Microsoft fixes nineteen flaws in seven patches

Three of the patches affects Microsoft Office 2010, and include Office 2007 uses. To keep your Windows XP SP1 system secure, update to Windows XP SP2 today. All Microsoft security patches for Windows and Office software are available via Microsoft Update or via the individual bulletins detailed below.

Smart Tags allow document creators to include links to information in other documents or Web pages. The technology proved controversial in broader use, with Microsoft dropping plans to include it in the Windows XP operating system.

Crabb agreed with Microsoft's argument that XML-based Smart Tags operate differently from Hyperphrase's methods and therefore aren't covered by the patents. She dismissed the case, which had been scheduled to go to trial Oct. 6.

Microsoft office 2007 spokeswoman Stacy Drake hailed the ruling. "As an intellectual property company, we are committed to respecting the intellectual property of others, but we also invest heavily in R&D and we will defend our intellectual property when necessary," she said in a statement.

The Hyperphrase case gained notoriety in legal circles because of a tongue-in-cheek June ruling by the original presiding judge, Stephen Crocker. Hyperphrase lawyers had asked the judge to dismiss Microsoft's petition for summary judgment because the documents were electronically filed a little more than four minutes after the deadline set by the court.

After facetiously describing Microsoft's actions as "nothing short of a frontal assault on the precept of punctuality so cherished by and vital to this court," Crocker ruled to allow the summary judgment motion.

"Wounded though the court may be by Microsoft's four minute and 27-second dereliction of duty," he wrote, "it will transcend the affront and forgive the tardiness. Indeed, to demonstrate the even-handedness of its magnanimity, the court will allow HyperPhrase on some future occasion in this case to Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 a motion four minutes and thirty seconds late."