IP Innovation
, a patent services company, has alleged that Linux has infringed
patents it owns, four years on fromSCO's lawsuitsagainst IBM,Novell, the open source community and
Linux users.
The complaint has been made against the two main Linux
distributors, so users should not be impacted directly. However,
the case could mark the beginning of a trend where Linux comes
under attack for patent infringements, which could have a
detrimental effect on the way open source software such as Linux is
developed.
In his personal blog post, US-based lawyer
Mark Radcliffe, senior partner at DLA Piper, said, "The recent
lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas by IP Innovation LLC
against Red Hat and Novell may be the first volley in a patent war
against open source software."
He said, "Since companies rarely sue end-users the risk to
end-users is low. This issue has been on the table for years, but
most users accept the risk. It is really no different than patent
risks of commercial software which may or may not come with an
indemnity."
Clive Longbottom, service director at Quocirca, said the IP
Innovation patent was incredibly far-reaching, covering the
capability to show more than one graphical user interface workspace
on a screen, which means it could affect Microsoft, Apple,
TomTom, room-control units seen in modern offices, in-car
computers and televisions.
This is not the first time Linux and open source has come under
attack. Although the SCO Group versus IBM case was a contract
dispute between two suppliers,
Stephen Walli, an open
source consultant who has written a number of books on open
systems, said this new case is a patent infringement case with
broader implications on all users.
Walli says major Linux supporters such as IBM could help the
open source community. "There is nothing to say that the resources
of an IBM legal department, or its external IP legal counsel, will
show up and begin helping for free.
He said since the patent applies to desktop technology, Red Hat
is likely to try to demonstrate most of its deployment is
server-based. He expected the open source community to develop
software to work around the patent.
Interestingly, Apple settled a similar suit instead of fighting
it. However, Walli did not believe this demonstrated the patent was
particularly strong. "Apple did not want to take the time to find
out in the grand scheme of things. Also, Microsoft will regularly
settle instead of fighting patent claims. It is just easier in some
cases." Walli said the Linux community had a much stronger reason
to attack the patent itself.