Money covers legal settlements that Microsoft has agreed with third-party software developers
Windows users paying $21.50 'patent tax'
/v3-uk/news/1981594/windows-users-paying-usd2150-patent-tax
17 Apr 2007, Tom Sanders in California , V3
Windows users pay an average $21.50 to line the pockets of third-party software developers such as Sun Microsystems, Novell and Alcatel-Lucent, according to a calculation by the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC).
The money covers legal settlements that Microsoft has agreed with third-party software developers for alleged patent infringements over the past three years. The SFLC denounced the costs as a "patent tax" in a posting on its website.
The open source advocacy group provides free legal services to open source developers and is an outspoken opponent of software patents.
"If you run a computer using Windows, you are not just paying for the programmers who put the program together and the corporate operations that brought it to market," the group stated.
"You are also paying a hidden tax of well over $20 that Microsoft has had to pay to other patent holders."
The SFLC pointed out that Linux, by comparison, has never been found guilty of any patent infringements "making Linux a patent-tax-free alternative to Windows".
The figure is based on a total of $4bn in patent settlements that Microsoft has signed in the past three years.
Settlements over that period include a $1.25bn deal with Sun Microsystems, a $536m deal with Novell and most recently a $1.52bn payment to Alcatel-Lucent.
The legal costs of these patent deals further add to Microsoft patent costs. Microsoft has publicly stated that it spends about $100m each year to protect itself in 35 to 40 patent lawsuits each year.
Based on estimated sales of 200 million Windows XP copies over the same period, the average legal costs per Windows XP copy amounts to $21.50.
Although there have been no patent infringement claims against Linux distributors or individual developers, few legal experts doubt that Linux is infringing on numerous patents.
A 2004 study claimed that it had identified 283 patents on which the Linux kernel is potentially infringing. Microsoft executives have also publicly stated that they believe that Linux is infringing on its intellectual property.
Several vendors over the past years, including IBM and Nokia, have issued Linux patent pledges, promising not to sue developers or users of the operating system for any infringements.
© Incisive Media Investments Limited 2010, Published by Incisive Financial Publishing Limited, Haymarket House, 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4RX, are companies registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 04252091 & 04252093
Do you agree?
Cost of Doing Business
I have used Linux since 1998. However, I still also use Windows because Linux is not as stable in some realities.
For instance, Linux has so many different versions, different program groups, vying corporate interests that one version can become obsolete over the course of a few years. So, I still use Windows because I can still use Windows 98/ME/XP for software that I use for Word Processing and Graphics.
I do not like the industrial "taxes" but the cost of paying for patents is a normal part of business practice.
People want to eat, have money and homes and etc. Yet they do not know what the costs of doing business because, paraphrasing Marx, people become part of the machine and not the creator of the entire process.
Well, business is a machine. It is part of the evolution from machines to information machines. If we do not want to pay "taxes" then we need to become programmers and machine makers at home. Who can do that?
Seriously, who cannot afford $21.50 in America. Are we a Third World Country with starving people who cannot find food and water?
Posted by JB Americana, 19 Apr 2007
Microsoft Patent FUD
How is Microsoft going to prove that Linux is infringing on their patents? I'm sure they are not going to release their source code, so their claims cannot be verified. Moreover, when HP started selling Linux laptops, MS didn't say anything. So it's all just FUD. Few lawyers doubt that Linux infringes MS' patents because few lawyers studying this subject are not hired by Microsoft.
Posted by Tweenk, 20 Oct 2007