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Microsoft, Amazon Ink Kindle and Linux Patent Deal
theodp writes "Microsoft says it has reached a wide-ranging IP agreement with Amazon in which each company has granted the other a license to its patent portfolio. Microsoft says the agreement covers technologies in products such as Amazon's Kindle — including open-source and proprietary technologies used in the e-reader — in addition to the use of Linux-based servers. Microsoft issued a news release celebrating the accord, while Amazon declined to comment. 'We are pleased to have entered into this patent license agreement with Amazon.com,' said Microsoft's deputy general counsel. 'Microsoft's patent portfolio is the largest and strongest in the software industry, and this agreement demonstrates our mutual respect for intellectual property as well as our ability to reach pragmatic solutions to IP issues regardless of whether proprietary or open source software is involved.' A Microsoft representative declined to say which of its products are covered by the deal."
The agreement provides each company with access to the other’s patent portfolio and covers a broad range of products and technology ...
Now Microsoft will be able to sell all its products with just one click!
.lit format in favor of Kindle's .azw? Will Amazon push out and offer Azure on EC2?
But seriously where does this end? Will we see the death of Microsoft's
My work here is dung.
Which is like doing the following:
"Hey dude, I did something really cool!"
"Oh yeah, what's that?"
"Not telling! Tee hee!"
ilovegeorgebush
If all copyright holders on software patents start to create bilateral agreements, it will eventually become clear that software patents are only an artificial entry barrier.
American automakers team up with Japanese automakers to produce an electric car?
Walmart inks a deal to take over every state's welfare department?
In an effort to keep Microsoft in the US, Canada becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Google?
Wait, those last two sound feasible...
Microsoft issued a news release celebrating the accord, while Amazon declined to comment.
Microsoft says the agreement covers technologies in products such as Amazon's Kindle
A Microsoft representative declined to say which of its products are covered by the deal.
It sounds like Amazon got caught violating one or more of Microsoft's patents, and this deal was arranged to avoid a lawsuit.
Microsoft's traditional play of "Extend, Embrace, Extinguish"..
This most likely has something to do with a Microsoft play towards Windows 7 Mobile and a slate device as an answer to Apple's iPad . Pundits are spewing about Windows 7 Mobile and the fact that it sucked less in comparison to Windows Mobile 6 (in the vein that Windows 7 sucks less than Vista). Said device would be hooked into Amazon's range of eBooks for the Kindle.
It's a verb and a noun. Like this...
VERB: Microsoft and Amazon ink a deal.
NOUN: Microsoft fscks Amazon before the ink is dry.
So long Amazon, it was nice knowing you.
Microsoft's patent portfolio is the largest and strongest in the software industry...
..for certain definitions of "the software industry" which exclude the International Business Machines Corporation.
This patent stuff has got to be a gold mine for msft. IP extortion seems to be a brilliant business model.
February 22, 2010
Microsoft, Amazon strike patent deal covering Kindle and Linux
As would be expected, the actual patents that were supposedly violated are not disclosed. For many years msft claimed that Linux violates msft patents, but msft absolutely refuses to disclose which patents.
Microsoft says the deal grants Amazon patent-related "coverage" for its use of open-source and proprietary technologies in its Kindle e-reader, and its use of Linux-based computer servers.
At the same time, the deal has the potential to stir new controversy in the tech industry, if it's interpreted as Amazon implicitly endorsing Microsoft's claims that Linux and other open-source technologies violate its patents.
February 19, 2010
Nathan Myhrvold's Intellectual Ventures Could be Biggest Racketeering Operation in the United States and Beyond
Patent thug Nathan Myhrvold turns out to have over 1,000 patent proxies with which to potentially attack and extort those who do not pay "protection money"; he also spent over $1 million lobbying his government
THE New York Times has published this report about Microsoft's patent troll Nathan Myhrvold, who is backed by his colleague Bill Gates, his former employer Microsoft, and even Apple. He already terrorises the industry using patents that it spent literally billions of dollars acquiring (not actually working to invent anything of substance).
http://boycottnovell.com/2010/02/19/nathan-myhrvold-exposed-again/
And here is the NYT article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/technology/18patent.html
I suppose using the US legal system for patent extortion is especially cost effective since msft uses offshore labor for the legal work.
February 18, 2010
Microsoft to outsource general legal work to India
Software giant Microsoft will begin outsourcing general legal work to India after signing a deal with legal process outsourcing (LPO) company CPA Global. The news comes as CPA outlined plans to expand its Indian workforce from 600 to 1,000 by the end of 2011, and hinted at opening another outsourcing centre.
http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/microsoft-outsource-general-legal-work-india
I think MS should tell infringing parties which of its patents are being infringed, otherwise its patent claim should be invalidated due to insufficient proof.
Microsoft issued a news release celebrating the accord, while Amazon declined to comment.
Sometimes which dog is barking tells you a lot about what's going on out in the pasture.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
That's a great idea. Boycotts are such an incredibly effective tool for small groups holding a minority position. Remember when the southern baptists effectively shut down Disney with their boycott? I think Disney still hasn't recovered. If every single person that is passionate about software patents boycotts Amazon I think we'll see the same level of amazing success in bringing about real change.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
If MS can get some well known companies like Amazon to license open source software for them, then when they approach the next set of companies with an "agreement", they'll have a precedent. Open source violates MS patents, so MS must be paid if you use it, and here's a list of other companies which have already agreed.
