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The i4i v. Microsoft Orders and Permanent Injunction - Updated |
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Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 02:41 PM EDT
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I have the court documents for you in the i4i v. Microsoft case, the judgment, the permanent injunction, and the memorandum and order, which explains the legal reasoning in support of the order. I also got for you the original complaint by i4i, Microsoft's answer with counterclaim, and i4i's reply to the counterclaim, so you can understand what it was all about. The law firm that won has put out a press release. Microsoft, of course,
will appeal. It has 60 days to do so.
You probably think I am delighted. I am not. I hate software patents. And this is precisely why. It is karmic that this happened to Microsoft, who bullies Linux with patent threats and just got an XML patent of its own on August 4th that could, presumably, be used against the entire market. How stupid do we have to be to grant patents on software? On software *standards*? This is what happens. Now do you see it? FOSS has been taking the lead in trying to educate the world that patents are toxic for software. They disrupt and they block innovation. Software and patents need to get a divorce. You might like to read Red Hat's amicus brief that it submitted in the Bilski case to see why software patents are particularly destructive to the FOSS development model. As for Microsoft's recent effort to define "open standards" to, as Dana Blankenhorn describes it,
"mandate standards bodies to consider patented, protected, proprietary technology on a par with truly open source offerings", what has just happened to the XML standard gives what I consider the absolutely final and complete answer to such a specious argument. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present Exhibit A. It's not open if a judge can shut it down. Or a vendor. Is that hard?
Here's the docket entry:
08/11/2009 - 412 - MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER granting in part 346 Motion for enhanced damages and attorneys' fees; granting in part 364 Sealed Patent Motion for permanent injunction; granting in part 349 Sealed Patent Motion for permanent injunction; granting 350 Sealed Patent Motion for post verdict damages, pre-judgment interest, and post-judgment interest; all other motions are DENIED: denying 345 Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law; denying 347 Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law; denying 348 Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law; denying 351 Motion for New Trial; denying 353 Motion for New Trial; denying 356 Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law; denying 359 Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law; denying 370 Sealed Motion to stay injunctive relief; denying 389 Sealed Motion to strike. The permanent injunction provided for herein will be memoralized in a seperate order. Signed by Judge Leonard Davis on 08/11/09. cc:attys 8-11-09 (mll, ) (Entered: 08/11/2009)
08/11/2009 - 413 - PERMANENT INJUNCTION. Signed by Judge Leonard Davis on 08/11/09. cc:attys 8-11-09(mll, ) (Entered: 08/11/2009)
08/11/2009 - 414 FINAL JUDGMENT. Deft Microsoft Corp is found to have unlawfully infringed US Patent 5,787,449, and to have infringed the '449 patent willfully. The '449 patent is valid and enforceable, and Michel Vulpe is found not to have engaged in inequitable conduct with respect to the '449 patent. i4i's damage award is found not barred by laches. The Court awards damages to i4i for Microsoft's infringement of the '449 patent in the amount of $200,000,000. i4i is further awarded enhanced damages of $40,000,000 for Microsoft's willful infringement. i4i is further awarded post-verdict damages of $144,060 per day from 5-21-2009 until the date of this Final Judgment. i4i is further awarded pre-judgment interest of $37,097,032 up to 5-20-2009 and $21,102 per day thereafter until the date of this Final Judgment. i4i is entitled to post-judgment interest for any time period between the entry of this Final Judgment and the date upon which i4i receives payment from Microsoft as ordered herein. Microsoft is enjoined from infringing the '449 Patent. The terms of that injunction are contained in the separate Order of this Court. Except for the Court's more detailed injunction terms as contained in a separate Order, all relief not specifically granted herein is DENIED. All pending motions not previously resolved are DENIED. Signed by Judge Leonard Davis on 08/11/09. cc:attys 8-11-09(mll, ) (Entered: 08/11/2009)
And the extras, the i4i Complaint, the Microsoft Answer and the i4i Reply, all PDFs. The issue is Custom XML, which is a Microsoft thing. Here's a page that may be disappearing any time now, Doug Mahugh teaching how to use Custom XML and how it's the best thing since white bread. The ODF folks tried to explain that it wasn't a good idea, although for different reasons. ODF uses
extensible metadata instead, last I looked. Groklaw member stegu explains it like this: "Custom XML" refers to content within the
file that is of a different XML format, with a separate
"custom schema" to describe that content. The problem
with such content is that there is no way for a standard
to describe how such data should be interpreted, as it
is by definition in a "custom format" and can be any
kind of data. That is why "custom XML" is not allowed in
ODF documents, and that is one of the reasons why OOXML
is such a miserable standard. Well, that's water under the bridge now, that discussion. Patents trump everything. That's what's wrong with them. One thing that wrong with them. But what if Custom XML really was the best thing since white bread? Then the entire US must pay i4i to use it in Word going forward. Or Microsoft has to remove it. Microsoft is rich. It will find a solution. But what if your company isn't so rich? What do you do? People tend to think about patents from the perspective of the owner. Yay! Megabucks! I hit the lottery! But think about it from the perspective of the public. You get to pay more now for Word or you can't use all of its intended functionality. i4i, a Canadian company, cleans up. That's the system. We are talking about a *standard*. Who invented this patent system? It doesn't work with software. Period. Really. Do something, somebody, please.
