Linux Violates 283 Patents, says Insurance Company

Apro+im writes "According to this article over at ZDNet: 'Linux potentially infringes 283 patents, including 27 held by Microsoft but none that have been validated by court judgments, according to a group that sells insurance to protect those using or selling Linux against intellectual-property litigation.' Dan Ravicher, founder and executive director of the Public Patent Foundation, conducted the analysis for Open Source Risk Management. OSRM is like an insurance company, selling legal protection against Linux copyright-infringement claims. It plans to expand the program to patent protections."

Comments

Patent violation is rampant

[192939495969798999]

And how many patents does Windows (or DID windows) violate of Apple? (Before Microsoft either changed it, or bought the patent, etc) This happens all the time!

Re:Shooting self in foot?

[jpetts]

They are NOT releasing the list of patents. They just state there are 283 patent infrigements.


They will show you the patents if you insist, but they recommend strongly that you not look, since if you know about the patents you are infringing, then in the US the infringement becomes wilful, and renders you liable to triple damages.

This is one of the reasons that people such as Linus recommend that engineers should not do prior patent research before coding anything.

Re:Shooting self in foot?

[Bruce Perens]

I am on the board of this thing and would not allow them to goad patent holders into suing. Indeed, the entire thing is calculated to prevent people from suing, because a big insurance company with a $100M fund will defend against suits instead of a little customer.

Bruce