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 LXer Feature: 23-Dec-2006 Opinion - August 2004, Microsofts Steve Ballmer warned Asian governments that Linux infringes 283 patents, some of which belong to Microsoft, and that those countries might experience trouble as a member of the WTO. However, nothing happened ever since (except more threats). Why doesn't Microsoft sue 'us', the users? Here are some more reasons you might not have thought of before.
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Apart from the questions about if Microsoft knows what of their IP we, the Linux users, are infringing, are there other good reasons not to sue our ass?
Of course, most of us are potential Microsoft customers, though that 'potential' may be very different between us.
Maybe it's nice to define who exactly is us. As a former maintainer of the LXer migration database, a list to keep track of governmental / non governmental organizations and companies who switched to Linux, it should be possible for me to sketch a picture of how 'us' looks like. Because if Microsoft sues 'us', 'we' should defend ourselves, shouldn't we?
Some of 'us' don't have money, some of 'us' don't know anything about IP, some of 'us' don't care about infringing IP, and some of us are companies with lot of lawyers to pay.
That last part of 'us' is the most interesting. However, in the case of Microsoft, there isn't any 'us', it's just Microsoft on its own. And that's where it becomes interesting.
When SCO (but we all know it probably was Microsoft in disguise) sued IBM and Novell, both Novell and IBM counter-sued SCO. That almost means, in this case, Novell and IBM cooperated to move SCO out of the way of Linux adoption.
Now, if Microsoft might sue some of 'us' for infringing their IP, who of 'us' could cooperate to defend Linux?
Of course, that would be Novell and IBM, since they earn a lot by using Linux, and Linux is crucial to them. Of course, Linux is crucial to Red Hat and SUN too. Those four could cooperate. Interestingly, whole Google wouldn't work without Linux. They are not selling Linux like Novell, IBM, SUN and Red Hat do, but they won't like being accused of infringing on the patents of Microsoft. Worse, the American and Indian army, and the French 'national police' rely on Linux. They won't be pleased also probably, being called 'criminals' for 'stealing'.
Also, more and more municipalities - worldwide - rely on Linux. Even Microsoft may rely on Linux, for example when the Windows tablet PC of Microsoft Ukraine's boss, giving a presentation stops working, and they may use it on their servers.
If Microsoft - on its own, without any community or coalition - is willing to make all this people - including the home Linux users who don't want to use pirated Windows versions - look like criminals, and if they wish to fight a legal battle against a 'coalition of the willing' Sun, Novell, IBM and Red Hat, I wish them a lot of luck, but it will backfire like a Saturnus V heading for their throat! |
Microsoft's Undisclosed Balance-sheet Liability
NT influenced by Unix
,----[ Quote ] | (Gates:) "And through Windows NT, you can see it throughout the design. | In a weak sense, it is a form of Unix. There are so many of the | design decisions that have been influenced by that environment. And | that's no accident." | | In light of the recent saber rattling about Linux and patents, the "There | are so many of the design decisions that have been influenced by that | environment" sentence is particularly interesting if these patent | threats include things that are prior Unix art. "In a weak sense, it | is a form of Unix" is also telling. I said before that I don't think | that's the case; I think the patent stuff is talking about things like | Samba and Mono, but even there the "influenced by that environment" | could be important in the court of public opinion if not in actual | law. `----
http://aplawrence.com/Unixart/gates_quote.html
Microsoft's stolen code and IP infringements
,----[ Quote ] | Soon, MS-DOS 6.0 was released, including the Microsoft DoubleSpace | disk compression utility program. Stac successfully sued Microsoft | for patent infringement regarding the compression algorithm | used in DoubleSpace... | | F. Scott Deaver, owner of Failsafe Designs, says Microsoft is guilty of | the "outright theft" of his product name and intellectual property | (IP)... | | Alacritech sued Microsoft in Federal District Court on August 11, | 2004, alleging that Microsoft's existing and future operating | systems containing the "Chimney" TCP offload architecture uses | Alacritech's proprietary SLIC Technology architecture... | | In April 2001, Intertrust initiated a lawsuit against Microsoft. The | lawsuit ultimately accused Microsoft of infringing 11 of Intertrust's | patents and almost 130 of the company's patent claims... | | Visto Corporation has filed a legal action against Microsoft for | misappropriating Visto's intellectual property... "Microsoft has a | long and well-documented history of acquiring the technology of | others, branding it as their own, and entering new markets," said | Mr. Bogosian... | | Telecoms company AT&T accused Microsoft of infringing its patent for | a digital speech coder in its Window software in a lawsuit it filed | in 2000... | | The likelihood of Microsoft having to pay millions of dollars in | damages for infringing the contested Eolas patent for web browser | technology increased last week when the US Patent and Trademark | Office reaffirmed the patent's validity... | | A bitter fight has broken out between Symantec and Microsoft. | Symantec claims that Microsoft stole code from Veritas software... `----
http://www.openaddict.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic...
Is Microsoft infringing upon Xerox, Apple and Unix intellectual property?
,----[ Quote ] | Intellectual Property is a term widely abused in the software industry | by firms such as Microsoft and SCO using it to scare people into not | using certain products in favor of their own. This disparaging tactic | has even been given a name: Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD). It seemst | hat anyone nowadays can make bold, unsubstantiated claims of IP | infringement without actually having any proof simply to hurt another | products reputation and destroy healthy competition. In this article, | we will explore what intellectual property is and why every computeru | ser should care when unreputable companies abuse legal systems in | order to gain an unfair business advantage. `----
http://www.openaddict.com/page.php?27
The Apple vs. Microsoft GUI Lawsuit
,----[ Quote ] | Without warning, Apple filed suit against Microsoft in federal court on | March 17, 1988 for violating Apple's copyrights on the "visual displays" | of the Macintosh. (Apple also filed suit against HP for its NewWave | environment that ran on top of Windows 2.0.) | | Apple's suit included 189 contested visual displays that Apple | believed violated its copyright. | | Microsoft countersued, but it failed to stem the bad publicity. | Windows' development community was terrified that any court ordered | changes to the software would render their products incompatiblea | nd make Windows undesirable to consumers. Borland's CEO said itw | as like "waking up and finding out that your partner might have | AIDS." `----
http://lowendmac.com/orchard/06/0825.html
Windows Vista vs. Mac OS X: The Copycat Olympics
,----[ Quote ] | In Microsoft's defense, though, why wouldn't you want to "borrow" ideas | from other successful products? Vista, Leopard, and Linux are all | competing against each other, although in reality, each one is better for | a different set of users. Apple may go on and on about the similarities | between Tiger and Vista, but they're there for a reason. When | innovation fails, then you need to try and learn from the best, and | that's what Microsoft is doing. However, they're a little late to the | game, and the competing follow-up usually isn't as good as the original. `----
http://www.osweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=vi...
All the Myth about Microsoft!
,----[ Quote ] | * Microsoft was first with graphical user interface | | * Microsoft designed BASIC Language | | * Microsoft designed visual basic | | * Microsoft invented DOS | | * Microsoft designed the first spreadsheet - Excel | | * Microsoft designed the first word processor | | * First with Internet browser `----
http://196.2.70.231:8080/ict_blog/open-ict-hacks/microsoft-m...