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Microsoft Files "Emergency Motion" To Ship Word
adeelarshad82 writes "Several days after a judge ordered Microsoft to halt sales of Word and handed down $290M in fines, the software giant has moved to stop the ban. On Friday Microsoft filed an emergency motion to stop the judgment and waive the bond requirement, according to court filings. The actual document was filed under seal, so the full contents of the request have not yet been made public."
You are correct to be on Microsoft's side. I know it won't go over well on Slashdot, but the facts are the facts.
From what little I've read on this, it seems that Microsoft basically incorporated the plaintiff's product into Word. So essentially it would put the plaintiff out of business, and could result in irreparable damages to the plaintiff. So it is likely to withstand that test...IANAL, but from what little I know it seems reasonable.
Also, it's about time this happened, given how many times Microsoft has done this to others.
Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away. - Elvis Presley (source: imdb.com)
citation needed. All I see here is a patent case, which has nothing to do with copyright infringement which you accuse MS of.
Besides, any company stupid enough to work with MS and not expect to be ripped off deserves to be ripped off. They should even make a special law granting MS the right to do that, since they've done it so many times in the past yet these stupid companies keep trusting MS to not do it again.
I would be willing to bet that the same thing will happen that happened when they lost the CP/M case. They paid the 'injured' off, continued to ship product during the entire episode ( in that case, decades ), made far more then the pay off was and it was all swept under the carpet, chalking it up to 'cost of doing business'.
Normal operating procedures for a monopoly.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
On Friday Microsoft filed an emergency motion to stop the judgment and waive the bond requirement, according to court filings. The actual document was filed under seal, so the full contents of the request have not yet been made public.
Why on Earth does a way seal court documents even exist?
> So now that it's Microsoft, software patents are okay, just so long as the company suing are not "trolls"?
No, they're not okay. But it's hard to see how Microsoft isn't getting its just deserts.
Perhaps Microsoft should rethink its amicus brief in Bilski and start arguing that these sorts of patents should be invalid? There's at least a credible claim that Bilski could be used to invalidate this patent. And it's pretty clear, ironically, that Microsoft's amicus brief is arguing that Bilski should NOT be held to do that (at least, not in general).
Basically, what I'm trying to say is, as Nelson would put it, "Ha ha!"
If they'd argued that these patents should not be allowed, they would not be in this position. Of course, they could also avoid gobbling up partner's products, too, but they're the 800 lbs gorilla. If you have a banana and they want it, they're going to take it from you, laws be damned. You shouldn't do business with them and be ignorant of that fact, because it has nothing to do with patents, it's just how they operate.
4) that an injunction does not harm the public interest
One does NOT NEED to be an opensource fanboi to make a decent argument that it would be in the public interest to strip MS of Office completely. There is a long list of word processors that have been exterminated, thanks to MS. Without a megalopoly pushing their version of an office suite, not only would Open Office have a shot at taking the lead, but some of the older competition MIGHT have a chance of making a comeback. Not to mention, a new startup or six might get into the market.
Just think what COULD happen with a half dozen competitors in the field. Standards, maybe? Plummeting prices?
No, you don't need to be an open source fanboi, or even a MS basher to see that it could be good for all of us if MS got out of the office arena.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
I wonder what the reason for this is and how frequently is this request granted.
Any way, that's at least the second thing I remember this summer (the first being the buy now at 60% off deal on the various Windows 7s) that suggests Microsoft has a cash flow issue at the moment.
Regarding the judgment, remember 90 million was tacked on by the judge to make Microsoft pay for its lawyers' behavior.