Judgement Against Microsoft Declares XML Editing Software To Be Worth $98?

Many people have written to tell us about the patent infringement lawsuit that resulted in a $200 million judgement against Microsoft by a small Toronto firm called i4i. Techdirt has a line on the details of the suit where the patent in question is for "separating the manipulation of content from the architecture of the document." i4i argues that this covers basic XML editing to the tune of $98 per application. "It's quite troubling that doing something as simple as adding an XML editor should infringe on a patent, but what's even more troubling is that the court somehow ruled that such an editor was worth $98 in the copies of Microsoft Word where it was used. An XML editor. $98. And people say patent awards aren't out of sync with reality?"

Comments

Dead grandmothers now?

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously, I enjoyed the Anti-Obama trolls (well, the off-topic ones, not the ones trying to rename stools after him) because they provided an interesting look at stuff I normally don't care about enough to dig into. Granted, perhaps it's just that "successful troll" is being successful, linking bogus information out of context, but still, at least it provoked thought.

The dead grandmother shit isn't even funny to a 10 year old who simply thinks the word "fuck" is funny.

Fuck.

Re:Dead grandmothers now?

[the_bard17]

On the bright side, we now know why that Anonymous Coward guy is so freaky. I'd be a little messed up, too, if I "tapped" something that's been dead for that long (above and beyond just being dead...)