H Microsoft επιτίθεται στο ΕΛ/ΛΑΚ με πατέντες

Σε χθεσινό άρθρο του περιοδικού Fortune, υψηλά ιστάμενα στελέχη της Microsoft ισχυρίζονταν ότι το ελεύθερο λογισμικό παραβιάζει 235 πατέντες της πολυεθνικής.

(Αναδημοσίευση από το epatents.hellug.gr)

Από το άρθρο:

Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith and licensing chief Horacio Gutierrez sat down with Fortune recently to map out their strategy for getting FOSS users to pay royalties. Revealing the precise figure for the first time, they state that FOSS infringes on no fewer than 235 Microsoft patents.[..]

Smith was having Microsoft’s lawyers figure out how many of its patents were being infringed by free and open-source software. Gutierrez refuses to identify specific patents or explain how they’re being infringed, lest FOSS advocates start filing challenges to them.

But he does break down the total number allegedly violated – 235 – into categories. He says that the Linux kernel – the deepest layer of the free operating system, which interacts most directly with the computer hardware – violates 42 Microsoft patents. The Linux graphical user interfaces – essentially, the way design elements like menus and toolbars are set up – run afoul of another 65, he claims. The Open Office suite of programs, which is analogous to Microsoft Office, infringes 45 more. E-mail programs infringe 15, while other assorted FOSS programs allegedly transgress 68.

Οι αντιδράσεις εκπροσώπων της κοινότητας υπήρξαν άμεσες:

Eben Moglen, founding director of the Software Freedom Law Center, called on Microsoft to disclose the patent numbers of the 235 patents it believes are being infringed upon so that the free software community can evaluate its claims.

“They should name their patents,” Moglen said. “They should put up or shut up.”

Ο community manager του OpenOffice.org, το οποίο βάλλεται από τις αιτιάσεις της αμερικανικής πολυεθνικής, σχολίασε σχετικά:

“It’s just hard to put into credible terms,” said Louis Suarez-Potts, a community manager at OpenOffice.org and a seven-year veteran of the all-volunteer group. “I don’t understand what motivated Microsoft to risk so much with a position that can only serve to alienate [enterprise] customers, as well as those millions of people who use Linux.”[..] “This is an extraordinary and desperate act,” said Suarez-Potts, [..] “I think it will backfire.

Σύμφωνα με άρθρο του Associated Press που ακολούθησε, η Microsoft δεν επιδιώκει να ξεκινήσει δικαστικό αγώνα κατά των χρηστών του ΕΛ/ΛΑΚ, αλλά να τους εξαναγκάσει σε σύναψη συμφωνιών αδειοδότησης, όπως έκανε με τη Novell τον περασμένο Νοέμβρη.

“Microsoft could have chosen to litigate many years ago, but we have decided not to do that,” Gutierrez said. Instead, in the interest of making sure programs that include open-source technology work well with Microsoft products and vice versa, the company will continue to pursue similar deals.

Στην αντίθετη περίπτωση, βέβαια, η Microsoft θα είχε πιθανότατα να αντιμετωπίσει ένα ..ολοκαύτωμα πατεντών. Από το άρθρο του Fortune:

Furthermore, FOSS has powerful corporate patrons and allies. In 2005, six of them – IBM, Sony, Philips, Novell, Red Hat and NEC – set up the Open Invention Network to acquire a portfolio of patents that might pose problems for companies like Microsoft, which are known to pose a patent threat to Linux.

So if Microsoft ever sued Linux distributor Red Hat for patent infringement, for instance, OIN might sue Microsoft in retaliation, trying to enjoin distribution of Windows. It’s a cold war, and what keeps the peace is the threat of mutually assured destruction: patent Armageddon – an unending series of suits and countersuits that would hobble the industry and its customers.

Ο πρόεδρος και διευθύνων σύμβουλος της Sun -της εταιρείας που χαρακτηρίστηκε ως ο μεγαλύτερος επιχειρηματικός χορηγός του ΕΛ/ΛΑΚ, μετά το πρόσφατο “άνοιγμα” της Java- σ’ ένα παθιασμένο άρθρο στο blog του, κάλεσε την Microsoft να ακολουθήσει το παράδειγμα της εταιρείας του και να συμφιλιωθεί με το ελεύθερο λογισμικό:

You would be wise to listen to the customers you’re threatening to sue – they can leave you, especially if you give them motivation. Remember, they wouldn’t be motivated unless your products were somehow missing the mark.

All of which is to say – no amount of fear can stop the rise of free media, or free software (they are the same, after all). The community is vastly more innovative and powerful than a single company. And you will never turn back the clock on elementary school students and developing economies and aid agencies and fledgling universities – or the Fortune 500 – that have found value in the wisdom of the open source community. Open standards and open source software are literally changing the face of the planet – creating opportunity wherever the network can reach.