[ Update: Some interesting reactions in the media I thought would interest you: -
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, ComputerWorld:
In this case, though, i4i isn't a patent troll. It's a real company that uses its patented technology in real products. It also believes that Microsoft has used its patent in Word. And, what's to the point, they convinced Judge Davis of this.... Microsoft may very well have to stop sales or disable Open XML, Word's new standard document format. This injunction will not be easy to dodge.... Now, I am not a lawyer, but I know something about IP law and a fair amount about markup languages since I've been covering them since SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), showed up in the late 1980s and before anyone had dreamed up the Web's HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) or XML. To me, the i4i patent reads like a classic, over-reaching patent that covers prior art, which should have prevented it from ever becoming a patent.
- Preston Gralla, "It's time to banish patent lawyers":
Like Microsoft or loath it, it's clear that the recent ban against Word being sold because of a potential patent infringement represents everything bad about patent law. The patent that Microsoft is said to infringe upon is one that should never have been issued, and is the kind that hurts the spread of new technologies....It's a clear example of a patent that should never have been issued because the technology it describes is far too broad, and covers far too much ground.
- Dana Blankenhorn, ZDNET, "When will Microsoft admit the truth about software patents?":
The truth being they are more trouble than they are worth....Just file a case to overturn State Street, or limit your lobbying to a call for an end to software patents.
Interesting, no? There's one more headline, but only to debunk, Matt Asay's Microsoft's 'Custom XML' patent suit could put ODF at risk. Actually, it doesn't, so far as I know. Custom XML was one of the reasons ODF folks thought the OOXML "standard" was crudely designed, and that it had no place in a standard. It was a big discussion, and basically, to the extent I understood it, the issue was this: that it was a short cut on Microsoft's part, so it wouldn't have to do things in the usual standard way but could just keep things as they were, dumping a lot of processing stuff into the format, where, ODF folks said, it didn't belong.
The very name should tell you why. The idea of a standard is everyone is on the same page. That contributes to interoperability. Customization, while necessary in practice, needs to stay separate from the standard, or it isn't standardized, if you know what I mean. Now it's customized instead, and that does not lead to ease of interoperability. Custom schemas, the discussion went, don't belong embedded. So ODF has a different way of doing things. Feel free to correct any fine points here, guys, but the bottom line is everyone here is telling me that ODF does not use Custom XML. You'd need a patent lawyer you pay for to tell you more as to any specific liability issues.
As it happens, there's a screenshot on CNET of a technical preview of Microsoft Office 2010, and you'll see Custom XML listed. - end update.]
Here are the terms from the permanent injunction and then the final judgment, as text:
***************************
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
TYLER DIVISION
i4i LIMITED PARTNERSHIP and
INFRASTRUCTURES FOR INFORMATION, INC.,
Plaintiffs
vs.
MICROSOFT CORPORATION,
Defendant.
_______________
CASE NO. 6:07CV113
PATENT CASE
_______________
PERMANENT INJUNCTION
In accordance with the Court’s contemporaneously issued memorandum opinion and order in this case, Microsoft Corporation is hereby permanently enjoined from performing the following actions with Microsoft Word 2003, Microsoft Word 2007, and Microsoft Word products not more than colorably different from Microsoft Word 2003 or Microsoft Word 2007 (collectively “Infringing and Future Word Products”) during the term of U.S. Patent No. 5,787,449:
1. selling, offering to sell, and/or importing in or into the United States any Infringing and Future Word Products that have the capability of opening a .XML, .DOCX, or .DOCM file (“an XML file”) containing custom XML;
2. using any Infringing and Future Word Products to open an XML file containing custom XML;
3. instructing or encouraging anyone to use any Infringing and Future Word Products to open an XML file containing custom XML;
4. providing support or assistance to anyone that describes how to use any infringing and Future Word Products to open an XML file containing custom XML; and
5. testing, demonstrating, or marketing the ability of the Infringing and Future Word Products to open an XML file containing custom XML.
This injunction does not apply to any of the above actions wherein the Infringing and Future Word Products open an XML file as plain text.
