About on the level of Microsoft's Page Up/Page Down patent.
Microsoft to pay $200 million for patent infringement
Summary
A federal jury ordered Microsoft to pay $200 million in a patent infringement case. The jury ruled that the custom XML tagging features of Word 2003 and Word 2007 infringed on a patent from Toronto-based i4i.
Topics
A federal jury in Tyler, Texas, on Wednesday ordered Microsoft to pay $200 million in a patent infringement case.
The jury ruled that the custom XML tagging features of Word 2003 and Word 2007 infringed on a patent from Toronto-based i4i.
A Microsoft representative said the company was "disappointed" by the verdict and would seek to have it reversed.
"We believe the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid," Microsoft spokesman David Bowermaster said in a statement. "We believe this award of damages is legally and factually unsupported, so we will ask the court to overturn the verdict."
Last month, in a separate infringement case brought by Uniloc, Microsoft was hit with a $388 million verdict. The company said it would appeal that order.
This article was originally posted on CNET News.
Talkback Most Recent of 32 Talkback(s)
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Taz_z20th May 2009 -
Agreed
But MS will continue to defend the patent system as it is, in hopes that someday they'll find a way to use software patents to cripple open source. Not terribly rational, but the only rational CEO MS has ever had was Bill Gates.
In the mean time, MS keeps losing.
John L. Ries20th May 2009 -
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
"In the beginning, there were ideas; and they were good. Then Gates took the ideas, and the right to use the ideas, and hid behind a patent law that let him claim the ideas as his own...Then he patented the air, the sky, and the sea, and...."
Seriously though...Microsoft set a president for stupid patents, they established the right of a company to patent concepts before they were even developed and then used that right to restrict legitimate technology from being sold. I think it is ridiculous. But Microsoft made the rules. Now they are mad because cheating only works when your the only one allowed to do it.
Socratesfoot20th May 2009 -
MS would die by the sword anyway
MS didn't start the patent system. They just play by the rules that others have made, and try to make the most of it.
The only thing ridiculous is nitwits that blame MS for everything.
mdemuth20th May 2009 -
I agree
I am not a huge fan of Microsoft or their policies, I do however use their software at work and can't complain. But I do agree that MS are just taking advantage of an antiquated and flawed patent system, something that anybody can do. It seems that just because it is the big evil MS corporation that is clever enough to find these loopholes, they should be punished but if it was a little local firm doing it then nothing would be said!
Parassassin21st May 2009 -
Well they make themselves such an easy target...
If they didn't go around rebranding things so often to arouse their base of zombie fans they would not be such a target for blame. Just implement the stuff and move on. Everyone knows you're late to the game but people won't care and will just be happy its there now.
storm14k21st May 2009 -
That would be IBM
the largest software patent holder in the world.
They made the rules
I'm sure you'll see alot more senseless patents in their portfolio then anyone elses.
John Zern20th May 2009 -
Bad metaphor
Microsoft typically uses patents defensively, I've yet to see a case where they aggressively pursued someone for patent infringement.
Microsoft's modus operandi is user lock-in by proprietary formats and protocols that they refuse to publish or licence. They also love to obfuscate open standards by either implementing them in the most obtuse and incompatible manner they possibly can while still being able to claim standards compliance (e.g. their support for ODF) or by extending and modifying them so their implementation is incompatible with everyone else's (e.g. Java).
This strategy has been very successful, it is cheap and reliable and doesn't involve the use of expensive law courts and patents.
Fred Fredrickson20th May 2009 -
Er Hello !
Have you been living under a stone,
FAT32 patent for example
Alan Smithie20th May 2009 -
One would think...
...that if MS' interest was only defensive, they'd be more willing to support abolition of software patents.
John L. Ries21st May 2009 -
CCan you say . . .
Microsoft typically uses patents defensively, I've yet to see a case
where they aggressively pursued someone for patent infringement.
Tom Tom?
sporkfighter22nd May 2009 -
Live by the patent sword, die by the patent sword
Microsoft are 'disappointed' that once again they have been caught out stealing other people's ideas, incorpoarting those ideas into their own branded products whilst at the same time trumpeting "Microsoft innovation".
whisperycat20th May 2009 -
HaHa...You and I had the same thought...
But, I don't think this is a case of M$ getting caught stealing. More that they set this precident for patenting every little stupid idea they had and now that everyone is doing it, it came back to haunt them. I mean, a patent on a database sorting algorithm...OK. But a patent on the use of a trashcan for the use of storing deleted files, an hourglass to tell you to wait, or the number of clicks to open a file. That's a little silly and something that starts to get ridiculous.Socratesfoot20th May 2009 -
If they didn't have.....
those patents then someone else would and be targeting Microsoft's wallet even though every other OS out there uses the same things. The only difference is Microsoft has the cash so they are the target. Look back at Eolas suit. One target but all browsers did the same thing.
Erroneous21st May 2009 -
Bajeebers.
Patents are such a colossal pain in the patookus. If you're a small inventor, you can't live without them - you have to at least *try* to protect your work so you can earn a living from it. If you're a big corporation, you can pump out so many patents that separating *real* inventions from completely ridiculous claims becomes near impossible. As in most things in life, the advantage goes to Global Megacorp, Inc., since they have the deepest pockets.
I don't have a solution to this patent mess, but the whole situation makes me want to puke on a lawyer. Bleh.
doodlius20th May 2009
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