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405 Comments
- TaintBrush, on 08/12/2009, -11/+1215I'll bet the ruling was written in Microsoft Word.
- Swipecat, on 08/12/2009, -7/+628Much as I dislike Microsoft's business practices, I have to say that a patent on reading XML stinks.
- Sheaf, on 08/12/2009, -1/+501More evidence that our whole patent system is completely broken. Love or hate Microsoft, these ridiculous patent lawsuits stifle innovation rather than encourage it.
The big companies like RIM and Microsoft make the headlines, but it's just as much of a problem for small, innovative companies that are handcuffed by a broken patent system. - barsans, on 08/12/2009, -13/+487Microsoft is going to appeal. A higher court is obviously going to overturn the injunction.
- ButterLoyalist, on 08/12/2009, -34/+402Patents are stupid. Especially software patents.
- svivian, on 08/12/2009, -4/+272According to the BBC: I4i filed a patent in 1998 that outlined a means for "manipulating the architecture and the content of a document separately from each other".
So i4i patented HTML & CSS?! - byoung2, on 08/12/2009, -5/+239So am I banned from downloading it illegally?
- DontThinkSo, on 08/12/2009, -18/+217I dislike Microsoft as much as the next guy, but this ruling is crap.
- 1hrSleep, on 08/12/2009, -2/+179Whoa! Hey! Stop!
You're infringing on my patent on insulting patents, specifically in a manner conveyed through text on a website. - Jdshald, on 08/12/2009, -22/+184I have a few choice words for the judge.
***** you. - whitesaint, on 08/12/2009, -1/+116This is BS. Not to mention completely bizarre. Isn't XML an open standard? How can any one company patent any part of XML? If this i4i company has it's way, the entire internet needs to be taken down as XML is used heavily throughout. This article is lame, Microsoft will never stop selling Word in the U.S. and their appeal is justified. If only for the continuation and use of this excellent abstract data format.
- diggcommentguy, on 08/12/2009, -1/+104And you were the next guy!
- BlackSheep882, on 08/12/2009, -12/+103I love Microsoft...
- GTRagnarok, on 08/12/2009, -14/+104Because this is ***** ridiculous.
- binaryecho, on 08/13/2009, -0/+89Since the software is now illegal AND the act of downloading it is illegal....
They cancel each other out.
Torrent away. - asgardshill, on 08/12/2009, -1/+77Don't tell me, let me guess - the US District Court in Tyler Texas is where this case was heard.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10308013-75.html
"Judge Leonard Davis of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas ..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_troll
"In the United States, suits are often brought in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, known for favoring plaintiffs and for expertise in patent suits."
***** patent trolls - must be nice to have an entire wing of the Judicial Branch in your back pocket. - FelliFel, on 08/12/2009, -3/+77something makes me think that clippy is fake
- Netmindstorm, on 08/12/2009, -8/+79Actually clippy offered to help the judge once it saw what his decision was going to be:
http://j-walkblog.com/old/images/fakeclippy.gif - swizzcheez, on 08/12/2009, -3/+72Maybe IE6 also violates the patent... pretty please???
- bhedge, on 08/12/2009, -4/+70what happened to the days where a company would just work hard to make revenue... and not rely on lawsuits? i4i wrote an XML add on for Word. I wonder if they also filed suit against OpenOffice (it works with XML documents too)?
- Octanum, on 08/12/2009, -1/+58Come on, dude, there's no money in that :P
- esteskid, on 08/12/2009, -2/+59Obviously! don't you know patent law?
- kingmanic, on 08/12/2009, -3/+58Not really. MS isn't a patent troll. IBM, MS, Apple, Sony, Google, Nintendo and HP all sit on massive amounts of patents as a defencive measure. They don't need to litigate because they actually do things that make money. They use the patents as a 'nuclear deterrent' to other large corps litigating. At the moment they could all litigate each other to a stand still but refuse to do so because the only one to benifit would be the lawyers.
They all may be anti-competitive in different ways but they aren't patent trolls. - kanojo1969, on 08/12/2009, -13/+68It's pretty bizzare how the comments on the blog, and here by the looks, are all supporting MS and claiming these i4i guys are patent trolls just looking for money.
Now, in the end all they can get is money, after all MS Word is never going to be pulled of the shelves. But I don't think a single person here or in the blog comments actually knows what is being argued on the i4i side.
People have obviously forgotten that Microsoft has been sued like this before, completely legitimately, by companies who let MS look at their source code as part of some partnering arrangement, then had MS tell them to piss off, and later, surprise surprise, found their technology showing up in an MS product.
