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Microsoft reportedly wants open source software users to pay royalties on 235 alleged patent violations.
In an interview with Fortune magazine, Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, and Horacio Gutierrez, the company's vice president of intellectual property and licensing, said open source software, including Linux, violates 235 Microsoft patents. And Microsoft wants distributors and users of open source software to start paying royalties for these alleged violations.
"This is not a case of some accidental, unknowing infringement. ...There is an overwhelming number of patents being infringed," Gutierrez said.
Microsoft executives in Singapore were not immediately available to comment on the article.
Smith broke down the alleged patent violations during the Fortune interview, saying the Linux kernel violates 42 patents and the operating system's user interface violates a further 65. He went on to claim that the Open Office application suite violates 45 patents and open source e-mail applications infringe on 15 more. Other open source software applications infringe on 68 patents, Smith said.
Microsoft has been laying the groundwork for patent claims against Linux and open source software for some time. Most notably, the Redmond, Wash., software company signed a Linux deal with Novell that indemnifies the company against Microsoft patent claims over Linux. Last week, Dell joined the deal, becoming the first hardware vendor to do so.
Microsoft has struck other deals with hardware makers. In April, Samsung and Microsoft signed a cross-licensing agreement that included a clause that indemnified Samsung against Linux patent claims.
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Comments (19)
Some irresponsible ClaimsBy anonymous on February 5, 2008, 9:11 amLets forget the FACT that microsoft has failed to say WHAT patents have been violated even after being asked! 99% if not all of the patents M$ claims can be...
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MICROSOFT THIEVES & CHEATSBy David on July 19, 2007, 4:07 pmSadly 80% of home users are stuck with microsoft. Microsoft original stole the OS From? Think people Dont let them win. I See in no way how LInux could have violated...
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Some unresponsible openBy observer on June 11, 2007, 3:40 amSome unresponsible open source developers are definitely making Microsoft very angry. So very angry that make Microsoft forget that it is not Linux nor open source...
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Some unresponsible openBy observer on June 11, 2007, 3:39 amSome unresponsible open source developers are definitely making Microsoft very angry. So very angry that make Microsoft forget that it is not Linux nor open source...
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How Microsoft innovatesBy Anonymous on June 6, 2007, 1:40 pmInnovative software, from Microsoft? Heh! Yeah, right. They "innovate" the old fashioned way... They steal it.
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