Microsoft Banned from selling Word in the United States

[OmegaDragon]

It appears that MS is getting sued over a copyrighted XML feature.



Microsoft has been accused of infringing patents owned by another company, i4i. The legal dispute centres around the way Microsoft Word handles certain kinds of documents.
i4i, based in Toronto, Canada, claimed that Microsoft "willingly violated" a patent granted in 1998 concerning methods for reading XML, a kind of programming language. XML allows users to customise the format of word-processing documents, enabling them to be read by various word-processing programs. Microsoft Word's ability to read and write XML documents is a crucial feature of the popular software.


Judge Leonard Davis, of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, ruled that Microsoft (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/microsoft) had infringed i4i's patent, and ordered the software giant to pay $290 million (£176 million) in damages. This included $40 million (£25 million) for the wilful infringement of the patent, $37 million (£23 million) in pre-judgement interest, and a further $21,102 (£13,000) per day until a final judgement is reached.
He also granted an injunction banning Microsoft from selling Microsoft Word in the United States, or importing the software in to the country. The ruling covers all Microsoft Word products that can open XML files or DOCX and DOCM documents. Microsoft has been given 60 days to comply with the injunction.
Microsoft said it would appeal against the verdict. "We are disappointed by the court's ruling," said Kevin Kutz, a spokesman for the software giant. "We believe the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid."


Source here (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/microsoft/6015902/Microsoft-banned-from-selling-Word-in-US.html)and here (http://mashable.com/2009/08/12/word-patent/)


Hmmm wonder how they are going to get out of this one...

[Cagerrin]

Is it bad that the first word I saw was Toronto and I therefore went all :shake:?

Seriously, though, the terms of that lawsuit are ridiculous.

[Ganon]

Hmmm wonder how they are going to get out of this one...


http://static.bigstockphoto.com/thumbs/0/2/8/large/820521.jpg

[rossmum]

Seriously, though, the terms of that lawsuit are ridiculous.
I can say with complete honesty that I have neither seen nor heard of any other kind of lawsuit for some time.

Humans are horrible, greedy creatures.

[thehoodedsmack]

I hate copyrights, patents, and anything else that monopolizes the human creativity. If you can market something better than the other guy, you deserve to be the one doing so. Ross is right, we're too damn greedy.

[Llama Juice]

So the little guy should get shafted because he doesn't have the millions of dollars to put forward in advertising? Punnish the little guy while rewarding the big guy?

Fuck that, whoever designed the technology deserves to make bank. You'd agree if you were the one that made XML.

[thehoodedsmack]

Hmm, I guess I didn't word it properly. I didn't look at it that way, Llama. I suppose they're really the only failsafes from large corporations taking over everything. It just ticks me off when you have to pay royalties for the stupidest patents.

[rossmum]

So the little guy should get shafted because he doesn't have the millions of dollars to put forward in advertising? Punnish the little guy while rewarding the big guy?

Fuck that, whoever designed the technology deserves to make bank. You'd agree if you were the one that made XML.
There's a pretty fucking thick line between getting a deserved share in it and just being a self-righteous fuckhead

[Cojafoji]

Hmm, I guess I didn't word it properly. I didn't look at it that way, Llama. I suppose they're really the only failsafes from large corporations taking over everything. It just ticks me off when you have to pay royalties for the stupidest patents.
or when a patent is made and it's so fucking broad that it could encompass half of all known man kind...

no but seriously, back to word 2003.

[Kornman00]

You'd agree if you were the one that made XML.
Umm, this isn't about The-People (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web_Consortium)-Who-Brought-You-Xml vs Microsoft. It's about some company with some patent which includes xml in it's design with word (http://www.i4i.com/x4o.htm).

Any one else get a laugh at how the company name is basically "an eye for an eye"?

[Llama Juice]

Hmm, I guess I didn't word it properly. I didn't look at it that way, Llama. I suppose they're really the only failsafes from large corporations taking over everything. It just ticks me off when you have to pay royalties for the stupidest patents.

YOU don't have to pay anything twards it haha, M$ does for using someone else's technology. I see it as how Epic gets paid for letting other people use the Unreal engine for their games. (I know that's now how it works, there's licenses and all that, and well... it's a similar situation)

It's just like how Activision pays Konami to use the guitar style controller for their Guitar Hero games. (Dunno if they do anymore, they used to for GH1-3 at least)


There's a pretty fucking thick line between getting a deserved share in it and just being a self-righteous fuckhead

In all honesty if you saw the opportunity to get your company a huge huge huge boost in profits off of a technology YOU made, wouldn't you jump on the opportunity? I know I would, just like Epic would sue the fuck out of another company if they used the UT3 engine without a license for it.

