Judge: Microsoft Can't Sell Word in the U.S.

[Guest]

I could control text formatting on Lisa and Macintosh system from Apple (without having to "manually embedded command codes to control text formatting in electronic documents" way back in 1984... so I"m not sure how that patent could be valid in 1998.

 

[chaohsiangchen]

"McKool Smith, the firm representing i4i"

Is it just me or the company name is actually that funny?

 

[Upendra09]

so long for word 2010 that was coming out soon

 

[hellwig]

[citation][nom]Jerky_san[/nom]I dunno about that.. I've read Microsoft and Linux distros infringe on each other and Unix.. But its like the cold war.. 1 fires their missiles everyone on every side will launch theirs so they have a stand still and just infringe their marry ways..[/citation]
The only problem here is i4i is probably a patent black-hole. Meaning all they do is collect patents without creating a meaningful product. Therefore, they fired their missiles, but Microsoft has nothing to fire back at. Patents should be invalidated if the owner makes no attempt to market or license the patent. Waiting till someone infringes and suing them is a total B.S. way of running a business.

 

[Onus]

If M$ loses on appeal, ultimately they will work out a royalty arrangement with i4i, and consumers will have to fork over another $5-$10 or so per copy of Word.
The big winners are the lawyers, who will rake in a percentage of this amounting to millions, without having produced anything of value.
The big losers are consumers, who pay for this nonsense with higher prices.

 

[Upendra09]

And what are we going to use for word and writing now?

 

[pkellmey]

Maybe MS should just team up with Google's web office version. It could be a win-win for both of them.

 

[tenor77]

[citation][nom]chaohsiangchen[/nom]"McKool Smith, the firm representing i4i"Is it just me or the company name is actually that funny?[/citation]

Hey McKool-Aide!
Oh Yeah!

Okay so

"U.S. Patent No. 5,787,499 covers software designed to manipulate "document architecture and content." "

that covers pretty much all Office software, Notepad and basically any text editing program as well as visual studios. Bullshit. Not to mention a patent awarded in 98 should not take 11 years to come to court especially when word was around before it.

 

[doomtomb]

What the hell kind of patent is that?? Designed to manipulate documents architecture and content. So anything being sold that manipulates documents in anyway is in violation of this patent. Obscure patent system. Retarded judges.

 

[bobbox1980]

i4i patented the WYSIWYG?

WTF this is bullshit.

 

[Onus]

No, the patent covers manipulations of content or architecture not based on embedded control codes; I suppose through the use of document metadata, or some such, which is why only certain document types are affected.

 

[Guest]

From the linked article:
"Microsoft willfully infringed an i4i patent covering a document system that relies on the XML custom formatting function."

How can the use of an international standard violate a patent? From what I can tell MS was using XML to store the document formatting instead of embedding the command codes in the document. That's what XML is for! Web developers use XML or databases in such a manner every day. This is a prime example of why software patents should be abolished. If this holds up after being appealed, any developer using XML could be in trouble.

 

[Netherscourge]

Wait a second... so MS has to stop selling Office?

 

[nukemaster]

i4i(eye-for-eye) and McKool(was this guy born on the net? maybe he can get together with the kid someone named 4Real[not shitting you]). how can anyone take it seriously

 

[icepick314]

did anyone catch that it's filed in East Texas?

notorious for patent trolls?

i think it's just some crapass company with some crapass patent trying to get money from big company....

 

[dannyaa]

LAME.

 

[matchboxmatt]

I don't know what disgusts me more: the way our patent system works, or the fact that judges actually foster the growth of patent-whoring companies like i4i.

You have to be completely insane to ban the sale of Word when absolutely everyone, probably down to the judge him or herself, uses it.

 

[agentjon]

Doesn;t anyone see the loop hole?
Microsoft doesn't sell anything. They license the use.

 

[boop334]

This is rediculous! Some stupid canadian company has a random patent that was somehow infringed on by Microsoft word, so they sue them, and microsoft cant sell word in the us anymore This is insanity hellwig is completely correct, this i4i company probably doesnt do anything but sue companies becuase they "infringed on their patent"

 

[jacobdrj]

[citation][nom]pkellmey[/nom]Maybe MS should just team up with Google's web office version. It could be a win-win for both of them.[/citation]
And a loss loss for us... Consolodation is a bad thing...

 

[blarneypete]

I honestly don't know how to react to this, other than "Whoa. Weird."

 

[jcknouse]

[citation][nom]deltatux[/nom]ouch this will hurt Microsoft a lot.[/citation]

Microsoft is the largest filer of patents in the country

 

[Supertrek32]

[citation][nom]Upendra09[/nom]so long for word 2010 that was coming out soon[/citation]

Nah, it'll still come out. It might not have word in it, but that'll be okay. It'll have Microsoft Sentence in it. Or perhaps Microsoft Letter?

I'm just wondering what this means for Dell or HP who often sell Office bundled with their computers. And what will little-old grandma down the street do when she buys her new computer and there's no MS Word? We can't expect everyone to know about open office....

 

[Guest]

Clearly that judge is being bribed, that patent is blatantly unenforceable. Is that judge going to then deal Sun Microsystems a cease and desist order on Open Office? And KDE for Koffice? Are they going to jail MS execs if they refuse to comply? MS has political pull, surely that judge just signed his own pink-slip, as well as starting a well-funded hunt for skeletons in his closet...

 

[jacobdrj]

According to cNet, this isn't a patent hawking company. Go figure.