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BLOG@IP::JURPatent Attorney Axel H Horns' Blog on Intellectual Property Law.
Monday, May 21, 2007Mr. Mark Shuttleworth's Thoughts on Linux and Patents on CIIs. Mr. Mark Shuttleworth is founder of the Ubuntu Project, an enterprise Linux distribution that is freely available worldwide. In his blog he recently wrote:"[...] And I'm pretty certain that, within a few years, Microsoft themselves will be strong advocates against software patents. [...]"And: "[...] So, Microsoft is not the real patent threat to Linux. The real threat to Linux is the same as the real threat to Microsoft, and that is a patent suit from a person or company that is NOT actually building software, but has filed patents on ideas that the GNU project and Microsoft are equally likely to be implementing. [...]"According to Mr. Shuttleworth, there are three legs to IP law: copyright, trademark and patents. He expects a definitive suit associated with each of them. In his view, SCO has stepped up on the copyright front, and he thinks that it is nearly dealt with now. A trademark-based suit is harder to envisage, because Mr. Thorwalds and others established clear ownership of the "Linux" trademark a while ago. The third leg is patent law. Mr. Shuttleworth says he is certain that someone will sue somebody else about Linux on patent grounds, but it is less likely to be Microsoft (starting a trench war) and more likely to be a litigant who only holds IP and doesn't actually get involved in the business of software. According to him it will be a small company, possibly just a holding company, that has a single patent or small portfolio, and goes after people selling Linux-based devices. An interesting thought in particular in view of  recent discussions on Micosoft's assertions concerning patent infringement by Linux distributors and/or users.Who knows? It might well be interesting to check such predictions with hindsight in a few years of time from now. Technorati Tags: Patents
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