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End-users assess potential risks in Office 2003 with new guide

A guide to ‘Assessing Potential Risks Posed by Patents Pending’ was released by software inventor Eric Wilson today, highlighting concerns about Microsoft’s new product and continuing conduct. The document outlines why a clash of business models makes end-user involvement in a dispute inevitable, if patents pending are granted and using Office 2003 is found to infringe. It also shows why law-abiding resellers are under obligation to make proper disclosure to end-users – even if Microsoft refuses to do so.

20 November 2003--A guide to help end-users assess the potential risks of using Office 2003, has been released by software inventor and IT journalist, Eric Wilson. The 3000-word ‘Assessing Potential Risks Posed by Patents Pending’, available at http://invention.docblaster.com, highlights concerns about Microsoft’s new product and continuing conduct. The guide details potential risks for the new version's (Word and Outlook) end-users and resellers, of additional royalties being retrospectively applied or the future imposition of new terms and conditions.

“Microsoft often say they respect other people’s intellectual property rights”, Mr. Wilson says, “but sometimes they don’t seem to recognize them until exhausting all avenues of appeal. But this guide shows why earlier recognition, even of patents-pending, is a mandatory requirement for creating trustworthy products. Otherwise, end-users should be immediately notified of any potential risks.”

The document outlines why a clash of business models makes end-user involvement in this dispute inevitable, if patents pending are granted and using Office 2003 is found to infringe. It also provides a quick basis of comparison, showing how end-users can judge for themselves if any potential risk might cause them future liability.

“We have taken a page from Microsoft’s own help file, matching it up side-by-side with one of our pending claims,” Mr. Wilson says. “And we also show, how with our patents still pending, we can now make additional broad or highly targeted new claims, to reinforce our position, which Microsoft cannot have already considered.”

The guide demonstrates why existing claims are likely to be granted; And in this event, if end-users even ‘innocently infringe’, they could be forced to change software horses mid-stream.

“Bill Gates drew a line in the sand just prior to the Office 2003 launch, when he started backing away from subscription software," Mr. Wilson says, and further explains in the guide. "From that moment on, this became a battle of business models."

‘Assessing Potential Risks Posed by Patents Pending’ also shows why law-abiding Office 2003 resellers are under obligation to make proper disclosure to end-users – even if Microsoft refuses to do so. Additionally, it outlines methods by which small inventors can successfully enforce their rights over manufacturers, resellers and users, once a patent is granted.

* Microsoft was made aware of patents-pending and plans for new low-cost, Office-compatible subscription-based features in December 2001.