Mandriva Won't Pay Microsoft 'Protection Money'
-
Hi Erik,
Erik Funkenbusch wrote:
Microsoft has NEVER initiated a patent lawsuit.
I finally ran across something on this. See Under EU Pressure, MS to Give Samba a Peek at Its Protocols[^]. From the article:
Microsoft will provide a list of related patents, and while the PFIF won't get to license those patents, the organization and the Samba developers working through it will be able to avoid them as they write code... This means that downstream Samba users can be assured that their Samba usage won't run afoul of Microsoft's patent-lawsuit threats.
Jeff
Two things there: First, users can't be assured that their Samba usage won't run afoul of Microsoft (or anyone elses) patents, because it's quite possible that the samba team could implement functionality in a way that violates a different patent that isn't applicable to MS's implementation of SMB. Second, the talk about "lawsuit threats" is conjecture on the part of the author. Microsoft hasn't said they would sue anyone over this either. They've only said that they have Intellectual Property and that those that use it should pay a licensing fee. While many infer a threat of lawsuit in that, again, Microsoft has never initiated a patent lawsuit, and I doubt they ever will. Sure, they want people to voluntarily pay patent license fees, but I don't see them suing anyone (for software patents). Note that I say software patents. I believe Microsoft may have initiated a hardware patent suit once. However, most people, even many of those adamantly against software patents agree that hardware patents are a different story, as they amount to "real" inventions.
-- Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?
-
Two things there: First, users can't be assured that their Samba usage won't run afoul of Microsoft (or anyone elses) patents, because it's quite possible that the samba team could implement functionality in a way that violates a different patent that isn't applicable to MS's implementation of SMB. Second, the talk about "lawsuit threats" is conjecture on the part of the author. Microsoft hasn't said they would sue anyone over this either. They've only said that they have Intellectual Property and that those that use it should pay a licensing fee. While many infer a threat of lawsuit in that, again, Microsoft has never initiated a patent lawsuit, and I doubt they ever will. Sure, they want people to voluntarily pay patent license fees, but I don't see them suing anyone (for software patents). Note that I say software patents. I believe Microsoft may have initiated a hardware patent suit once. However, most people, even many of those adamantly against software patents agree that hardware patents are a different story, as they amount to "real" inventions.
-- Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?
Hi Erik, I hate conceeding a debate...
Erik Funkenbusch wrote:
I believe Microsoft may have initiated a hardware patent suit once.
I believe you are correct. August, 2006 against Belkin. But it was filed with the ITC [1], and not down in East Texas (apparently monetary compensation was not an objective). Jeff [1] Not the best reference: U2 Plays At The ITC[^]