[OpenIndiana-discuss] Legal Safety

[David Brodbeck]

On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 1:19 PM, Largo <splatter at proinbox.com> wrote:

> 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."
>

Yes, I remember that incident now.  Microsoft tried to shake down Novell and
RedHat for money by threatening lawsuits.  Novell caved, but RedHat called
their bluff, and it appears to have ended there.  Furthermore, as far as I
know they never sued any *end users*, which I assume is what we're
discussing in this thread.

 --
David Brodbeck
System Administrator, Linguistics
University of Washington