This injunction also does not apply to any of the above actions wherein any of the Infringing and Future Word Products, upon opening an XML file, applies a custom tranform that removes all custom XML elements.
This injunction further does not apply to Microsoft providing support or assistance to anyone that describes how to use any of the infringing products to open an XML file containing custom XML if that product was licensed or sold before the date this injunction takes effect.
This injunction becomes effective 60 days from the date of this order.
So ORDERED and SIGNED this 11th day of August, 2009.
[signature]
LEONARD DAVIS
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
***********************************
***********************************
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
TYLER DIVISION
i4i LIMITED PARTNERSHIP and
INFRASTRUCTURES FOR INFORMATION, INC.,
Plaintiffs
vs.
MICROSOFT CORPORATION,
Defendant.
_______________
CASE NO. 6:07CV113
PATENT CASE
_______________
FINAL JUDGMENT
Pursuant to Rule 58 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, consistent with the Court’s contemporaneous Memorandum Opinion and Order, and in consideration of the jury verdict delivered on May 20, 2009 and the entirety of the record available to this Court, the Court ORDERS AND ENTERS FINAL JUDGMENT as follows: -
Defendant Microsoft Corporation (“Microsoft”) is found to have unlawfully infringed U.S. Patent No. 5,787,449 (the “‘449 patent”).
- Defendant Microsoft is found to have infringed the ‘449 patent willfully.
- The ‘449 Patent is valid and enforceable, and Michel Vulpe is found not to have engaged in inequitable conduct with respect to the ‘449 patent.
- i4i, LP’s and Infrastructures for Information, Inc.’s (collectively “i4i”) damage award is found not barred by laches.
- The Court awards damages to i4i for Microsoft’s infringement of the ‘449 patent in the amount of $200,000,000.
- i4i is further awarded enhanced damages of $40,000,000 for Microsoft’s willful infringement.
- i4i is further awarded post-verdict damages of $144,060 per day from May 21, 2009 until the date of this Final Judgment.
- i4i is further awarded pre-judgment interest of $37,097,032 up to May 20, 2009 and $21,102 per day thereafter until the date of this Final Judgment.
- i4i is entitled to post-judgment interest as provided for by 28 U.S.C. § 1961 for any time period between the entry of this Final Judgment and the date upon which i4i receives payment from Microsoft as ordered herein.
- Microsoft is enjoined from infringing the ‘449 Patent. The terms of that injunction are contained in a separate Order of this Court.
- Except for the Court’s more detailed injunction terms as contained in a separate Order, all relief not specifically granted herein is DENIED.
- All pending motions not previously resolved are DENIED.
So ORDERED and SIGNED this 11th day of August, 2009.
[signature]
LEONARD DAVIS
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 03:05 PM EDT |
bye Microsoft. Couldn't happen to a bunch of nicer guys. [ Reply to This | # ]
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- This should not happen to anyone... - Authored by: mtew on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 03:27 PM EDT
- Microsoft standard practice-- Steal everything - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 03:31 PM EDT
- Not exactly bye - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 04:05 PM EDT
- It's just nice to see M$'s hypocrisy exposed ... - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 04:28 PM EDT
- Not just Microsoft - EVERYONE - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 05:34 PM EDT
- The i4i v. Microsoft Orders and Permanent Injunction - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 03:14 AM EDT
- The i4i v. Microsoft Orders and Permanent Injunction - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 03:57 PM EDT
- The i4i v. Microsoft Orders and Permanent Injunction - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, August 14 2009 @ 09:12 AM EDT
- Prior Art - Authored by: brian-from-fl on Friday, August 14 2009 @ 12:46 PM EDT
- Prior Art - Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, August 15 2009 @ 10:55 AM EDT
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Authored by: hutcheson on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 03:05 PM EDT |
(please enter all corrections here) [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: rsi on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 03:05 PM EDT |
Why does a search on the Patent, #5,787,499 show that the patent was
withdrawn???
USPO
Free Patents
Online
Patent Storm
Am I
missing something????
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Nick_UK on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 03:08 PM EDT |
To quote -> "How stupid do we have to be to grant patents on
software?"
We are not PJ, but the patent office (and whoever controls it) is... and still
is stupid.
Look at the stuff Microsoft patent, let alone all the rest of the 'wanna control
the Internet tribe'.
Until every one big organisation STOPS doing this, it will be forever a war on
who gets the most patents granted to the most obvious unpatented work (that
somebody else worked on and donated freely in most cases) - let alone standards
(MS especially cannot agree standards anyway).
Nick[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Boundless on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 03:38 PM EDT |
So will MS:
a. Appeal this and perhaps learn.
b. Appeal this and warm up their own XML suits.
c. Settle the case and warm up their own XML suits?
They've clearly seen that XML patents can be effectively
used for legal terrorism.
