Apparently Microsoft has a little patent violation on their hands that could end Microsoft Word; at least until they fix their mistake.
i4i, a Canadian software development company recently won a patent infringement suite against the software giant, Microsoft. The whole argument is based on the capability Microsoft Word has to create custom XML documents, a capability that i4i has a patent for.
Last month U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Davis halted the sale of Microsoft Word 2003 and Microsoft Word 2007. Federal appeals, however, granted the request to suspend the injunction.
It’s very unlikely that this means the end of Microsoft Word is near. However, if they continue to distribute the software with the patented feature they may face more harsh legal consequences.
In my opinion this is a big deal. Microsoft seems to be in quite the panic, submitting the following fiiled with the U.S. Court of Appeals:
” ‘Microsoft and its distributors (which include retailers such as Best Buy and OEMs such as HP and Dell) face the imminent possibility of a massive disruption in their sales,’ Microsoft argued in the motion. ‘If left undisturbed, the district court’s injunction will inflict irreparable harm on Microsoft by potentially keeping the centerpiece of its product line out of the market for months,’ the firm’s lawyers added. ‘The injunction would block not only the distribution of Word, but also of the entire Office suite, which contains Word and other popular programs.’ ”
O.K. So let’s say that Microsoft Office is taken off of the shelves. There are pleanty of well developed alternatives out there that a lot of businesses are using already. OpenOffice, for example, is one of the most popular open-source alternatives to Microsoft Office. I’d honestly like to see it taken off of shelves. I believe more people need to be introduced to OpenOffice and other alternatives.
According to i4i’s recent press release damages against Microsoft, seeing as how the case is in favour of i4i at the moment, are now up to $290 Million USD. You don’t have to take my word for it, read it here.