Legal commentators weigh SCO's chances (Inquirer) [LWN.net]

Legal commentators weigh SCO's chances (Inquirer)

Posted Jul 29, 2003 17:18 UTC (Tue) by jdthood (guest, #4157)
Parent article: Legal commentators weigh SCO's chances (Inquirer)

I wonder when the third shoe will drop. SCO has made claims on the basis of contract law. They have made claims on the basis of copyright law. Where are the claims on the basis of patent law? They are surely coming, because patent law is the most dangerous weapon in the arsenal of the software proprietor. You don't have to sign a contract to be subject to patent restrictions. You don't have to copy anything to be subject to patent restrictions. You can live in a clean room and still violate them. The GPL is no defense against them. The independent software developer or the small company cannot really defend itself from a patent attack. Does SCO have any patents that they can threaten GNU/Linux users with? If they don't, Microsoft and Sun surely do. I suspect that this is what Bill Gates was, in his godfatherly way, referring to when he said that

     Over the next four or five years people will
     understand more about the intellectual property
     issues around open source software and Linux
     and that will address the open ended liability
     without indemnification for customers. There
     is going to be some friction around that side
     of the system.

RMS and Bruce Perens and others have been warning us about the threat of software patents for years. I once heard one of them say that the only reason the GNU/Linux community hasn't been threatened with software patents yet is that Microsoft et al. are waiting for patent legislation to pass in Europe. Once the legislation is in place, it will be safe for them to start using it to hammer people, even if this creates some bad publicity. That theory is plausible. The legislation was supposed to pass this month but it has been delayed until September. Perhaps that is when we see what Bill Gates means by 'friction'.

(Log in to post comments)

Legal commentators weigh SCO's chances (Inquirer)

Posted Jul 29, 2003 17:39 UTC (Tue) by ccchips (guest, #3222) [Link]

So then, I guess it's time for OSS researchers to start getting their prior-art thing together, so when this is all over, the American and European patent systems will be cleaned up.

Meanwhile, where are all the big, other patent-holding, companies going to be on all of this, if they are so bullish on Linux lately?

What particularly bothers me about this is that it's another indication of how the rich trounce on the poor. I firmly believe that unless we, as a planet, stop that kind of behavior, we are doomed. People should be free to express themselves without having rich people play games with their lives, whether it be software companies, movie companies, or record companies. Stallman tried to help with that and copyright using the GPL. I hope to heaven all the Stallman detractors in our movements are starting to understand that now.

Legal commentators weigh SCO's chances (Inquirer)

Posted Jul 29, 2003 18:38 UTC (Tue) by jdthood (guest, #4157) [Link]

> I hope to heaven all the Stallman detractors in our movements
> are starting to understand that now.

Hear, hear. RMS has been leading from _far_ out in front.
He has been proved right in most of what he has predicted
and advised. His main errors as a leader have been to choose
the wrong battles to fight, which he did because he was
stubborn. But that same stubbornness has made him the
backbone of the movement. I hope that the author of the
Inquirer article is right when he says that the FLOSS
community is pulling together for the battle.

> So then, I guess it's time for OSS researchers to start
> getting their prior-art thing together, so when this is
> all over, the American and European patent systems will
> be cleaned up.

Prior art won't help people who can't afford to fight in court
against corporations.

In order to defend themselves, they will need money. They will
need corporate allies. Those allies will be the companies that
are now starting to adopt GNU/Linux on a large scale. The
question is, can Microsoft/SCO destroy GNU/Linux before it has
a chance to establish itself in business? It is a race.
So expect the heavy guns to come out by the end of the year.

If you think I am exaggerating the danger, just imagine how you
would feel if you received a legal letter informing you that you
were being sued for contravening a patent and had caused 100
million dollars damage to MegaCorp's business. Now imagine 50
leading contributors to GNU/Linux receiving such letters. Sure,
you'll be angry, but what will you be able to do about it?

Legal commentators weigh SCO's chances (Inquirer)

Posted Jul 30, 2003 12:11 UTC (Wed) by Wol (guest, #4433) [Link]

"RMS and mainstream opinion have been getting a lot closer together in recent years".

I've come across that sentiment several times recently (and agree with it). It's usually accompanied with (and again I agree) "Guess who's moved? Because it certainly wasn't RMS!"

Cheers,
Wol

Legal commentators weigh SCO's chances (Inquirer)

Posted Jul 30, 2003 13:47 UTC (Wed) by ekj (subscriber, #1524) [Link]

RMS doesn't need to move very often, because he is right most of the time.

Legal commentators weigh SCO's chances (Inquirer)

Posted Jul 29, 2003 19:02 UTC (Tue) by dwalters (subscriber, #4207) [Link]

That's another reason why it's imperative that everyone who can do so, works hard to make sure that September's European Software Patent vote goes the right way.

There's still time, and we still have a chance. A few hours of your time spent now reading up on this, and writing intelligent, informed articles for the press, and letters to MEPs, could well prove worthwhile for all proponents of FLOSS in the long term.

http://www.ffii.org/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/31472.html

Legal commentators weigh SCO's chances (Inquirer)

Posted Jul 30, 2003 0:04 UTC (Wed) by rgmoore (subscriber, #75) [Link]

Where are the claims on the basis of patent law?

Not until they've lost all hope. They're suing IBM, which has the biggest patent portfolio of anyone in the business. If SCO sues IBM for patent infringement, the countersuit will come so fast that SCO's lawyers will get whiplash. And it'll be big, and IBM will win, and quite possibly they'll wind up owning SCO when all's said and done.

SCO might possibly be able to win against IBM in a breach of contract lawsuit. I doubt that IBM's army of lawyers would have let them do anything that stupid, but maybe they made a mistake and did something they shouldn't have. There's no way on Earth that SCO can go toe to toe with IBM on patents and have a prayer of winning.