Microsoft Got Spanked

Garnet · #1 08-12-2009, 07:47 PM

Canadian firm gets patent win over Microsoft - The Globe and Mail

Oopsie.

Stacy S. · #2 08-12-2009, 09:47 PM

injunction against any future sales of word, but delayed 60 days. M$ will appeal. At worst, they'll shell out the current damage award in cash for ownership rights.

Adam · #3 08-12-2009, 10:08 PM

I'd be interested in seeing the details of this "custom XML" that's apparently at issue.

seebs · #4 08-12-2009, 10:32 PM

Patent trolling is killing the software industry. Much though I loathe Microsoft, it was a mistake to EVER allow ANY patents of ANY software. Ever. There is simply no excuse.

And no, you don't need patents to justify innovation in the software industry; the ability to do things faster is, demonstrably, enough to drive innovation. Patents are hurting a ton more than they're helping.

fragment · #5 08-12-2009, 11:05 PM

Patents have been granted for some ridiculous things that shouldn't have been considered non-obvious and then been interpreted in bizarrely broad ways. It's particularly jarring when people do that around open formats like XML.

Jug Pilot · #6 08-13-2009, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Microsoft became aware of i4i when the firm was tapped by the U.S. government after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to help “connect the dots” between different agencies, Mr. Vulpe said. Rather than licence i4i's technology, Microsoft chose instead to just incorporate it into its Word products, he added.

Anyone keeping track of the number of times MS has done this? It's a great argument for limiting the size of corporations.

For those that don’t know, to get a MS windows logo on your product you have to send them copies of your source code and hardware schematics.

lisarea · #7 08-13-2009, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Microsoft became aware of i4i when the firm was tapped by the U.S. government after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to help “connect the dots” between different agencies, Mr. Vulpe said.

Fuck this sentence.

I had to write a custom XML schema to parse that shit.

Anyways, here is the complaint. The patent in question is there as an attachment. I only skimmed it so far because it is long and boring and they're all like talking about TROFF and shit for a long time first, but from what I'm seeing they're talking like they invented XML. Or hell, like they invented SGML. I could be wrong, because I'm really tired from when I had to read that one horrible sentence, but it looks like a really lame patent, even as software patents go.

It clearly sucks, but really, it couldn't have happened to a bigger patent troll. They've patented XML a few times themselves, as I recall.

So this is a terrible thing, but I am still going to roffel about it.

Adam · #8 08-13-2009, 02:58 PM

Wow. I just skimmed the patent and, yah, it's really lame. It's not even like they claim to have invented XML...it's just a very high level description of how one might go about writing a parser for a markup language.

lisarea · #9 08-13-2009, 04:05 PM

OK, so if this is accurate (I can't read the opinion because it's not even 8:30 and I've already exceeded my maximum daily allowance of PDFs), I think I might have a pretty good case that both Microsoft and this other company have stolen my intellectual property.

Master Taran · #10 09-13-2009, 05:36 PM

Maybe not. Update.

lisarea · #11 09-13-2009, 05:53 PM

lol @

Quote:

The disputed patent covers a method of entering information into fields on a computer screen without using a keyboard.

Who is the target audience for this description? 19th century peasants? Dogs?

Plant Woman · #12 09-14-2009, 12:34 AM

The Lone Ranger · #13 09-14-2009, 02:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jug Pilot

Quote:

Microsoft became aware of i4i when the firm was tapped by the U.S. government after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to help “connect the dots” between different agencies, Mr. Vulpe said. Rather than licence i4i's technology, Microsoft chose instead to just incorporate it into its Word products, he added.

Anyone keeping track of the number of times MS has done this? It's a great argument for limiting the size of corporations.

For those that don’t know, to get a MS windows logo on your product you have to send them copies of your source code and hardware schematics.

Indeed. It seems that most of Microsoft's best-known products were either bought, copied from, or outright stolen from someone else. A "Microsoft innovation" is more or less a contradiction in terms, so far as I can tell.

Cheers,

Michael

naturalist.atheist · #14 09-14-2009, 05:19 AM

Patents are a big joke. If you go to a patent attorney and he finds prior art the first thing out of his mouth is "we can circumvent it". And he will charge you $50,000 for the privilege. But it is not worth a red cent. Because how these things are settled is in court and whomever has the best layers wins. A patent is just the rather minor entry fee.