Bonum Certa Men Certa

Linux Foundation Lashes Out at Microsoft Over Attacks on GNU/Linux

Cigarrón



Summary: Microsoft is slammed publicly by the Linux Foundation for allegedly attempting to have Linux sued by patent trolls; more patent news

AS we last showed a couple of hours ago, Microsoft had degraded its level of civility a little more (if that's possible at all) and stooped down very low by attacking GNU/Linux in potentially illegal ways, depending on the local laws.



“...[I]t's a bit like a two-level routine where a patent troll sub-contracts another patent troll to do the dirty laundry.”Yesterday we showed that Microsoft was marketing software patents with which to attack GNU/Linux. This is basically an attack by proxy, which is one level higher than what we find in Microsoft's patent troll, Nathan Myhrvold. With Myhrvold, Microsoft can use the proxy of a proxy (or satellites around a moon) in the sense that Microsoft creates a patent hoarder outside the company (with no products to fall prey to counter-attacks), which in turn passes some of those patents to smaller trolls that can target companies which won't comply with racketeering; the lawsuits would seem to come not from the real source of extortion, so it's a bit like a two-level routine where a patent troll sub-contracts another patent troll to do the dirty laundry. It makes Myhrvold the 'parent troll' and Microsoft the 'grandparent troll'. This observation was brought up thanks to a new report from Law.com (already covered in [1, 2, 3]).

The Linux Foundation and OIN are closely-related entities and they are not stupid. In their own questionable way, they act as guardians of Linux (and to a much lesser extent Free software).

Zemlin from the Linux Foundation responds not to the FUD observed in retailers [1, 2, 3, 4] but rather to the almost-simultaneous development on the patent front. From the opening of his blog post:

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal’s Nick Wingfield broke a story on Microsoft selling a group of patents to a third party. The end result of this story is good for Linux, even though it doesn’t placate fears of ongoing attacks by Microsoft. Open Invention Network, working with its members and the Linux Foundation, pulled off a coup, managing to acquire some of the very patents that seem to have been at the heart of recent Microsoft FUD campaigns against Linux. Break out your white hats: the good guys won.


Coming from somewhat of a Microsoft sympathiser, this is significant. It resembles his response to the TomTom lawsuit. Well, this response was also covered by Ars Technica:

Linux Foundation to Microsoft: stop secretly attacking Linux



Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin issued a scathing condemnation of Microsoft's recent attempts to unload Linux-related patents to patent trolls. He calls for the company to "stop secretly attacking Linux" and compete on the basis of quality rather than FUD.


Only a day ago we wrote about how Gavin Clarke and other Microsoft larks quickly jumped on the story and tried to spin it in Microsoft's favour. It's almost like ghostwriting. In the same vein, writes GreyGeek:

Reminds me of the Wired journalist who was "managed" by Microsoft and after he printed the kind of article that Microsoft coached him into printing, a few months later he was inadvertently mailed the file his Microsoft handlers kept on him, which detailed how he was manipulated. Pride kept him from admitting that he was owned by Microsoft, but you could tell from the tone of his mea culpa that he was torqued. http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/03/28/...

That article links to both sides as they attempt to paint the affair in a light favorable to themselves.

Then there is the case of Maurene O'Gara, who was pegged as a Microsoft sock-puppet masquerading as a journalist by Microsoft internal email revealed in the Combs vs Microsoft lawsuit. She agreed to PLANT a "story" for Microsoft.

I am not sure which kind of journalist this author is.

He sets his tone early:

From the 'People In Glass Houses...' files:

and ends with:

So it's a win-win for both open source and Microsoft.

This article is an obvious attempt to impune Red Hat and put Microsoft in the role of the good guy. The author asserts that Red Hat is "attacking" Microsoft but whitewashes the obvious use of the marketing materials that accompanies the patents:

It also used marketing materials that highlighted offensive uses of the patents against open source software, including a number of the most popular open source packages," Red Hat blogged.

So Red Hat is "blogging". What is Microsoft doing by auctioning patents by invitation only to selected buyers and then packaging them with "marketing" materials explaining how to use them to attack popular FOSS projects? Practicing diplomacy?

Chris Anderson, Wired’s Editor in Chief, attempted to explain away the embarrassment of having one of his journalists played like a violin to give Microsoft the kind of "story" it wanted. http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/20... He also mentioned that Microsoft has over 3,500 BLOGGERS working for it day and night, what he calls Microsoft's "Long Tail". But, it's somehow dishonest or unethical if Red Hat bloggs about Microsoft sneaky deal? At least Red Hat wrote its own article.

