Microsoft: Linux and others violate 235 of our patents

If you thought that Microsoft's deal with Novell was the end of Redmond v. Linux litigation, think again. In an unsettling story carried by Fortune over the weekend, Microsoft's General Counsel claims that free and open-source software (FOSS) violates exactly 235 Microsoft patents: Linux kernel (42), Linux GUI (65), Open Office suite (45), email (15), and then another 68 patents violated across a variety of FOSS wares -- the first time Microsoft has provided such specificity. Microsoft goes so far as to claim that that is the reason for open-source software's high-quality. However, Eben Moglen, legal counsel to the Free Software Foundation and head of the Software Freedom Law Center, says that software is a mathematical algorithm which can not be patented and easily "invented around" -- a case made even stronger last month by the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling undermining patent trolls. Still, FOSS allies such as Sony, Philips, Novell, Red Hat and NEC were already banded together under the Open Invention Network with their own collection of patents meant to protect themselves from the kind of litigious quagmire Microsoft seems poised to launch. Ironically, that very pact between Microsoft, Novell, and more recently Dell makes Microsoft an uneasy Linux distributor (depending upon your legal interpretation of the deal) which could leave them powerless to bring patent suits against Linux customers and distributors. With Microsoft facing the Google goliath and a general consumer malaise, it's really no surprise to find them prepped for a patent offensive in search of additional revenue. However, our biggest fear is for this sudden increase in posturing by Ballmer and Co. to turn into a full blown series of lawsuits and countersuits sure to stifle innovation into the next decade.

[Via Scobleizer]

[James Ollier @ May 14th 2007 4:43AM]

Why does every single Microsoft article on here make me went to shoot Ballmer? Everything they seem to do pisses me off!

[f00b4r @ May 14th 2007 4:50AM]

They're right though. If Microsoft hadn't worked on Office for years and invested so much R&D money in it, the shameless ripoff Open Office wouldn't exist. These open-source pirates just copied MS's hard work. Monkey see monkey do.

[ollie @ May 14th 2007 5:01AM]

Openoffice was formally known as Staroffice then IBM bought it and made it opensource it has gone from strength to strength since the. Your argument does not stand. And since when has Microsoft done anything innovating? They either mimic their competitors or buy them out and label their achievements as their own.

[jono @ May 14th 2007 7:43AM]

ha just as i finished reading your comment "monkey gone to heaven" came on my stereo

[bleeka @ May 14th 2007 10:56AM]

Love the Pixies!

[mb @ May 14th 2007 4:45PM]

MS office was not the first office suite. Get over it.

[Angel Matos @ May 17th 2007 4:12AM]

Why is it that idiots like you have to display their certified ignorance. Well, please be an idiot - Buy only Microsoft software, Buy only iPod mp3 players, etc. I'm sure that next week Ballmer and/or Steve will be claiming that they gave Life to Human-Kind. So please, be a self assured idiot, just don't bother everyone else with it.

I'm sure that MS contributed as much code to 'Office', as they did to 'DOS'.

Unfortunately, there seem to be a plague of idiots posting on sites such as this; they have nothing constructive to contribute - but they're sure that everyone else is interested in their ignorance.

May God Bless

a.

[Jim @ May 17th 2007 9:59PM]

ford has done lots of R&D does that mean that no one else can make automobiles ? there are some things that are not fair to be monopolized by patents. I wonder what MS limits would be if we let them go unchecked. I'm sick of everything being locked down and controlled by oppressive corporations and the elite. they (Microsoft) sold their software and bloodied our financial noses with the cost of their protected developments for long enough. we society made MS wealthy just as much as they did for themselves, what more would be fair for them to ask at this point?

[Legg @ May 14th 2007 5:00AM]

If this story was about the EFF suing M$ over 'whatever', you would characterize it as a "fight against the Evil Empire by freedom loving software users everywhere".

Give me a break.

I do not know if Micrsoft's claims are valid or not, and neither do you. That, however, did not preclude you from showing your bias when you quipped, "....sure to stifle innovation into the next decade".

Your take is irresponsible and nauseating given the fact that the law has yet to even begin running it's course. Evaluate the case on its merits, not on your puerile dispositions.

[wellingj @ May 14th 2007 7:42PM]

HOKAY! How's this for merit:
"(Microsoft Licensing Chief)Gutierrez refuses to identify specific patents or explain how they're being infringed, lest FOSS advocates start filing challenges to them."

SO they want to charge for infringement on their word alone before it's gone to court. Sounds like extortion to me. Not only that they are afraid of their patents being challenged? Why would some one be afraid of their patents being challenged? Maybe because they aren't all that original, or extremely obvious?

But maybe your right, I don't make any sense at all and haven't read the article or looked at the facts. So maybe I should just take Microsoft's word for it that I owe them money.