That’s not a genie any litigator I know can put back in a bottle.

Ανανέωση (16/5 9:00): Η αναμενόμενη αντίδραση του OIN,

A recent article in Fortune Magazine raises – or more precisely, re-raises – tired, old allegations about the Linux operating system for the sole purpose of perpetuating unwarranted fear, uncertainty and doubt among current and potential Linux users and distributors.

This is not the first time that unsubstantiated claims of patent infringement have been leveled at Linux. Moreover, just as in the past, these claims are made without disclosing any evidence. It’s time to stop the accusations and show the evidence. What’s happening with these accusers is the equivalent of declaring four aces while being unwilling to show even a pair of deuces.

It’s clear that these accusations are actually an admission of the rapid uptake of Linux in the marketplace, Linux’ success in displacing legacy products of competitors and that Linux provides superior software in performance, security and stability. Here are some facts to provide clarity around Linux and patents:

There never has been a patent lawsuit against Linux. Never.

Linux has excellent intellectual property vetting.

Linux has thousands of high-quality, dedicated programmers.

Linux creates a robust, secure computer operating environment.

In less than a year, OIN has accumulated more than 100 strategic, worldwide patents and patent applications that span Web / Internet, e-commerce, mobile and communications technologies. These patents are available to all as part of the free Linux ecosystem that OIN is creating around, and in support of Linux. We stand ready to leverage our IP portfolio to maintain the open patent environment OIN has helped create.

και το σχόλιο του Groklaw:

In short, they will respond to any legal threat. It’s part of what OIN was set up to do. It’s not like the bad old days, when Microsoft could just walk onto the playground and everyone ran away in fear or burst into tears. Linux folks have been expecting this for a long time and have used the time to prepare. Nobody is crying or running away.[..] Say, this is becoming sort of like the Cuban missile crisis. Hopefully some brainiac will figure out a neat walkaway from this brink too. Litigation is a waste of everyone’s resources.

Για πολλούς υποστηρικτές του ΕΛ/ΛΑΚ, βέβαια, αυτή η αντιπαράθεση θα έχει έτσι κι αλλιώς αρνητικές επιπτώσεις στην καινοτομία και την έρευνα, αν έχει σαν επίπτωση την αποδοχή της εφαρμογής πατεντών στο λογισμικό. Από την άλλη, ένα γερό μπάχαλο ίσως καταδείξει μιά και καλή τον στοιχειώδη παραλογισμό των πατεντών λογισμικού.

Ανανέωση (17/5 10:00): Ο Cory Doctorow παρομοιάζει τη Microsoft με τη Μαφία,

Microsoft are now threatening end users of GNU/Linux (that’s you and me again) with lawsuits unless we pay them protection money. “Nice operating system you got there, it’d be a shame if something were to happen to it.”

The Microsoft position is this: even if you don’t use Windows, you still have to pay them as much money as they would have gotten for selling you a copy of it.

και ο Doc Searls, που προσεγγίζει την ανάπτυξη λογισμικού με την αλληγορία του χτισίματος σπιτιών, μιλάει για πραγματικότητες της αγοράς που η Microsoft καταφέρνει ακόμα να αγνοεί,

Microsoft’s sales failures should not be blamed on the marketplace, which clearly regards infrastructural items such as operating systems and web servers as essentially free, open and natural building materials — akin to trees and rocks.

H Pamela Jones του Groklaw εξηγεί γιατί δεν ψαρώνει στις απειλές της Microsoft. Αποσπάσματα:

The recent KSR decision by the Supreme Court on obviousness means that suing anybody will result in a lot of those patents being thrown out. Yes. You’ve seen some of the issued Microsoft patents and you laughed. Extrapolate. The Microsoft v. AT&T case also has interesting implications. The patent landscape has radically altered.[..]

FSF has told us that its lawyers believe that Microsoft has already become a distributor of GPL’d Linux, thanks to the SUSE vouchers and other things, so there is the defense against any patent litigation right there, because even GPLv2 has an implied patent license. Here. Read this: “Potential Defenses of Implied Patent License Under the GPL” [PDF]. [..] Read the article and you’ll see that even Microsoft acknowledges that it can’t use the Novell deal as a template, as it wished, for other such deals, because of GPLv3. Thank you, Eben Moglen.[..]

The Pentagon uses FOSS. Is Microsoft going to sue the Pentagon? If it did, would it win? Even SCO knew better than to follow through with its threats to the Pentagon, and they are dumb as rocks.

Το Groklaw γιορτάζει τα τέσσερα χρόνια της ύπαρξής του, και η Pam σχολιάζει σχετικά: