Microsoft Ordered To Stop Selling Word 2007
Microsoft recently lost a patent infringement lawsuit against the i4i company regarding custom XML features. The custom XML has been a part of Word 2007 and other Microsoft Office 2007 products. So what does this mean for consumers? Pretty much that the custom XML features will not be a part of Office 2007 software sold after January 11, 2010. This means that you will not be able open XML, DOCX, and DOCM file types in Word 2007 or Office 2007. If you already have and use one of these programs, Microsoft is required by U.S. law to force a patch on your installation that will remove the offending XML technology from your copy of Office or Word 2007.
The lawsuit started in 2007 in which a verdict in favor of i4i did claim that Microsoft had infringed on their patent. This most recent ruling was from an appeals court, where Microsoft was trying to escape the original ruling.
The original injunction stated:
Microsoft Corporation is hereby permanently enjoined from performing the following actions with Microsoft Word 2003, Microsoft Word 2007, and Microsoft Word products not more than colorably different from Microsoft Word 2003 or Microsoft Word 2007 (collectively “Infringing and Future Word Products”) during the term of U.S. Patent No. 5,787,449:
1. selling, offering to sell, and/or importing in or into the United States any
Infringing and Future Word Products that have the capability of opening a .XML,
.DOCX, or .DOCM file (“an XML file”) containing custom XML;
2. using any Infringing and Future Word Products to open an XML file
containing custom XML;
3. instructing or encouraging anyone to use any Infringing and Future Word
Products to open an XML file containing custom XML;
4. providing support or assistance to anyone that describes how to use any infringing and Future Word Products to open an XML file containing custom XML;
and
5. testing, demonstrating, or marketing the ability of the Infringing and Future
Word Products to open an XML file containing custom XML.
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