[Luke @ May 14th 2007 5:11AM]

Guys, ok this has gone far enough, once upon a time engadget was the BEST source of tech news. Though, recently you have become so opinionated about company's as Microsoft, that its not even worth reading most of the time, because you don't know how much is fact and how much is fiction.

They are not my favourite company by any stretch though, report the news honestly and don't instantly assume Microsoft plans to ruin the world, or else engadget will end up as ignored and non-respected blog, and that would be a shame.

[trainwrecka @ May 14th 2007 9:08AM]

i think engadget it doing a great job. so what if they put a little humorous satire in their stories. we are all big boys and girls - we should be able to decipher the fact from humor... right?

[Adaros @ May 14th 2007 5:13AM]

Wonder if Microsoft remembered to patent the Blue Screen of Death? If not, I will, the I'll sue MS everytime a Windows PC does a BSOD anywhere in the world!

[Adam Rosner @ May 14th 2007 5:13AM]

Wonder if Microsoft remembered to patent the Blue Screen of Death? If not, I will, the I'll sue MS everytime a Windows PC does a BSOD anywhere in the world!

[Marian @ May 14th 2007 5:16AM]

This is the kind of patents Linux "infringes":
http://ubuntulinuxtipstricks.blogspot.com/2007/05/did-microsoft-just-patent-sudo.html

[brtha-man @ May 14th 2007 5:22AM]

ya Engadget is becoming a bit of a joke...sad. As regards to MS...my advice for them is instead of fighting open source...think of ways of incorporating it into your future.

[brutha-man @ May 14th 2007 5:23AM]

why dont y'all do us all a favor and change your name to iGadget???

[Robert M. @ May 14th 2007 5:25AM]

Guys, Microsoft explicitly said in the article that they weren't going to sue anyone. How about, oh I dunno, READING THE ARTICLE instead of just the other quotes, before you post news.

http://www.windows-now.com/blogs/robert/archive/2007/05/14/microsoft-is-not-suing-oss-so-relax.aspx

[Thomas Ricker @ May 14th 2007 6:04AM]

Robert M.,

You are wrong. Read the Fortune article we link to. "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."

What you are talking about (I think) is the deal that MS struck with Novell.

Thomas

[Robert McLaws @ May 14th 2007 12:04PM]

No, that's not what I'm talking about. In the article you link to, towards teh bottom of the first page:

Alternatively, it could start suing other companies to stop them from using its patents. That was a nonstarter too, Smith says: "It was going to get in the way of everything we were trying to accomplish in terms of [improving] our connections with other companies, the promotion of interoperability, the desires of customers."

I don't know how much clearer that statement needs to be.

[matjet @ May 14th 2007 5:38AM]

he he so funny. someone on the blog that marian posted, posted this;
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/29130

muahaha

[jpxdude @ May 14th 2007 5:47AM]

That Ballmer picture has been used so many times on here, Guess it demonstrates what a truly cringeworthy guy he is :-/

[diJenerate @ May 14th 2007 6:35AM]

quote: "...Microsoft goes so far as to claim that that is the reason for open-source software's high-quality...." =BullSHIT

ok. so with Microsoft's 235 patents violated (including "sudo") the question is, will they go on to patent, XGL/Beryl/Compiz next or will they continue by reading the GPL list in alphabetical order to decide what to patent next?

diJenerate

[Anonymous @ May 14th 2007 7:28AM]

This article made a joke of itself when it stated Microsoft was looking for new revenue streams to combat google =P. Microsoft makes a shitload on a yearly basis; they aren't worried.

If they've got the patents, I say go ahead and sue. I'll keep using the non-open source software (Like Office instead of Open Office) because open source software usually pales in comparison to closed (proprietary) software in the business sector (Outlook is the defacto Email client, Office suite is the standard for all business documents, spreadsheets, etc)

Seriously, have you used Open Office? It's slower than hell.

[jono @ May 14th 2007 7:42AM]

obviously you never have used open-office. By default it's slow, but changing a few minor things speeds it right up.
I have a torrented Office 2007 but i use open-office instead. Go figure

[Scott @ May 14th 2007 12:26PM]

Yeah, Firefox is way worse than IE6!

So much worse they had to copy it for IE7!

[bleeka @ May 14th 2007 7:36AM]

Yes, because we all know that Microsoft would neeeeeever rip anyone else off... At least not if their layers couldn't find a loophole.
But they always do, don't they...
They see Linux is a growing threat & will do anything, as underhanded & hypocritical it be, to stop them. I bet Microsoft violated multiple patents on their developemt of Office.
Lotus 123? WordPerfect?

They suck, and anyone who is a Microsoft fan sucks. Scummiest Company Ever. I hope Balmer & Gates get eye cancer, go to hell where lucifer makes balmer do the monkey dance in front of billy for all eternity.


oh, and all their children are born w/ red hair & that lobster claw syndrome thing.

