Microsoft bled for 200 million (1 Viewer)

[Martin]

Many people have written to tell us about the patent infringement lawsuit that resulted in a $200 million judgement against Microsoft by a small Toronto firm called i4i. Techdirt has a line on the details of the suit where the patent in question is for "separating the manipulation of content from the architecture of the document." i4i argues that this covers basic XML editing to the tune of $98 per application. "It's quite troubling that doing something as simple as adding an XML editor should infringe on a patent, but what's even more troubling is that the court somehow ruled that such an editor was worth $98 in the copies of Microsoft Word where it was used. An XML editor. $98. And people say patent awards aren't out of sync with reality?"

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/05...-XML-Editing-Software-To-Be-Worth-98?from=rss


Basically, some small company owns a patent on XML editing or some bullshit like that and just took Microsoft to court for a big bag of money. Mind you, it's not the first time Redmond bleeds over patents.

This crap is totally insane. Patents are handed out like candy for completely obvious things. The patent office is the most incompetent bunch of morons ever.

 

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[Dinsdale]

I guess there aren't any Einsteins working at the patent office nowadays.

 

[Martin]

I guess there aren't any Einsteins working at the patent office nowadays.

That's always the problem, isn't it? If you're bright enough to be competent to work in government you can always find way better employment in the private sector.

 

[Dinsdale]

Isn't this a first btw, you being empathic towards Microsoft?

 

[Martin]

Isn't this a first btw, you being empathic towards Microsoft?

It's not empathy, patents are evil and they affect everyone. It's big companies like Microsoft, IBM, Google etc that are most vulnerable because you can take them for a lot of cash. But it's just as poisonous to a small company that gets shut down because someone has patented the idea your product is based on.

It's like patenting math, man. Pay up to use Pythagoras's theorem.

 

[Dinsdale]

How far does patenting go in the computer sciences sector? Can you patent any algorithm you claim to have invented?

 

[Martin]

How far does patenting go in the computer sciences sector? Can you patent any algorithm you claim to have invented?

It's much worse than that. Theoretically you can only patent new inventions. When you apply for a patent they are supposed to look for "prior art" which is evidence that someone has already done what you did. The intention is that you can't patent something existing and suddenly ambush people into paying you money.

However there's no shortage of patents handed out for existing and completely obvious things.

One of the most infamous examples is Amazon's "one click" patent. They managed to patent the idea that when you're surfing on a shopping site you can buy stuff with a single click instead of going through multiple pages from the point you click "buy" to you're done with checkout.

In an earlier case Microsoft was made to pay 400 million to a company who owned the patent for, now get this, opening documents (like Word) inside the browser instead of starting a separate program.

 

[Martin]

And in a litigation crazy country like the US where you can get paid for microwaving your cat, well you can only imagine...

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

It's much worse than that. Theoretically you can only patent new inventions. When you apply for a patent they are supposed to look for "prior art" which is evidence that someone has already done what you did. The intention is that you can't patent something existing and suddenly ambush people into paying you money.

However there's no shortage of patents handed out for existing and completely obvious things.

One of the most infamous examples is Amazon's "one click" patent. They managed to patent the idea that when you're surfing on a shopping site you can buy stuff with a single click instead of going through multiple pages from the point you click "buy" to you're done with checkout.

In an earlier case Microsoft was made to pay 400 million to a company who owned the patent for, now get this, opening documents (like Word) inside the browser instead of starting a separate program.

patents do suck. Thank god we have GPL. Or is this patented too, Martin?

 

[swag]

Worse, large corporations like IBM have entire legal arms that do nothing but create patent warfare against other companies. Primarily it's used as leverage to get access to another company's patents in exchange for a "cease fire". But it's hardly adding productive value to society.

 

[Martin]

patents do suck. Thank god we have GPL. Or is this patented too, Martin?

Licenses and patents are separate things. A patent is the government giving some company the right to charge people for using some idea. Now this applies no matter what license the software is under. For example, why can't you get mp3 and dvd playback out of the box on most linux distros? Patents.

That's the bad news. The good news is that software patents are only valid in the US. The bad news is lobbyists with way too much money are trying to get software patents introduced in the EU.

 

[Martin]

Worse, large corporations like IBM have entire legal arms that do nothing but create patent warfare against other companies. Primarily it's used as leverage to get access to another company's patents in exchange for a "cease fire". But it's hardly adding productive value to society.

Yes, and they cloak this under the name of "protective patents". Much like the Cold War where both sides had nuclear weapons and both knew they would both lose big time if they ever used them. This tactic may work well for say IBM that has tons of patents as protection from say Apple. But it doesn't do anything for a small company that can't protect itself.

 

[Yamen]

2 words.
Forza Microsoft.

 

[Martin]

2 words.
Forza Microsoft.

Your blind patriotism disturbs me.

 

[Yamen]

Not to worry. You will get over it

 

[Seven]

If you want to talk about patents, you should talk about the pharmacy industry.

 

[Lawnchair Bes]

I guess there aren't any Einsteins working at the patent office nowadays.

good one.

 

[Martin]

If you want to talk about patents, you should talk about the pharmacy industry.

That's the biggest problem, yes.

 

[Eddy]

I've recently started hating Microsoft, I find MAC does the better job now then Windows, don't know about Linux though