This week's determination that Microsoft's Word program violated an XML-related patent opens up a can of worms that is bigger than the simple question of whether Microsoft will ever be able to sell Word or Office again. (It probably will.)
The U.S. District Court of East Texas has issued an injunction against Microsoft that prohibits it from selling or importing any copy of Microsoft Word that can open .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files containing custom XML after Oct. 10. No more copies will be sold in Word's current state after that date. Further, in May a jury imposed damages to the tune of $240,000,000 ($40,000,000 of which is for willful infringement) plus interest and per diem penalties.
It's unclear why Microsoft didn't just pay to license (or buy outright) i4i's technology from the start. It could have simply worked out something with the small Canadian company. But it's also curious because this isn't at all news to Microsoft: This claim was filed back in 1994. If Microsoft had bought the patent rights, it could have then licensed the technology to others, including those using OpenDocument Format.
Speaking of ODF, the court's ruling has placed a huge question mark over the future of the XML-based file format. Originally created as an open-source alternative for spreadsheets, word-processing and other productivity apps, ODF has evolved to become part of both open-source and proprietary software. i4i's claim centers around "custom XML." So, any apps that rely on a custom XML format, which potentially includes the upcoming ODF 1.2, could face legal action.
Microsoft could pay the fines and work something out with i4i and continue selling Word in its current iteration. Or it could simply refuse to play ball and take it out of the current software offering. Most average users probably would not miss it. But the big question is how ODF will fare in the upcoming months.
