Microsoft Loses Second Word Appeal, Owes $240M

[zachary k]

its not like i4i was doing anything with this patent. i have never heard about i4i before they started bitching. i wonder if suing for patent infringement is their business plan?

 

[Blessedman]

The one patent that really brings me to tears is the one that vaguely states the sales and transmission of music files online. How do you patent that??? Conestoga really missed out on patenting the transportation of humans using the wheel...

 

[Guest]

zachary k - "its not like i4i was doing anything with this patent. i have never heard about i4i before they started bitching. i wonder if suing for patent infringement is their business plan?"

reply:
Maybe XML was used for specific custom purposes, or still under development. Anyways, Microsoft decided to make use of it without proper authorization from i4i. You wouldn't like it if you created and patented a cute little do-it-all 'widget' program for your local college to use, then find out Microsoft started using your program in the Office suite without telling you. Then the whole world, including your local college, starts using your program within Microsoft Office but nobody knows you even exist, and your still broke - would you be mad? If you're the first to create something, it's yours (be sure to patent it, though) and you should get the credit and recognition for it. If someone comes along and wants to use it, they either have to get permission from you or pay you, whichever YOU want, or you can deny them from using it and they will have to look elsewhere for their solution. -And please don't reply with something stupid like "I would be proud that Microsft is using my program..." because it would only show how much of an idiot you are for allowing a multi-billion dollar corporation to use your software without paying you a cent. And about i4i being a patent troll, put a lid on that sh*t! If you came up with a good idea, it would behoove you (or any corporation) to try their best to market it. There is no benefit from sitting on a good idea. If you sit on it too long or charge too much to use it, people will dismiss it and move on and newer technology will come along and replace it or make it obsolete. A company could not function if all they did was sit on patents, maybe so for state-of-the-art technology where a company may be waiting for certain market conditions to open up before deploying, but not on patents. How would they generate income then, buy HOPING some bigger company will come along and buy them out or infringe on their patent? Palease, that sounds like a gamble, not a market strategy. I'm pretty sure i4i was doing something with XML but just not in a large enough scale to be globally recognized, until Microsoft came along.

 

[zachary k]

@ Bill Shett
and they waited this long, for word to earn this much money to sue them? they just want the cash, not the patent.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Will Microsoft take it all the way to the Supreme Court? Inquiring minds want to know!

 

[rgsaunders]

This is just the latest incident in which MS has been caught using someone else's work. One of the early incident of this was with MS-DOS 6.0, 1993, where they included Stac Electronics disk compression software.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stac_Electronics

 

[arvink]

Won't be seeing Office H&S dropping below 129.99 for a while now ^_^

 

[coremaster556]

It's ok I have a patent on the mouse click so I am going to sue everyone for patent infringement for clicking there mouse. This stuff is getting dumb for the most part. Everyone suing everyone!!!

 

[ossie]

Poor micro$uxx got something more than a slight slap on the wrist, for willfully, and repeatedly, infringing on others IP? And those "bastards" at i4i didn't crouch in cowardice, and beg for mercy, for daring to sue the biggest patent troll in history?
Something is surely wrong, as the collective whines of the wintarded micro$uxx fankiddie herd will tell you, filling the void...
Of course, every time m$ doesn't "win" a case, it's a "miscarriage of justice".

Finally a news article almost without the usual spin and bias. Oh wait, the usual black sheep (the rotten fruit) isn't even mentioned, to get all the blame...

 

[methal]

I would love to see M$ lose the right to sell word. After all the crap they have pulled, they have no respect, or right to sell anything.

 

[retirepresident]

When you steal and lie Intel/MS it time to pay up. Everyone keep suing this greed company until they fall to there knee.

 

[shiznit770]

These patent lawsuits are getting ridiculous. Basically anyone trying to compete with i4i's products could face law suits such as this. The changes to word were key features *required* by the customer base. i4i should not be allowed to patent a customer's need so that they can effectively cut out the competition.

 

[adipose]

[citation][nom]Mike00[/nom]How much coincidence do you think there is for 2 companies to create the same code (or write the same thing) and call it the same thing (XML)[/citation]

There is no accusation of code theft. You misunderstand the lawsuit. This is about implementing the same IDEA, not using the same CODE.

[citation][nom]Mike00[/nom]
I'm sorry but no matter how you put it and say that i4i is was just waiting for something to vaguely copy it, just does not cut it here. Especially when Microsoft states in the letter, they had previously met with i4i and told them that their product was going to make theirs obsolete and well your product may be good just for XP. LOL I mean with threats like that, who the heck would not sue?[/citation]

Again you misunderstand. This was an internal e-mail, where a Microsoft employee was saying to another, "their technology is good, but once we release Word 11 there will be no point." In other words, there might be some use to i4i's products but Microsoft was implementing something similar which would make it unnecessary. This was no threat. i4i did not read this e-mail.


You can argue whatever you like about whether this is an abuse of the patent system or whether Microsoft just stole i4i's idea. But this is not about code theft or threats. And the fact that Microsoft had seen i4i's products does not prove in the slightest that they knew Word to infringe on an i4i patent. They most likely assumed that the incredibly generic use of XML in their product was not patentable.

Do a little research next time.

 

[blackbeastofaaaaagh]

Microsoft did not steal any code or invention. They simply used, a rather broad "idea" for which i4i simply happened to file a patent.

I read i4i's patent. I kid you not! The following over-view is in no way any more simplistic and broadly termed than the actual legal patent filed by i4i.

The idea:
Rather than keeping all the tags (i.e. formatting commands) in-line within the main document itself (precisely what HTML or LaTex does), store all the tags in a separate attached file. That file also includes information on where to insert all the tags in the main document file.

So basically this "idea" allows the user to view a document in two ways:
- allows you to view the document without any special formatting or inserted objects. This may be desirable lets say, to prevent a customer from seeing proprietary tables or charts.

or

- you can used the attached file to reinsert all the in-line formatting information into the main file, Now the document viewer can show display the document with all the original formatting and attached objects (in other words, pointers to graphs, pictures, applications, etc).

This reminds me of another case of patent law running amok:
When the Wright Brothers flew the first airplane they didn't just patent their design (wing-warping for steering - quickly made obsolete by flaps and rudders) but also patented the "idea" of heavier than air flight. As a result no one else could sell aircraft in the US without their permission. Glen Curtiss, who was arguably more revolutionary and influential in the development of the modern aircraft, could only sell his (original and modern designs) in Europe. As a result, while aviation development stagnated in the US for over 10 years, Europe surged ahead using Curtiss's designs.