Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has claimed that
the Linux open source operating system uses his company’s patented
intellectual property.
The statement will stoke fears that the software giant could
seek to enforce its claims through patent lawsuits.
In response to a question at the Professional Association for
SQL Server (PASS) summit in Seattle, US, about Microsoft’s
controversial patents deal with Linux distributor Novell, Ballmer
said the move was prompted by the Microsoft’s need to protect its
shareholders.
“We've had an issue, a problem that we've had to confront, which
is because of the way the GPL works, and because open-source Linux
does not come from a company - Linux comes from the community - the
fact that that product uses our patented intellectual property is a
problem for our shareholders.”
In the deal with Novell, Microsoft had “agreed on an IP
[intellectual property] bridge – essentially an arrangement under
which they pay us some money for the right to tell the customer
that anybody who uses Suse Linux is appropriately covered”, Ballmer
said.
“There will be no patent issues. They've appropriately
compensated Microsoft for our intellectual property, which is
important to us.”
Ballmer went on to argue that businesses using Linux could be
liable for patent breaches. “In a sense you could say anybody who
has got Linux in their data centre today sort of has an undisclosed
balance sheet liability, because it's not just Microsoft patents.”
he said.
In a statement set to add fuel to the row over the
Microsoft-Novell deal, Ballmer claimed, “Only a customer who has
Suse Linux actually has paid properly for the use of intellectual
property from Microsoft.”
The team behind the open source Samba software last week called
on Novell to “undo” the deal, arguing that the Linux distributor
was “exchanging the long term interests of the entire Free Software
community for a short term advantage for Novell over their
competitors”.
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