[Tinus Lorval @ May 14th 2007 7:58AM]

"They see Linux is a growing threat"

Lol.. as much as I bet you'd like to believe that, Linux isn't even nearly ready for the big public. You can't tell the average user to go into terminal mode and type some command lines to fix cryptic technical problems. Or expect them to download the source code for a driver off a Finnish hacker's website and compile it so their scanner will finally work with ..

Linux is for a handfull of rebel geeks, nothing more.

[Nathan M @ May 14th 2007 8:07AM]

Shouldn't an application work well from the beginning? Not everyone is going to know what to change right off the bat, and most every day users don't want to have to read through a giant help page to find out how to speed up their office suite.

[zargon @ May 14th 2007 8:21AM]

While I would agree that linux is not quite there and ready for the prime time, linux is not just for a handful of rebel geeks anymore. I wonder if that statement of yours comes from ignorance or one bad experience trying to use linux?

Driver support is one short coming of linux, but it isn't ad bad as anyone makes it out to be, especially you. Since Ubuntu (which is all you seem to hear of these days), linux has taken one step closer to prime time. Now, like I said, it is not ready for prime time. It probably won't be ready for prime time for some years, that is if it ever does. But linux does hold a descent market share outside of the computer savvy realm. It is hard to deny that, especially with all the press and work that is being done with linux and software for linux. If anything, the overwhelming out cry for linux on Dell laptops should tell you this. Now other computer companies are following suite, mainly Toshiba, but other will be soon to follow.

I think all the press and support of linux recently is starting to knock on the doors of Microsoft and they are taking more of a look at linux as a threat than they have in the past. Why else would they be attacking linux, if they didn't believe linux was a threat, they most likely would leave it alone. This is just their pathetic way to throw their weight around as the top dog, trying the mark their territory.

To say that Microsoft doesn't see linux as a threat and that linux is just for a handful of rebels show nothing more than ignorance, pissed off at linux due to a bad experience... or both.

[devurandom @ May 14th 2007 11:00AM]

Compared to windows, where you'd have to hunt for drivers for everything? For what it's worth, if linux has any drivers, at least they work out of the box. And it has a LOT of drivers that work out of the box. You don't have to hunt them down, tweak them or do anything, they just load automatically (without any ridicules wizards) and work. I really can't say the same thing about windows (my experience ended with the first 3 days of the launch of XP, so I can't speak for vista or any of the SPs)

Now don't get me wrong. Linux doesn't have support for everything under the sun. Sure, some no name brand of corn flakes might not be supported, but how is that the linux community's fault? The vendors are supposed to write the drivers, and guess how many do. I'm all for commercial drivers if they work (nvidia), but almost noone provides drivers. Yes linux has a very impressive arsenal of modules that add support for quite a few gadgets.

I don't even recall the last time I had to fix a 'cryptic technical problem'. Sure, all the hardware I come across happens to be supported (and I don't really check if it's supported beforehand), but it works without a terminal, and without a silly wizard.

[Scott @ May 14th 2007 12:34PM]

And yet telling Grandma to edit the registry is perfectly ok! LOL!

[saschaisking @ May 14th 2007 8:15PM]

rebel users huh? wasn't gates himself considered a rebel back in the day? a little elbow grease and an "innovative" idea can go a long way.

[Esa Salminen @ May 21st 2007 1:56PM]

I refuse to believe Microsoft is the source of all ideas and innovations I've seen in the software market over the years. I cannot say that I am impressed by Microsoft latest operative system Vista, either. I have seen more impressive "aero" functions in Linux, over a year before Vista was released. Well, and Vista does not work fully today with my hardware. And that has always been the reason for me not using linux, lacking or just to hard hardware installation procedure. Only reason I see to install Vista - DirextX10. Do you have a nVIDIA 8800 GPU, well install Vista. If not, stay with XP. Uses less memory, boots faster, has lot of customized software to optimize its functions or/and remove preinstalled software/services.

[seamus d dog @ May 14th 2007 8:06AM]

Oh boy, the M$ fanboys are out in force. All five of them. I totally picture comic book guy from the Simpsons: "Worst . . . article . . . ever . . . " Engadget is a still a blog, idiots . . . not a M$ shill. If you really think Engadget is crap, stop reading and wasting your time. Oh wait, that's right, you're still stuck in your mother's basement with nothing better to do.

[jono @ May 14th 2007 10:18AM]

A FREE bit of software which has nearly everything that an expensive app has and you are complaining that you can tweak it to make it fly, if you want.

You should stay with Microsoft

[nivz @ May 14th 2007 8:44AM]

Microsoft is good in what they do, they make software for the general public. Easy to use out of the box. Linux is also good, but not exactly easy to use for the average guy.
They should just carry on doing whatever they do best and not try to kill each other. We should also carry on whatever OS we are using and not kill the other party for not using ur preferred OS.

