The technology of data linking, which connects the files from Excel to the Access database, is used by hundreds of companies that pay copyright fees to Microsoft, when in fact this technology might be the creation of an inventor from Guatemala.

From information posted by Reuters we find out the inventor Carlos Armando Amado submitted a request in 1990 to license a patent for the technology of linking Excel with the database application via a single spreadsheet. A few years later, Carlos decided to sell Microsoft this solution.

Now, the inventor is suing the Redmond giant, claiming $500 million in damages.

The purpose of the legal action is to prove that Microsoft started to use Armando Amado's solution without paying any copyrights fees.

Carlos claims Microsoft began using the linking technology starting with Access 95 and continued to use it until Access 2002. The inventor found about this theft by analyzing the code of the Access application.

Of course, Microsoft denied these accusations, and said the company has been working on the system since 1989. Still, considering there are 35 lawsuits filed against Microsoft over employing technologies without paying any copyrights fees, we cannot refrain from questioning the Redmond giant's credibility, but in the same wonder what chances might have Carlos Armando Amada against a corporation like Microsoft.