Could Microsoft's patents be used as the basis for a lawsuit against the Linux kernel. According to study of the U.S. software patents the answer is yes. This study was funded by the Open Source Risk Management, and found that Microsoft wasn't the only one that holds patents that could threaten the Linux kernel. Computer maker HP, Intel, Novel, and Linux supporter IBM also have a good amount of patents that could be used against the kernel.
A total of 283 registered software patents, including 27 held by Microsoft Corp. could conceivably be used as the basis of patent lawsuits against the Linux kernel, according to a study of U.S. software patents scheduled to be released Monday. The study was funded by Open Source Risk Management LLC (OSRM), a company that provides insurance against lawsuits related to the use of open source products, and conducted by patent attorney Dan Ravicher, executive director of the Public Patent Foundation and senior counsel to the Free Software Foundation.
"There is a nontrivial risk of patents being asserted against Linux," said Ravicher, who added that his findings should not come as a great surprise given the broad scope of the Linux project. "The conclusion we came to is not that Linux is doomed and that this is horrible," he said. "It's very similar to the result you would get if you investigated any other software program that's as successful as Linux."
News source: InfoWorld
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