The Father of Linux Says Microsoft Is Bluffing

At the end of 2006, Microsoft entered a new partnership with one of the most prominent members of the open source community by inking what it referred to as a landmark Windows-Linux interoperability agreement with Linux distributor Novell. And yet, as both Microsoft and Novell indicated strong commitment to bridging the proprietary and open source platform, both companies came under a barrage of fire for the intellectual property assurance aspect of their deal. Essentially, the agreement permitted Microsoft to sell 70,000 one-year subscription for maintenance and updates to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server coupons to customers, while at the same time offering intellectual property rights to its own technology.

The move was designed to protect companies around the world that would acquire
the Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server coupons protection from a potential lawsuit from Microsoft for patent infringement. At that time, the Redmond company welcomed additional members of the open source community to its Windows-Linux interoperability and intellectual property assurance wagon, and while some jumped aboard, others, including Red Hat, failed to succumb to Microsoft's pressure. And at its peek, Microsoft General Counsel, Brad Smith, and Vice President of Intellectual Property and Licensing, Horacio Gutierrez, accused open source and free software of infringing on no less than 235 Microsoft patents. The father of Linux, Linus Torvalds, has recently revealed in an interview with The Linux Foundation that he thought Microsoft was bluffing.

"So, I think that Microsoft really sees patents as a marketing thing and I think that for two reasons: a) it is what they seem to have used in the past. So far I don’t think Microsoft has ever sued anybody over patents. They have been sued for patents by other people, but I don’t think they’ve – not that I’ve gone through any huge amount of law cases, but I don’t think they’ve generally used patents as a weapon. But they’re perfectly happy to use anything at all as fear, uncertainty and doubt in the marketplace and patents is just one thing where they say, 'Hey, isn’t this convenient? We can use this as a PR force.' Another reason why I don’t think Microsoft really seriously would go after patents is when you’re a convicted monopolist in the marketplace you really should not be suing your competitors over patents. I think that most Microsoft lawyers would say, 'You know, let’s not do that; that sounds insane.' They’re perfectly happy to use patents in the détente and cold war sense," Torvalds said.