Like I said, October 22nd is getting close. Expect more articles like this, slagging Linux as the Win7 release date gets closer.


We wrote about Microsoft's "planting" of stories and dossiers quite a short while ago. Microsoft's bribery of reporters for positive Vista 7 publicity is also something that we've been covering.

Mike Masnick, who met Horacio Gutierrez last year, argues that OIN is wasting money. One of our most informed readers implicitly agrees by saying that OIN only feeds the very problem it could otherwise try to eliminate. Masnick writes: "All in all, this is a pretty depressing story, showing money being wasted, rather than put to good use doing actual innovation."

Groklaw wrote some more about the i4i case [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11], which demonstrates Microsoft's abuse of the patent system and LinuxInsider had this coverage of the OIN's actions. Many other reports on the subject shed light on who is behind OIN.

In an effort to protect open-source operating system, Linux, members of the Open Invention Network, which includes corporate giants such as International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), Red Hat Inc. (RHT), and Sony Corp. (SNE), are nearing a deal with Allied Security Trust to buy a group of patents formerly owned by Microsoft (MSFT), according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.


From the FFII we have already learned that a massive amount of OIN's patents are IBM's, which does lead one to wondering if IBM wants this to become a battle of giants with patent portfolios. IBM's lobbying to defend software patents using outright lies has now reached the attention of Matt Asay, who argues that:

Patents may not be quite the Great Satan that open-source advocates sometimes suggest, but they haven't been the foundation upon which open source has been built, either. It's unclear why IBM makes this point, as few companies could claim to understand and advance open source as much as IBM.


Darryl Taft did a series of posts/articles about the OIN's move, which is still slightly troubling because it legitimises software patents and puts money in the hands of those who abuse this existing system.

As Microsoft loves whining about being "excluded", worth quoting is the following portion from Elizabeth Montalbano of IDG News Service:

The AST acquired the patents in a private auction held by Microsoft, one that OIN was not permitted to participate in, Bergelt said.


Later on, when Microsoft talks about "tolerance" and "openness", sentences like the above are worth quoting. No wonder the likes of Ramji quit the company.

Generally speaking, the US patent system is a sordid mess which even leads to unnecessary deaths. [via]

Ignoring patent and licensing issues has allowed Dr Yusuf Hamied, director of Cipla, to innovate: even though each drug is officially owned by a different company, he could put a common combination of three treatments (Stavudine, Lamivudine and Nevirapine) into one simple, single combination pill. This increases treatment compliance -- it's easier to take your medication correctly -- and that keeps you alive longer, while reducing the emergence of resistant strains.

Hamied calls his pill Triomune (he also offers "Antiflu", a copy of Tamiflu for the developing world, and many more). In 2001 he was selling to MSF clinics for $350 per person per year, more than 30 times cheaper than the official versions of these drugs. Triomune is now only $87 a year. This is amazing. Hamied is a hero.

Richard Sykes, head of GlaxoSmithKline (and now retired rector of Imperial College London) disagreed. He called Hamied a "pirate" and described the quality of Indian generic drugs as "iffy". Hamied says GSK is a "global serial killer" for charging high prices for their medication. So who is right?


We have given many examples of patents that merely monetise life and death [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. There are also patents that help prevent the environment from being fixed/preserved. This is an ethical dilemma, but the USPTO also has a technical dilemma when it is tactless enough to accept this type of application:

Israeli Claims Patent Over Adding .com To The End Of The Address Bar



TechCrunch points us to a story about an Israeli company by the name of Netex who is claiming a patent over "www.addressing." What's that? Well, apparently it's the process of simply adding a ".com" to the end of a word you put in a browser address bar. There are all sorts of questions raised by this, and the reporting at the Israeli site Ynetnews leaves a lot to be desired. First, neither Ynetnews nor TechCrunch point to the actual patent. I've been searching on both the supposed inventor's name (Aviv Refuah) and his company's name and I can't find it. If anyone out there can find the actual patent, please post a link in the comments.


Even Dilbert is now ridiculing the patent system [via], having recently criticised Microsoft.

One other company that has become a patent problem is Facebook, whose founder is close to Microsoft staff and even has Microsoft investments in him. Not so long ago he even flirted with Microsoft's patent troll, Intellectual Ventures. But Facebook -- like Microsoft -- is sometimes getting a taste of its own poison. [via]

Facebook’s legal battle with Leader technologies, has taken a new turn! The Delaware District Court judge ordered Facebook to release their source code by August 21, 2009 .


This is all due to a patent battle.

