Microsoft is sufficiently scared by the GPLv3 that the company decided to unilaterally change the terms and conditions for its Novell Suse Linux coupons.

The company on Thursday issued a statement declaring that:

Microsoft has decided that the Novell support certificates that we distribute to customers will not entitle the recipient to receive from Novell, or any other party, any subscription for support and updates relating to any code licensed under GPLv3.

06 Jul 2007

At stake it the possibility that Microsoft could potentially be seen as a distributor of GPLv3 software as a result of last year's Novell-Microsoft partnership. If that is actually the case, Microsoft will be forced to provide everybody with a royalty free patent licence, undermining Microsoft's strategy to coerce patent licensing fees from the entire world.

Microsoft makes sure to stress out that the licensing changes are a cautionary measure against a non-existent threat. Because the company doesn't want to be perceived as being cornered by the Open Source communists.

You can dismiss most of that as futile public relations speak, but Microsoft actually has a point. The legal merits of some of the GPLv3 provisions will have to be proven in court. Most notably, the legal community is debating the enforceability of attempts to pull Microsoft into an agreement between the customer and Novell. But Microsoft itself may not be in the clear either, as the company can't simply change the terms of the Novell coupons.

Microsoft's was just another move in its open source chess game and it is now upon the latter to make a move. We were told that the Software Freedom Law Center is preparing its next move on Monday.