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OSDL Says Patent Threat to Linux is Receding

Posted by Zonk on from the receding-good dept.

blacksilver writes "The chief executive of the Open Source Development Labs (ODSL) has said that the threat facing Linux from software patent-infringement claims has receded. From the article: 'Lots of people who hold a lot of patents have looked at this issue, and nothing's come of it ... There's always been a suspicion that some of them [the alleged infringing patents] were held by Microsoft, so this could be an issue ... our customer advisor people speak to people, including major customers who run both Windows and Linux, and they say it's not an issue,'"

9 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Customer Responses? by RoadDogTy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    But, our customer advisor people speak to people, including major customers who run both Windows and Linux, and they say it's not an issue

    Are customers who run Windows and Linux really the right people to be asking these kinds of questions? Shouldn't they be commenting on Microsoft (and other companies') actions instead of random customer opinion? Seems kind of random.

  2. Perceived threat is still a threat. by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 4, Interesting
    For the most part, the patent and other IP stuff is just FUD. However, it can be a highly disruptive force as our friends at SCO have shown us. A threat does not have to be legally enforcable or binding to have its desired effect. A perceived threat is just as effective.

    When people eat the FUD, they don't necessarily believe it. Instead they just add this to the risk pile: "Aww heck I don't want to have to possibly go to court...".

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
    1. Re:Perceived threat is still a threat. by tomstdenis · · Score: 2, Interesting

      *cough* *cough* NSA licenses GF(p) curves from certicom.

      What the fuck is that about? [hint: there are no patents on GF(p) point operations or DH/DSA].

      Sometimes if you talk fast enough and have a classy enough suit you can convince people of anything. At the ceritcom ECC con- [can't say convention cuz that would be giving them too much credit] this year it was all about how "certicoms ECC technology was leading the way" etc cough cough gag!

      All I have to say is this

      "250,000 patents filed every year, and still no microwavable safe metals." :-)

      Most patents are just nuisance pointless bragging patents. Oh we "invented" a way to do something trivially different from what you are doing. Or fuck, let's just patent something other people do but word it up all in our own lingo.

      Like the MSFT patents on cron jobs...

      The reason why no patent suits have been brought against Linux is because they wouldn't hold ground in court. I'm sure on paper there are patents that Linux somehow violates. I just wouldn't count on them being legitimate.

      Tom

      --
      Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  3. Harder to kill Linux with patents by external400kdiskette · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Linux is de-centralized so it cant ever be killed like other companies can by patents and other lawsuits, just ask SCO, you'd literally have to win against hundreds of companies worldwide and even then people are always going to be modifying the source on an individual level. It's everywhere.

  4. Not troll-proof by PMuse · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Patents are not a shield. They are a sword. When a competitor tries to stab you with his patent, you draw out your own and, all else being more or less equal, he may agree to leave you be rather than risk you killing his business.

    Patent "trolls" are not competitors. They are file-drawer companies that don't make anything and don't sell anything. You cannot kill a troll's business with your patent sword because they have no business.

    Patent pools are no defense against trolls. Linux companies are no safer than anyone else when the troll demands a piece of their profits.

    --
    "We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
  5. Re:What would have been the result? by alexfromspace · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I am not a lawyer, but I can make a good guess that if enough of such cases (prior art in open source for existing patents) are handled by courts, it will go on to tell the legal and the lawmaking branches of government that the patent system is obsolete. It will create legal precendents for favoring open source over patents in the future, as the open source is actually effective in promoting innovation, unlike software patents.

  6. IBM's Big Stick? by geoffrobinson · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Maybe a lot of patent holders know IBM, or other companies holding a lot of patents and have an interest in Linux, could fight fire with fire.

    --
    Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
  7. US campaign by Elektroschock · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What is needed now is no protection shield against software patents.

    What is needed now is an American equivalent to the European campaign effort. It is possible to abolish software patents and this is the way to go.

    So where is the US campaign?

  8. Re:Back to the drawing board... by aztracker1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    From a recent interview experience I had, it is my opinion that Microsoft isn't interested in true creativity, they want C.S. degreed weinees who can recite definitions of low-level development constructs... This left such a sour point to me, that I am now moving my servers *away* from Windows, even though my software is properly paid for, and licensed... they won't be getting *more* money from me...

    I also won't be recommending any more 6 figure purchases based on their technology.

    --
    Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info