"Software patents have been nothing but trouble for innovation. We the software engineers know this, yet we actually have full-blown posters in our break-room showcasing the individual engineers who came up with something we were able to push through the USPTO. Individually, we pretty much all consider the software-patent showcase poster to be a colossal joke." —Kelledin, PLI: State Street Overruled... PERIOD

Recent Techrights' Posts

Dystopian Trends in Technology Make Richard Stallman More Relevant Than Ever
It's good to see him attracting vast audiences
Richard Stallman (RMS) Announced His Talk Less Than 24 Hours Before It Took Place and Still Filled Up the Auditorium at Sapienza Università di Roma
Photos from yesterday evening [...] It looks like it was a very successful event
 
Rhonda D'Vine, Gerfried Fuchs, Pronouns & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
At IBM, Relocation Means Layoffs (Downsizing)
Silent or 'invisible' layoffs?
Central Staff Committee of the European Patent Office (EPO) Warns That EPO Management is Robbing or Manipulating Pension Funds Again
Faking "growth" is just about as bad as forgery
Probably a Lot Worse Than LLM Slop: GNOME Tying Itself to Divisive Politics, Even Where It's Clearly Not Relevant
Something has gone terribly wrong in GNOME
Links 14/10/2025: Microsoft OneDrive Scanning Faces in Photos (Without Asking First), "OpenAI Says It Will Move to Allow Smut"
Links for the day
They Generally Don't Like Scholars, as They're Less Compelled or Pressured to Repeat What Corporations and Oligarchs Say
People who loathe scholars have an agenda in mind that, unlike that of reasonable people, revolves around controlling people
Belated New Article About Last Thursday's Lecture by Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
there are good reasons to pay with cash, not limited to privacy
Attacking Richard Stallman Has Become 'Career Suicide'
If you're going to viciously attack somebody, make sure your arguments are rock-solid
Microsoft's Failing XBox Business Has Turned Games Into Funerals
How does it feel to depend on Microsoft?
Yesterday's "Distinguished Lecture" by Richard Stallman Possibly Attended by Close to 1,000 People
The capacity of the place is about 900
Slop Poisons Everything
Imagine wanting to find what Torvalds has just said or what has just been released
Taking Software Freedom 'Mainstream'
interest in Software Freedom must have grown
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 13, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 13, 2025
Gemini Links 14/10/2025: Ada Lovelace Day, Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 Review, Why to Avoid Network Solutions
Links for the day
The EPO's War on Techrights Was a Massive Mistake
The EPO started the SLAPPs after we had published a few hundreds of articles; we've since then published close to 6,000 because the attacks on us emboldened insiders to help us
General-Purpose Computers to Become Growing Area of Coverage
Without them, we have little left for controlling our lives
"They missed a great opportunity to shut up." -Jacques Chirac
Brett Wilson LLP has been trying to cheat the legal system many times
Harassment evidence: Switzerland, overcrowded fitness and yoga centers, incompetence and racism in accident response
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Vincent Danjean & Debian NXIVM collateral, blackmail risks
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
In Sweden This Past Friday Richard Stallman Explained Why Copyleft is Important
And he didn't have to 'bash' BSDs, either
IBM Layoffs Due to a Lack of Money and Company Debt Rising by Almost 10 Billion Dollars in 6 Months
IBM didn't buy Red Hat for any ideological reasons; it was a fast "cash grab" for revenue
Forbes Already Stopped Being a News Sites. Now It's a Spam and Propaganda Platform for "Paying Partners" (Companies).
news from Forbes became very scarce
Is the Second-Largest Institution in Europe (EPO) Gradually Becoming More Like a Sweatshop?
Underpaid, unqualified, inexperienced and incompatible people are already recruited to replace veteran examiners
The Register MS Has No FOSS Coverage Anymore
The Editor in Chief is like a Microsoft plant
Links 13/10/2025: "Toasty Subwoofer" and WiFi Speakers "Are About To Go Dumb"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/10/2025: iNaturalist and Tove Jansson’s Moominpappa at Sea
Links for the day
Microsoft Does Not Deny That Large Retailers Like Walmart, Costco and Target Are Giving Up on XBox (and Not Stocking It)
No doubt XBox is in trouble and rumours suggest that more mass layoffs are imminent
We'll Encourage Richard Stallman to Talk About Software Patents at the EPO Next Week When He Visits Munich (EPO Headquarters)
Go listen to Richard Stahlmann
Investigative Journalism Protects Society From Corruption, Crimes Against Women, Assaults on Civil Society
"what is the point of men doing military practice to defend a system that is so rotten?"
Swiss pimp usurping reputation of legendary Tissot boss Francois Thiébaud from France (BaselWorld, SWATCH Group SA)
