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16 May 2007
Linus Torvalds has hit back at Microsoft's claims that it holds 42 patents that are infringed by the Linux kernel.
Torvalds, the leader of the project to create the Linux kernel, was contemptuous of Microsoft's claims and has asked Redmond to name the infringements so that their veracity can be challenged and workarounds found.
"Naming them would either make it clear that Linux is not infringing at all (which is quite possible, especially if the patents are bad), or would make it possible to avoid infringing by coding around whatever silly thing they claim," he said in an email exchange with Information Week.
"So the whole 'We have a list and we're not telling you' should tell you something. Don't you think that if Microsoft actually had some really foolproof patent, they'd just tell us and go, 'nyaah, nyaah, nyaah!'?"
Torvalds added that Microsoft might have patent problems of its own if the company was to expose its software to public scrutiny in the same way as Linux.
He said that operating system procedures have not changed much since the 1960s, and many companies, including IBM, have patents of which Microsoft could well find itself in breach.
Torvalds was sanguine over the possibility of legal action and believes it unlikely that anyone would get sued.
"Microsoft would have to name the patents then, and they are probably happier with the [fear, uncertainty, doubt] than with any lawsuit," he predicted.
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Do you agree?
Asian Invasion Coming Soon
Right now, Asian govenments waste little resources enriching Microsoft, by enforcing patent law, and soon as Microsoft does find a way to enforce their will on computer users, Asian programmers will shut them down, hard and final, with extremely good open source wares right from Asia! The computing world is not interested in Microsoft and their pablum programs anyway! We have grow up on open source, and will sit and code our own, without microsoft infulence, and freely distribute them on the net to the point that M$ will fade into obscurity in a smokescreen of patent lawyers and threats - Ubuntu is living proof that the world is tired of Microsoft's devious Shylock and swindler practices These American schlock-meisters have had their day, run the gammut, are passe. finito, done, and we are glad rid of them! Vista their own folly, killed them, and the world has moved on!
Posted by: "Uncle B" 05 Aug 2009
what a laugh...
As someone who has been paid out hush money for breach of contract by Microsoft, I find the comments in support of their tactics laughable. Patents aren't invented, inventions receive patent protection assuming you have the money and time to do so. Microsoft has a long history of stealing other's ideas (and no doubt patenting many of them after the fact). As someone with 40-odd patents under my belt, I can tell you that big corporations churn out useless patents because they have the money and lawyers to do so. I'm quite sure that almost all of Microsoft's patents would fail to withstand even cursory prior art investigations or tests for obviousness by those skilled in the art, they are merely the result of an over-burdened and under-educated patent office struggling (and failing) to keep up with the tsunami of patents being churned out these days. The real problem is that software does not need or deserve patent protection in the same way that a physical process does; the economies of production when it comes to software are far different from building physical things, and are sufficiently protected by copyright.
Posted by: Ed 19 May 2007
Torvald is absolutely correct
MS has "> 50,000 people working on creating patentable concept" as some have mentioned. If this is so solid, then why is M$ afraid to show where the infringment is occuring with respect to Linux? We in the community know what this and we know that there is no threat to Linux or to it users. Goodbye Microsoft....
Posted by: Cantormath 18 May 2007
Mirco&$%&
I, too, am disgusted with MS tactics, and refuse to use MS products, or those sold by partners of MS. They have a solid track record of taking what isn't theirs and MAKING it theirs. I don't care how many people they have chasing alleged ownership of work done by other people, MS is never going to have a sliver of a chance to regain any trust or confidence from either myself, or anyone else I know that has followed their development over the years. MS cannot escape the history they've created; they seem to have forgotten that most of us have been watching them for a great number of years.
Posted by: zahzhu 18 May 2007
You know nothing about IP
Intellectual Property infringment is serious business. Microsoft has INVENTED a huge array of patents on many, many key software technologies. There are > 50,000 people working on creating patentable concept and cuttign eddge technology ast Microsoft. Even *nix has an intellectual property legacy from ATT / SCO from way back. The cavalier attitude that the Linux-oids have towards STEALING Intellectual Properyt for their free love OS is nothing short of criminal theft. Invent and patent your own technologies and STFU about MS not being creative. While I admire the "bazaar" approach to software development, it doest not give you the right to steal patented concept and attempt to appropriate copyright thorough nefarious "Copyleft" agreements. Buncha freeloading hippie wanna be devs. :P
Posted by: ExMSFT Developer with numerous patents 17 May 2007
Agreed!
On the surface of the issue, I can't see how Microsoft can even make these claims. Where did they get MS-DOS from? (Arguably, their first product.) Where did they get Windows from? Where did they get anything they sell from? I've watched them grow through the years and I really have a difficult time believing that they actually can back up these patent claims. I'm very annoyed with Microsoft's "tactics" in these matters. They seem to depend on the fear that they generate to get the results they desire. Microsoft's accusations here read like a BSA (bsa.org)letter that is sent to companies that are suspected are pirating software. (Microsoft helps to fund the BSA by the way.) This method that Microsoft seems so fond of has pushed me as an end user and as a company advisor to devote some serious time to finding alternatives to Microsoft anywhere possible! I'm tired of being considered guilty until proven innocent in Microsoft's eyes. We as a society should not have to fear litigation from a company because we do, or don't, use their software. Microsoft is simply a company selling products, not the world police. I feel that they've lost their perspective! Who is the customer again?
Posted by: Trent 16 May 2007