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Microsoft Word Patent Case Going To Supreme Court
jfruhlinger writes "Microsoft may have had to change Word after being found guilty of violating a Canadian company's patents, but it's still resisting paying for damages — and is taking the fight to the US Supreme Court. If you can't stand either MS or patents, who do you root for here?"
If you can't stand either MS or patents, who do you root for here?"
The only side certain to win this.
You can hope the patent and patents like it get invalidated, by the way. The patent can get invalidated with Microsoft still being liable.
There are outcomes that satisfy anyone, unless you hate lawyers and multi-million dollar settlements with big corporations too, in which case, you are boned.
Microsoft kind of does oppose software patents. When have you seen them going after other companies if they don't provoke the legal fight first? They have also freed their patents to open and free-to-use patents organizations. The only cases where Microsoft has used their patents portfolio to fight against patent trolls is, well, when the patent troll has started going after MS first.
Ultimately, the whole software patent system is faulty. But currently, companies have to go by it and that means Microsoft has to register their patents too. Blame the system.
So Canadian Court says pay money, so you go above them to the US Supreme Court, aka, Court of the World?
Sig: I stole this sig.
It is time to sue the patent office, not the patent holders:
The question the Supreme Court must answer is "What burden of proof is required to invalidate a patent?" The difficulty is that the *legal* answer may not match the *real world* answer. In theory, it should require a high burden of proof because the patent office already examined the patent application, determined it was patentable, searched for prior art, etc. But in reality, the patent office isn't doing that. I wish I could find the public statement where they basically said it isn't their responsibility to search for prior art. This problem is amplified by the fact that recent administrations are relying on the patent office to become a revenue generator.
In my opinion, Microsoft should sue the patent office. If the Supreme Court operates under the assumption that the patent office is following a certain procedure, and they are not, then they should have a case against the patent office. Then, they can go back to the courts and invalidate the patent after they have proven that the patent office is not doing their job.
When have you seen them going after other companies if they don't provoke the legal fight first?
You mean like just last month when they sued Motorola over Android? I guess you're counting Motorola abandoning the Windows Mobile platform in favor of Android as "provoking" MS.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Not really. If Microsoft keep winning their patent suits then from their point of view the patent system is hunky dory and they will continue supporting it and using it themselves, to stifle their competition. If Microsoft lose and it hurts enough, then it might force them to rethink their patent strategy. If the US software patent system hurts them enough and keeps hurting them, they might start lobbying to change it.
Well I believe that copyrights should only be a decade and after that should have to be renewed every year starting price of $100k and doubling every year after that. Does that count? And as for whether or not piracy is legal I would argue that in its current form it should be frankly ignored by the entire populace since the current laws were brought about by treasonous bribes. The whole point of copyrights were a contract between We, The People and the artists, NOT the middlemen, not the mega-corps, but the people and the artists. Now it is simply the locking up of our entire culture by multinationals, since pretty much our entire history of the past since the advent of TV will be locked behind paywalls until the end of time thanks to a fucking cartoon rodent. When laws are written by criminals, such as congress critters allowing lobbyists to write laws in return for bribes and cushy jobs for their families, why should they be respected?
As for TFA? That is simple: Microsoft simply because software patents are a giant clusterfuck holding up innovation and creating industries out of doing nothing but leeching off of other companies with lawsuits, so ANY company that brings these kinds of cases to the Supreme Court should be rooted for if for no other reason than hoping that somehow the courts will grow a brain and finally kill these things dead. I personally think Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs are both major assholes but if it was them fighting software patents I'd be "Go Oracle and Apple!" all the way. You don't have to like the company to hope that another hole will be blown through the crap that is software patents.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
How is my writing like that of a troll, because I am honest and don't bullshit? Were our laws corrupted thanks to a cartoon rodent? Yep and his name Mickey Mouse. As for old Steve and Larry, even fanbois will have to admit they can both be serious asses at times, for example Oracle punt kicking most of the Open Source guys and Steve even blocking magazines that dare to talk about a competitor. Oh and don't forget the famous "You're holding it wrong!" bit. It is a phone, how in the fuck am I supposed to hold it?
And as for your post, middlemen are leeches, full stop. While they had a use in the past when getting a record pressed cost thousands, they simply aren't needing anymore. A much better solution would be an investment type of deal where you agree to pay some of the upfront costs for a percentage of future profits. Ever seen a current recording contract? Because I have, and frankly they'd make you sick. It is the most one sided, fuck the artists, rip everyone off for every penny thing you have ever seen. It makes "Hollywood Accounting" look like an above board practice by comparison.
