Skip Links

Network World

  • Social Web 
  • Email 
  • Close

Torvalds: Microsoft is bluffing on patents

By Chris Kanaracus , IDG News Service , 02/04/2008

Microsoft's aggressive defense of its intellectual property, which includes claims that Linux violates a number of its patents, is nothing more than "a marketing thing," according to Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel.

"They have been sued for patents by other people, but I don't think they've -- not that I've gone through any huge amount of law cases -- but I don't think they've generally used patents as a weapon," Torvalds said. "But they're perfectly happy to use anything at all as fear, uncertainty and doubt in the marketplace, and patents is just one thing where they say, 'Hey, isn't this convenient? We can use this as a PR force.'"

Torvalds made the comments during the second half of an interview conducted by the Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin on Oct. 16. The foundation is expected to make the rest of the interview publicly available on its Web site Monday. The foundation released the initial portion of the interview in January.

"Another reason why I don't think Microsoft really seriously would go after patents is when you're a convicted monopolist in the marketplace you really should not be suing your competitors over patents," Torvalds continued. "I think that most Microsoft lawyers would say, 'You know, let's not do that; that sounds insane'."

Microsoft's recent work around improving its platform's interoperability with Linux left Torvalds largely unmoved.

"I think there are people inside Microsoft who really want to improve interoperability and I also think there are people inside Microsoft who would much rather just try to stab their competition in the back," he said. "I think the latter class of people have usually been the one[s] who won out in the end, but -- so I wouldn't exactly trust them."

Microsoft spokespeople on Friday declined to comment on Torvalds' remarks. The company has said it believes that Linux infringes on its intellectual property, although it has been criticized for not being more precise with its allegations.

Torvalds is instead focused on improving Linux, he said. "I work weekdays, I work weekends, I work 52 weeks a year. I don't want there to be any question of who's the best maintainer," he said. "And at the same time, I actually also do want to encourage competition. ... So, I actually enjoy seeing all these other kernel trees happening. All the vendors have their own."

Partner Content
CA logo

CA Network & Voice Resource Center

Comprehensive Network & Voice Management Visit CA Network & Voice Management Resource Center and get insights into industry best practices, information that helps you to address your challenges.

CA Network & Voice Management Resource Center

whitepaper

Managing Voice Over IP for Successful Convergence

Voice over IP (VoIP) has much to offer in cost savings but some customers have concerns about VoIP call quality compared to the quality of traditional voice services. This white paper will help you learn how to take the right steps so that voice quality is assured.

Managing VoIP for Successful Convergence

whitepaper

The Changing Face of Network Management

Managing your network is serious business. This paper discusses the benefits of integrating configuration change-awareness into your network fault management solution

Download Whitepaper

Comments (8)
Login
Forgot your account info?

Everyone knows it's all a marketing gimmick...By Anonymous on April 18, 2008, 8:24 amEveryone knows it's all a marketing gimmick. But I guess Linus should be suing Microsoft for stealing code. Microsoft obviously copies from open source. Concept...

Reply | Read entire comment

Is Microsoft bluffing on patents?By Micronet on February 6, 2008, 11:04 amWe all know that Microsoft's patents claim against Linux is "a marketing thing," as recently stated by Linus Torvalds. But that doesn't mean it...

Reply | Read entire comment

The only thing is, as theyBy Anonymous on February 6, 2008, 9:02 amThe only thing is, as they cant fight foss they decided to make money from it.

Reply | Read entire comment

Not just one wayBy tuomoks on February 6, 2008, 12:56 amDear Anonymous, code in itself can not be patented but, unfortunately, the method can. Now, assuming you mean methods, yes, MS and probably everyone else writing...

Reply | Read entire comment

A two way streetBy Anonymous on February 5, 2008, 11:19 pmWhat I don't get about all this patent stuff is the fact that nobody knows if Microsoft is infringing on someone elses patented code because alot of their code is...

Reply | Read entire comment

View all comments

Add comment
Anonymous comments subject to moderator approval. Register here for member benefits.
Have a NetworkWorld account? Log in here. Register now for a free account.

Videos

rssRss Feed
Save The Date!
What They Are Saying

IBM spent all that money on a mass rollout of PGP Whole Disk Encryption, just when its discovered that...- Anonymous

Join the Discussion