Microsoft Corp. has won a quick hearing for its appeal of a recent court decision that banned the software giant from selling its Word software in the United States.

An appeals court in Washington said this week it will hear arguments Sept. 23 on Microsoft's request to delay an earlier order that awarded $290 million to Toronto company i4i and also imposed a permanent injunction on selling Word in the U.S. effective Oct. 10.

Last week a U.S. federal court in Texas ruled in favour of i4i in a dispute with Microsoft over patents related to the reading of XML, a data language commonly used online.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant lodged an "emergency motion" Tuesday, saying that the injunction could keep Word and Microsoft's Office suite out of stores for months.

"Unless Microsoft is able to redesign Word and push that redesigned version through its entire distribution network by Oct. 10,… Microsoft and its distributors face the imminent possibility of a massive disruption in their sales," the company said in its court filings, adding that the public will also "face hardship" if Word or Office are unavailable for any period of time.

Microsoft was given 60 days to comply with the Texas court's ruling, but the company still feels that i4i's patents are invalid.

Loudon Owen, the chairman of i4i, said in a statement said his company welcomed the expedited hearing and was confident it would win the appeal.

"This is a vital case for inventors and entrepreneurial companies who, like i4i, are damaged by the wilful infringement of their patents by competitors, particularly competitors as large and powerful as Microsoft," he said in a statement Friday.