The reason they can get away with that shit is copyrights, pure and simple. By having a back catalog that thanks to bribes will last for infinity they can build HUGE warchests which they use to buy up the gateways like radio and TV, as well as for bribing politicians to pass ever more laws that favor them. Oh and the artist earning money for life? Yeah, dream on. Did you know it took Meatloaf FIFTEEN YEARS to get paid for "Bat Out of Hell I" and he ended up filing for bankruptcy? Yeah they claimed that an album still on the top 200 actually didn't make any money. You know how much Cheap trick gets from iTunes? ZERO. Hell even corporate suckups Metallica only get a lousy 85c for a $20 album! while the fantasy of having a hit song and never working is nice, I can tell you from watching friends sign contracts that unless you are a hit long enough to survive your first contract not only will you not make it rich, but you may even get a fricking BILL after they get done cooking up "expenses". I know because I had some friends in Nashville that ended up having to break up after selling over a quarter million records because not only did they not get a cent, they got hit for a bill for $35k for "advertising expenses" even though they didn't get promoted for shit. oh and the record company now owns all the rights. Sweet huh?
So I'm sorry if you don't like the way I write, but after seeing these blood sucking leeches first hand frankly the whole damned system needs to be junked. I swear to God I've known dope dealers that are less scummy and evil than record scouts. And the reason why these major asses have so much power is thanks to copyrights giving them unlimited capital to bribe and coerce. And surely you will admit 150+ year copyrights are nothing but a license to print money for middlemen, correct?
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
The wheel is obvious, in hindsight. Look, i4i managed to convince MS that the idea was good enough to include in Word. But apparently the idea was not obvious enough that MS thought of it first, independently. In short, theft.
And just how am I supposed to act about legal theft? I have watched damned good friends get every damned thing they worked years for stolen right out from under them, and then get told "Just try and sue us, we'll bury you". They lost the rights to their songs, the recordings, hell even their own band name so yeah seeing good people that just want to put food on their tables doing what they love and they have a God given talent for get royally robbed by a system that rewards bribery and power above decency? Yeah it pisses me off.
But anyone who has read my postings knows I am just an honest Joe that calls it like he sees it, and I actually have feelings and am not afraid to express them. If I was trying to troll I would have called them filthy names instead of leeches, which anyone who has looked into Hollywood accounting knows that calling them leeches when they have built an entire industry around legalized robbery is actually being quite civil. Think Hollywood Accounting is bad? Look at the contracts for new musical acts. THE COMPANY get the copyrights, THE COMPANY get the digital sales, THE COMPANY get the sheet music rights, and THE COMPANY gets to decide "when and if" you actually get paid a cent or OWE THEM MONEY for "expenses". If anyone else tried that kind of bullshit they'd be hit by RICO so fast it would make their heads spin, but because endless copyrights give them endless money for bribes it is all gravy.
Complain about me having feelings in the matter all you want, but good honest decent folks are getting robbed every damned day of the week by leeches that then have the gall to sue kids and granny saying "it's for the artists" that they just don't happen to pay and often steal from. If that can of unmitigated gall doesn't severely piss you off, well then you have no heart sir. Living so close to Memphis and Nashville I have watched good decent people lose everything they own just trying to get these leeches to pay a few cents on the dollars they made, often ending up losing everything that they own thanks to endless lawyers and legal BS on the part of the record companies. It is wrong, it is evil, and it is disgusting that they are allowed to get away with this garbage. I really don't know how to put legalized theft and racketeering into any nicer words than that. I'm sorry if that offends you, but their actions are frankly and patently offensive sir.
And blaming it on "the system" is like saying we shouldn't do anything about insider trading or bribes, since bribes and insider trading has existed for centuries. What we can do is get royally pissed off, make sure every time they say "it is for the artists" we drown them out with example after example of their thefts, in short we make sure that everywhere they go they are treated like the leeches they are. It will be that much harder for them to bribe and rig if the populace looks at them as scum, because politicians still want to be re-elected and being seen as supporting robbing kids of their dreams is about as low as you can get. We geeks can make cool viral videos, websites to inform which politicians have been selling us out, we CAN make a difference! So while we agree the system is broken, I believe the first step in fixing it is pointing out the "rich artists" lie, because compared to what the leeches get even the top acts make a pittance. Sure it looks like a lot to an average Joe, but point out that they are getting less than 6c on the dollar on average, and most don't get paid at all, and Joe will realize it ain't the artists being greedy here, it is the leeches in the middle. Peace.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.