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Paris 'Love Nest' & Debian Outreachy: from Lycée Lakanal to ENS Cachan, Cr@ns, nepotism
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Richard Stallman to Give Public Talk in 3 Hours, Then in the Technical University of Munich (Germany) Next Week
Richard Stallman at TUM on 21.10.2025 18:00, MW2001
Arnaud Parreaux lost case defending rogue employer
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Mathieu Elias Parreaux declared bankrupt in Switzerland
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Breakdown of the Rule of Law and Patent Law in the European Union (EU)
The EPO cannot recruit suitably qualified patent examiners this way, let alone retain them
Gemini Links 13/10/2025: Good Films, Wizard of Earthsea, Upgrading the Steam Controller's Stick
Links for the day
Leaks and Whistleblowers: Our Plan for Today
Society simply cannot advance when too many people self-censor
It's Not Justice When One Side Denies the Other Side the Ability to Even Speak
At this stage, Brett Wilson LLP is in my humble opinion acting in contempt of the Court
Links 13/10/2025: Australian Catholic University Uses Slop to Libel Students, Canada Threatens to Kill Beluga Whales
Links for the day
How Not to Silence Tux Machines (It'll Only Backfire, Badly)
defending Microsoft while attacking this site
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT and Google News
It seems abundantly clear that Google News and Google in general participates in the slop epidemic
Vincent Danjean (not INTERPOL), Claire Bardel & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Christmas lynchings: Martin Krafft (madduck), Penny Leach (mjollnir) & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 13/10/2025: Birthdays and "Committee Unable to Contact Nobel Prize Winner"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 12, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 12, 2025
The Same People Who Attacked Richard Stallman (RMS) Are Attacking Daniel Pocock to Discourage People From Listening to His Information
Pocock is being demonised for the same reasons and by the same people who attack RMS
Your Typical Anti-Richard Stallman (RMS) Cancellist
"About the RMS cancellation"
Richard Stallman (RMS) Has Announced His Talk in Rome Less Than 20 Hours in Advance (and on a Sunday)
Why did he wait until the night before?
We Are Safe in a Modern "Tech" Society, Right?
People are safer if they control their own computing
GNU Tools Cauldron Event in Portugal: Videos Now Available via Invidious
Go have a look
The Way Things Are Going, They May Soon Stop Saying "Web Address" and Instead Say "Chrome Address"
The Web isn't built or based around open Web standards anymore. It's centered around user-agent.
Microsoft as a Golden Cage
"I was laid off by Microsoft and can't find a job. I'm weeks away from giving up my apartment and moving across the country to live with family."
Weekend Discussion About How IBM's Bluewashing of Red Hat Will Cause "Enshittification" for Users
"I worked at a software company that was acquired by IBM so I knew it was game over for RedHat the day they were acquired"
Brett Wilson LLP Getting Sued by Its Very Own Clients, a Legal Story That Has Made the Mainstream News (Law360)
Law360 or Law.com are about as mainstream as one can get in that "sector" (litigation 'industry')
Slopwatch: GNU/Linux Sites That Became Slopfarms and Spamfarms
The Web is a mess and "Linux" or "Ubuntu" sites became part of the problem
Richard Stallman's Talk 25 Hours Away, Aula Magna Palazzo del Rettorato (CU001), Sapienza Università di Roma (Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5)
The talk is 25 hours away and we see some QR code for it
Gemini Links 12/10/2025: Watches, the Depression of 2026, Gamboling with Odds
Links for the day
Links 12/10/2025: 'False' DMCA Claims and Slop Facing Perils Again (the Hype Wears Off)
Links for the day
Microsoft Has Just Lost Privacy Case in Austria and Its Latest Moves Make a Complete Ban Seem Imperative
Microsoft is not a software company, it's a spying agency that uses software to collect data
The Register MS: Microsoft is the Security Expert, Not the Prime Culprit, So Buy More Microsoft
This front page feature is devoid of any actual substance, it's just Microsoft copypasta
Stefano Zacchiroli (Zack) & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Lucas Nussbaum & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 12/10/2025: "Palm Computering", Further Exploration of Slide Rules, and Key Takeaways from The Well-Grounded Rubyist
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 11, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 11, 2025
Tomorrow: Founder of the Free Software Foundation and of GNU/Linux, Richard Stallman, Speaks in Roma (Rome), Italy at 4PM
GNU/Linux is more important than ever in this dystopian world
Microsoft and Apple Are Rare Topics in Geminispace
in Geminispace it's rather safe to assume everyone is into BSD, GNU/Linux, and sometimes retro