[OpenIndiana-discuss] Legal Safety

[Largo]

David Brodbeck wrote:

 > I'd be interested in seeing references to that.

http://www.crn.com/news/applications-os/199501735/microsoft-waves-patent-lawsuit-stick-at-linux.htm

Quote: "Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith and licensing head
Horacio Gutierrez threw gasoline on the fire by offering for the first
time a precise count of the patents they think have been infringed:
235 patents, 42 by the Linux operating system alone.  [...] The
company's preferred path is cross-licensing deals, in which it defuses
the legal issues around its patents without defanging them entirely by
striking "patent swap" agreements with its rivals."

In short: owning patents seems to be the only way to defend yourself.

 > I'd think they'd want to avoid the loss of goodwill.

Unfortunately, Larry Ellison seems to care about goodwill as much as
Darth Vader as the Android lawsuit vs Google shows.

 > To me this all seems like speculation and FUD.  I'm not sure it's
 > going to lead to a useful discussion.

I think such things need to be discussed. I asked the questions
because I hope for an answer from people who understand this situation
better than me. OI looks very interesting, but considering how
agressive and lawsuit-happy Oracle is I want to get a bit more
information before I start using it or recommend it to others.