Microsoft has been rebuffed again in its software code patent dispute with Toronto’s i4i: a U.S. court has rejected the software giant’s request that a full panel of judges hear its appeal. In December, a Texas jury affirmed the decision in i4i's favour, which included a permanent injunction against future sales of Word.

In January, Microsoft removed the feature from Word to comply with the court injunction. At that time the company also requested an en banc review, which would have involved an eleven-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The offending code involved some versions of Word 2003 and Word 2007 that used i4i's technology to process electronic documents. Courts awarded i4i $290 million in damages in August 2009, but Microsoft has since been dragging the issue through appeals court.

"This has been a long and arduous process, but this decision is a powerful reinforcement of the message that smaller enterprises and inventors who own intellectual property can and will be protected," i4i chairman Loudon Owen said in a statement.

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft said it was disappointed and that it was “reviewing its options”, but it keeps on running into brick walls.

Microsoft could still make a new appeal request or take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, but one ruling after another has concluded that Microsoft has been in the wrong, and that the size of the company, and potential negative effects on its customers, have no bearing on the rule of law.

In effect, the longer Microsoft waits, the worse things will be. Judging from past events, however, it is likely that the company will march forward in what is becoming a pig-headed refusal to acknowledge that it is in the wrong.

"We're disappointed with the decision," Microsoft spokesman Kevin Kutz said in a statement. "As far as next steps, we continue to believe there are important matters of patent law that still need to be properly addressed, and we are considering our options for going forward."