O
XML may be patent free, but Microsoft has patented using XML to store
Word documents and using XML to store caller ID info. You know and
I know that these types of patents (do something people have done for
10s, 100s, or 1000s of years, but do it "with a computer", "on the
internet", "on the web", or "with XML") are patently ridiculous, but
the courts don't know that. For the 5+ years it would take for the
patent to be thrown out, only Microsoft, big corps, and scofflaw hackers
(as in "I'll play DVDs on my Linux computer when I feel like it") would be
able to use SPF2.
Do they have a patent on XML in caller id or do they have a patent
application ? Quite different situations. Plus you cannot patent
what is already in the public domain so I doubt that they can patent
anything in caller id since SPF and LMAP protocols are clearly prior
art.
Regards,
Mark Joseph