[wuug-list] [wuug-forum] ezod: Re: MS and Patent garbage..

[Windsor UNIX Users Group]

Author: ezod
Username: ezod (d38-230-195.home1.cgocable.net)
Subject: Re: MS and Patent garbage..
Forum: Software
Link: http://www.wuug.org/read.php?13,32,33#msg-33
Approved: Yes

Software patents are a major legal gray area, and while that remains true companies are doing what they can to make short-term returns on them by striking deals and generally hanging them around as FUD. Notice they rarely actually sue, which would force the patents into the limelight of the court and invalidate 99% of them (and eventually, bring down the whole software patent house of cards). 

Linux companies realize this is what Microsoft is doing, but most pay bogus licensing fees and whatnot just in case somehow they've got a few valid patent claims up their sleeve. By paying the fees, they hedge their bets and are supposedly spared the worst of Microsoft's imminent wrath, but at the same time, unfortunately, they lend some credibility to Microsoft's FUD and the very validity of the patents themselves in the eyes of investors and even possibly the law.