Microsoft doesnt have to sue linux companies, they just reach settlements with companies that use linux, the either
a) Encourage companies to use microsoft products through FUD
or
b) Get IP revenue from settlements.
If they tried to directly take on linux companies other than SUSE then they would have to disclose the patents.
Im sure if Microsoft tried to take on Red Hat then they would probably wind up clashing with IBM.
This suggests Microsoft's anti-Linux patent strategy is alive and well.
For those just getting up to speed:
Microsoft doesn't feel like competing fairly against open source products. So it attempts to use dubious legal trickery instead.
This started with SCO - a failed Unix company that took Microsoft investment in exchange for executing a legal attack on Linux vendors and users (based on copyright and licensing issues). The claim: that Linux infringed on their intellectual property rights. Their conduct in the case was truly awful (making the claim but resisting an explanation about what infringed; trying to shake down any and every Linux owner). Latest status here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCO-Linux_controversies
This was only one aspect of the FUD campaign. Patents were another. Microsoft struck a patent deal with struggling Novel, and it feels very similar to what we see here. The implication: Novel agrees its use of Linux somehow infringed on Microsoft's patents, and that it (and by extension everyone else) must pay Microsoft to use Linux.
The FSF's response explains the problem:
http://www.fsf.org/news/microsoft_response
The article describes other similar cases.
Now we have Amazon making a deal. They have far fewer reasons on the surface, but I imagine we'll find out why at some point, and it probably has something to do with a much stronger, non-Linux-related, perhaps non-software patent that Microsoft holds and which they violate. In the process of being sued and settling, Microsoft enticed them to accept terms which included a similar "Linux-FUD" clause - allowing an announcement just like this.
Although software patents are utterly and obviously ridiculous, and although most first world nations besides the US don't allow them, and although even the US is moving away from them (see Bilski)... even given that many large companies such as IBM have announced that they will defend Linux with their own patent portfolios... even after Microsoft has weathered an antitrust trial (and should feel themselves on thin ice when it comes to anticompetitive behavior)... they appear to still be pursuing a legal strategy of attacking Linux via barratry.
In the deranged world of software patents, there is not exactly any such thing as sane legal reasoning. But as Microsoft convinces more companies to pay them for their use of Linux, then their patent claim gains a slimy veneer of legitimacy (or so they hope). Otherwise "why would so many people pay them?" This circular reasoning strengthens them in their eventual legal battles to come, as they attempt to hurt (or even end) the use of Linux.
Of course, this is not just about Linux. Were Microsoft or any other company to succeed at this game, they would effectively make open source software impossible.
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Here's some background info on these deals:
I don't time right now to look into this deal, so if someone could add info to en.swpat.org about it, that would be great. Otherwise I'll do it later.
Please help publicise swpat.org - the software patents wiki
Perhaps this agreement is about ClearType. It's covered by known MS patents, and that's why subpixel font rendering is disabled in many Linux distributions. Amazon might need it, or some related technology, for its Kindle.
This is a horrible development and I am not sure if anyone but Microsoft understands the scope of the damage that they are doing to FOSS here. I call on the FSF, OSDL/Linux Foundation and others to SPEAK UP! on this and do something about it. I wonder if people like Linus even cares about this?
"...but I imagine... probably has something to do with... they appear to..."
That's just awesome. You got +5 informative explaining how Microsoft mighht be guilty of unknown shenanigans.
Slashdot's just plain broken.
Are companies at point now that lawyers outnumber engineers and software developers?
I think you fail to realize the relative productivity of an engineer and a lawyer. Think about how many man years it takes to develop a non-trivial, market ready software product vs filing a legal brief?
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
"And I say that the mere fact that you have to start a buisness at all just to make something useful is a barrier... Barriers to entry don't have to be insurmountable to be barriers..."
If you consider that a barrier... well... it's about as much a barrier as is the need for you to put on pants in the morning. Since nothing stops you from completing that task, and it's neither expensive nor time-consuming, I have to conclude that you're talking out your ass on this one.
What then, if that secret, submarine patent is about something else entirely, or for that matter, does not even exist? For that matter, there could be several threats in play, patent based or otherwise, but anyway the main point of any such deal is to make sure the non-Microsoft party stays quiet, leaving Microsoft free to create the impression that Linux is somehow not quite legit, with no factual basis whatsoever.
We have no way of actually knowing, but it does appear that the US legal system somehow allows the kind of of behavior I suspect here as long as the actual underlying facts are not available to the public.
It doesn't even have to be a patent or a real issue at all, given the likely size of Microsoft's legal budget the threat of prolonged litigation backed up by the famous PR machine would be quite sufficient to intimidate smaller players to silence. Most of us are, after all, smaller players than Microsoft.
All idle speculation of course, but as long as they keep us in the dark about the facts of these deals, speculation will flourish.
-- That grumpy BSD guy - http://bsdly.blogspot.com/