# Microsoft ordered to stop selling Word



## RootbeaR (Dec 9, 2006)

"Yesterday, a court in East Texas issued an injunction that gives Microsoft 60 days to stop shipping any recent version of Word, based on a patent that was found to cover the XML formatting used by the software."
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/ne...s-microsoft-60-days-to-stop-shipping-word.ars


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

wonder how long before they buy out the other company.

Be a landmark case, though, if it holds.


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## RootbeaR (Dec 9, 2006)

valis said:


> wonder how long before they buy out the other company.
> 
> Be a landmark case, though, if it holds.


Buying it is probably the likely option but it would be nice to see them adopt an open standard.


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## Ent (Apr 11, 2009)

What of all other things that use XML? Program settings...Non-Microsoft software XML saves...Ajax calls...Web pages?!?!?


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## slurpee55 (Oct 20, 2004)

Read the actual court information, not that article. The case wasn't about XML, although that seems to be the impression a lot of people got, it was about how the various types of information in a document were to be kept in separate files and linked to one another via XML. (The patent is named "Method and system for manipulating the architecture and the content of a document separately from each other.")
Also, while the headline is all noise about not selling Word 2007, it also apparently affects some parts of Word 2003 and may affect MS Office Open XML directly but not OpenDocument Format. So that may actually force MS to convert to using the ODF standard after all the fuss they went through to get their version accepted. 
Oh, and MS has to cough up either $200 million or $290 million (I have read both) plus costs, etc.
The suit originally also was against certain parts of .NET as well, but that was dropped.


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

loche!

how you been, you ol' bovine you?


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## Ent (Apr 11, 2009)

I read through the patent more thoroughly than through the article. I just couldn't figure out what they were babbling on about. Still, how can that patent possibly *not* cover CSS/HTML links? Hopefully the company just reckons Microsoft's the only offender worth milking for the money.


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## slurpee55 (Oct 20, 2004)

Howdy Timothy!  Been awhile....
Well, Ent, the patent deals with the organization of data within a document. Certainly, one could argue that a page in HTML is a document, and, if it has XML in it, it could be covered to a degree, but (and to me this is why it doesn't apply) the linkage in such a document - whether to a CSS page or a file of pictures - is not organized in the way patented.
The patent isn't for links, that is a preexisting concept, it is for the way the metadata is organized within the document.
One probably could build a web page that used essentially the patented architecture, but it would be more work than it is worth....


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## RootbeaR (Dec 9, 2006)

Emergency move would stay execution of court order to halt Microsoft Word sales in 60 days. Other options also remain to keep the software on the shelves.


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## RootbeaR (Dec 9, 2006)

""The appeal brief filed by Microsoft is an extraordinary document," i4i chairman Loudon Owen said in a news release.

"It captures the hostile attitude of Microsoft toward inventors who dare to enforce patents against them. It is also blatantly derogatory about the court system.""
http://technology.canoe.ca/2009/08/26/10624451-cp.html


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## RootbeaR (Dec 9, 2006)

The U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit says Microsoft Corp. can keep selling its Word desktop software as it appeals an unfavorable patent ruling.


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## RootbeaR (Dec 9, 2006)

"Plus, thered be one big silver lining to a Microsoft Word ban: A true universal document format could take hold, one that replaces todays defacto standard -- Microsofts doc/docx -- thats tied too closely to the whims of one software vendor.

Word ban? Sure, why not?"
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20090904/tc_pcworld/microsoftwordbanmaybeitwouldntbesobad_1


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