Does Microsoft Have The Last Word?
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All kidding aside with the “clever” title, I, for one, have zero pity for any lost revenue or time spent on an issue that is likely done on purpose. Yes, it seems that karma on the IP front is once again biting back in the town of Redmond.
Normally I would be more sympathetic to Microsoft in an instance like this, but with its years of high and mighty IP claims, I see this as Microsoft’s “just deserts.” And to pitch this as Best Buy among other less than reputable retailers into the “hurting the industry” bit is a joke. No, this hurts a company that played the gamble on the IP front one time too many and was bit in the butt for its trouble.
While I am sure this is hurting the Redmond software company, I am sure it will suffer through somehow. And who knows — perhaps this time (along with a few others in the past), Microsoft will be a little more realistic about expectations of patent lawsuit threats? It could happen… maybe.
2 Comments
GadgetNut
August 20th, 2009
at 10:01am
I have long said that there are three ways for a company to add to its business; innovate, acquire or litigate.
MS stopped any real innovation long ago. They’ve become like CA. They either buy companies that are ‘doing it right,’ assimilate them, and sell off the remainder, or they tie competitors and potential competitors up in court until the other guy runs out of money and they ‘win’ by litigating them out of existence. They try to ‘bury’ them, just as they tried to bury this company. I’ll be happy when MS and Ballmer, etc., get an expensive reality check, and a large chunk excised from their corporate derriere, much as SCO did. It would serve ‘em right. MS, shame on you!
jmb
August 23rd, 2009
at 6:52pm
It’s funny really, MS is hated so much that even when they aren’t wrong they are still the bad guy. While banning Word doesn’t hurt anybody other than MS the claim has to do with XML and how it is used, any precedent set here could very well hurt the industry. This is what is wrong with how patents are handled(poorly) in this country. Suing over patents has become a business strategy for some(usually smaller) companies, but as a minimum large companies have to actively patent things just as a defensive measure. It’s sad…