I don't understand how much of anything dealing with XML can fall within the "non-obviousness" requirement of a patent. Who fills these juries for the trial? From the view of the general public I think the majority of things dealing with computers would be considered "non-obvious, and would therefore be worthless. Why aren't these decisions being made by professional peers?
This particular district is famous for being wildly receptive to patent claims and is therefore used routinely by patent trolls searching for large verdicts and, indeed, a $240M verdict (plus add-on items totaling $50M), plus a permanent injunction, is a pretty big prize for "custom XML" technology that constitutes a very minor part of Word's functionality.
Not that there isn't a form of justice in Microsoft being bitten by patent abuses when it has benefited for years from patent abuses that it has heaped upon others.