WASHINGTON, Dec 22, 2009 (AFP) - A US court of appeals upheld a 290-million-dollar verdict against Microsoft on Tuesday in a patent dispute with a Canadian company.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit also upheld an injunction that would ban the US software giant from selling certain versions of its popular Word word processing program that include the patented technology.

A US District Court judge in Texas on August 12 upheld a jury ruling that Microsoft's Word program violates an XML patent held by Toronto-based i4i Inc. and ordered it to pay more than 290 million dollars in damages and interest.

Microsoft appealed the ruling and indicated Tuesday it may file further appeals.

Microsoft also said in a statement that it was "moving quickly" to comply with the injuction on selling certain Word products, which takes effect on January 11, 2010.