An open-source call to arms (software wars)

[phoebe]

http://news.com.com/An+open-source+call+to+arms/2010-7344_3-5221365.html

snip

As the commercial significance of Linux increases, proprietary software vendors, unable to compete on technical and economic grounds, will turn to the courts for competitive advantage. They see the absence of central ownership for Linux as a gap that allows them to pick off open-source developers individually, with little threat of a concerted rebuttal. Think of this as a "death by a thousand cuts" approach to stalling the free-software movement.

SCO showed us that even a ridiculous claim can create a disturbance and kite a plaintiff's stock to 40 times its previous value. So it was that SCO was able to finance its legal campaign. We must apply lessons learned from that litigation to the post-SCO world and prepare for the next attack--which may come from Microsoft or one of its proxies.

Copyright and trade secret laws present risks that we must manage--but software patents are easily the largest future risk to open source. Governments routinely award patents for noninventions, leaving their resolution to the courts. Yet, with the cost of defending a lawsuit running about $2.5 million per patent, it's hardly economical to resolve in court whether a patent represents an invention. Almost by default, the victory goes to the largest pocketbook, an obvious disadvantage to the individual open-source developer.

Rather than take on an expensive court battle, many prospective defendants have found it more economical to license technology that has an invalid patent, allowing plaintiffs to collect royalties for their noninventions. Standards bodies are increasingly including patented algorithms in Internet standards, potentially creating new fees for all Net users. But any patent royalty is a showstopper for open source. Since we don't charge royalties to our own users, open-source developers don't have the funds to pay royalties to patent holders

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. A question.

Hi, phoebe,

>Standards bodies are increasingly including patented algorithms in ?Internet standards

Can you cite some examples of where this has occured? I'm not familiar with this, and I'd like to know what sort of standards are being talked about. (It appears that the article refers to already accepted standards, but I'd be interested in any that were under serious consideration, as well.)