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

[IzzyCraft]

Never liked software patients on big companies, i like how the keep the little company form trying to pass of similar shit that is just shit but never cared for them past that.

 

[jcknouse]

[citation][nom]jacobdrj[/nom]According to cNet, this isn't a patent hawking company. Go figure.[/citation]

Microsoft has "hawked" more patents than anything else.

They aren't even a hardware company, but they have patented hardware designs that compliment the software they want to create.

Microsoft got it given to them at their own business game.

Now, they will be looking for a favorable US District or Appelate Court to go to next. They will try and weasel out of this somehow.

I hope the next judge doubles the judgement.

 

[joebob2000]

The patent is about XML, not about everything Word does, so no the prior art argument doesn't work here. This is a blow not only to Microsoft but to proponents of any sort of Open Document format based on XML, since this company apparently has a court-tested patent covering said 'technology'. The travesty here is that having a patent that covers any technology "saving a document to XML format" is seriously "well duh", it's not novel since the real work is done in the front end and not in the XML itself. I think any patent involving strictly XML should be tossed since it's only valuable to us if everyone can use it.

Nothing good can come of this. If Microsoft is forced into compliance, they will simply rip the XML support out of Office, pay off i4i, and move on with their lives, and the march toward open standards will be set back five years.

 

[IzzyCraft]

[citation][nom]jcknouse[/nom]Microsoft has "hawked" more patents than anything else.They aren't even a hardware company, but they have patented hardware designs that compliment the software they want to create.Microsoft got it given to them at their own business game. Now, they will be looking for a favorable US District or Appelate Court to go to next. They will try and weasel out of this somehow.I hope the next judge doubles the judgement.[/citation]
Microsoft sells keyboard and mice! Although i'm sure it's contractor making it and slapping Microsoft name on it. mp3 players (zune) and other peripherals...

 

[ethanolson]

Toronto isn't in the U.S.A. What the heck?

 

[Onus]

This won't mean a darn thing to Microsoft. Come on now; they'll pay off i4i, pass the costs onto consumers, and go on selling Word like nothing happened. Sure, it's all a bad joke, but that's how the game works, and these people are professional gamers.
I4i didn't bother going after anything open source like Open Office, or web developers, or anyone else, because there's no vast hoard there to loot. For that reason alone, this whole thing should be tossed, but that would leave money on the table, and parasites don't like that. They'll gleefully make big bad Microsoft pay, then they'll moan when they see the price of Office went up again for the next release.

 

[Guest]

Microsoft could just comply with the ruling, then the next day immediately begin to roll out a new Microsoft Update which would disable ALL Microsoft Word Programs on ALL Systems.

The Update would not only cause all copies of MS Word to stop working, but it would cause a message to pop up announcing that this was a direct result of a ruling by a US Judge and include the name and address of the judge.

You can bet that within a day or two that the ruling would be reversed and an apology would be issued to everybody and to Microsoft.

Just think of how much such a ruling would inconvenience everyone, especially in government!

 

[csturtle]

[citation][nom]Renegade_Warrior[/nom]Microsoft could just comply with the ruling, then the next day immediately begin to roll out a new Microsoft Update which would disable ALL Microsoft Word Programs on ALL Systems.The Update would not only cause all copies of MS Word to stop working, but it would cause a message to pop up announcing that this was a direct result of a ruling by a US Judge and include the name and address of the judge.You can bet that within a day or two that the ruling would be reversed and an apology would be issued to everybody and to Microsoft. Just think of how much such a ruling would inconvenience everyone, especially in government!the government would then [/citation]

the government would then proceed to sue MS for complying with the ruling.

This is really something i would expect to see as a joke,
i don't really use apple's Pages program so I don't really know, but can it open and/or edit documents containing XML?

 

[techguy378]

Huh? Microsoft can't sell a Word processor that includes document formats that they themselves invented? What a bunch of bull.

 

[jcknouse]

[citation][nom]IzzyCraft[/nom]Microsoft sells keyboard and mice! Although i'm sure it's contractor making it and slapping Microsoft name on it. mp3 players (zune) and other peripherals...[/citation]

Yep. True.

Of course, not many companies own their own fabrication/manufacturing anymore anyways.

Good point.

But still, MS is mainly software and always has been. They have touch screen patents they've filed for, casing designs, etc. It's absurd.

[citation][nom]techguy378[/nom]Huh? Microsoft can't sell a Word processor that includes document formats that they themselves invented? What a bunch of bull.[/citation]

From Wikipedia:
XML was compiled by a working group of eleven members, supported by an (approximately) 150-member Interest Group.

It wasn't just MS.

 

[tiga2001]

[citation][nom]sailfish[/nom]That'd be Apple who also stole *nix and called it Mac OS.[/citation]
I thought Apple actually got their OS certified by whatever group is doing UNIX certification nowadays.

 

[Guest]

doesn't that essentially mean that most pieces of program editors and many internet pages and java programs that use xml would be void. Wow the mass amount of chaos this could cause ?

 

[starhoof]

And judge himself probably uses Mac that why he hates M$

 

[techguy378]

[citation][nom]jcknouse[/nom]Yep. True.Of course, not many companies own their own fabrication/manufacturing anymore anyways.Good point.But still, MS is mainly software and always has been. They have touch screen patents they've filed for, casing designs, etc. It's absurd.From Wikipedia:XML was compiled by a working group of eleven members, supported by an (approximately) 150-member Interest Group.It wasn't just MS.[/citation]

Microsoft may not have invented XML itself, but they did invent the variant used in formats like DOCX which is completely incompatible with other variants like OpenDocument.

 

[Uncle Meat]

x4o© - The One Step Solution to XML Authoring in Microsoft® Word

http://www.i4i.com/x4o.htm

 

[Ciuy]

haha PWNED !!!! M$ getting flucked in ze ars ~~~

 

[eddieroolz]

Well guess what stupid American court, I'm going to continue using Word and perhaps pirate it and then distribute it all to my friends!

Oh, and I'm in Canada. Can't touch me.

 

[Gin Fushicho]

Well , looks like Microsoft word will now either suck balls, or wont be sold at all anymore , but I'm going to assume that they will just let it suck, and people will have to design add-ons for Microsoft word now.

 

[colthorn_35]

What the article doesnt tell you is that i4i developed the xml format and had a working relationship with Microsoft before Microsoft stole the format and stabbed them in the back. This is not a case of some small no name company trying ride the gravy train. Microsoft blatantly stole the format from i4i and is making money off it

 

[brendano257]

Damn...I thought this was going somewhere like we get it all for phree....oh well.

 

[battery]

Couldn't Microsoft just buy out i4i?
Putting things into perspective: Judge Leonard Davis was nominated by George Dubya Bush.

 

[nukemaster]

Couldn't Microsoft just buy out i4i?

LOL. The Nvidia technique(Ageia,3dfx), funny!

 

[imrul]

pathetic...

 

[cruiseoveride]

Fick Ja!

 

[anamaniac]

Canadian company, yet banned form selling it in USA... how does that owrk out?
Shouldn't this case have been ruled in Canada? Our judges would likely just tell Microsoft to pay a fine...

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

It is. =D