VaMage

August 13, 2009 at 10:36am

I am the last guy on earth to cry for MS, but this represents a much bigger issue. The world's patent, copyright, and tort laws all come from a world where the most complex piece of technology was the the steam engine.

This archaic system is costing all of us vast sums of money, because believe me those costs ALWAYS get passed on to the consumer, there simply isn't any where else for them to go.

It's not just patent law, which is allowing companies to patent the human genome, and even allowed some idiot in France to patent the wheel, yes the French patent office granted him the patent, it's also copyright law, and tort reform.

Supposedly we have a health care crisis in the U.S., it's really more like a litigation crisis. Do you know what percentage of your medical bill is due to tort cases? That is malpractice insurance, lawyers fees, lost productivity as Doctor's spend increasing amounts of time in court, tests done and procedure preformed just to cover the Doc's ass, and awards that make it the greatest lottery the world has ever seen.

For a clue about why none of this will change check the percentage of all elected officials, from county to country, that are lawyers. Take a good look at the award systems for personal injury or loss in Europe, and you'll find this vast difference in our cost structures, now realize what percentage of that difference goes to the lawyers.

If fact, a lawyer serving in any legislative body is the most obvious conflict of interest you can imagine, yet everyone from our President down to your county commissioner, are lawyers. Think about it for a minute, a lawyer in the legislature gets to literally create, no mandate, demand for his own profession. It is INSANE. Yet we keep electing lawyers, talk about setting the fox to guard the coup. 

 

 VaMage

 American by Birth, But Southern by the Grace of God.

MeTo

August 13, 2009 at 10:04am

I think if microsoft knowingley and willfully violated patent they should have to pay triple. Microsoft is big enough to do a patent search. And this "WE" do it a little differant does not cut it if it achieveses the same goal.

MeTo

August 13, 2009 at 7:25am

This happens more than we know. Microsoft is such a large company they should do a patent search. But no they say will pay them later when we get caught. Get a clue people.

jechaucer

August 12, 2009 at 8:58pm

Oh, what a shame for M$.

Walnut

August 12, 2009 at 6:10pm

All these anti-Microsoft lawsuits are getting old. Yes, they are the big kid on the block. Fact is, they're offering a product that people seem to agree is the best OS available. They simply appeal to more computer users than anyone else, and this makes them a target. I'm no MS fanboy, but most of this nonsense is petty. Some judge decides to ban MS Word? And what about all of the people who paid good money for it? Who does this guy think he is? This just screams "hey im a judge look at me."

gendoikari1

August 12, 2009 at 4:21pm

i4i seems to be just like Rambus (trying to bring down larger companies due to some arbitrary patents they filed in the 90s), except sadly they managed to not have their cases thrown out of court (due to rational judges). Banning Word from the US is like banning, say, all iPhones from the US. Sure, there are alternatives, but the one banned is the one most people use and are unwilling to switch from (so their phone/word processor would become obsolete in a few years and they can't buy the new version).

alanmc76

August 12, 2009 at 4:05pm

 What about Adobe, OpenOffice, and every internet browser on the market?  They all read XML too.  XML is the de-facto standard these days.  This could kill every major software suite vendor in business.  But that's okay because the gov't will just bail them out too.

 _________________________________________

-- "What am I, MacGyver? Fix it with what?"--

 

Morichalion

August 12, 2009 at 4:01pm

Would this ruling affect any other pieces of software? I use Open Office on a regular basis. I wonder if that would fall under the same patent. 

 

The world was ruled by religion, and they call it "The Dark Ages"

nekollx

August 12, 2009 at 2:33pm

 What does it mean for the end consumer? Are we goign to be held accountable for buying word 03/07?

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frizzly

August 12, 2009 at 1:56pm

 

All these judges seem to want to just destroy the economy of this country. dont they call that terrorism these days?

Frizzly M ejere

"Once you go down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."

dag1992

August 12, 2009 at 1:35pm

Only in Texas, isn't this where Rambus began its crusade a while back?