[Esp-action-alert] swpat.org: XML patent info sought

[Ciaran O'Riordan]

This week we saw one holder of annoying XML patents lose an appeal to
another: Microsoft was ordered to stop distributing their word processor,
and to pay $290 million to i4i inc.  Microsoft have 60 days to (re-)appeal:

http://en.swpat.org/wiki/I4i_v._Microsoft

So even the software companies with the biggest budgets and legal teams
can't avoid infringing software patents.  This highlights how difficult and
uncertain software development is when software ideas are patentable.  It
also shows the injustice that a large project with many thousands of ideas
can be prohibited because of a single patented idea.

Patents on reading file formats are particularly harmful since if you want
to write compatible software (which users want), avoiding the patented idea
might be impossible.  This week I'm hoping to collect information about all
sorts of patents on XML, includings the i4i patent, Microsoft's XML patents
in the USA and in New Zealand, and all others:

http://en.swpat.org/wiki/XML_patents

General update: en.swpat.org now has 210 pages.  Other pages that have been
expanded recently include:

http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Countries_and_regions
http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Litigation_and_specific_patents
http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Bilski_v._Doll

All contributions would be helpful.
Thanks.
-- 
Ciarán O'Riordan,
Executive Director, End Software Patents
+32 487 64 17 54
address@hidden

ESP:    http://www.EndSoftwarePatents.org
Donate: http://endsoftpatents.org/donate
List: http://campaigns.fsf.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/esp-action-alert