Microsoft owns Linux patents? What does this mean for open source?

Goalie35

I've read some bits and pieces here and there over the past few months about Microsoft making deals with Linux but didn't really pay too much attention to it. Now today, I read that Microsoft has threatened to sue phone maker LG electronics because they're using Linux open source code in their phones, which microsoft claims it has patent rights to. So I'm just wondering what the implications of microsoft owning portions of Linux are. Is Microsoft simply looking for a piece of the open source pie to generate additional revenue or are they trying to squeeze out linux (and therefore open source) so that everyone has to once again pay microsoft liscense fees? Thanks. -Goalie35

Member 96

I think the news you read was mixed up, what I read today was that MS signed a patent sharing agreement with LG today guranteeing not to sue over linux infringing M.S. patents.

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Michael Sadlon

The Linux zealots will tell you that it's all fake, all FUD, and just Microsoft's way to grow a monopoly. In my opinion, assuming at least some of the patents are valid, then they're protecting their patents from "free" software. Sure, I think most people will agree that the patent system is broken, but in some respects they deserve to defend what they own. I think Microsoft is trying to slowly enter the Open Source world, anyways. They already have an Open Source lab in Redmond. Maybe it's all part of some grand scheme.

realJSOP

Microsoft claimed that Linux infringed on 235 of its patents, but refuses to cite the patents on which Linux infringes. Since Windows code is not open source, there's no way to tell if Windows infringes on the Linux licensing requirements. Convenient, eh? Microsoft is just using this ploy to scare people (read, corporations and government bodies) from adopting Linux. A lot of the public at large doesn't know or care about these issues, so they're really not a factor n the discussion.

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Lost User

Anyone remember SCO? Funny how Microsoft won't specify any of these 'patents'.....

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Joe Woodbury

I'm quite sure that Linux violates some of Microsoft's patents. It's pretty damn hard to create any product that doesn't violate a patent somewhere. (A few months ago, I was working on a concept that turned out to be patented multiple times! One patent resembled my design document so closely it made me wonder what happened to the "non-obvious" requirement since what I was doing was very common sense, even for 2002 [the date of the patent].) This didn't all just happen in a vacuum or because Microsoft wants to be mean. Even if they proceeded in their typical heavy handed way, the motivation was real and, I think, due to the aggressive behavior by the FSS, especially with their proposals for the new GPL which predate the Microsoft/Novell agreement. I think the latter was a direct response to FSS's saber rattling. Microsoft surely also has a bad taste in the proverbial mouth for how the open source movement tried to hijack some "legitimate" FAT and FAT32 patents a few years ago. Frankly, I'd rather Microsoft, the FSS and other software entities team up and bribe congress to rid us of the current stupid patent system. But until that happens, I don't blame Microsoft for reacting, even if I disagree on their method.

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Jorgen Sigvardsson

SCO was about copyright issues, not patents. This is a much different case.

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TheGreatAndPowerfulOz

Joergen Sigvardsson wrote:

SCO was about copyright issues, not patents.

uh, no it was patents! Novell challenges SCO's Linux claims... In a letter to SCO released Wednesday, Novell asserted that it retains Unix patents and copyrights SCO says it owns. [^] BTW: 1 ;P

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Jorgen Sigvardsson

So I forgot about the patent ownership battle. Sue me! BTW: Don't give one flying f.

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TheGreatAndPowerfulOz

Joergen Sigvardsson wrote:

Sue me!

oh, c'mon.

Joergen Sigvardsson wrote:

Don't give one flying f.

well, neither do i, really. Just doing full disclosure.

Silence is the voice of complicity. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. -- monty python Might I suggest that the universe was always the size of the cosmos. It is just that at one point the cosmos was the size of a marble. -- Colin Angus Mackay

Rocky Moore

It could be Microsoft is just laying the ground work for a future legal battle if Linux would ever threaten Window's dominance. They would head to court with a history of licensing deals showing that others have acknowledged Microsoft's rights.

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