Microsoft loses patent appeal, Office and Word 2007 sales to be halted January 11, 2010

By on Dec 22, 2009 at 7:13 PM
News December 22, 2009

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Microsoft has lost its appeal in its ongoing legal battle with small Canadian company i4i over XML code within Microsoft 2003 and 2007. The loss upholds the previous decision which requires Microsoft to pay $290 million to i4i and forces Microsoft to pull Word 2007 and Office 2007 from the shelves effective January 11th, 2010. Panic and mass hysteria will not ensue as Microsoft has stated that it is in the process of removing the offending code and will have a Word 2007 and Office 2007 version ready for retail by the injunction date. Microsoft also confirmed that Office 2010 is not affected by this ruling and is expected to launch on time in mid-2010. The winner, i4i, was much more jubilant in its response stating that it “couldn’t be more pleased with the ruling”. A $290 million windfall from a few lines of XML? We would be well pleased, too.Read

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  • Tdot34

    Anyone else find it ironic the company suing Microsoft is named i4i…. eye for an eye, M

    • Gary Tobo

      Wouldn’t that be “i4ai” or “efae”?

  • James

    Wow, Microsoft lost, that’s a first. Stupid Canadian companies. Guess they don’t understand that they would exist without Microsoft.

    • Unknown

      sure its a dick move but i really doubt them being Canadian had anything to do with it…

    • Don

      Just because you’re a big company doesn’t mean you can steal code. Theft is theft and I’m pretty sure there would still be computers and software if Microsoft didn’t exist. And before you go commenting on “Stupid Canadian companies”, you might want to check your history on Microsoft and Windows before you go praising old MS…

    • George P

      Canada is the U.S.’s bastard stepchild.

  • Matt Thompson

    How many is “a couple”?

  • Occidental

    Really, a couple of lines of XML warrants a lawsuit?

  • HM

    FUCKING POST MORE STOLEN SHIT, COPY PASTED ALSO. GET YOUR GODDAMN ENGADGET TAG

    • Fireball

      Did you go to a fancy tech school to learn all your technical jargon? Your family must be proud.

  • Get real

    I don’t understand why you people think that it is okay for companies to steal other companies ideas and thoughts. If they came up with them, then it is completely theirs. Doesn’t matter what their name is or where they come from. Whats theirs is theirs. Mircosoft is obviously not a good company, when they think that they can take other peoples ideas and use them for their own products.

  • MODA

    Anyone see the movie “Antitrust” ??

    • Peter

      that’s what i was going to say… great movie :)

  • Jones

    I’m not an MS fan, but most software patents are bullshit. Not good.

  • Josh

    Here’s what will happen: Microsoft will force a hostile takeover of i4i and when that is complete all former i4i employees will be summarily fired.

    • gquaglia

      Doubt it, M$ has their own problems

  • Mrwirez

    A few lines of code?? How much shit has been stolen from Microsoft? Anyone ever troll a bittorrent site? There are a billion Chinese stealing our shit daily. Everyone gotta fuck over the Americans via Microsoft. The world takes our donations, our work, they hide behind our military, and THEN sue our corporations… I hope MS takes these guy’s all the way to the Supreme Court and every dime they have.

    I’m not even particularly a MS fan either but, I am still pissed about the whole Windows 7 “e” version…

    • Truth

      It is very unfortunate people like you exist. Anywhere.

  • orlo

    and microsoft never stole any ideas/code (DOS Windows>>>>>

    • Billy Joe

      Tru dat. Like Apple stealing their mouse & OS GUI “ideas” from Xerox PARC

  • bob a

    They just never learn do they?…

  • bluehorseshoe

    Conspiracy theory (just a funny thought)…MS did this intentionally (bringing up the violation of the code that is) so they can sell as many copies of MS Office 2007 before the date. A few weeks after the cut-off date, they’ll settle out of court for a fraction of the proceeds made from corporations and consumers buying up the suite. Then they can release MS Office 2010 and all is good in the world. Just being cynical.

  • I Ees Stoopid

    So what code exactly and what did it do?

    Someone from MS actually went and stole the code?

    The i4i employees at some point worked for MS, maybe even as a 3rd party vendor and that’s when the code was stolen?

    MS obtained copies of i4i’s product and decontructed the product to obtain the code?

    How did i4i find that their code was used?

    I’m just asking. I don’t know, the blog doesn’t give much detail and so many of you are choosing sides, I thought maybe there’s was more details somewhere that would allow me to do the same. I wanna be a on a side too! Should I be a hater or a fanboy?

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  • YeahBoooooy

    Apple owns and so does iPhone baby

  • Don 2

    This is not anything that hasn’t happened before. Apple stole from this one, MS stole from that one… I just want my computer to stop dragging and locking up. Time to go to a MAC.

    • gquaglia

      Its Mac, not MAC.

    • Peter

      Macs NEVER drag or lock up, you are going to absolutely love it!

      • Haha

        That was sarcasm, right?

  • Grego

    How did Microsoft get their hands on this code to begin with?
    “well your Honor, I was in my office in Redmond and was surfing this site called pirate bay on my PC and found this file with this code…didn’t know that it belonged to someone else..”

  • http://www.r4i-cards.co.kr/ r4i칩

    I also believe that microsoft is giant company that doesn’t mean you can steal code. Theft is theft and I’m pretty sure there would still be computers and software if Microsoft didn’t exist. Really mocrosoft lost.

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  • Matthew

    Most patents are a joke. They simply restate obvious ideas that anyone would have come up with out of necessity while working in a particular area. Just because someone has the same idea as someone else, doesn’t mean they stole it from the first person.

    Besides, you can’t really “steal” an idea, because it’s not a tangible thing, unless you use it to prevent other people from making money from it. We need some hybrid socialist economy now. Fighting over who gets the money that results from a good idea is a waste of energy we could be spending creating good software.

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