A federal appeals court has granted Microsoft's motion to stay, pending its appeal, an injunction in a patent case that would’ve prevented the company from selling its widely used word-processing program after Oct. 10. The decision’s based on a lower threshhold and doesn't mean a lot in terms of the ultimate outcome of the case. The next step’s a hearing that's scheduled for Sept. 23 between Microsoft and i4i, the small company that won the injunction -- and a $290 million verdict -- after a jury trial in U.S. District Court in Texas. The dispute involves Microsoft's use of XML-based file technology in Word, reports.