Patent Dispute May Reach Beyond Microsoft-Open Source
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| Is Microsoft fighting a losing battle? That's the question posed by an
| op-ed piece in today's Los Angeles Times. Maybe so, the writer concludes...
|
| As the LA Times piece points out, whether Microsoft litigates the issues
| or not, the patent dispute with open source may well result in even
| fewer patent restrictions industry-wide than currently exist. But
| given that the trend toward open source and open standards shows
| no signs of slacking, that's not necessarily bad.
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http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/osb/?p=152
Publication of the Microsoft agreements
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| A number of articles about the filings indicate incorrectly that
| we are excluding OpenOffice from the covenant not to sue under
| the patent cooperation agreement. That's not the case. This
| confusion likely stems from language in the agreements around a
| "grandfather clause" for certain products. The covenants Microsoft
| and Novell make to each other's customers relate to 'Covered Products.'
| Some products with certain characteristics - known as 'Excluded
| Products' - do not qualify as Covered Products, and thus are not
| covered by these covenants. Certain products available before
| November 2, 2006, however, are automatically covered under these
| covenants, regardless of whether or not they have the
| characteristics of an 'Excluded Product'. The reference in the
| patent cooperation agreement to OpenOffice simply means that it
| does not qualify for this automatic coverage. It does not mean
| it is not covered by the covenants. As we jointly stated with
| Microsoft in November, OpenOffice is covered under the patent
| cooperation agreement.
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http://www.novell.com/prblogs/?p=344
Rumour from a very notorious journalist (mouthpiece?):
Novell won't be punished for Microsoft deal - source
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| A foundation that owns rights to much of the code behind Linux
| software has decided not to carry out threats to punish Novell
| Inc. over a deal with Microsoft Corp, a person familiar with the
| matter said.
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http://www.ndtvprofit.com/homepage/news.asp?id=300758
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