LinuxWorld: Microsoft Files for XML Patents

“In what is being interpreted as either a preemptive move
against IBM’s plan to migrate to Linux on the desktop, a direct
challenge to software vendors who want to interoperate with Word
through XML, or just a more general confirmation that it is worried
about Open Source, Microsoft last week filed–in the European Union
and New Zealand though not in the US–for various XML patents.

“Specifically, Microsoft has applied for a patent to cover a
word-processing document stored in a single XML file…”

Complete
Story