Re: [C-FIT_Community] MS Office 2003 XML patented

its there

http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/ip/format/xmlpatentlicense.asp


  Office 2003 XML Reference Schema Patent License

This document is intended to expand upon the rights that Microsoft 
grants to certain Microsoft® Office 2003 XML schemas. As described in 
this document, the technical specifications for the schemas include 
rights under copyright to make reproductions and to display and 
distribute those reproductions, subject to certain terms and conditions. 
The purpose of this document is to provide a patent license to 
individuals and organizations interested in implementing software 
programs that can read and write files that conform to such specifications.

Please read this entire document carefully to understand your rights.


    Office Schemas

Microsoft Office 2003 includes support for certain XML "schemas" known 
as Wordprocessing ML, Spreadsheet ML, and FormTemplate Schemas. For 
purposes of this document, these schemas will be referred to as the 
"Office Schemas." In general terms, schemas are document structures used 
for presentation and layout of XML data.

Copies of the technical specifications for the Office Schemas, which 
include an associated copyright notice and license, can be found at 
http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/understanding/xmloffice/default.aspx.


    Patent License

Microsoft may have patents and/or patent applications that are necessary 
for you to license in order to make, sell, or distribute software 
programs that read or write files that comply with the Microsoft 
specifications for the Office Schemas.

Except as provided below, Microsoft hereby grants you a royalty-free 
license under Microsoft's Necessary Claims to make, use, sell, offer to 
sell, import, and otherwise distribute Licensed Implementations solely 
for the purpose of reading and writing files that comply with the 
Microsoft specifications for the Office Schemas. A "Licensed 
Implementation" means only those specific portions of a software product 
that read and writes files that are fully compliant with the 
specifications for the Office Schemas. The term "Necessary Claims" means 
claims of a patent or patent application that are owned or controlled by 
Microsoft and that are necessarily infringed by reading or writing files 
pursuant to the requirements of the Office Schemas. A claim is 
necessarily infringed only when it is not possible to avoid infringing 
when conforming to the specification because there is no technically 
reasonable non-infringing alternative for reading or writing such files. 
Notwithstanding the foregoing, "Necessary Claims" do not include any 
claims: (i) that would require a payment of royalties by Microsoft to 
unaffiliated third parties; (ii) covering any enabling technologies that 
may be necessary to make or use any product incorporating a Licensed 
Implementation (e.g., word processing, spreadsheet or presentation 
features or functionality, programming interfaces, protocols), or (iii) 
covering the reading or writing of files generally or covering the 
reading or writing of files other than those complying with the 
requirements of the specifications for the Office Schemas.

If you distribute, license or sell a Licensed Implementation, this 
license is conditioned upon you requiring that the following notice be 
prominently displayed in all copies and derivative works of your source 
code and in copies of the documentation and licenses associated with 
your Licensed Implementation:

"This product may incorporate intellectual property owned by Microsoft 
Corporation. The terms and conditions upon which Microsoft is licensing 
such intellectual property may be found at 
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/odcXMLRef/html/odcXMLRefLegalNotice.asp 
<http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/odcXMLRef/html/odcXMLRefLegalNotice.asp?frame=true>."

By including the above notice in a Licensed Implementation, you will be 
deemed to have accepted the terms and conditions of this license. You 
are not licensed to distribute a Licensed Implementation under license 
terms and conditions that prohibit the terms and conditions of this license.

You are not licensed to sublicense or transfer your rights.

Microsoft reserves the right to terminate this license grant if you sue 
Microsoft or any of Microsoft's affiliates for patent infringement over 
claims relating to reading or writing of files that comply with the 
Office Schemas.

You should consult applicable export control laws and regulations to 
determine whether they apply to your Licensed Implementation.


    Legal Disclaimers

THE PATENT LICENSE GRANTED HEREIN IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY 
OF ANY KIND. ALL WARRANTIES, DUTIES AND CONDITIONS, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR 
STATUTORY, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF 
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND 
NON-INFRINGEMENT ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED.

MICROSOFT AND ITS AFFILIATES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES ARISING 
FROM OR RELATED TO THIS LICENSE, INCLUDING INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, 
CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR SPECIAL DAMAGES EVEN IF MICROSOFT OR ITS 
AFFILIATES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES IN ADVANCE.


    Reservation of Rights

All rights not expressly granted in this license are reserved by 
Microsoft. No additional rights are granted by implication or estoppel 
or otherwise. Nothing herein grants any rights to use or display any 
Microsoft trademarks or logos.



Seth Johnson wrote:

>Does anybody have a copy of this page saved, or in their cache?  The 
>language in question appears to no longer be there.
>
>Seth
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Bernard Lang <[email protected]>
>Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 13:42:53 +0100
>Subject: Re: [Patents] MS Office 2003 XML patented
>
>
>
>do you have a coppy of that page ...
>
>it does not seem to exist any longer.
>
>Bernard
>
>
>On Mon, Nov 17, 2003 at 01:48:11PM +0100, Carsten Svaneborg wrote:
>  
>
>>Hi! Just came across the following:
>>
>>http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/ip/format/xmlpatentlicense.asp
>>Office 2003 XML Reference Schema Patent License
>>
>>Microsoft may have patents and/or patent applications that are
>>    
>>
>necessary
>  
>
>>for you to license in order to make, sell, or distribute software
>>    
>>
>programs
>  
>
>>that read or write files that comply with the Microsoft
>>    
>>
>specifications for
>  
>
>>the Office Schemas.
>>
>>So usage of MS Word XML files requires a patentlicense.
>>
>>:
>>
>>You are not licensed to distribute a Licensed Implementation under
>>    
>>
>license 
>  
>
>>terms and conditions that prohibit the terms and conditions of this
>>    
>>
>license.
>  
>
>>You are not licensed to sublicense or transfer your rights.
>>
>>The licence is royalty free, but GPL §7 requires the right to
>>    
>>
>sublicence
>  
>
>>patent rights to the people who obtain a GPL program from you.
>>
>>so in other words Microsoft is using patents to prevent GPLed
>>    
>>
>programs
>  
>
>>from accessing the XML format that MS Word will be using.
>>
>>This is very good timing, and goes to show how important it is to
>>    
>>
>ensure
>  
>
>>that the software patent directive has articles that protects
>>    
>>
>interoperativity
>  
>
>>from consituting patentinfringemet.
>>
>>-- 
>>  Mvh. Carsten Svaneborg
>>http://www.softwarepatenter.dk
>>
>>
>>    
>>
>
>  
>


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