Alex Fisher wrote:
See http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-329645.html?tag=nl.e539
Does something as prior art exist ?! :-)
I took a look at the original MS application (downloaded the PDF from the
Patent Office) several years ago. there was also quite a bit of discussion at
the time on several lists.
There appears one primary and major difference between the format described in
the patent application and ODF. Whereas ODF is an archive of several files,
the patent covers only files that are *single* flat XML files. In essence, it
is aimed at what eventually became MS's OXML format.
The question of prior art has not yet been addressed, and (as I understand the
US laws) could not be addressed until the patent had been granted. The patent
does need to be tested in court, but that will be a very expensive exercise.
Malte Timmermann's remark about FlatXML is relevant, since if that format
contains most of the info in a single flat XML file, there could be a problem.
The important thing would be the date that the FlatXML format was first
published. If that was prior to the MS application, then that would definitely
constitute prior art, and would probably be sufficient to overturn the patent.
OTOH, if it was first published after the date of the patent application....
The FLatXML filter is as example part of the SDK since years. I don't
know exactly and have to check it but i assume it is part since the
beginning of the SDK.
We developed this filter especially for our initial version of the
developers guide. Flat XMl files made it possible to store the files in
a source code control system and create usable diffs. That was at least
the idea behind it. We also used some pretty printing option to make the
files more readable for humans. Anyway it is a usable filter and allows
to store huge files without data loss. Some files reached ~280 pages and
we used of course many many styles, tables and other formatting.
When exactly applied MS for this patent?
Juergen
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