News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on USPTO to add surcharge on non-DOCX patent applications in 2023. Parent comment

Re:USPTO to add surcharge on non-DOCX patent applications in... by nescioquid on Friday August 26, 2022 @05:16PM (#32612859)
To me, the salient question is why is the government officially adopting a proprietary file format? Why is it important to optimize for the trivial convenience of patent applicants?

It seems more like rationalization than reason.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:USPTO to add surcharge on non-DOCX patent applications in... by mordero on Friday August 26, 2022 @07:54PM (#32614116)
Isn't docx technically an open file format? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:USPTO to add surcharge on non-DOCX patent applications in... by nescioquid on Friday August 26, 2022 @10:39PM (#32615089)
That's a standard for a file format, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is a free/open format. I don't think the FSF, for instance, considers it open (maybe because of patent issues). I'll leave that for you to decide, but just mean to suggest a standard doesn't automatically mean free/open.

Interestingly, a section in the wiki article linked mentioned the standard proposal was controversial because ODF already existed (and ODF was considered less complicated as a specification).

Nevertheless, good point. It depends on what you mean by "open".

[ Parent | on HN ]