Microsoft patent claim sparks firestorm of controversy

On June 21, 2005 when the Redmond, WA based Microsoft filed for a patent on RSS (Really Simple Syndication) it is likely they did not expect such a backlash 18 months later when the claims, published on the US Patent and Trademark Office website, were noticed by thousands on the web.

Related or not, the date of the patent filing is just three days before the company announced it planned to build support for RSS into Internet Explorer 7, and into what we now know as Microsoft Windows Vista.

Once word of the patents spread users, and the techno-elite alike, began to call for their removal and denouncement of the filed claims. Dave Winer one of the inventors of RSS as you know it today made this comment on his site Scripting News, “Today I received a link to a patent granted to Microsoft, where they claim to have invented all this stuff. Presumably they're eventually going to charge us to use it. This should be denounced by everyone who has contributed anything to the success of RSS.”

That is exactly what happened, as blogs around the web took aim and ranted about the false claim. The comments on most blogs center on how Microsoft stole the rights to RSS and are attempting to claim them as their own. Not true said Nick Bradbury on his blog, “But before the geekosphere goes into "patent attack mode," let's take a breather and think about why this patent was filed. For example, quite often companies file patents just to protect themselves from lawsuits. There are plenty of sleazebags who file patent applications on obvious ideas, and then wait for someone like Microsoft to infringe those patents.” He goes on to say, “So I'm not going to jump on the "Microsoft is evil" bandwagon about this (yet). However, Microsoft clearly did not invent all the ideas claimed in this patent, so some clarification would be appreciated from Microsoft's RSS team (several of whom are listed in the patent as inventors).”

In response to the story and the controversy, that surrounds it, Sean Lyndersay Program Manager Lead for RSS at Microsoft made these comments; “First, these patents describe specific ways to improve the RSS end-user and developer experience (which we believe are valuable and innovative contributions) -- they do not constitute a claim that Microsoft invented RSS. We have always fully acknowledged the innovators and supporters of RSS, like Dave Winer, Nick Bradbury and many others, and I can say, without hesitation, that I and my colleagues personally have the deepest respect for their invaluable contributions.” As for the filing of the patent and why it was the right thing to do he mirrors Nick Bradbury by saying, “Finally, as a number of commenters have noted, we are far from the only company to apply for patent protection in this space. Other companies, including Apple and Google, have apparently also applied for patents. Applying for a patent on your innovation is common industry practice, and one which, by incenting and protecting the companies and people involved, encourages everyone to contribute to the community.”

Users took notice on his wording with the use of “your innovation” meaning that the improvements were infact built on what was already property of Microsoft. The patents filed claim that Microsoft did not invent RSS, but only the related technology. Users worry, with the patent approval and the shape of the US Patent office that Microsoft will one day start to charge users to use RSS.

No matter how you look at it, the scope of the patent is broad, and the wording is shifty at best, with claims to technology and code that have long existed before the patents were filed. No word yet on how this will affect the RSS community and open source community concerning the code and technology used. Microsoft has made no further comments and a spokesperson from them said Microsoft does not generally make public statements about pending patents.