On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 16:04:56 -0700, Alex Dean writes:
>wouldn't the GPL compel them to release the source of 
> that app?  


Technically, yes; however, if Microsoft claims they had the code first, it becomes a
battle in the courts.

In a book I read about CSS, there is a section about the "ownership" of CSS.  Keep in
mind that the W3C's licensing ensures that the standards developed under its banner
are universally available and royalty-free, and the W3C first developed the concept
of style sheets (for electronic publication).

#############
Who owns CSS?

On January 12, 1999, Microsoft Corp. was granted a US Patent#5,860,073.  This
particular patent, titled "Style sheets for publishing system(s)", covers "the use of
style sheets in an electronic publishing system."  Sound familiar?

The inventors listed in this patent claim to have developed a system whereby "text,
or other media such as graphics, is pured into the display region," at which time
style sheets - defined as "a collection of formatting information, such as fonts and
tabs" - are applied.  This patent seems to overlap concepts laid out in the W3C's
specifications for CSS and the Extensible Stylesheet Language(XSL), which have been
in development at least since 1994.

What does this mean? It means that Microsoft can now claim as its intellectual
property several of the key concepts that make Web-browser technology possible. 
Theoretically, if you want to use these technologies - or any technology based on
them - you now need to sign a licensing agreement with Microsoft.  Imagine a world in
which every Web site using CSS, DHTML, and XSL has to be Microsoft-certified.

The situation may never get that bad, however.  Microsoft has reported that it will
offer "free and reciprocal" licensing agreements to anyone who wants to use "its"
technology, adding that it is not even clear whether a license will be necessary.

......

###############
-- DHTML and CSS for the WWW.


The article goes on to point out flaws in the patent and that it may not "hold up" to
much scrutiny (legal action). It questions whether the patent should have been
granted to begin with, considering there were MS representatives in the W3C during
the development of CSS.

In short, let's all take a moment and thank Microsoft for developing CSS (and DOS,
and "Windows", and TCP/IP, and Java, and "the PC", etc.). 
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