i4i Says OpenOffice Does Not Infringe Like MS Word

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "After the permanent injunction barring Microsoft from selling Microsoft Word, many armchair lawyers and pundits wondered how the ruling would affect OpenOffice. The company with the patent, i4i, believes that OpenOffice does not infringe upon it. But lest anyone think that therefore ODF will win out over OOXML, keep in mind that Microsoft has its own broad XML document patent, which issued just two weeks ago, having been filed in December 2004, and they're telling the Supreme Court to apply the Bilski ruling narrowly, so that it doesn't invalidate patents like theirs (and i4i's). After all, unlike most companies and individuals, Microsoft can afford $290 million infringement fines. Then again, given that Microsoft's new patent has only two independent claims (claim #1 and claim #12), and both of those claims 'comprise' something using an 'XML file format for documents associated with an application having a rich set of features,' maybe they wouldn't be that hard to work around if you just make sure any otherwise infringing format is only associated with an application lacking in the feature richness department."

Comments

Re:The MS patent does not affect ODF.

[hairyfeet]

They filed in East Texas, so whether or not they actually have a product is irrelevant, because if you file in East Texas you are a troll, end of story. The only reason to file in East Texas is because it is a haven for trolls, and is notorious for handing out humongous judgements and for nearly always going for the troll.

So you see there is a REASON why so much hatred is being pointed at i4i, and that is because they gamed the system. If you have your case held in the most crooked IP happy court in the land most folks are naturally gonna hate you, just as we hate it when some corp bribes their way into having laws favoring them passed. Nobody likes seeing the seeing the system perverted and that is EXACTLY what East Texas is-a total perversion of the system. If they would have had their case heard anywhere else and won most folks wouldn't be saying squat, but after seeing East Texas put out one shitty troll verdict after another most folks are gonna naturally hate you if you go there just to have your case heard.

Re:The MS patent does not affect ODF.

[Anonymous Coward]

It is a patent troll. Their product won't work on any of the last office version, consider it as good as discontinued.

They don't sell anything. They are patent trolling as the last way to save their collective asses.