14 DAY TRIAL // In December 2009, when it confirmed that an appeal to a patent infringement case won by Toronto-based i4i, was denied, Microsoft also noted that it was planning to deliver new copies of the Office 2007 System and Word 2007 which did not include the infringing technology. The Redmond company lived up to its promise, and has moved to comply with the injunction ahead of the court set deadline of January 11th, 2010. Office 2007 volume customers were informed in an email from the software giant that as of the start of 2010 they can access new bits of Office 2007 and Word 2007 stripped of the custom XML technology patented by i4i.
“Starting January 1, 2010, updated English, Spanish, and French language versions of Microsoft Word 2007 or Microsoft Office 2007 are available for download on the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center. To update other language versions of this software, or to update copies of Microsoft Word 2003 or Microsoft Office 2003, you will find instructions on how to do so on the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center download pages for these products [here],” Microsoft noted in the email via XMLAficionado.
A United States court of appeals ruled against Microsoft on December 22, 2009, ordering the company to stop selling not just versions of Word 2007, but also Office 2007 suites which incorporate custom XML functionality. “This injunction only applies to new Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office licenses purchased from Microsoft on or after January 11, 2010 in or for deployment in the United States or its territories. If you are only using licenses acquired prior to January 11, 2010, you do not need to take any action,” the company explained.
Both Word 2007 and Office 2007 have been updated in order for the custom XML functionality to be removed entirely. In the email it sent to volume license customers, the software giant underlines that all future deployments of Word 2003 and 2007 or Office 2003 and 2007 after January 10, 2010 will need to not feature custom XML tagging functionality. This applies only to customers in the United States.
“If you have already deployed licensed copies of these products prior to January 11, 2010, and will be submitting payment later (through the Enterprise Agreement True Up process or the Select process), then you may continue to use those deployed versions. If you are already using copies of these products through a subscription license agreement, then you may continue to use those deployed versions,” the company said.
Early adopters testing Word 2010 Beta or Office 2010 Beta need not perform any actions, as the next iteration of the Office System, including its components, does not feature the infringing technology.