Microsoft Ordered to Stop Selling Word

[Crazy Buddhist]

in a judgement passed yesterday ...

Property rights infringement on a 1998 patent owned by a Canadian software firm "i4i" has lead to Microsoft being ordered to stop selling Word in it's current format and pay a total of $277 million in damages and interest.

Full story

CrazyB

[billygoat333]

Dirty thieving Microsoft. lol

[Mark_Hardware]

wha? Microsoft stealing? I need to sit down, my whole world just got turned upside down man

[985323]

lol, maybe i4i will give it out for free now

[Crazy Buddhist]

wha? Microsoft stealing? I need to sit down, my whole world just got turned upside down man

Woah .. so you now live in South America? Radical. I didn't think the poles were shifting until 2012

lol, maybe i4i will give it out for free now

That would seem very unlikely as they will be $300 mil richer plus Microsoft are going to have to start paying them license fees on every sale (unless they change the software not to break the patent).

MS could win on appeal but it looks unlikely.

CB

[Eclecticos]

Yea, I just read that on TechMeMe. What a crock.

[Oneslowz28]

Ehh I have my copy so I am not worried.

[progbuddy]

Open Office, ftw.

[XcOM]

i like the bit about ms being too big for them to buy at the moment! Hehe

[simon275]

They could have gone after anyone who uses this. They saw Microsoft and they saw dollar signs. Microsoft will just license it off them. It is a refreshing change to see the company that owns the patent is a genuine company that sells marketable products already that leverages its own patent and they aren't just squatting a broad patent.