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Microsoft banned from selling Word
The patent system continues to create problems for companies in tech, and now, the giant of them all, Microsoft, has managed to get a judgement against it brought by a smaller company with an obscure patent.
The patent in question describes a method for reading XML, which in turn is a standard technology that Microsoft chose to deploy for word documents (and other office suite programs) to make reading those documents across different platforms easier, by using the XML standard. (This is why all Office 2007 documents have an X on the end of the filename, thats to signify the document is using XML)
In this latest round of patent madness, a judge has ruled that Microsft must stop selling MS Word completely in 60 days, as well as paying large damages. Microsoft will obviously appeal the verdict, but really, banning the product from sale seems a bit far to go, if the judge is going to uphold the patent, surely damages and royalties are the way to go?