BTW OSX r0x :D kill me!

[Cupajo @ May 14th 2007 8:46AM]

*sigh*, Microsoft...
I love my Zune, I love my 360, I can even stomach Vista....
But shit like this makes it really hard to defend you guys.

[Ratteler @ May 15th 2007 8:43PM]

You probably the only here posting Pro-M$, who wasn't paid.

[devurandom @ May 14th 2007 11:03AM]

apperently not. at least it did a good job at combing out the fanboys. btw, does anyone know at least one of the 235 patents that are infringed? the "sudo" one screames prior art all over the place, so that one can't be it.

[cameron @ May 14th 2007 9:12AM]

You know why M$ is doing this.... Their heals are feeling the burn from linux...

AND It isn't just for a bunch of rebel Geeks. Ask Holywood, where 95% of the machines they use to render animation are linux OS. Hmm, interesting, huh?

[Andir3.0 @ May 14th 2007 9:28AM]

There is a reason they won't release the patent numbers. Because they know each and every one of them will be invalidated due to prior art or disallowed because it's too general.

It's a scare tactic to keep people from getting Linux instead of Vista. Plain and simple. They even threatened, in not so direct of a way, to sue the users/companies using it.

It reminds me of a kid on a playground saying "I'm telling on you!" Just to scare the other kids when there's clearly no ground to stand on. Lay out your cards Microsoft... The internet is calling your bluff.

[andy @ May 14th 2007 10:41AM]

@ Andir3.0

Wrong. It's because there is no central figure to destroy with a lawsuit. Suing every single user out there is NOT a good way to do a lawsuit, and they know that they will lose money attempting to do that. They also know that you can't stomp it out completely, even if you do sue individual users. See the MPAA and RIAA for reference to a similar situation.



Also, iGadget, what's with the "patent troll" comment? How are we defining a patent troll these days? I'm a little confused. It sounds like every patent holder is now a troll? Is that correct? I mean, you've named MS and IBM trolls as well as startups killed off by those two. It looks like the only major corp active in IP that's not a troll is Apple. So I must conclude that your definition of patent troll is: "anyone other than Apple who has a patent and is willing to assert their rights or suggest that they may assert their rights."

By the way, the change from the KSR case applies to the standard for obviousness for ALL patents. Classification as a "troll" never applies in the analysis.

Your "facts", even in the satire lately are suffering from being flat wrong. It's hard to be cheeky when you're flat out wrong. You sound kind of like Austin Powers trying to smooth talk a girl.

[steve-o @ May 14th 2007 10:10AM]

So let me get this straight, Microsoft is suing because they believe the open source world is copying them? Hmm... seems a bit hypocritical when you consider how much of Vista was a rip off of OS X!!

[CJ @ May 14th 2007 10:43AM]

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=BSD+Code+in+Windows

Funny how Microsoft doesn't seem to have a problem with using open-source code in their operating system. Only difference is, the TCP/IP stack they use is under the BSD license which is very permissive. It's the GPL they can't stand.

[Nathan M @ May 14th 2007 11:39AM]

I'm simply pointing out that Office works right from the start, whereas Open Office requires tweaking before it runs well. So yes, I do think I'll stay with Office, Cause I don't have to fuck with it to make it work. :P

[mj @ May 14th 2007 10:23AM]

1. This will blow up in their face.
2. This is only based on recent American law - which has not been tested by the Supreme Court.
3. MS thinks they are losing.

You know how MS won their dominance? They offered good enough software that was cheaper than the competition. Sound familiar? Linux has taken all their advantages away. Now they have to compete like the companies they once made fun of: Corel, Lotus, IBM. They're resorting to legal tricks and artificial lock-in that customers hate. They have even started raising prices.

They are officially in trouble. Stockholders should be concerned.

I was waiting to buy a Dell Linux, but since they're tied up in this MS stuff, I won't touch it.

[andy @ May 14th 2007 10:43AM]

@ mj

As a stockholder, the only thing I would be worried about is what color my new car should be.


Record profits tend to make me feel pretty secure in an investment.

(not a MS shareholder)

[Bob The Mexican @ May 14th 2007 10:29AM]

Looking at that picture of Ballmer with his tongue sticking out is like staring straight into the Pit of Sarlacc.

[johnzilla @ May 14th 2007 11:22AM]

"So I must conclude that your definition of patent troll is: "anyone other than Apple who has a patent and is willing to assert their rights or suggest that they may assert their rights.""

Your statement assumes that all patents are valid and that all patent holders have valid patents. We know this is not the case. Just because the patent office grants the patent doesn't mean it should have been granted.

Sure, someone with a patent has rights, but if the patent is bogus, so are those rights.