________
IANAL - Barratries not included.[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: tknarr on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 03:39 PM EDT |
I think it's appropriate to be delighted at this decision, PJ. Software
patents won't go away, or even get any significant limits on them, as long as
the big guys think that software patents are more to their advantage than not.
To get any significant changes, the large players like Microsoft will have to be
hurt, and hurt badly, by software patents. So decisions like this are a good
thing, they drive the point home to the big players that software patents not
only don't give them any advantage, they make them vulnerable to
harrassment by entities they can't counter. [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: hardmath on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 03:44 PM EDT |
That is the $64M question...
My suspicion is that Microsoft uses the term in a relative sense, meaning the
ability to include non-Schema conforming XML in one of the document files
associated with (say) an Office application. Similar in general terms to
Microsoft's use of "XML data islands" in HTML.
Software patents involving algorithms are threatening enough, but patents on
data representation are worse.
regards, hardmath
---
"Mail-order schools lure fledgling code jockeys with promises of big bucks and
excitement. But a new survey finds hirings are rare." Computerworld, 12/11/95[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: argee on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 03:50 PM EDT |
And, keep in mind, that deep pockets like Microsoft, make
for very attractive patent infringement targets.
You sue me for a PI, you might get $10 ...
You sue MS, you might get $400 million.
Who's the better target?
(I am talking actual suits, not patent threats)
---
--
argee[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 03:53 PM EDT |
Personally, I think this may be the best thing that's happened on the Software
Patent front in years.
Because
-it's happening to a company EVERYONE knows.
-It concerns software that almost everyone knows and has used. (It's not just
some obscure memory allocation subroutine in a specific kernel of some OS
nobody's ever heard of)
-It's a clear cut case of a Patent hindering innovation and hurting the public
at large.
-And it's going to cost LOTS of money.
This would be the perfect case that EVERYONE could understand and rally behind
in order to FINALLY reform the patent system and remove all software patents.
It's perfect!
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 04:25 PM EDT |
Well, combined with the recent patent on podcasts, I
don't know what it's going to take to abolish software patents.
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Imaginos1892 on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 04:28 PM EDT |
Discuss off topics here. [ Reply to This | # ]
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- Barracuda Networks vs Trend Micro - Authored by: KayZee on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 05:15 PM EDT
- OT: Thanks PJ! - Authored by: grouch on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 02:43 AM EDT
- Serious danger to KDE, from Microsoft! - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 10:13 AM EDT
- Failing News Picks RSS? - Authored by: svyerkgeniiy on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 10:19 AM EDT
- OT: Infinite Regression in 'Language' - Authored by: Peter H. Salus on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 11:06 AM EDT
- ARRGH!! Playnig DVDs on Fedora 11 - Authored by: Imaginos1892 on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 11:39 AM EDT
- World's first formal machine-checked proof of a general-purpose operating system - seL4 - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 01:27 PM EDT
- Microsoft's new search - Built on open-source - Authored by: SilverWave on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 06:49 PM EDT
- EFF - Snatching Rights - 'Burning Man' Owns You - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 08:21 PM EDT
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 04:43 PM EDT |
Let's hope Microsft does like Amazon and pulls Word from everyones machine on
the next patch Tuesday. Too bad the judge didn't order a recall.[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: JamesK on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 04:52 PM EDT |
Think about the name of that company... What goes around, comes around. ;-)
---
There are 10 kinds of people, those who understand binary and those who don't.
[ Reply to This | # ]
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- Apropos - Authored by: luvr on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 08:42 AM EDT
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Authored by: Zak3056 on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 04:54 PM EDT |
Strange as it may seem, Microsoft is actually an ally in the fight against
software patents. While they've spread some patent FUD, it's important to note
that they haven't actually sued anyone--and the chances of them doing so are
near zero. In general, they play the game pretty much the same way an outfit
like IBM does: defensively. This is summed up in an (internal) statement by
Bill Gates from almost 20 years ago:
If people had understood
how patents would be granted when most of today’s ideas were invented, and had
taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today. I feel
certain that some large company will patent some obvious thing related to
interface, object orientation, algorithm, application extension or other crucial
technique. If we assume this company has no need of any of our patents then the
have a 17-year right to take as much of our profits as they want. The solution
to this is patent exchanges with large companies and patenting as much as we
can. Amazingly we havn’t done any patent exchanges tha I am aware of. Amazingly
we havn’t found a way to use our licensing position to avoid having our own
customers cause patent problems for us. I know these aren’t simply problems but
they deserve more effort by both Legal and other groups. For example we need to
do a patent exchange with HP as part of our new relationship. In many
application categories straighforward thinking ahead allows you to come up with
patentable ideas. A recent paper from the League for Programming Freedom
(available from the Legal department) explains some problems with the way
patents are applied to software.
