Microsoft loses patent battle with Canada's i4i

Microsoft has lost an appeal to the US supreme court over a $290m (£178m) award made against it in a patent dispute with the Canadian company i4i, which claimed a version of Microsoft Word infringed a patented method for editing documents.
The decision means companies challenging patents being used in court battles will have to provide convincing proof that a patent is invalid if they want to have it set aside. Microsoft had sought to weaken the level of proof needed.
i4i sued Microsoft in 2007, claiming infringement of a patent relating to XML in documents by Word 2007 (and products that included it, such as Office 2007). At a subsequent jury trial, Microsoft had argued the patent was invalid; the jury rejected that claim. It then appealed to the supreme court, saying the trial court's requirements had put an "overly demanding" standard to its invalidity defence: it had had to prove its defence by "clear and convincing" evidence, rather than the more relaxed "preponderance of evidence". The difference would be similar to a criminal v civil standard of proof, between "beyond all reasonable doubt" and "balance of probability".
The decision will have repercussions in cases where patents are the key element of the case – which will affect everyone from smartphone manufacturers to app developers.
The question in the case (Microsoft Corp v i4i Limited Partnership, No. 10-290) was what Congress had meant on that point in the Patent Act of 1952. That only says that patents are "presumed valid" and "the burden of establishing invalidity" rests "on the party asserting such invalidity." That in itself doesn't say what level of proof is needed – and whether it is the criminal-like "beyond reasonable doubt" or the civil "balance of evidence" – whether one side or the other was more likely to be correct.
In the adjudication, Justice Benjamin N Cardozo of the nine-member court wrote that patents' legitimacy was "not to be overthrown except by clear and cogent evidence".
i4i sued Microsoft in 2007, alleging that its method for applying XML to documents had been infringed by a version of Microsoft Word. It eventually obtained an injunction that prevented the sale of some versions of the program in the US. It denied the location for the original trial was chosen because it would favour patent litigants: the judge in the case had studied as a computer programmer in school.
In March 2010, a circuit court ruled Microsoft had "willfully infringed" i4i's patent. In July, the validity of the patent was confirmed by the US Patent Office.
i4i, set up in 1993 by Michel Vulpe, has provided systems for the US Patent Office ("ironic, in the circumstances" remarked Owen), US air force and a number of pharmaceutical companies including Novo Nordisk and Bayer. Basically it takes huge amounts of unstructured data and puts XML wrappers around it, making it useful and usable. The company has repeatedly insisted that it is not a "patent troll" and that it creates real value through the application of its systems for clients.

Microsoft loses patent battle with Canada's i4i

At first glance, Windows 8 looks good

I was optimistic but a little incredulous as I watched Microsoft's Windows President Steven Sinofsky and corporate Vice President Julie Larson-Green demonstrate Windows 8 at The Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital conference in Rancho Palos Verdes last week.
The demo, which showed a dramatic new interface for Windows, was indeed impressive. But most impressive was the claim that the same version of Windows that will be used for desktop and laptop PCs with a mouse and keyboard will also work well on thin and light tablets with touch screens.
It performed well in the demo, but the software is not even ready for early beta testers, let alone paying customers. Sinofsky wouldn't say when the new operating system will ship, other than that it won't be any time soon.
The user interface for Windows 8 bears a strong resemblance to that of Windows Phone 7. Instead of clicking on a Start menu or icons on a desktop, users launch programs -- or should I say "apps" -- by using a finger to touch one of the large tiles on the screen. It looks like an interface designed specifically for a tablet machine.
There is no doubt that Microsoft was influenced by Apple (AAPL). In an on-stage interview, Sinofsky told conference co-host Walt Mossberg that "a word we used a lot in developing
it was 'modern,' and how to think of it in a different way that solves a bunch of the things that people see or say they see are solved in an iPad."
He added that the designers of Windows 8 "looked at it from the ground up" to "rethink how you interact with Windows, the kinds of programs you can run and how you get those programs." Yet, in the next breath, he reassured the audience that "It's Windows," adding, "everything that runs on Windows 7 and every device you can plug into a Windows machine just runs." The operating system will support both new apps written specifically for Windows 8 and "legacy" apps from previous versions of Windows.
During the demo, Larson-Green was using what looked like a tablet PC but it was actually a screen connected to a desktop PC under the table. Still, it looked great and appeared responsive as she used her fingers to flick from one set of tiles to another or to launch some of the full screen apps designed for Windows 8. She showed how you can swipe your finger across the screen to quickly switch between running apps. She also demonstrated a feature called "snap" that lets you pause as you swipe an app from the side to the center of screen to have it appear next to whatever other app is also running. It allows for a multitasking interface while striving to avoid the clutter that is so common when running multiple programs on either Windows or a Mac.
Like all modern tablet operating systems, the new Windows will display an onscreen keyboard. But there will also be an optional "thumbs layout" where the keyboard is cut in half, with one part on each side of the screen to make it easier to use two thumbs instead of 10 fingers.
If Windows 8 works as advertised, it will solve some of the major limitations that frustrate me when I use an iPad or an Android tablet -- because any Windows 8 device, regardless of whether it's a 7-inch tablet or a desktop with multiple screens, will be able to run the same software. Users won't have to give up productivity applications, including ones customized for their businesses, for the privilege of being able to run cool apps designed for touch-screen devices.
Whether this actually works will depend not only on what Microsoft delivers but on the evolution of a robust ecosystem of apps, accessories and devices that make the operating system fun and productive to use.
I'll reserve judgment until I have a chance to try it out, but I was certainly impressed by the demo. I do worry, however, about any product that tries to be all things to all people. I need to be convinced that a good desktop operating system can also be a good tablet operating system.
But, as Steve Jobs likes to say at the end of his demos, "there's one more thing." The iPad, which is now the gold standard for new devices, is not just a vessel for running apps; it's also an experience that delights users and inspires developers to create some of the most interesting software we've seen in decades.
For Windows 8 to compete, it needs to be more than useful and more than fun. It needs to be cool and it needs to be inspiring. And yes, it also needs to support all that boring stuff, too, like spreadsheets, keyboards, printers and mice.

At first glance, Windows 8 looks good