Will Microsoft Word need to change?

On Tuesday, Canadian Company i4i, won a permanent injunction against Microsoft Word 2007. The trial lawyers McKool Smith said in their statement: “Today's permanent injunction prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML”.

The injunction means Microsoft has 60 days to comply, but will Microsoft really stop selling Word in the US? You would be crazy to think so. What this story helps highlight, are the many problems with the US Patent Law and in how lawsuits can be brought about by plaintiffs.

I4i is a Toronto based company, Microsoft is based in Redmond, Washington, yet the lawsuit was filed and the trial took place in Texas. Why? Well the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has been ‘friendly’ to patent suits in the pasts, specifically suits of a software nature.

This patent is about ‘Custom XML’. For those who do not know, XML (Extensible Markup Language) is open standard language used by a large number of applications to store data electronically including Microsoft Office, Open Office and many more. Through the use of XML and by defining an XML Schema, a company can use XML to define data in any way they wish.

Then what’s ‘Custom XML’? Well you wouldn’t be alone in thinking all XML is custom because it is up to the developers to define it anyway they wish. Microsoft however also provides a feature within the ‘Developers’ section of Word, to add your own ‘Custom XML’ allowing developers to extend the functionality of Word even further.

Although the statements do not specifically define ‘custom XML’ I believe it is this developer ability allowing end users to add their own XML to Word that is the area in question. Like most complex software, end-users only has about 10-15% of the features available. This feature is one of those use by a small percentage of the Word 2007 user base and as such could easily be removed via a patch. But for some advanced users and especially business who use Microsoft products extensively throughout their organisation, this feature can help a companies efficiency by ensuring their data is correctly defined and available from within all Microsoft Apps.

So where to from here? In a recent interview with Buzz Out Loud, the Chairman of i4i stated that they haven’t even looked at the other products using XML such as Open Office which immediate cues up a line from Jerry Mcguire. Microsoft is likely to appeal, and will appeal in a court ‘friendlier’ to them and if the ruling stands, will likely need to enter into a licensing agreement with i4i around this feature.