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: clemenstimpler on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 04:56 PM EDT |
From the opinion of the judge:
Finally, Microsoft argues that no
reasonable juror could find that Microsoft “sold” or “offered
for sale” any
product within the scope of § 271(c). Microsoft’s essentially legal argument is
that no
software could form the basis of contributory infringement because i4i
only asserted “process”
claims during trial. However, Microsoft failed to raise
this argument before the case was submitted
to the jury. None of Microsoft’s
other objections or requests prior to submission of this case to the
jury
addressed the issue of whether i4i was required prove the sale of something
tangible used in the
infringing processes. Furthermore, Microsoft did not object
to the Court’s jury instructions on these
grounds or request a particular
instruction addressing this very specific issue. See Joint
Proposed
Instructions, Docket No. 320-2 at 30-32. As a result, Microsoft’s JMOL
on this issue is waived.
And take this quote from the
amicus brief from Redmond in Bilski:
Before software can be
contained in and continuously performed by a computer, an actual physical
embodiment of the software must be delivered by CD-ROM or some other means
capable of interfacing with a computer. See Microsoft Corp. v. AT&T Corp.,
127 S. Ct. 1746, 1756 (2007). This is in contrast to the concept of software
detached from any physical embodiment or activating medium, which, at that basic
level, is merely a set of instructions....
Programming "creates a new machine,
because a general purpose computer in effect becomes a special purpose computer
once it is programmed to perform particular functions pursuant to instructions
from program software." Alappat, 33 F.3d at 1545; see also Aristocrat Techs.
Australia Pty. Ltd. v. Intl. Game Tech., No. 2007-1419, slip op. at 8 (Fed. Cir.
March 28, 2008). The fact that the program software, divorced from the computer
or other physical medium, might be termed an algorithm or might incorporate
mathematical concepts is irrelevant. All machines operate pursuant to
algorithms, and computers are no different. Once the algorithm or software takes
physical form as part of a computer (or other machine), Section 101 is
satisfied, for "a computer ... is apparatus, not mathematics." Alappat, 33 F.3d
at 1545; cf. Microsoft Corp. v. AT&T Corp., 127 S. Ct. at 1750 (machine
within scope of patent's apparatus claim is created when computer is programmed
with software).
Is it conceivable that they are in the process of
absorbing their first lesson in why software patents are evil?
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 05:06 PM EDT |
Has anyone else read this patent yet? I just have and it strikes me as a
really dumb idea in the first place.
What it is essentially suggesting
is that for a given document you create two files; one contains the actual text
of the document, the other the formatting data (what is referred to as the
"metacodes"). The formatting data then makes reference to where in the text
file each format control applies. If you applied this to something like an XML
file, it effectively means that all the tags are in one file and the text is in
the other. The tags file then says "apply tag <x> to characters 283 to
389".
...or at least that's how I read it. I really do not see the
point of doing it that way since we have XSL stylesheets these days which
achieve the same end goal without separating the document into two
files.
Quite how this applies to Word or OOXML, I have no idea since
being XML the format is an example of the "old" way of doing things that the
patent bemoans with the markup and text in the same file. Given that the patent
only goes as far as discussing SGML and does not mention XML, where the notion
of "custom XML" came from is not really clear. The plantiff's complaints do
not, as usual, contain much information about how the patent is supposed to have
been infringed by the defendant, and the replies are not too helpful in that
respect either.
I think it would take a little more digging to find out
what went on in this case to find out how such an odd patent got applied in this
way at attain such an absurd result.
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: kevinsnotalawyer on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 05:19 PM EDT |
I was perusing the Web a bit because Texas is known for its friendliness
to
patents. I found
this on Wikipedia
about Judge Leonard Davis:
He received his undergraduate
degree in Mathematics from the University of
Texas at Arlington in 1970, and
his Master of Management Science Degree
from Texas Christian University in
1974. Prior to entering law school he
worked as a computer programmer and
systems analyst.
Interesting. --- "I declare you
later, if I can. And thus, that received more stupider stupidest
the process in the history of the world rights. And a complete average batch." [ Reply to This | # ]
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- Signature? - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 03:53 AM EDT
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 05:35 PM EDT |
Perhaps I'm missing something, but isn't their prior art in how programming
languages are standardised? Maybe someone with more expertise could explain.
My take is below.
Standardised languages are defined in BNF. This defines the format of a
structured document we all knows as "source code". Compiler-compilers
take BNF or similar and generate programs (compilers) that read these documents
in pretty much the way described in the so-called patent. This would suggest
that the idea isn't particularly novel - it just hadn't been applied to the
field of displayable documents at that time.
