Microsoft found GUILTY of patent infringement

[akito]

Article

Microsoft has been found guilty of patent infringement and ordered to pay a Guatamalan inventor Carlos Armando Amado almost $9m in damages. The US District Court of Central California court ruled that Microsoft had infringed on his intellectual property and ordered it to pay him $8.96m. The patent in question is a method to transfer data between Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access using a single spreadsheet.

I found this funny. :P

[hulk]

It's great that they were actually found guilty in one lifetime, but 9mil is Gates' pissing against a wall

[catback]

WTF, maybe they're not being clear enough but there's a patent on the method of data transfer from excel to access and it's not owned by MS and to top it off the guy can get the patent even though MS owns the software his patent utilizes? Maybe I'm just reading it wrong but there are too many BS patents as is. What next someone is gonna get a patent on the best way to open a door? It's sad modern day patents are the main reason why the world is lacking great inventors, with the cost of patents the average person can't afford to protect his invention and if they could they would probably infringe on some BS patent that some big corp threw out there just because they could.

I'd really like to see more of the details regarding this patent, I didn't think it was possible to patent intellectual property. Copyright yes but patent, haven't seen any patented software yet.

[Glory's Sun]

I didn't think you could patent common knowledge things?

[bendsley]

1)Which might be one of the reasons that Microsoft is backing proposals for a reform of the patent systems, according to this article [zdnet.com].

Microsoft is now getting one of those giants like IBM who will constantly be bugged by private patent owners (bogus or real) for money. My experience is that though large companies have many patents, the quality of their portfolio is relatively low as they like big numbers. Small companies, on the other hand, have either a completely worthless portfolio or a small but very powerfull portfolio. And a small production, so the backfire risk of a patent lawsuit towards Microsoft is negligible.

2)Basically, it went like this:

Microsoft obtains software product A.
Microsoft obtains software product B.
Microsoft begins making them work together.
Guy beats Microsoft to market.
Microsoft continues making their products work together.
Guy sues Microsoft, wins millions for being first to patent obvious method made "novel" by the fact that it works on those confusin' new computers.

This would work against Linux.

This crap would work on anything.

Microsoft did *NOTHING* wrong here. They didn't steal his stuff or anything. They just made their own products work together. It probably wouldn't even have been an issue if Excel and Access had been marketed under the same freaking product name.

DOWN WITH SOFTWARE PATENTS!

[kutulu]

Originally Posted by catback

What next someone is gonna get a patent on the best way to open a door?

Actually, I already have that patent. I got it this morning.


By the way, I figure you've opened at least 5 doors so far today. I'm reasonable so I'll only charge you $5. In the future, to avoid legal damages, I suggest you start crawling through windows. At least, until my patent on that goes through.

[pacaveli]

it's only 9 million so what the fuck does bill gates care lol

[muckluck]

I have a feeling that these anti-Microsoft (yet still use Windows XP...?), think Bill Gates is the Anti-christ type are going to have a rhapsodic riot over this... It is nice seeing the big time companies lose every once in awhile, but this shows how stupid software patents are. I think that we are going to get to the point were download status bars and the Maximize button are going to be patented, and all of those (mostly Linux) open source operating systems. whos creators are looking for no profit, are going to dissapear because they can't pay royalties. DOWN WITH SOFTWARE PATENTS!!

[CityOfAngels]

Originally Posted by kutulu

Actually, I already have that patent. I got it this morning.


By the way, I figure you've opened at least 5 doors so far today. I'm reasonable so I'll only charge you $5. In the future, to avoid legal damages, I suggest you start crawling through windows. At least, until my patent on that goes through.

Sorry, I already got that one. I tried to patent squeezing through chimneys, but it turns out some old, fat guy in a red suit has that one already.

[SinisterMotives]

So what did the guy have a patent on? CSV files?

[vox_rox]

In the first place, Microsoft only really fights thesoe things because they have an army of lawyers who, with sheer numbers, usually win against anyone. those who they really don't think they can win against they simply settle with. These settlements are./ eusually millions of dollars, which is about the same as their legal defense fund, so it all comes out in the wash.

This guy, unfrostunately for Microsoft, just spun the wheel and got lucky. So what does that mean in the real world? Nothing. Will your Windows operating system or Microsoft's monopoly on the desktop change? Absolutely not.

All it means to anyone is that MS lost a case, paid a pittanance to deal with it, and it's over.

I wish it was mor eground-breaking than that. I wish it was the beginning of the end of MS and their crap. It's not.

Sorry.

Still, download and install Linux before it's tooal late. Ubuntu rocks!

Peace,

Pierre