It's one of MS's standard operating practices. I think it's probably what this case is about.
But until I see an article that clearly lays out what the arguments were on both sides, and what logic the judge used to reach his decision, I can't really say one way or another.
Mind you, the Judge clearly knows what the impact of saying 'you can't sell word' is, the MS Lawyers will have told him in no uncertain terms what that means. To me, that just shows that i4i have got a ***** good case and MS has been caught with their hand in the cookie jar once more.
People complain about software patents as being evil - and a lot of patents that have been awarded are evil. But the patent idea itself is not to blame, it's the process of vetting and awarding them that's the issue.
I promise you that these 'patents are bad' people, if they ever produced an algorithm that was genuinely worth patenting, would be crying their eyes out as they saw every other software company steal their work at no cost. - DeathMarcher, on 08/12/2009, -1/+54Especially gene patents.. but that's a different article.
- twiztidsinz, on 08/12/2009, -3/+52Comment by emcee on the original story I read: http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/archives/17622 ... "This particular District Court is a hotbed of patent lawsuits filed by "patent trolls": companies who buy or even retroactively file patents and then immediately sue a big-pocketed company for infringement."
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/pioneer-wins-pl ...
http://www.engadget.com/tag/marshall+texas/
http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2009/03/eastern-di ...
http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/7796.cfm
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6171912.html - inactive, on 08/13/2009, -9/+58Gays can serve in the military. They just can't prance around and act all gay while they do.
- Atario, on 08/12/2009, -0/+43No, the ruling said that's still ok.
HEYYY, what the... - gritta, on 08/12/2009, -1/+41i4i owns the internet... Digg, they're coming for you next!
- truberg, on 08/12/2009, -12/+49here here
- bjornski, on 08/12/2009, -1/+38"Microsoft will never stop selling Word in the U.S......."
They don't expect them to.
They just want buckets of money. - gritta, on 08/12/2009, -0/+36It's "hear hear".
- inactive, on 08/12/2009, -12/+47The "next guy" doesn't hate Microsoft at all. You are delusional if you think the general consensus is hte same as thepathetic virgins on Digg.
- 1hrSleep, on 08/12/2009, -11/+43CNET's Buzz Out Loud podcast has an interview with the "I4i Chairman Loudon Owen" to offer the other side of the story.
http://www.cnet.com/8301-19709_1-10308457-10.html? ... - duniyadnd, on 08/12/2009, -0/+30You just infringed on my patent that tells a person that they infringed on your patent.
- Silentnite85, on 08/12/2009, -0/+30But how will they write their letters?
- NikoKun, on 08/12/2009, -2/+32The hell? Never thought I'd feel like siding with Microsoft... but...
First, Isn't XML an open standard? Meaning that this company should be in trouble for claiming it as their own.
And second, XML has been around for how long? Like a freaking decade? LOL How can these software-patents apply to things that are so old? Software patents need to be seriously more limited, just because of the nature of software... -_- - kubedawg, on 08/13/2009, -0/+30I lol'ed cause you only used a couple choice words.
- ironhide, on 08/12/2009, -6/+35He who lives by patent abuse shall die by patent abuse.
- 4AntiStupid, on 08/12/2009, -3/+32This will get dumped as all patent lottery cases should.
- pagemap, on 08/12/2009, -0/+28I'd say gene patents are a step worse then software patents.
- mason092, on 08/12/2009, -0/+28Nah. They won't sue OpenOffice. They can't give i4i "okay, leave us alone now" money like Microsoft can.
- inactive, on 08/12/2009, -4/+31This is stupid. How are they going to enforce this?
On a side note, if they stop selling Word, most of the computer illiterates will go and complain. To who? Microsoft, probably. - TheVirus, on 08/12/2009, -0/+26You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
- GBladeCL, on 08/12/2009, -1/+27But XML is eXtensible. There is no such thing as custom XML so I don't get how i4i has a case. They might as well sue w3c for putting together the standard and everyone else for editing XML.
- bjornski, on 08/12/2009, -1/+26idon't. So idon't care.
- strictnein, on 08/12/2009, -0/+24doc = Word document format
docx = Word XML based document format - krisrm, on 08/12/2009, -0/+24...and you both just infringed on my "making clever comments on Digg" patent. Lawsuit!
- Eat1, on 08/12/2009, -8/+31word up
- zeth006, on 08/12/2009, -1/+23Gates is retired, buddy.
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