There's an old phrase "we are all standing on the shoulders of giants"
(I. Newton) that seems apt in describing how novel this patent is.[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: billyskank on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 07:07 PM EDT |
That's because for a long time now, people have been trained to think about
everything only from the point of view of the owner. Ownership rights trump
everything, whether the property is physical or "intellectual," and
the very idea of common ownership (i.e. the public domain or commons) is
suspect. People are very accustomed to thinking from the point of view of the
property owner, without noticing that in the vast majority of cases, that isn't
going to be them.
---
It's not the software that's free; it's you.[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 07:22 PM EDT |
It is entirely too easy to think that software patents is the only place where
this problem of BS patents shows up.
If you take N number of A and M number of B, and mix them together, should you
get a patent for this? This is more or less the same as someone patenting NaCl
(common table salt).
If one looks at the easiest problem (N=1 M=1), one immediately runs into
nitinol. The phase field isn't of zero width, and the effect is changed by
alloying or mass fraction Ni or Ti. Nitinol has been patented. Is this a
situation of patenting a 1:1 ratio of atoms?
Fine, maybe the nitinol patent survives. But if one looks at the materials
industry, there are no end of patents about compositions of matter. Where does
dumb automaton mixing atoms stop and some actual intelligence start?
Much of the mixing of atoms (metallurgy, ceramics, pharmaceuticals, others) has
no intelligence required in finding some useful product. It is just a matter of
trying different ratios and testing them, and maybe something useful comes out
of it.
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: mjr on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 08:08 PM EDT |
I agree with those who think this is a good thing. It's not enough, of
course; probably we'll just see a bigger ransom change hands soon, the
injunction likely being a negotiation tactic. But we need lots more of this kind
of suits to target the big players and as widely used products as
possible.
Sure, any gains of the trolls will be ill-gotten, and there
will be collateral damage, but I don't believe in abolition or any useful reform
of patents until there can be no question in the mind of the most daft and
well-lubricated legislator that they are, indeed, a Bad Idea. And it doesn't
hurt to hurt the strong pro-patent lobby while doing so.
I'll refer to my
earlier blog article (parental advisory: explicit content) from June for
more thoughts on this. [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 08:18 PM EDT |
Archive wmv is now available.
President's Council of Advisors on Science and
Technology [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: dio gratia on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 08:58 PM EDT |
On March 8, 2007 the i4i complaint was filed in the Eastern District of
Texas, and nine days later the ISO announces a common patent
policy with the ITU and IEC:
The policy adopted by the three
organizations strongly encourages the disclosure of patented technology which is
necessary for the implementation of a standard before the standardization
process has been completed. It allows for companies’ innovative technologies to
be included in standards as long as such intellectual property is made available
under reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions. In addition, IEC,
ISO and ITU have jointly adopted Guidelines for the Implementation of the Common
Patent Policy and a Patent Statement and License Declaration
Form.
The policy provides for RAND patent licensing on standards,
and nicely dovetailed with Microsoft's OOXML standard efforts. You could note
that most of Microsoft's OOXML actions with ISO occurred after these
dates.
There is no visible indication that Microsoft disclosed the patent
threat to OOXML. Should there have been a duty of disclosure? A casual reading
of 35 USC 271 (b)("Whoever actively induces infringement of a patent shall be
liable as an infringer") would also appear to leave Microsoft vulnerable for
infringement of any OOXML standards adopter's manufacture, distribution and
use.
Could Microsoft's problems with the i4i patent be larger than just
Word?
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, August 12 2009 @ 11:43 PM EDT |
Here is my take on the patent term of 17 years. I believe that the patent term
was originally based on average life of person, 1/2 to 1/3 of someone's life. It
was also probably based on how long a thing was useful, a half-life concept.
Also, how long it took to develop.
So, software changes at a rapid pace. What if software patents were only valid
for a year? This allows for someone to make some money, but allows for
innovation to continue.
Granted trolls will cry foul, but I have yet to see the guaranteed profit
amendment in the constitution. Oh, wait a minute, there are Government Sponsored
Profit Companies.[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: The Mad Hatter r on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 01:14 AM EDT |
You probably think I am delighted. I am not. I hate software
patents. And this is precisely why. It is karmic that this happened to
Microsoft, who bullies Linux with patent threats and just got an XML patent of
its own on August 4th that could, presumably, be used against the entire market.
How stupid do we have to be to grant patents on software? On software
*standards*? This is what happens. Now do you see it?
