Microsoft Office Patent Infringement Issue

A while back, Microsoft was sued by a Canadian software company for a patent infringement on some code in the Office products that has to do with Custom XML, which most of us would never see or use.  Microsoft lost the suit and appealed.  This week they lost the appeal and must issue new versions of Word and Office or stop selling it by January 11, 2010.

This has caused some concern from a few of our Clients.  However, it is nothing to worry about.  Microsoft has already corrected the issue and will have the corrected versions of Word 2007 and Office 2007 available by the January 11th date.  Office 2010, scheduled for release in June of 2010 does not contain the affected code.  Existing installations of Word and Office are not affected by the ruling.