Who really knows if MS stole the idea as many have suggested, or they developed it on their own around the same time and someone failed to recognize the code needed to be patented? Wouldn't be the first time a big company through it's shear size made a major mistake. Then again they might have. If so, they will, in the end, pay.
Ford failed to re-up copyrights on the Cobra, GT40, and a few other names because a bean counter saw a place to shave a few pennies, oops.
Go look at the chaos with the invention of the light bulb, is this the same here or otherwise? It only shows patent chaos isn't a new problem.
Before hammering a stake through the heart...prove it, the legal matter isn't over. This is only an attempt by MS to keep selling this key product and the burden it places on downstream companies. I don't understand why the judge was so determined to stop the sale of Word. Was he so naive that he thought MS wouldn't appeal? I doubt it. The redesign of code and the number of product on the shelves is an unreasonable expensive for MS to correct on such short notice. This case has not come to a final determination, it is being appealed, therefore not final. If MS loses in the end the patent holder will still be paid, even on the product sold during the appeal period. MS isn't going to disappear. This part of the ruling appears to be arbitrary and vindictive.