PJ,
there is no difference between a software patent and a hardware patent. None. In
both cases an intellectual monopoly is granted for an idea. Thomas Jefferson had
some brilliant words to say about ideas:
“He who receives ideas
from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights
his taper at mine receives light without darkening me”
Whether
your idea encompasses software or hardware, it's only an idea. When you share an
idea it doesn't make you poorer. Those, like Microsoft, who have a vested
interest in Intellectual Monopoly, claim that they need this support to be
competitive. That they need the ability to overcharge (or lock competition out
of a market) to be competitive. Are they that inefficient that they can't
operate in an open market?
FOSS has been taking the lead
in trying to educate the world that patents are toxic for software. They disrupt
and they block innovation. Software and patents need to get a divorce. You might
like to read Red Hat's amicus brief that it submitted in the Bilski case to see
why software patents are particularly destructive to the FOSS development model.
Hardware patents are just as destructive to the
development models of makers of automobiles, planes, ships, pharmaceuticals,
etc. They raise the cost of goods to the consumer, with no payback to the
consumer. Seriously. Patents are issued with the expectation that there will be
a payback, as when the patent expires other entities can use it. But what if no
one ever reads the patent to gain the knowledge held therein? In that case the
Intellectual Monopoly was granted, and there was no payback.
This has
become a point that has raised considerable concern in the last several years. I
would recommend that everyone read Patents and the
Regress of Useful Arts by Dr. Andrew W. Torrance & Dr. Bill Tomlinson,
published May 15, 2009.
--- Wayne
http://crankyoldnutcase.blogspot.com/
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Authored by: macrorodent on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 02:03 AM EDT |
I got around to skimming the article by Doug Mahugh. The idea stands on its
own merits: In short, you define a way to display and even edit data from a
separate document, by describing how to do so in your main document. While I
don't think this has a place in any formal standard, it is a useful technique,
and one that has probably been invented many times previously in different
contexts. For example, I'm sure people have been doing something similar with
the macros in sophisticated editors or word processors, including earlier
versions of MS Office. XML just makes it simpler, by introducing standard ways
to write references to parts of the second document.
And now this supposedly
is forbidden without paying the troll under the bridge. Yes, yet another
demonstration of the evil of software patents.
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 03:16 AM EDT |
Has no one yet realized the delicious irony that MSFT lost this case to a
company called i4i, as in "an eye for an eye?"[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 10:22 AM EDT |
<tongueincheek>
Do I detect some annoyance that not only is this a ridiculous
application of the Patent system, but even worse, Canadians
benefit!
</tongueincheek>[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: JamesK on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 10:44 AM EDT |
"Vulpe said i4i had been working closely with Microsoft years ago to include its
technology as a plug-in for certain corporate and government clients. Microsoft
initially had limited interest in the feature because it considered it a niche
product, he said.
That apparently changed by the time Microsoft released its
2003 version of Word, which included so-called custom XML capabilities. That's
when Vulpe said he and i4i's investors became concerned that Microsoft had
infringed their patent, which was filed in 1994 and granted in 1998."
Toronto Star
Perhaps
Microsoft is up to it's old tricks again.
--- There are 10 kinds of
people, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 12:03 PM EDT |
Is setting the default output format of Word to .doc instead of .docx enough to
avoid an end user lawsuit, should i4i choose to pursue such a thing?[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: DMF on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 12:25 PM EDT |
I gather that Judge Davis' ruling has effect only in the USA - or does it? Is
Microsoft bound to obey the injunctions worldwide, since it is headquartered
here?
Perhaps this case will become an argument for those who
promote software patents in the EU. "See? Without the protection of software
patents, a large organization can rob a small one of 10s of millions of Euros."
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 01:28 PM EDT |
From the Register is reporting
‘Dell: Linux v Windows netbook returns a 'non-issue'’ [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 03:08 PM EDT |
This happened a few days before the I4I judgement was handed down:
Microsoft granted patent on XML word processing
files
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 03:28 PM EDT |
Here is an old article from 2000.
i4i Bags
Significant XML Contract
September 29,
2000
i4i has inked a contract for the largest ever deployment of XML
authoring licences.
The contract with the United States Patent and
Trademark Office to provide 30,000 licences seems to confirm i4i as the world's
dominant supplier of XML collaborative content development tools.
"We
have supplied more seats in one implementation than all our competitors
combined," said Rick Makos, chief executive officer and president of i4i.
(...)
i4i's S4/TEXT will help the USPTO implement a new
electronic system for filing patents. Lawyers and patent agents will be able to
file patent applications using Microsoft Word, the world's most widely used
software application.
(...)
"The i4i technology makes the
electronic patent like a regular Word document," said Shaw. "That is what we are
hoping will move us forward in our quest for customer acceptance."
i4i is not a patent "troll". They have patents on real
products being used by real customers, and they are one of the leaders in their
field. Microsoft has recently incorporated equivalent features of their software
in MS Office, and i4i are defending this threat to their own products with their
patents. There is no patent "reform" that would have prevented this case. The
only thing that could prevent this from occurring in future is to eliminate
software patents altogether.
