[LINK] Coonan vs Conroy: What are the top issues?

[Rick Welykochy]

Howard Lowndes wrote:
> 
> Marghanita da Cruz wrote:
>> At a conference I attended recently, the issue of Risks 
>> associated with the licensing disputes, was raised as an obstacle to 
>> the use of Open Source Software let alone contributing to its 
>> development - not sure if this was a one off or is a widespread concern.
> 
> That sounds as if they have not been keeping up with the issues and are 
> currently running on 3-4 year old FUD.
> 
> I saw a telling point about M$' claim that GNU/Linux infringes 235 of 
> M$' patents.  Someone commented that M$ had not made that FUD claim in 
> Germany.  If they do then they can be required in law to prove the 
> contention.

The current state of software (and other) patents in the USA is that
the validity of the patent is not checked by the US Patent Office. Rather,
they leave it to possible future litigants to sort it out in court.

Microsoft can bellow all they want about owning patents that GNU/Linux infringes,
but I strongly suspect the following:

(a) none of the 235 patents thus claimed have been tested in court;
(b) many of said patents were created by MS's own patent shopping lawyers;
(c) many if not all of the patents will be found invalid due to prior art
     and common usage


BTW: Anyone know the state of play in the patent litigation between the
CSIRO (their wireless technology) and Microsoft? The latter seems happy
to flex its own patent muscle when required for FUD but cries foul when
someone else like CSIRO enforces its own patent(s).

cheers
rickw


-- 
_________________________________
Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services

Q: What's the difference between a software sales person and a car sales person?
A: With a car sales person there is a slight chance that he actually knows how to drive.