Posted on 12/22/2009 11:19:33 AM PST by ShadowAce
Microsoft must remove custom-XML editing from Word or face a permanent injunction barring the company from selling recent versions of the software, a federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a $290m patent infringement judgment against Microsoft, won by Toronto-based software company i4i in Texas. It alleges Microsoft's software infringed on its patents that cover extensible markup language technology.
Microsoft has been given until January 11 to remove the custom XML functionality — five months from the original August 2009 ruling, according to Bloomberg.
The injunction bars Microsoft from selling the 2003 and 2007 versions of Word inside the US after the injunction deadline and will require the company to remove the XML technology from its upcoming Office 2010 suite. Microsoft can continue to provide technical support to current Word users, but it's barred from telling new users how to use the custom XML editor.
Microsoft director of public affairs, Kevin Kutz, told us via email that the company is "moving quickly" to comply with the injunction.
"With respect to Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007, we have been preparing for this possibility since the District Court issued its injunction in August 2009 and have put the wheels into motion to remove this little-used feature from these products," Kutz wrote.
He said Microsoft expects to have copies of Word 2007 and Office 2007 with the XML feature removed in time for the injunction date. Kutz added that beta versions of Word 2010 and Office 2010 that are available now do not contain the technology covered by the injunction.
"While we are moving quickly to address the injunction issue, we are also considering our legal options, which could include a request for a rehearing by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals en banc or a request for a writ of centiorari from the US Supreme Court," Kutz said.
Microsoft has previously acknowledged the company had been in contact with i4i about the XML technology, but said there was no evidence proving anyone at the company actually had read the patent in question. i4i has claimed the infringement was willful and that Microsoft deliberately planned to destroy its business while publicly declaring the two were allies. ®
Ok - me being a dummie on all this, what does it mean to me who’s running VISTA with Office2007? What is this XML thing?
If it's such a "little-used feature", why are they considering going all the way up to the SCOTUS to fight it. I smell BS.
MS uses XML to save its documents. The file format is impinging.
It means that Microsoft is wasting their money fighting this lawsuit rather than spending that money to fix vista.
You think they would get some new moves. Playing buddy and then stealing the code is something Microsoft was doing 15 years ago.
Every now and again, somebody actually learns from history.
Silly me. I thought XML was an open source “technology”.
Interesting thing about Capitalism. I have to work with Microsoft at work because I deal with the govt.
I work with Apple and Linux machines at home because I have a choice and choose the superior operating systems.
Under Obamaloons, we’ll only have one system - and it’ll be the most inefficient. Clippy, anyone?
Thanks for that explanation. The way the article was written it looked like there was a custom XML editor built into Word. I was excited that it might exist. I was going to go look for it.
Silly me. I thought XML was an open source “technology”.
Have no worry.... someone will come up with the patent on how you cook your bacon and eggs in the morning -- and boy will you pay through the nose for that one, you scofflaw... LOL...
It is. But Microsoft's "contribution" to XML isn't really XML.
Microsoft, once again trying the same old "embrace, extend, extinguish" strategy that has allowed them to lie, cheat and steal their way to the top, does something just a bit different.
Microsoft uses a proprietary technology to inject proprietary code into XML.
They decided to "innovate" again by buying up someone's code to do it, but the "partner" wouldn't sell so Microsoft just stole it.
Again.
No it is not. The issue was with XML editing, not the file format. It is a minor issue.
Crap—You’re right. I got confused.
If you don’t know, and don’t work directly with XML files, then I suspect you don’t need to worry about it.
You obviously do not know the history of XML. Microsoft was one of the largest backers of XML and there is no way, that I am aware of, to make XML that is not XML. Where you came up with that is beyond me.
XML has 2 constructs: elements and attributes. It is up to the interpreter to do whatever it wants with the XML since it is simply mark-up. I have never seen XML from MS which falles outside of these 2 constructs and I work with XML every single day, mostly Microsoft. Show me an example of ‘proprietary’ XML that falls outside of an element or attribute.
A "little-used feature" is precisely where you would want to fight something like this all the way up to SCOTUS.
The legal strategy is straightforward: this ruling sets a precedent that can be followed by anybody who can find a way to try to tag Microsoft with "improprieties," real or imagined. It's a potential cash cow for the little guys.
Microsoft would obviously want to nip that in the bud.
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