Microsoft Statement Regarding the i4i Case

[HardOCP News]

We have just learned that the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has denied our appeal in the i4i case. We are moving quickly to comply with the injunction, which takes effect on January 11, 2010. This injunction applies only to copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007 sold in the U.S. on or after the injunction date of January 11, 2010. Copies of these products sold before this date are not affected.

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 in motion to remove this little-used feature from these products.

 

[jstnomega]

I give up. What's this i4Ni thing, anyway?

 

[Azhar]

I give up. What's this i4Ni thing, anyway?

They're the company who owns the patent for the XML container format.

Microsoft was singled out for developing Office with the XL container despite it being widely used.

 

[Elledan]

They're the company who owns the patent for the XML container format.

Microsoft was singled out for developing Office with the XL container despite it being widely used.

It's not a patent on some XML container format. It is a patent on a specific way of processing data:

Microsoft used the ZIP file as a way of breaking up the format, allowing businesses to extract just the raw XML. But they can also add to it. Jones explains in the blog post: "The ability to put your XML in the ZIP package means that you now have a place to store any data your solution may need."

The i4i patent is called "Method and system for manipulating the architecture and the content of a document separately from each other." It's more practical application is some of the XML-based solutions, i4i offers today for pharmaceutical companies. A jury decided that the patent also applies to "custom XML" in Microsoft Word. Consider Microsoft custom XML support around the ZIP storage container, how customers can manipulate content and extract from or add to the container architecture.

http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/a...or-or-victim-in-i4i-patent-dispute/1250119565

 

[Azhar]

It's not a patent on some XML container format. It is a patent on a specific way of processing data:

http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/a...or-or-victim-in-i4i-patent-dispute/1250119565

Ok, so basically it just means you can, say, create a website with all the scripts, all the images, all the Flash, and put them in a container. And the software (in this case, Word and Excel) will determine what each object inside the container does according to how a person made the documents and spreadsheets, right?

 

[Monkey34]

There's an office update coming to strip Word and other Office programs of custom XML editing capabilities. Will be blocking this one.

 

[Elledan]

Ok, so basically it just means you can, say, create a website with all the scripts, all the images, all the Flash, and put them in a container. And the software (in this case, Word and Excel) will determine what each object inside the container does according to how a person made the documents and spreadsheets, right?

I didn't read the full patent (legalese hurts my head), but from the summaries I have read it would basically come down to such a thing, yes. Software patents are always borderline retarded, though, which is one reason why I'm glad the EU (where I live) isn't even considering them.

There's an office update coming to strip Word and other Office programs of custom XML editing capabilities. Will be blocking this one.

MSFT has said they won't release a patch for existing copies of Office/Word with the infringing code. The changes will only affect new copies of the software. The $240 million fine stands regardless of whether MSFT removes the infringing code from existing copies or not.

 

[Monkey34]

MSFT has said they won't release a patch for existing copies of Office/Word with the infringing code. The changes will only affect new copies of the software. The $240 million fine stands regardless of whether MSFT removes the infringing code from existing copies or not.

Hmm. I read this quickly at lunch, and I assumed when they said it was required for the US, they would roll it out automatically:

Microsoft has issued a patch for its Office 2007 product that brings the desktop suite into compliance with a court edict.

The 2007 Microsoft Office OPK Master Kit Download, available on Microsoft's OEM Partner Center, strips Word and other Office programs of custom XML editing capabilities.

"The following patch is required for the United States," Microsoft said

 

[sulfur_lad]

This is so stupid. They have accomplished... nothing, really. Good work i4i. Maybe Apple will sue them for too many 'i's'. That lawyering is a legit business now is ridiculous.

 

[Elledan]

Hmm. I read this quickly at lunch, and I assumed when they said it was required for the US, they would roll it out automatically:

Ah okay, missed that one apparently

 

[LAiN_OfTheWired]

nah, you're right on. The statement in the news post clearly states that only copies sold on or after the injunction date are affected and that previously sold copies are not.

This injunction applies only to copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007 sold in the U.S. on or after the injunction date of January 11, 2010. Copies of these products sold before this date are not affected.

 

[PheonixChameleon]

And as with many things.. thanks to legal bullshit we take one step forward, and two steps back.

 

[Azhar]

The dumb part is that all these years you have people and developers bitching about Microsoft's proprietary format. They make something with the more common XML container which developers can adapt to, but gets that taken away from them. So now Microsoft's going to have to make their own container format, once again making them proprietary.

And Open Source people wonder why Microsoft won't adopt their stuff.

 

[HomerRulez]

They're the company who owns the patent for the XML container format.

Microsoft was singled out for developing Office with the XL container despite it being widely used.

Its all about the nickel and dimes

 

[PheonixChameleon]

That's a hell of a lot of nickels and dimes.

 

[Elledan]

The dumb part is that all these years you have people and developers bitching about Microsoft's proprietary format. They make something with the more common XML container which developers can adapt to, but gets that taken away from them. So now Microsoft's going to have to make their own container format, once again making them proprietary.

And Open Source people wonder why Microsoft won't adopt their stuff.

There's still nothing open about the formats Office currently supports. The ODF support is okayish, but not great either, and the native formats are still as closed as before. Office doesn't even conform to the OOXML spec they submitted for standardization.

Further, this whole deal has nothing to do with the use of XML in itself, nor the container, only a specific way of storing specific additional data and retrieving it. The use of ZIP archives for the document's resources is nothing new, OpenOffice used it when it was still called StarOffice. Using XML isn't anything new either. It's the use of XML in a particular way to store additional data which is the matter here.

Yes, it's a software patent. Yes, software patents are stupid. No, this is not a patent troll. Yes, we can only hope that this will show MSFT how retarded software patents are