Microsoft Loses a $290 Million Patent Suit and Will Modify Word

David has beaten Goliath, but Goliath isn't going down for the count. A U.S. federal appeals court affirmed on Tuesday an earlier $290 million verdict against Microsoft (MSFT) for patent infringement and banned the company from selling versions of Microsoft Word that contain the infringed-upon code. But Microsoft says it has already removed the code from new versions of the software, suggesting that the ruling won't do much to damage the Redmond, Wash., software giant's sales.