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MS-Sun Agreement Leaves Opening For OO.org Suits

Posted by timothy on from the on-what-basis-is-unclear dept.

newentiti writes "We all know Microsoft paid $900,000,000.00 to Sun and they also signed a LIMITED PATENT COVENANT AND STAND-STILL AGREEMENT. The agreement basically states that Microsoft will not sue Sun for any patents for the next 10 years and vice versa. What's really interesting is that according to this story the agreement had a special provision that lets Microsoft sue anybody, including Sun, over OpenOffice.org. I wonder what Microsoft had in mind?"

1 of 407 comments (clear)

  1. Learn to do some research by LionMage · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    If, as you say, that file formats are not patentable, trademarkable, or copyrightable, then how do you explain problems with GIF and JPEG file formats, just to mention a couple off the top of my head?

    Because the legal problems with GIF and JPEG stemmed from the compression algorithms used by these file formats, and not from the file formats themselves. Just like the original poster said, dipshit. Learn to do a little research first.