Microsoft should take next steps to show good faith.

Posted Oct 10, 2018 17:23 UTC (Wed) by patrick_g (subscriber, #44470)
In reply to: Microsoft should take next steps to show good faith. by bkuhn
Parent article: Microsoft joins Open Invention Network

What if the Samsung exfat code is sent tomorrow to upstream by someone other than Microsoft and accepted upstream? According to the text posted on your blog this will end the risk of patent extorsion :

> the non-aggression pact only applies to the upstream versions of software, including Linux itself.

Why there is a need to ask Microsoft to submit the exfat code themselves to upstream?

Microsoft should take next steps to show good faith.

Posted Oct 10, 2018 18:02 UTC (Wed) by bkuhn (subscriber, #58642) [Link] (2 responses)

Microsoft doing the upstreaming themselves gives the other benefits I mentioned in my blogpost. Remember that any company can withdraw from OIN's non-aggression pact at any time. IIRC, there is a cooling off period when they do, but after that period, they are no longer bound by it and can begin patent aggression again even on patents that were covered by the pact. The OIN pact is really a measure of "what's safe today?", and really not "what will be safe tomorrow?".

Microsoft should take next steps to show good faith.

Posted Oct 11, 2018 8:43 UTC (Thu) by abraxis (guest, #34961) [Link] (1 responses)

OK - I've been looking at the OIN agreement - Section 2.2 is about a "Limitation Election" which seems to say that companies can pull out with 30 days notice, and then start hammering other folks for patent stuff again, or am I reading the legalese incorrectly?

Microsoft should take next steps to show good faith.

Posted Oct 11, 2018 23:08 UTC (Thu) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

They might get caught by estoppel, but then again they might not ...

Cheers,
Wol