Your ability to BOLD text has been patented. Cease & desist NOW!

The title of this thread is really what this article should say, but it probably doesn't because it wouldn't want to infringe on any patents.

In August 2009, a Texas jury agreed with i4i, ordering Microsoft to pay $290 million in damages and stop selling Word in the U.S. Although Microsoft appealed that decision, a federal appeals court upheld the judgment on Tuesday, issuing an injunction that bars Microsoft from selling versions of Word that contain the offending patent technology. The court's ruling takes effect on Jan. 11, 2010.

Source

Oops, I just used a system to edit metacodes and quote the article, and thereby it might be another case for patent infringement.

Well given the name of the company "eye for eye" and the movement that MS did on OpenXML, this seems more like a parody.

A friend of mine said discovered that Microsoft outsourced the OpenXML development of Office, from i4i, whom had the toolkit already built for their product. Then Microsoft got a hold of their design and wrote their own version of it.

So we can see why i4i targeted Microsoft on this, even though their battle should more be about copyright infringement rather than patent infringement. The Patent: 5787449 itself states, however:

The WordStar word processing program allowed the user to select BOLD off a menu of formatting options. Beheind the scenes it would then insert a BOLD command code into the text. To the user it would look like the word on the screen had turned bold and they would not have to be aware of the code inserted into their text. The system still required the use of explicit control codes for some effects. These codes were ented in a dot format quite similar to the TROFF system.

So its OK if you manually handtype all the metacodes into a document, but if you use those buttons that help you BOLD, italicize, or anything like, you have infringed on this patent!

Microsoft currently is unable to sell Word in the U.S. due to this. I wonder what they will do with the copies already on the shelves.

I can't use smilies anymore?

MSFT is appealing...i4i will probably enter into some type licencing agreement, and recieve some type of payment if they win after all the appeals have been exhausted.

Originally posted by jimmyx
MSFT is appealing...i4i will probably enter into some type licencing agreement, and recieve some type of payment if they win after all the appeals have been exhausted.

Appealing again?

A federal appeals court on Tuesday [December 22, 2009] upheld a lower court's $290 million patent infringement ruling against Microsoft that will prevent the world's largest software maker from selling the current version of its popular Word program.

Source

290 million dollars for a couple of lines of code....


i know it's M$ taking the hit, but it's still insane.

This is only Word 2007.

And this is for an XML editing system, not (only) for bolding word document text. Your article title is misleading and dishonest. It's a lie, the product of either ignorance or malice.

P.S. Here's the wiki on it: en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 24-12-2009 by Johnmike]

I suppose Microsoft is simply getting a taste of their own medicine but really this sort of frivolous patenting of things that really are just self-evident and not terribly innovative needs to stop.

Why are we talking about this 7 months after it h happened.

Originally posted by Johnmike
This is only Word 2007.

And this is for an XML editing system, not (only) for bolding word document text. Your article title is misleading and dishonest. It's a lie, the product of either ignorance or malice.

P.S. Here's the wiki on it: en.wikipedia.org...

You read the wiki and thought that was all there is to it. I read the patent itself -- not some dubious wikipedia entry. In other words, I went to the source of the patent claim.

Show me where in the patent file where you see it not affect anything besides XML editors. Also, show me how BB Code does not use metacodes like XML.

Originally posted by mosesgunner
Why are we talking about this 7 months after it h happened.

Because it was only this last Tuesday that Microsoft lost their appeal to overturn injuction.

Originally posted by EnlightenUp
I suppose Microsoft is simply getting a taste of their own medicine but really this sort of frivolous patenting of things that really are just self-evident and not terribly innovative needs to stop.

I agree.



[edit on 24-12-2009 by dzonatas]

I think I'm gonna get a patent on the actual physical motion it takes to wipe my butt.

I'LL MAKE MILLIONS, by way of the...uhm....yeah!

Maybe THEN they'll come out with the 3 sea shells.

How much longer are we simply going to ignore this kind of travesty, but as long as it's the bad guys gettin' burned, it's ok(?)...right.

Abstract of US 5787449 (A)
A system and method for the separate manipulation of the architecture and content of a document, particularly for data representation and transformations. The system, for use by computer software developers, removes dependency on document encoding technology. A map of metacodes found in the document is produced and provided and stored separately from the document. The map indicates the location and addresses of metacodes in the document. The system allows of multiple views of the same content, the ability to work solely on structure and solely on content, storage efficiency of multiple versions and efficiency of operation.

v3.espacenet.com...

The description is here (copy and paste):
v3.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/description;jsessionid=DF454920EF56AE4395CA3EDD53094CB5.espacenet_levelx_prod_3?CC=US&NR=5787449A&KC=A&FT=D&date=1 9980728&DB=&locale=

It isn't patenting bolding of text or anything, so I'm guessing that your failure to understand is not malicious but simple ignorance. Even within the description is acknowledges the prior existence of a WYSIWYG document editor which allows bolding without special coding knowledge:

One early innovation of the PC revolution was the replacement of manually entered dot commands by a menu driven interface. The WordStar word processing program allowed the user to select BOLD off a menu of formatting options. Behind the scenes it would then insert a BOLD command code into the text. To the user it would look like the word on the screen had turned bold and they would not have to be aware of the code inserted into their text. The system still required the use of explicit control codes for some effects, these codes were entered in a dot format quite similar to the TROFF system.

I question the political or corporate motivations in crying wolf like you are.

[edit on 24-12-2009 by Johnmike]

Originally posted by Johnmike
It isn't patenting bolding of text or anything, so I'm guessing that your failure to understand is not malicious but simple ignorance.

The description doesn't mention XML, specifically, yet that is what you claim. If you could go on and prove it, you might actually not fail like Microsoft. But... I see you might like this:


Your motive seems more to try to find failure in others than to understand simple methods to map metacode to, and maybe you don't even understand what it means to map data in system memory, which has been done before XML even existed.

Even within the description is acknowledges the prior existence of a WYSIWYG document editor which allows bolding without special coding knowledge:

I get it now, you failed to actually read my first post, or you would have noticed that you quoted exactly what I quoted.

I question the political or corporate motivations in crying wolf like you are.

I question your ability be unnecessarily redundant.

Please, explain how this claim ONLY affects XML:

A method for producing from a document made up of metacodes and content, a map of metacodes and their addresses of use in association with mapped content of the document and stored in distinct map storage means, the method comprising: (a) reading the content of the document until a metacode is found; (b) copying the content and storing the copied content in a mapped content storage; (c) noting in the map the found metacode and its position in the content; (d) repeating the processing of (a)-(c) until the entire document has been processed; and then (e) providing the document as the content of the document separately from the metacode map of the document.

I like to know how BB Code is not affected by such patent. Or, how any body else besides microsoft that uses any kind of system to edit and store documents with bolded text is not affected by such.

Nobody cried wolf here. Software patents are just lame.

[edit on 24-12-2009 by dzonatas]