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Microsoft Wins Summary Judgement in Smart Tag Case
dan2bit writes "Business Week reports that a judge in Wisconsin handed down a summary judgement today in favor of Microsoft, defending itself from a patent infringement suit brought by small fish Hyperphrase over the embedding of 'Smart Tags' in Microsoft Office. The suit also produced some amusing minutiae."
Unless the clock on the court's server was using NTP or equivalant, it probably was not completely accurate. Of course there is no mention of the clock's accuracy, but how can you make a judgement without this information?
And anyway, it's four minutes and 27 seconds, c'mon!
The problem is that the court has not upgraded to MS Time.
In any case, good for the court on putting the ridiculousness of the situation in writing. I mean, if the litigators are going to disrespect the court by wasting its time with ridiculous motions, they may be obligated to follow along, but they can at least put their own disrespect for the litigants in evidence.
Freedom is the freedom to say 2+2=4, everything else follows...
The enemy of the enemy is not the enemy. Software patents suck!. I hope MS wins. I also hope they get sick and tired of fighting software patent law suits and use their clout for good for a change and use it to help rid the world of software patents.
because I have been enjoined by this Holy Office to abandon the false opinion which maintains that the Sun is the centre
Any defeat of a patent is good news.
-Libertarian secular transhumanist
If there is an important deadline, this should never become an issue. Why even risk a clock discrepency? Its 4:27s after the hours/days/weeks/whatever window they had to do it on time.
If 4:27s becomes "ok", then what about 8:54s. Its "only" 4:27s after the new ok.
Just adhere to the damn deadline.
I thought that many slashdotters want MS to win this case? I guess there's no way to stop slashdotters from bitching.
If MS loses, they will bitch about stupid patent laws.
IF MS wins, they will bitch about how courts always go for big businesses.
1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d
This is exactly why Judge Jackson tounge-lashed them to the media! He picked up on this outright condecending attitude to the Law and meant to put the hurt to them.
In my opinion, the court should have awarded the case to the other side, and made MS fight for it! Maybe even hold the Lawyers for Contempt of court. The MS lawyers gambeled on filing at the last possible second to tip the scale to their side and LOST! It's really that simple...too bad the judge won a battle because he thought it "silly", but put in another MS victory over the jucidal system.
Wounded though this court may be by Microsoft's four minute and twenty-seven second dereliction of duty, it will transcend the affront and forgive the tardiness. Indeed, to demonstrate the even-handedness of its magnanimity, the court will allow Hyperphrase on some future occasion in this case to e-file a motion four minutes and thirty seconds late, with supporting documents to follow up to seventy-two minutes later.
The judge is forgiving Microsoft for filing late, and is basically telling Hyperphrase to stop being a pain in the ass.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
Apparently the judge had previously ordered the two companies not to screw around with picking at every minor infraction that the other side makes, primarily because it would likely cause the case to drag on and not get to the core of the matter.