12 Aug 09 22:27 by Jared Newman in category
Software
Microsoft has infringed on a patent, and therefore must stop selling Word within 60 days, a U.S. District Court Judge has ruled.
The injunction from Judge Leonard Davis requires Microsoft to stop selling Word 2003, Word 2007 and Word for Mac 2008. In addition, Microsoft has been ordered to pay $290.6 million in damages and interest to the plaintiff, Toronto-based i4i, Computerworld reports.
The infringed patent pertains to the creation of custom XML documents in a Word file. The markup language lets users create forms or templates, in which words in certain fields are tagged and managed in a database. Governments and large corporations might use this feature, but most users aren’t likely to come across it.
Still, the judge has banished any past or future version of Word that can even open documents using custom XML, a decision that will include the upcoming Word 2010.
It’s an eyebrow-raising verdict, but one that may not have any lasting effects for most users. Microsoft has already filed an appeal, and a stay of the injunction will likely be part of it. Beyond that, Microsoft could simply modify Word to exclude the infringing features, then add them in an update should the company prevail on appeal.
The bigger issue here, as with other tech patents we’ve seen, is whether the patent is so broad that it shouldn’t have been granted in the first place. This patent is somewhat vague in that it describes a general process for a document’s metacodes to feed into a storage unit, which is modified when the codes are updated. Factor in the Eastern Texas courts’ status as a place for patent trolls, and Microsoft has good reason to be “disappointed by the court’s ruling,” in the words of Microsoft spokesman Kevin Kurtz.
For now, let’s just take a moment to envision a world without Word. OpenOffice, anyone?
28 Comments on Microsoft can’t sell Word, says judge
About time someone cleaned out the patent offices for good. Intellectual property is one thing, but stupid property should not be someone's property at all. 
I'm patenting human breathing, and Eyesight right now 
Microsoft have infringed on so many other companies patents its become a joke. Didn't they learn their lesson when they infringed on Fraunhoffers mp3 codec patent a few years ago ? That set them back over a cool billion.
I guess arrogance and disregard for intellectual property is still one of Microsoft 's chief weapons in its armory of thug tactics. It's about time this behemoth of a corrupt company was split up once and for all.
I guess arrogance and disregard for intellectual property is still one of Microsoft 's chief weapons in its armory of thug tactics. It's about time this behemoth of a corrupt company was split up once and for all.
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Originally Posted by debro
I'm patenting human breathing, and Eyesight right now
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Kidding aside, I'm in agreement with Mr. Belvedere on this one. There needs to be reform on IP laws, there is far too much bloat for it to be useful any longer.
Is it April Fools already ?
Seriously, this just sounds retarded to me but then again I am of the opinion that most patents are BS and should just not be allowed.
I think I'll patent life.
Seriously, this just sounds retarded to me but then again I am of the opinion that most patents are BS and should just not be allowed.
I think I'll patent life.
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Originally Posted by debro
I'm patenting human breathing, and Eyesight right now
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Originally Posted by ivid
I think I'll patent life.
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Hah! I sent in my patent application for patents last week, so I own the patent on patents; if you keep claiming ownership I'll have to sic my lawyers on you
Well if you really want to go there, I patented patenting patenting. Hail to the king, baby!
Yeah, but I paid off both the Patent Office and the Judge
Bow to the COurt Jester!
Bow to the COurt Jester!
Well, since this is clearly getting out of control...
Quite some time ago, I patented filling out applications. This included, filling of applications manually by pen, by pencil, by sharpie, by highlighter, by spraypaint, by crayon and by sillystring, this also included single forms as well as duplicate and triplicate forms.
I also included filling out of forms by typewriter, but I don't think anyone uses such devices anymore.
To futureproof my IP, filling out any forms using any and all means of technology, including using your fingers, toes or nose to manipulate a keyboard, pouring catnip on the keyboard to have your cat do it for you or putting your iPhone in a hamster wheel was also included in the patent.
I figure you all are in violation, but I'm mostly reasonable.
Quite some time ago, I patented filling out applications. This included, filling of applications manually by pen, by pencil, by sharpie, by highlighter, by spraypaint, by crayon and by sillystring, this also included single forms as well as duplicate and triplicate forms.
I also included filling out of forms by typewriter, but I don't think anyone uses such devices anymore.
To futureproof my IP, filling out any forms using any and all means of technology, including using your fingers, toes or nose to manipulate a keyboard, pouring catnip on the keyboard to have your cat do it for you or putting your iPhone in a hamster wheel was also included in the patent.
