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Novell Sale Delayed Due To Patent Investigation

Posted by Soulskill on from the something-is-afoot dept.

darthcamaro writes "Novell's $2.2 billion dollar acquisition by Attachmate isn't going to close as soon as first expected. A key part of the deal is the sale of 882 patents to a consortium of vendors led by Microsoft. The US Department of Justice is investigating the patent deal and is now pushing out the close until at least April 12th. Does this mean the deal is in trouble?"

7 of 31 comments (clear)

  1. What I can't figure out... by the+linux+geek · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... is who actually owns the UNIX copyrights after the sale. I'm not talking about patents, which is what keeps getting brought up - who actually owns the copyright to the latest version of UNIX System V? Is it SCO, who developed it, or Novell, who supposedly owns UNIX, or someone else?

    1. Re:What I can't figure out... by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's a shame that Unix has ended up being a football that greedy companies fight over now.

      It's a shame, but it's hardly surprising.

      UNIX and a lot of the concepts (and code) in it are the foundation for a lot of stuff that's used in modern operating systems. If you can own that, you can have leverage over most operating systems.

      Having Microsoft suddenly own the copyrights and everything else for UNIX would be bad for anybody that isn't them -- if every other OS had to pay Microsoft licensing fees, then they stand to gain quite a bit.

      Companies are generally greedy, especially once they're big enough that lawyers play a significant part in how they run their day to day stuff.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    2. Re:What I can't figure out... by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I guess the continuing fear is that Microsoft and other parties with some interest in squashing Linux will just continue tossing potshots at it via the copyrights. Yes, we all know the history of Unix and how things got to be where they are, but the Big Guys have never had a problem with creating their own fraudulent narratives.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  2. Patent about selling companies by michelcolman · · Score: 4, Funny

    Apparently there's a patent about "selling a company to another company". This may take a while...

  3. Re:Here's what it means by Beelzebud · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It just means the proper people haven't been bribed yet.

  4. Unix patents not included in the deal. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative
    Novell will continue to own the Unix-relevant patents according to the information that I have, From what I know (posting as an Attachmate employee - hence anonymous) the Unix patents are not being included in the deal.

    One of my colleagues asked this question of one of the C*O people when they came to visit my workplace to assuage fears within the Attachmate organisation, and the answer was that the Unix patents were not included in the patent transfer package, and that there were perpetual licenses for the Attachmate/Novell entity.

    However, I've not seen any notice of exactly what patents are for offer in the transfer, and I've spend a bit of time asking and not being told.

  5. The fine print in "Deal with the Devil" by denis-The-menace · · Score: 3, Funny

    Only now they read the fine print in the deal they made with MS regarding the SUSE Linux vouchers?

    I'm shocked!

    --
    Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration