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There are still a few months to fix this, but for now the US Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) Acting Commissioner for Patents, Andrew Faile, and Chief Information Officer, Jamie Holcombe, have announced that starting January 1st, 2022, the USPTO will institute a surcharge for applicants that are not locked into Microsoft products via the proprietary DOCX format. From that date onwards, the USPTO will move away from PDF and require all filers to use that proprietary format or face an arbitrary surcharge when filing.
First, we delayed the effective date for the non-DOCX surcharge fee to January 1, 2022, to provide more time for applicants to transition to this new process, and for the USPTO to continue our outreach efforts and address customer concerns. We've also made office actions available in DOCX and XML formats and further enhanced DOCX features, including accepting DOCX for drawings in addition to the specification, claims, and abstract for certain applications.
One out of several major problems with the plans is that DOCX is a proprietary format. There are several variants of DOCX and each of them are really only supported by a single company's products. Some other products have had progress in beginning to reverse engineering it, but are hindered by the lack of documentation. DOCX is a competitor to the fully-documented, open standard OpenDocument Format, also known as ISO/IEC 26300.
DOCX is not to be confused with OOXML, though it often is. While OOXML, also known as ISO/IEC 29500, is technically standardized, it is incompletely documented and only vaguely related to DOCX. The DOCX format itself is neither fully documented nor standard. So the USPTO is also engaged in spreading disinformation by asserting that it is.
Previously:
(2015) Microsoft Threatened the UK Over Open Standards
(Score: 3, Insightful) by TheGratefulNet on Wednesday May 26 2021, @02:01PM (6 children)
ahem.
raise your hand if your lawyer does not have a copy of Word.
(*crickets*)
thought so.
while this is annoying, its not a real world problem. no one but lawyers does the actual wordsmithing and filing of these things.
I'd bet there's not a single lawyer in the WORLD that has zero access to MS Word.
Not. A. Single. One.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday May 26 2021, @04:49PM
Yes, raise your hand if your lawyer is not a captive of the all embracing Microsoft Office monopoly.
(*crickets*)
Monopolies are a real word problem. Where do you start? I can hardly think of a better starting point than a monopoly that is wholly artificial. So, so easy to break. They don't even have to design an open format, there already are a number of acceptable ones. In such a case, the monopolists are the ones that have to fight like mad to keep the monopoly.
I suppose part of the motivation is that this is, after all, the patent office, who can hardly not be a leading member of the community of Intellectual Property extremism. They no doubt believe their jobs depend upon continued worship of the principles, however flawed, of IP.
I'd start cracking this egg at government agencies and organizations that aren't so closely connected to IP. For Instance, Argonne National Laboratories uses MS Office last time I looked, about a decade ago.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday May 26 2021, @05:11PM
You have a valid point, everyone has access to Microsoft's current DOCX format in someway or other. FOR NOW.
What happen in 5-10 years when MS stops supporting their current DOCX version?
If your going to say that the Patent office will just need to keep older version of Word handy for this kind of situation your ignoring, or are oblivious to, the logistical and licensing nightmare that would entail. Not to mention the extra burden on the IT staff to archive and maintain the older versions. Add in the fact that MS will eventually stop providing stand alone versions of Office/Word and move everything to the Cloud this move by the USPTO, if they follow through with it, is going to cause major headaches down the road on so many levels its not funny.
Over the years I've had several situations where someone would come to me and tell me that they can't open this or that document in Word, but it worked fine with the last version of Word. When I looked at the files in question it would invariably turn out that it was in a format that MS used to use and stopped supporting in the latest version off Office/Word. For some of them there was a plug in that would re-enable support, for others the only opton was to try and find an old version of Office or use Open/Libre Office which ironically has better support for older MS formats than MS themselves provide, to open and convert the document to something the users current version of Word could open.
Legal documents need to be stored in an open, well documented, and widely available format that is accessible by all without having to jump through hoops or pay additional costs to some corporation for the ability to read and use what should be freely available.
Microsoft's DOCX format is none of those.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 26 2021, @05:33PM (2 children)
And this is the very reason why DOCX was picked. Almost every single lawyer was already using msword (or, more likely, their secretary was using msword by typing from the dictation tape, but msword still).
(Score: 3, Insightful) by canopic jug on Wednesday May 26 2021, @05:45PM (1 child)
And this is the very reason why DOCX was picked. Almost every single lawyer was already using msword (or, more likely, their secretary was using msword by typing from the dictation tape, but msword still).
Ok then. Which version of DOCX or MSWord? It was in the summary, but I'll point out again that DOCX is not a standard format. Not only that, it has changed before and will change again. For a historical example, look at how many incompatible versions of "DOC" there were. The incompatibilities between the different versions were the major reason for being able to force the market into paying for upgrades to new versions as M$ held the monopoly on the file formats and the suite monopoly was a secondary follow-on effect of that. The USPTO is building their registration system on sand by not selecting a standard format or better yet an open standard.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 26 2021, @05:54PM
You'd need to click through to the article, then click through to the federal register notice, to see if a particular DOCX or msword version was specified.
I have not done so, but I very much suspect that a specific version of DOCX or specific msword version was not specified, and that the notice simply says "DOCX" as if "DOCX" is an unchanging entity.
Indeed they are. The choice is pragmatic because almost all the firms are using msword. But yes, the foundation will be shaken when ms releases a newer word and starts adding incompatible bits of XML into the docx files. With the result that USPTO will then have to play "catchup" to the changes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @01:18PM
they shold standardise on LaTeX, let's make lawyers earn their money for once... actually that's not far enough, they should write their documents in Forth...