 hours of availability yesterday, with the majority purchasing the Wi-Fi-only 16GB version. By the first 24 hours, that number had swelled to almost 120,000.

The group of analysts compiling the data is asking that anyone who purchased an iPad please just email their order number to ipadsales10@gmail.com to keep the tally current.

Original estimates showed around 50,000 sales in the fist two hours, and then 75,000 in the first 4.5 hours.

The numbers are unofficial, but rest assured if they are anywhere near accurate, Apple will release a press release on Monday noting the extremely strong pre-order sales.

Twitter users can now opt-in to allow for current location sharing, a feature that will append your Tweets with your geolocation.

Adds Twitter co-founder Biz Stone of why they added the feature: "A recent burst of interest in location sharing applications, games, and services has many Twitter users excited about appending geographic data to some of their tweets."

The real question remains as to how many users will opt-in to the optional feature or even what the point is. Still, once a good number of celebrities opt-in, it is likely many followers will do the same. Those who frequent at pleaserobme.com will then have a field day.

Full instructions from Twitter:

Netflix’s second $1 million contest, which offered to give the winner the money for creating the best way to improve the company's movie recommendation system, has been canceled this week, with Netflix citing privacy concerns.

University of Texas researchers found that the "anonymous" data released by Netflix for the contest, including recommendations and choices from hundreds of thousands of users could be used to identify the users, by name.

The researchers brought the news to the FTC, and a class action lawsuit as well, leading Netflix to cancel the second contest. They have also settled the lawsuit.

Says Neil Hunt, Netflix’s chief product officer: "The resolution of both matters involves certain parameters on how we use Netflix data in any future research programs."

According to the latest data released by the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), cyberfraud losses doubled in 2009, with victims reporting $560 million in losses for the year.

The biggest scam was one using emails claiming to come from FBI Deputy Director John Pistole. Victims were asked to pay small fees in order to receive a larger amount of money in return, money that obviously never comes.

Of the 336,665 complaints received by the IC3, over 55,000 were FBI-themed scams. Total complaints were up 22 percent from 2008, and losses were up 111 percent.

Among other popular scams were fake antivirus software, non-delivery of merchandise or payments via online marketplaces and identity theft.

PCWorld reports the strangest scam as being one where the victim received an email from a hitman claiming he had been hired to assassinate them. The assassin offered to cancel the job, if the victim sent them $800 within three days.

OnLive, the cloud gaming service set for a June launch in the U.S., will notably allow for a la carte rentals, says GI.biz, with CEO Steve Perlman confirming that subscription packages will not be required.

Basic OnLive packages cost $15 a month for "full OnLive services," but the rental "Portal" will not require a package.

Says Perlman of the individual rentals: "The OnLive Game Portal is for gamers looking for direct access to OnLive games without being required to subscribe to the features of the full OnLive Game Service. Through the OnLive Game Portal, gamers will be able to play select games directly on a rental basis as well as game demos for free; subject to available OnLive service capacity and whatever usage limits are associated with each given demo. Rentals will be priced on a per-game basis."

The a la carte rental "Portal" will launch a bit later than the the service, adds Perlman.

CVG has an interview with Microsoft Xbox and Entertainment's Stephen McGill, who has made it clear that digital media is the future, and not Blu-ray discs.

Says McGill: "We have no plans to adopt [a] Blu-Ray drive for the Xbox 360. In fact, the future of home entertainment started last autumn when Xbox 360 became the first and only console to offer instant-on 1080p streaming HD movies."

Microsoft has seen some pressure of late over the low capacity of DVD discs in comparison to Blu-ray, especially after Capcom said it had to cut content from the upcoming Lost Planet 2 on the 360, because of the lack of space.

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the overseeing body of the Internet, has decided to postpone the ruling on the proposed .xxx porn domain until the summer.

The .xxx domain was originally approved in 2005, but government bodies, including the American government, have been critics of the domain and ICANN has since rejected the proposal on various occasions.

An independent panel of judges has recently ruled that ICANN's latest rejection, in 2007, "was not consistent with the application of neutral, objective, and fair documented policy." It is therefore up for approval again.

ICANN may choose to not vote at all, and CEO Rod Beckstrom says the public opposition to the domain is still very heavy.

If approved, porn sites can use the .xxx domain, but are not required to do so.

The Plastic Logic Que 'business' e-reader has been delayed until at least the Summer, reads an eWeek report.

CEO Richard Archuleta says the company is working on "fine-tuning" the device, as well as improving overall stability. Anyone who pre-ordered the device was sent an email explaining the delay.

Because the Que has a businessman target demographic, the device will retail for $650 for the 4GB/Wi-Fi model and $800 for the 8GB/Wi-Fi/3G version. Mostly all other e-readers sell for under $300, including the popular Nook and Kindle devices.

The Que features a large 10.7-inch screen, and has built-in support for Microsoft Office documents as well as PDFs.

Nokia has asked a federal judge to toss the ongoing patent dispute case between the phone giant and Apple, claiming that Apple's claims are "designed to divert attention away from free-riding off of Nokia’s intellectual property."

In October, Nokia filed suit against Apple, accusing the company of infringing on 10 patents and asking for backpay on royalties for the patents. Apple has sold 42 million iPhones since 2007.

Apple then counter-sued, accusing Nokia of patent infringement, as well, asking for an injunction on some Nokia smartphones.

Nokia's latest filing accuses Apple of "revisionist history, misleading characterizations, unsupported allegations and flawed and contradictory legal theories to turn these fruitless negotiations into a multi-count federal lawsuit." Both companies tried to work out a deal, but got nowhere.

In February it was reported that tucked away in the iPad/iPhone 3.2 SDK, a few icons relating to video calling, such as "decline or end video" and "accept video," were found, giving theory that future versions of the devices may have front-side cameras.

Today, 9to5Mac is reporting that SDK 3.2 beta 4 removes all those video chat files, although it is unclear as to whether Apple did so to make the video chat features a "surprise" in the future or just because they were originally there as a mistake.

Old SDK beta:


New SDK beta:

The NPD Group has released their latest industry sales figures for the U.S. gaming industry, and the number were not pretty.

Overall sales fell 15 percent year-over-year to $1.48 billion, a 50 percent higher drop than even top industry analyst Michael Pachter was expecting.

"Honestly, I had expected the industry to perform somewhat better this month," adds NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "Nonetheless, strong new releases, and Easter gift-buying bodes well for industry performance in March."

Outside of the giant decline, the most notable news was that of the Xbox 360 outselling the Nintendo Wii for the first time since 2007. The 360 saw 422,000 units sold, with the Wii seeing 397,000 sold. Closely behind was the PlayStation 3 at 360,100 units sold. For handhelds, the DS/DSi blew out the PSP again, 613,200 to 133,400.

"The Xbox 360 nabbed the top-spot among the three console systems for the first time since September 2007, when Halo 3 was released," notes Frazier of the hardware sales. "The PS3 enjoyed a 30 percent increase over last year, even while retail supply is reported to remain constrained."