Ruling Forces Microsoft Office Upgrade
Ruling Forces Microsoft Office Upgrade
January 31, 2006: After losing a patent case brought on by Guatemalan inventor Carlos Armando Amado, Microsoft has been forced to release new versions of Office XP and 2003 that changes the way Access databases interact with Excel spreadsheets.
A jury in Orange County, California last year found that Amado’s patent claim on the code was valid and ordered Microsoft to pay US$8.9 million in damages for infringement.
As part of the ruling, the company has also begun emailing its customers around the world to advise them that they need to start using the new versions of Office on all new software installations. Customers can continue using existing installations, however Microsoft recommends installing Office Service Pack 2.
The upgrading could potentially open up a can of worms for an unknown number of companies whose databases and Excel macros were written under the old code.
As reported on Cnet News: "It was recently decided in a court of law that certain portions of code found in Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003, Microsoft Office Access 2003, Microsoft Office XP Professional and Microsoft Access 2002 infringe a third-party patent," Microsoft said in an e-mail to customers. "As a result, Microsoft must make available a revised version of these products with the allegedly infringing code replaced."
Microsoft says all affected customers will be notified by next month.
Comment on this story
Related Article: