Microsoft lawyer 'won't speculate' on Linux suits
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REDMOND, Wash.--Microsoft's top intellectual property lawyer said that the company's legal action against TomTom over Linux was specific to that company, but he declined to say whether other suits over the open source operating system might follow.
"I wouldn't speculate at this point," Horacio Gutierrez told CNET News in an interview late Wednesday. Gutierrez did add that Microsoft's patent suit against TomTom, which includes three claims related to file management techniques used in the Linux kernel, was specific to that company.
It is the "TomTom implementation of the Linux kernel that infringes these claims," Gutierrez said. "There are many flavors of Linux (and) many implementations of the Linux kernel. Cases such as these are very fact-specific."
Microsoft filed complaints in federal court and with the International Trade Commission on Wednesday alleging eight counts of patent infringement by TomTom. While five of the patents relate to car navigation systems specifically, three of the claims pertain to TomTom's use of the Linux kernel in its products, Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez said Microsoft chose to include the open source claims alongside the proprietary GPS system claims because both related to TomTom. He characterized the suit as a dispute with TomTom as opposed to a new salvo against Linux.
"This is just a normal course-of-business dispute between two companies," he said, adding that no special thought was given to what it meant to include the Linux claims in the suit.
"That is not the focal point of the action," he said.
Asked whether that meant that Microsoft would seek compensation from all products that use the Linux kernel, Gutierrez said, "No. That is really not what we have in mind. This case is about TomTom's infringement."
He stressed Microsoft's preference for signing licensing deals with companies, including those using Linux.
"Our position is and has been that we believe licensing is the right way to approach and resolve these things," he said.
Gutierrez said that the move did not reflect a change in Microsoft's overall position toward open-source software. "I think there shouldn't be any ambiguity on our expectations as a company. We recognize that open-source software will continue to be a part of the industry."
But, he said that the company's "appreciation and respect for the open-source community is not inconsistent" with its desire to protect its intellectual property.
That said, he acknowledged the suit could hurt some of the efforts the company has tried to make in recent years to mend fences with the Linux world.
Sometimes, he said, disputes will lead to lawsuits. "Sometimes they will evoke hard feelings. Sometimes those feelings will make moving ahead with our open-source strategy more challenging, but there is no change to our open-source strategy and the work many teams across Microsoft do every day to move it forward."
Although Microsoft did not call out the Linux claims, Gutierrez said the company was not trying to hide them. While Linux is not mentioned in the federal lawsuit, he said, they are noted in two paragraphs of the ITC claim.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
I wonder if MS will be wise enough to pull out before a judge decimates them?
I know it been the fade since the late 90's to keep hoping that saying it over and over will make it true. But, to date it has not been true.
There was an old saying I first heard in college that might be applicable to Mr. Ballmer: "He could screw up a one man parade in a ghost town."
They are also putting themselves in a position to start losing patents.
They may not be as bad off as SCO is, but they are going to hurt themselves badly.
"Millions of lines of infringing code"
Not one line was produced before the judged sentenced the company to complete annihilation.
If MS wants to follow the same path, they are welcome to. The world will be better off.
Even if they don't over-extend themselves, they just lost 5 patents. Everyone in the law suit is based on prior art and it only takes a few minutes to invalidate each one.
MS is simply showing that not only is the software patent emperor not wearing any clothes, he is a shriveled husk.
Once again, MS proves that only MS can destroy MS and they are hell bent on doing it.
Hey Mr wannabe lawyer. Is a law suit similar to a lawsuit , or is it more akin to a "fine Italian suit" ?.
The MPIAA and RIAA never took on large entities until they had accumulated a number of wins going after individual people; incapable of weathering the financial and legal war. This is no different.
There are several open-source GPS providers out there, and they should combine there efforts to itemize and eliminate as many points of every lawsuit of this nature. Give Microsoft a taste of its own business - pick apart every point of the lawsuit, claim no component can be removed from the operating system, delay the process by asking for more time for discovery, ask for summary judgments on key points, file a counter suit based on previous wins and claim legal expenses as damages, appeal...rest rinse, repeat. If anything, drive the other company so far into litigation costs that they can then buy the company, or settle out of court with a 'mutual patent licensing arrangement' (a slow kiss of death based on contract terms).
...
Or could Microsoft get away with this one, saying that they never have used the Linux kernel? They must have "accepted" the GPL for software that is using FAT at least once by using GPl'ed software. How could they otherwise be so sure that the patent is infringed unless they have read the GPL'ed code?
I hope that FSF joins in on this one, if it's not to late. (It has been settled now, right?)
Linux runs faster with no messy registry to deal with.
You have less worry about viruses with Linux.
You can still use many Window programs under WINE.
And, there are many GNU and free software available for almost any applications.
It's time for Microsoft to say goodnight and shrink to irrelevance. They and companies like GM are reasons I don't like multi-national corps. They get too big for their britches and endanger all of us either by the number of jobs they control (recession anyone) or they bully the gov't around.
No thanks. I'll stick with Mint Linux KDE or PCLinuxOS.
Go ext2fsd - much better, can easily be modified to do anything you want. (At least legally...)
Then you can ship it installed by default, with default settings adapted and everything.
Their lawyer calls it "normal course-of-business dispute between two companies".
We call it: THE NORMAL BEHAVIOR OF A MONOPOLIST WHO JUST CAN'T HELP IT TO TRY SQUASHING COMPETITORS, NO MATTER HOW LOW THE MEANS".
That's how they managed to a BRIBE their dis-functional and propriatary document standard through the international standards body (ISO).
Shame on Micro$oft! May your stock-price fall through the gutter!
WHERE IS THE GOVERNMENT? WHERE IS CONSUMER PROTECTION HERE?
DO WE STILL HAVE SOMEBODY WATCHING MALEVOLENT CORPORATIONS?
Arthur
All this stuff he is doing is illegal and I don't know how the DOJ can let him do this stuff since its illegal.
Microsoft suing the entire consumer electronics industry? If Microsoft is not careful, this is what it could amount to.
Some of the other patents are dubious too; a quick discussion on several online forums has yielded quite a lot of prior art, and a lot of discussion about whether Tomtom devices really fit the descriptions of some of those patents.
- by Net Nerd February 28, 2009 7:01 AM PST
- If Linux had the variety of software available for it, in similarly high quantities per category, I'd have switched over from Windoze long ago. I've done my share of browsing for Linux titles. They just aren't out there to be had.. yet. Sorry to burst the Linux promoters' collective bubble, but as long as Microsux has 3rd-party software companies in their back pocket, thereby keeping the titles I (and many many others) are interested in from the breaking into the Linux world, Microsux isn't going to die, regardless of how many lawsuits they file (and probably lose).
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(30 Comments)I'm no fan of Microsoft, and I'm certainly no apologist for them. They use despicable steamroller tactics to drive their mighty machine over start-ups before they ever get a chance to actually become any kind of competition -- or a chance to get in league with serious competition.
I'm no fan of their bloatware which doesn't work as well as their price tags demand, nor the endless supply of security holes and updates to fix products that weren't ready for market but were released anyway. In fact, Windoze has given me more headaches than.. well, actually MS-DOS back in the 80's gave me headaches, too, now that I recall. I hate Windoze and I hate Microsux. But what is one to do? You wanna/gotta use certain software, yer gonna use Windows. We're stuck.