I figure you all are in violation, but I'm mostly reasonable.
Maybe this whole patenting business is patently absurd? 
haha, patently stupid even
Take a low royalty rate and make it up on volume, huh? 
Open Office, nuff said... May not have WORD Art in it, but wheeeeeeeee, who uses it daily? No one...
OpenOffice rules.
Btw buga, not enough legalese in your patent for applications. It needs to read more like:
"A method by which the user renders words onto a sheet or multiple sheets of paper, by which said words form the basis of information required to obtain work, a position of authority or enrollment into any form of education, including but not limited to primary or secondary school, or education at the university level. Said method may or may not make use of any current or future technologies as they pertain to the rendering of words onto paper, which could include ink, crayon, silly putty or any other method past, present or future, by which said words may be permanently or temporarily rendered onto the sheet or sheets of paper."
Man, patent law is easy. I could be making bank right now.
Btw buga, not enough legalese in your patent for applications. It needs to read more like:
"A method by which the user renders words onto a sheet or multiple sheets of paper, by which said words form the basis of information required to obtain work, a position of authority or enrollment into any form of education, including but not limited to primary or secondary school, or education at the university level. Said method may or may not make use of any current or future technologies as they pertain to the rendering of words onto paper, which could include ink, crayon, silly putty or any other method past, present or future, by which said words may be permanently or temporarily rendered onto the sheet or sheets of paper."
Man, patent law is easy. I could be making bank right now.
I think this judge will wake up one morning with a decapitated horse's head in bed with him.
Remembering that Microsoft was based on the theft of the original windows operating system it's only fair to say that rest of the operation would be based on dubious business practice. By the way, I wonder what software the judge used to write his findings on the case???
You're all stupid!
I patented...
THINKING
So, don't even THINK about patenting.. i've already got the rights!
Muhhahahahahaaaaa!
I patented...
THINKING
So, don't even THINK about patenting.. i've already got the rights!
Muhhahahahahaaaaa!
TOO LATE!!!!! My patent for the composition and processes of the human brain was granted before you were born
I am sure this ruling will be overruled at the end of the day. Besides, if I am not mistaken (read about it elsewhere) MS has earned/will earn the right to continue selling Office till the final appeal's verdict. I don't expect things to change in any way.
At least it seems like it's not only the bad Europeans that impose fines to MS
At least it seems like it's not only the bad Europeans that impose fines to MS
The judge probably used WordPerfect. It's a well known fact that people who work on the legal arena use it all the time.
Before saying anything more, I must say that I hate software patents and it all should be stopped.
Not mentioned on the article is the fact that, apparently, the suing company approached MS, several years ago, trying to sell them on the idea of incorporating this type of thing onto their file formats. MS said no, not interested. But, lo and behold, several years afterwards, that refused technology turns up on their new file formats. Typical MS behaviour, stealing ideas from others...
It looks quite clearly that MS will have to settle this or stop using custom XML altogether. The reason being that the court also found that MS infringed on the patent on a willful way. Which means that they knew they were infringing it. The appeals process might delay the inevitable ending but remember that appeals courts can't overturn findings of facts. They can only send it back if they find any errors of law. And ask the lower court to correct those bits. Since the facts (willful infringement) have been established, it's therefore very doubtful that MS will have other alternative other than settle this out. And it might cost them a LOT more than the millions they have already been ordered to pay.
Before saying anything more, I must say that I hate software patents and it all should be stopped.
Not mentioned on the article is the fact that, apparently, the suing company approached MS, several years ago, trying to sell them on the idea of incorporating this type of thing onto their file formats. MS said no, not interested. But, lo and behold, several years afterwards, that refused technology turns up on their new file formats. Typical MS behaviour, stealing ideas from others...
It looks quite clearly that MS will have to settle this or stop using custom XML altogether. The reason being that the court also found that MS infringed on the patent on a willful way. Which means that they knew they were infringing it. The appeals process might delay the inevitable ending but remember that appeals courts can't overturn findings of facts. They can only send it back if they find any errors of law. And ask the lower court to correct those bits. Since the facts (willful infringement) have been established, it's therefore very doubtful that MS will have other alternative other than settle this out. And it might cost them a LOT more than the millions they have already been ordered to pay.
Correction: they can't settle this out, since it's already been tried. What I meant was that MS will have to license the technology. And, having a favourable verdict on their pockets, i4i can demand quite a high royalty payment.
