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Microsoft Can't Sell Word: Judge

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 12, 2009 2:02 PM CDT
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(Newser) – A Texas district court judge has ruled in favor of a Canadian software company and issued an injunction barring Microsoft from selling copies of its Word program, which can read and write XML files, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. XML capability is central to Microsoft Word; i4i claims the company infringed on a patent. The ruling in east Texas, a hotbed of patent law, also awards i4i $290 million in damages.

“We are disappointed by the court's ruling,” a Microsoft spokesman says. “We believe the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid. We will appeal the verdict.”

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.   (AP Photo)
The Microsoft logo is seen at the company's exhibit at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The Microsoft logo is seen at the company's exhibit at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.   (AP Photo)
Microsoft Office software on display at a Best Buy.
Microsoft Office software on display at a Best Buy.   (AP Photo)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 9 comments
2-bits
Aug 13, 2009 12:59 PM CDT
The summary doesn't quite capture the issue at hand. The patent is not for just "reading xml files." The issue is that i4i filed a patent for a method of "reading XML files in Microsoft word": Anyway, as AClotfeller pointed out below, XML is an open standard and even if it weren't so much prior art exists that this patent is easily invalid. XML (and many proto forms of XML, like SGML and HTML) have been around for years. Hell I think WordPerfect used something like XML internally, and that was ages ago. It's kind of shocking to me that no one else pointed this out. 1) No one has heard of XML here? Really? I have to get out more. 2) Why do ya'll instantly believe Microsoft is in the wrong when you have no understanding of the issue at hand?
bewilderbeast
Aug 13, 2009 9:32 AM CDT
OK, but it's always nice to see a big corporate take one in the chops - even if temporary.
2-bits
Aug 13, 2009 5:50 AM CDT
Upon closer examination this is more BS than I previously thought. I haven't looked over it too much detail, but it seems that they were actually trying to patent XML (and markup languages generally), not to mention document formatting principles that have been used by word processors for decades (hide the nitty gritty formatting language) without coming out and saying it. If i may be permitted to make a list: 1) That is one rambling patent. The (I assume a lawyer or an engineer) spends 3 pages giving the whole freaking history of mark up languages before even talking about what he is trying to patent. Interestingly enough, they fail to mention the existence of XML. That should tell you enough about their motivations right there. 2) I don't need a #2, because the more I read it the more it is completely freaking obvious that they suck. Look, Microsoft is a den of jackals, you will get no argument from me. But it looks i4i had been patent squatting. This is actually pretty typical and Microsoft, IBM, Sun, etc are guilty of this as well. They like to use patents (frivolous or not) as weapons in a sort of IP cold war. Of course, no one actually wants to fire their lazers because of mutually assured destruction. I guess they feel like they need them as a deterrent though. With judges as ignorant as this one, I can't help but wonder if they aren't exactly right.

 
Microsoft • Texas • Canada • patent infringement • Open XML • US District Court • Microsoft Word • word processor • i4i

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