Moral of the story? Don't steal other people's shit.:eng101:

That is, I'm just assuming this whole situation is valid. I'm not really talking specifically to this case, just the idea in general when this shit happens and screams bloody murder over some company expecting to get paid for work it did.

[rossmum]

I'd try and figure out a less dick way of getting my share, that's for sure. Suing? Fine. Getting it pulled from sale? A little extreme, especially since you could've gone down the royalties road and made a lot more over time.

[Kornman00]

A little extreme, especially since you could've gone down the royalties road and made a lot more over time.
Not to mention one of their products (http://www.i4i.com/v29.htm) is for MS Word :downs:

[rossmum]

...

welp, shrewd move guys!!

[El Lobo]

Risky move Cotton, lets see if it works out for them.

:lobo:

[Con]

Maybe we'll just get a plugin or something?

[IceCube]

Well, microsoft knew about the patents that they were going over and didnt care. Microsoft should have went and talked with the company about the product instead of releasing and then going to court because they were not allowed to use certain coding for there program.
Alteast for once, a small company is able to fight a million dollar money making company and win. Heh.

[Cojafoji]

this thing will just end up passing under the radar in a month or two when microsoft either a. drags them out through the litigation process of an appeal in a higher court until they can phase out the xml in a newer product, or b. settle and purchase the patent.

[Amit]

Well, microsoft knew about the patents that they were going over and didnt care. Microsoft should have went and talked with the company about the product instead of releasing and then going to court because they were not allowed to use certain coding for there program.
Alteast for once, a small company is able to fight a million dollar money making company and win. Heh.

You mean a billion dollar-making company. Who said anything about them winning? In a lawsuit of this magnitude, rarely does one side outright win. A compromise is usually made. I highly doubt that Microsoft won't be selling one of their flagship software products in their home country in future years. They'll find a way around it. Not that I care since I'm only from the country that they're getting shafted from so I can still get my Office suite.

[Advancebo]

So what happens to our current copies of Word?

[legionaire45]

Nothing. They aren't going to remotely disable your copy of Word. All that this means is that in 60 days or so MS will have to stop selling copies of Word unless they convince the court to extend that deadline or they get an agreement with the patent troll.

What will happen is that Microsoft will appeal this until i4i can't afford to keep up with the case or until the heat death of the universe; whichever comes first. That, or they'll just make a workaround and/or temporarily remove the feature in question.

Patent trolls are really fucking annoying.

[Advancebo]

I gotta go buy a copy of Word 2008/09 soon then :ohdear:

[legionaire45]

They probably aren't going to be yanking copies off the shelves either. All this means is that new copies aren't going to be made or sold in the United States until this is settled. Not the end of the world.

Also, there are alternatives. (http://www.openoffice.org/)

[jcap]

Or they probably aren't doing anything.

Needless to say, Microsoft won’t pull Word off the market.The judge is a blooming idiot. Microsoft will just appeal it and win.

[Donut]

are you fucking serious? im not even quite sure what to say about this other than what the fuck. whoever wrote c++ should sue everyone who has ever made money off of products programmed in it too then if this jackass is actually going to get ms word banned in the USA for something like this. it seems like microsoft dug a hole and then fell in it when (re: if) they made the program read the XML in that specific way that they did, but i fail to see why ms word needs to be banned completely. couldnt they issue a recall and reprogram it to not do what the guy is bitching about? ALOOOOOT of people need and use ms word on a daily basis for education, work, and other stuff like that.

does this mean the companies that use the version(s) of msword that does the XML thing can also be sued if they continue to use it after its been banned?
E: that wasnt directed at any of you btw. just a general explosion of built up whatthefuckery

[ThePlague]

This is why I use open office...

[Amit]

Open Office is a good alternative, but that's it...it's just good. I use Microsoft Office 2007 because it has unique built-in features that just make my experience more streamlined. After using it for a couple of years now, I don't feel so foreign to the Ribbon interface anymore, and I haven't for a while. Like anything else I got used to it and learned to appreciate the new features that were added.

I can't wait to get my hands on Office 2010.

[Limited]

This is damn hilarious. Although MS are going to steam roll over this guy, because they will appeal it and win. It should make MS think about things. Tighten their shit up.

I do think its hilarious that the judge banned Word being sold in the US, LOL. Thats like making lemonade for a lemonade stand, but being barred from selling it on your street :D

[Siliconmaster]

Thats like making lemonade for a lemonade stand, but being barred from selling it on your street :D

More like being barred from selling it at the lemonade stand itself. Theoretically possible, but it defeats the purpose. :realsmug:

[Bhamid]

Is there any difference between Open office and Star office?