The alternative, for MS, will be to remove custom XML from their file formats. What would be the sensible thing to do, since there are people who say that, adding custom XML to XML files, it's a moronic thing to do: XML is a structured standard. Adding custom XML inside it means it becomes a mess.
By the way, I think the article is wrong when it says that custom XML is something related with corporations. No, it's something which resides on some of the more recent MS file formats. So, anyone saving on those formats, e.g. DOCX, the native Word 2007 file format, will be using custom XML.
The alternative, for MS, will be to remove custom XML from their file formats. What would be the sensible thing to do, since there are people who say that, adding custom XML to XML files, it's a moronic thing to do: XML is a structured standard. Adding custom XML inside it means it becomes a mess.
By the way, I think the article is wrong when it says that custom XML is something related with corporations. No, it's something which resides on some of the more recent MS file formats. So, anyone saving on those formats, e.g. DOCX, the native Word 2007 file format, will be using custom XML.
I end up saving most of my Word docs as .doc, not .docx, anyway, because most of the people who read them only have Office 2003. Anybody who wants to write a *lot* of XML in any form, would use PTC's Arbortext Editor, not MS Word.
@ferd:
1. You don't need to have Office 2007 in order to open/save in 2007's native format. MS offers a converter pack for that. You install it and you can open and save from within 2003.
2. I think you're misunderstanding things. When you use Office 2007 you are not, knowingly, saving things in XML. You just save in Office 2007's native format, be it Word (docx), Excel (xlsx), Powerpoint (pptx), etc, and the files are saved in XML. And custom XML is applied to those files, at least Word. That's it.
If you are saying that you want to write things in XML, in a specific way, tailored to your needs, of course you can choose whatever tool you want. But that's not the point, I think. When we save things, say in Word 2007, we are not thinking about XML, we are just saving our letters, documents, etc. That they are saved, internally, in XML, is of no concern to the normal user.
1. You don't need to have Office 2007 in order to open/save in 2007's native format. MS offers a converter pack for that. You install it and you can open and save from within 2003.
2. I think you're misunderstanding things. When you use Office 2007 you are not, knowingly, saving things in XML. You just save in Office 2007's native format, be it Word (docx), Excel (xlsx), Powerpoint (pptx), etc, and the files are saved in XML. And custom XML is applied to those files, at least Word. That's it.
If you are saying that you want to write things in XML, in a specific way, tailored to your needs, of course you can choose whatever tool you want. But that's not the point, I think. When we save things, say in Word 2007, we are not thinking about XML, we are just saving our letters, documents, etc. That they are saved, internally, in XML, is of no concern to the normal user.
@johnzap:
1. The "most people" to whom I refer are people to whom I send Word documents or for whom I post them on Sharepoint sites, etc. for purposes of doing my job at work. These people are not administrator on their PC and usually have little or no control over installing software, even MS "converter packs".
2. I understand what you are saying here. Most people don't even look at the save dialog which would tell them what the file extension of their Word document will be after they save it, let alone understand what that means. I think that using XML in such a "half-assed" way as MS Word does is an incomplete and/or misuse of XML. XML should be used for entire document editing and formatting with FOSI or XSL-FO, or it should be used for transferring data from one database to another, or it should not be used at all.
But I digress, this was not the original subject of this article.
1. The "most people" to whom I refer are people to whom I send Word documents or for whom I post them on Sharepoint sites, etc. for purposes of doing my job at work. These people are not administrator on their PC and usually have little or no control over installing software, even MS "converter packs".
2. I understand what you are saying here. Most people don't even look at the save dialog which would tell them what the file extension of their Word document will be after they save it, let alone understand what that means. I think that using XML in such a "half-assed" way as MS Word does is an incomplete and/or misuse of XML. XML should be used for entire document editing and formatting with FOSI or XSL-FO, or it should be used for transferring data from one database to another, or it should not be used at all.
But I digress, this was not the original subject of this article.
1. In that case they should ask their IT people to do it for them. Come to think of it, the latter should be taking care of it already. At the company I work, it's been a long time that that "converter pack" is available to whoever requests it.
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Originally Posted by johnzap
1. In that case they should ask their IT people to do it for them.
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by ferd
I end up saving most of my Word docs as .doc, not .docx, anyway, because most of the people who read them only have Office 2003. Anybody who wants to write a *lot* of XML in any form, would use PTC's Arbortext Editor, not MS Word.
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