This raises a real question though. If the
US Patent Office uses i4i's patented XML software then Microsoft's IP lawyers
have been working with this software on a daily basis. You have "IP experts"
using another company's "patented technology" on a daily basis, while one of the
key new features in the leading product of their own employer was infringing
upon this "patented technology". Why didn't Microsoft's lawyers point out this
infringement to their employer? I can think of only two possible explanations.
Either Microsoft's lawyers are utterly incompetent, or else the whole premise of
software patents ("teaching" of new technologies to others in return for a
temporary state granted monopoly) is worthless.
I think we can dismiss
the former (incompetence) possibility and say that this case clearly
demonstrates that software patents cannot be "reformed", only tolerated or
eliminated. If professional patent lawyers cannot spot infringements when they
are staring them in the face, how is is reasonable for software programmers to
do so?
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Authored by: JamesK on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 04:35 PM EDT |
It would appear someone forgot to create this earlier.
---
There are 10 kinds of people, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 07:31 PM EDT |
Microsoft is enjoined from:
1. selling, offering to sell, and/or importing in or into the United States any
Infringing and Future Word Products that have the capability of opening a .XML,
.DOCX, or .DOCM file (“an XML file”) containing custom XML;
This doesn't make sense to me.
My understanding of XML is that the body contains tags like "start
region" and matching "end region" enclosing data.
The regions have types, and types can be understood using schemas or DTD's. You
can't understand the contents without the additional info. But you CAN read the
file. You just hop over the parts you don't understand.
Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it true that EVERY program which reads XML
can read XML containing custom XML?
As corollary, isn't it true that any program which correctly reads XML (even
without understanding) violates this injunction?
Wouldn't wordpad reading test XML be at risk by similar reasoning?
Has i4i patented, and a judge enforced, a patent on the general use of nested
parentheses enclosing uninterpreted data?
Microsoft needs to pull out their "tooth4tooth" patents, and bargain.
That, of course, won't solve the systemic patent problem.
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 08:10 PM EDT |
Express your sympathy for Microsoft here... [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: leopardi on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 08:59 PM EDT |
Could Microsoft circumvent the court order by disabling
OOXML in Word and
defaulting to ODF?
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Authored by: bigbert on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 09:34 PM EDT |
I wonder what my CEO is going to say now that we have converted all our .DOC
files to DOCX - against my advice? (And stuck them all inside a SharePoint
server).
This is what happens if you trust your data to a proprietary standard.
---
--------------------------
Computo, ergo sum.[ Reply to This | # ]
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- .DOCX - Authored by: PJ on Thursday, August 13 2009 @ 11:18 PM EDT
- .BOSSX - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, August 14 2009 @ 06:57 PM EDT
- .DOCX - Authored by: Imaginos1892 on Friday, August 14 2009 @ 02:48 PM EDT
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Authored by: JimDiGriz on Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 07:50 AM EDT |
http://www.pcworld.com/article/170134/Court_Ban_on_Microsoft_Word_Wont_Hurt_User
s.html
Quote:
"But, interestingly enough, he’s also the only sitting federal judge who
has a master’s degree in computer science and who worked as a programmer before
attending law school and becoming a civil (patent & IP) attorney."[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 08:35 AM EDT |
There are a number of comments along the lines of "Maybe now Microsoft will
see that SW patents are bad".
You need to understand 2
things.
- This judgement does not hurt Microsoft
- Microsoft
will still lobby for software patents after this
judgement
The point that many of you are missing is that $500
million is not really a lot of money for Microsoft. The occasional
$500-million court loss is just a cost of doing business.
Software
patents are strategically important to Microsoft. They offer the best
chance of shutting down major Free Software projects. That chance is worth
many billions to Microsoft. In the long run, Free Software is a threat to
Microsoft's entire business model. If Free Software really took off, that could
choke off a revenue stream of approximately $30 billion per
year.
Now, do you understand why an adverse judgement of a mere
$500 million or so is going to have absolutely no effect on Microsoft's
pro-patent lobbying? [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, August 17 2009 @ 10:28 PM EDT |
It seems that all the patent teaches is that two separate data stores be used to
separate mark-up from content with the mark-up somehow indexing into the
content.
If this is correct, how can there not be prior art to this patent?
Off the top of my head, almost all scripts that transform content would
anticipate this patent surely? For example, what about subtitling formats like
like the separate subtitle files in a DVD? Markup (the subtitle and the offset)
is in a separate file to the content (the videostream).
If this patent is valid, will they seek royalties from DVD manufacturers? When
did the DVD format get finalised??[ Reply to This | # ]
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