[GLLUG] Claim: Linux violates 235 MS patents

[Junus, Ranti]

Since MS declines to list those 235 patents, I won't be surprised if the
bulk of the patents themselves are probably have prior art.  Right now,
they rely on the uncertainty.

Anyway, interesting observation:

"[Eben] Moglen [head of the Software Freedom Law Center] had another
card to play. In his view, the fact that Microsoft was selling coupons
that customers could trade in for Novell Linux subscriptions meant that
Microsoft was now a Linux distributor. And that, as Moglen saw it, meant
that Microsoft was itself subject to the terms of the GPL. So he'd write
a clause saying, in effect, that if Microsoft continued to issue Novell
Linux coupons after the revised GPL took effect, it would be waiving its
right to bring patent suits not just against Novell customers, but
against all Linux users. "I told Brad [Smith, Microsoft's General
Counuse]," he recalls, "'I think you should just walk away from the
patent part of the deal now.'

Smith didn't, and Moglen kept his promise. On March 28, the Free
Software Foundation made public revised GPL provisions, which are
expected to take effect in July."


*chuckles*
ranti.

--
Ranti Junus