No easy fix for Word legal woes

ComputerWorld ^ | 17 August 2009 | Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

[ShadowAce]

[GeronL]

How does someone claim to own XML or HTML ??

Can I claim to own the sky??

[jyoders19]

I see the decision being overturned. XML has been around for years, I fail to see the judge’s logic that using it to save files now is any more of a violation than it was before.

[ShadowAce]

Read the rest of the article. The patent seems to cover more than just plain XML. It covers the same customization that MS is using.

Not the entire specification.

[Rebel_Ace]

Even if SAVING the files in the FAST method that is patented, there seems to be no restriction on READING the files, so the author’s question about all the legacy users out there seems moot.

[GeronL]

I still don’t see how some of that stuff can be patented

[ShadowAce]

Not if the restriction is in usage. If Word has to use the patented method in order to read the files out there, and i4i won't let them....

I admit, though--IANAL, so whatever I say/think has no weight on this.

[ShadowAce]

I still don’t see how some of that stuff can be patented

Yeah--that's a whole 'nother question. :)

[RobRoy]

Without exposing too much of what I do, I am aware that companies will find out how some very complex things work in our current electronics/technical infrastructure, then patent it, then send letters to all the companies that do things that way and demand a “reasonable” settlement and payment system to be allowed to do things the way they do them. The key is to make the dollar amount small enough for the company to simply capitulate.

It is amazing just how specific the patent can be.

One can get quite rich doing this.

[Buckeye McFrog]

MS will file an appeal claiming that Bill Gates patented the Alphabet in 1996 while we were not looking...

[dfwgator]

Microsoft Patents Ones, Zeroes

[RobRoy]

The Wright brothers tried to patent flying.

;)

[GeronL]

I am all in favor of Intellectual Property Rights but this sounds so stupid that it could destroy the meaning of IP. Imagine if Microsoft made IE unable to recognize XML in response? Would that be okay, wouldn’t want to step on their patent now.

Maybe a warning should pop-up before opening an XML site. “Warning this site uses XML, visiting it could leave you open for a patent lawsuit.” Open? Yes No

[hoosier hick]

That’s the part about the article I didn’t understand. If Microsoft changes the algoritm, it doesn’t obsolete any of the existing DOCX documents. The issue is with the PROCESS (the way it’s done), not the PRODUCT (the document, itself, stored in an XML format)....

hh

[GeronL]

The Wright brothers tried to patent flying.

They might have gotten away with it later

[RobRoy]

>>They might have gotten away with it later<<

I tend to agree.

[Still Thinking]

The custom feature, described by patent # 5787449, covers a fast way of saving XML (eXtended Markup Language) documents. Microsoft uses it to save documents in Word 2003's default .DOCX and Word 2007's default Open XML format.

I don't think DOCX became the default Word file format till the 2007 release. I used 2003 for a couple of years before upgrading recently to '97, and I'm almost certain it used the DOC format.

[ShadowAce]

I caught that, too. Try saving in Word 2003 format. I bet it’ll say .DOC

[Still Thinking]

Can’t. I upgraded to ‘97. It doesn’t know from 2003.