http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10308013-75.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
The abstract of the patent in question reads: " A system and method for the separate manipulation of the architecture and content of a document, particularly for data representation and transformations. The system, for use by computer software developers, removes dependency on document encoding technology. A map of metacodes found in the document is produced and provided and stored separately from the document. The map indicates the location and addresses of metacodes in the document. The system allows of multiple views of the same content, the ability to work solely on structure and solely on content, storage efficiency of multiple versions and efficiency of operation. "
MS Word apparently infringes on this. The crux of the patent as far as I can tell is a separation of the content and an editable map of the code tags of a document, which I personally haven't seen in MS Word.
Software patents have been a major point of contention for a long time, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patent_debate
Poetic justice or not, I disagree with the ruling. The plaintiffs may as well have gone after Sun for Open Office's "Write" if this is valid, as the patent could describe any rich-text editor. I guess tomorrow we'll all be using i4i Word.
