OSDL Says Patent Threat to Linux is Receding

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,'"

Comments

Customer Responses?

[RoadDogTy]

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.

Just to be clear..

[sedyn]

Copyright threats against linux are still alive and strong, right?
We wouldn't want the OSDL to spread such FUD among SCO investors!

Perceived threat is still a threat.

[EmbeddedJanitor]

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...".

Only "commercial" Linux ever worried...

[pla]

The entire boogeyman of some company destroying Linux via a patent suit never really threatened most of us in the first place.

Why, you might ask?

Because most of us don't really care. Patents count as a silly abstract nuissance for business-folk, not for hobbyist developers. Treble damages? 3 * $0 = $0. No doubt some lawyer will point out that other dangers exist, but really, I (and I doubt most of us) really lose sleep over the idea that our use, or even code contributions, of Linux may violate some obscure submarine patent waiting to spring out at us.


Or to look at it another way: If the USSC banned Linux tomorrow due to it infringing some patent - How many of you would run out and buy XP to "fix" all your now-illegal machines?

Not troll-proof

[PMuse]

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.

Re:Pantents usage..

[Rattencremesuppe]

Maybe you shoudl be able to patent, the hole source code of a program,

Why? The whole source code is already protected by copyright

US campaign

[Elektroschock]

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?