Office 2003 XML Reference Schema Patent License
Microsoft may have patents and/or patent applications that are necessary for you to license in order to make, sell, or distribute software programs that read or write files that comply with the Microsoft specifications for the Office Schemas.
So usage of MS Word XML files requires a patentlicense:
- You are not licensed to distribute a Licensed Implementation under license terms and conditions that prohibit the terms and conditions of this license. You are not licensed to sublicense or transfer your rights.
The licence is royalty free, but GPL ยง7 requires the right to sublicence patent rights to the people who obtain a GPL program from you.
This shows how important it is to ensure that the software patent directive has articles that protect interoperation from consituting patent infringment..
