01.19.11

OIN is Very Different From CPTN and UNIX Risk is Revisited

Posted in Microsoft, OIN, Patents, UNIX at 4:46 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Amiga UNIX

Summary: OIN cannot and would not sue, unlike Microsoft and its shells/pools; CPTN and AttachMSFT [sic] would be bad guardians for Novell’s virtual assets

THERE IS a new FUD/spin pattern and some news regarding CPTN [1, 2, 3, 4]. Owing to messages from Microsoft mobbyists, we realise that they currently try to spin OIN as an illegal thing. Now that Nexenta Systems joins the OIN [1, 2] which continues this amazing pace of over one joiner per week, it sure seems like there is stronger defence for Linux. And yes, OIN is defensive and unlike companies which claim their portfolios to be defensive, OIN has no shareholders and it cannot be sold. The latest announcement says:

Open Invention Network (OIN), the company formed to enable and protect Linux, today extended its community with the signing of Nexenta as a licensee. By becoming a licensee, Nexenta has joined the growing list of organizations that recognize the importance of leveraging the Open Invention Network to further spur open source innovation.

The mobbyists are trying to compare OIN to CPTN, which is of course laughable. The OSI has complained about CPTN and so has the FSFE in Europe (this one is the official statement). Meanwhile, at least two Microsoft/SCO boosters — Maureen O’Gara and Microsoft Florian — rave about the Microsoft patent cartel (CPTN) not being stopped by the European Commission. It should be added that trying to point a finger at OIN as total spin possibly means that they have something to conceal. It’s effective means of diversion.

IDG has just published this new report from CPTN, from which Groklaw quotes:

Additional details have emerged regarding the more than 800 patents Novell is selling to the Microsoft-led consortium CPTN Holdings for US$450 million, about two months after the deal was first announced.

[...]

While preparing to close the deal, Novell discovered that “19 of the patents to be sold to CPTN pursuant to the Patent Purchase Agreement are lapsed Australian, German or Austrian patent applications rather than issued Australian, German or Austrian patents.” Novell also found that one of the issued patents was referenced twice, it adds.

“As a result, if the patent sale occurs, CPTN would purchase 861 issued patents and pending patent applications and 20 lapsed patent applications,” the filing states.

CPTN has proposed that it be given additional issued patents and pending patent applications in Novell’s portfolio, in order to “unite certain patent families,” “compensate CPTN for the reduction in issued patents,” as well as other considerations. “Attachmate has informed us that they currently do not intend to consent to our changing the list of assigned patents under the Patent Purchase Agreement,” Novell said.

“Is this some kind of hustle,” Groklaw asks, “A Microsoft-organized consortium asks for Unix patents, which is what we heard Attachmate would get, and the answer is Attachmate won’t consent “currently”? Uh oh.” Groklaw later did a whole article about it, repeating some of the above:

The 882 patents turn out not to be 882 after all. There are only 861, and the Microsoft consortium would like some of Attachmate’s to make up for the few they’ve discovered don’t exist… Wait. What? Attachmate was to get only patents and copyrights associated with Novell’s UNIX and Linux businesses, right? Microsoft wants some of those? Like, um… some UNIX copyrights perchance? Novell says Attachmate won’t “currently” consent.

What about later? Is this some kind of hustle?

Yes, this is what we said about UNIX at AttachMSFT a long time ago, way back in November. █

Share this post: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

Permalink Mail Send this to a friend

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

Pages that cross-reference this one

What Else is New

Christoph Ernst, Long Speculated to be Battistelli's Successor, Becomes Battistelli's 'Boss'

The next Chairman of the Administrative Council of the EPO is Christoph Ernst from Germany
Bristows LLP is Still Trying to Attach Wings to the UPC and Distract From Serious (Likely Fatal) Barriers to It

In spite of the UPC being in a morbid state, Bristows carries on pretending that all is rosy and progress is being made
Letter Warns of “Reform Marathon” a Few Days Before Benoît Battistelli's Job is Offered to Someone Else

New letter states that "although the AC pressurised the president to halt the reform process, the Office is unilaterally proposing further reforms"
EPO Staff Bemoans “Another Reform à la Battistelli That Only Benefits Battistelli”

A letter from anonymous EPO staff details the ways in which Battistelli's power grab would further harm the EPO
Ignore the Press Releases and Puff Pieces, the EPO is Going on Strikes

Unrest at the EPO is at an all-time high (strikes planned), but people out there can barely tell because the media -- for the most part -- ignores all this, just like the last time
Links 27/6/2017: Manjaro Linux 17.0.2 is Out, Windows Ransomware on the Loose Worldwide

Links for the day
Links 26/6/2017: Lumina Version 1.3.0, Final Linux RC

Links for the day
EPO Strikes in All Four EPO Sites for Two Days This Month and Next Month, Under the “Respect Staff” Banner

The impact of the strikes at EPO doubles, as two strikes in two months are scheduled, starting this week
Latest EPO Caricature: Staff Committee Maintains Integrity

Caricature about double failure of Battistelli last week -- a failure which shall result in a general strike fairly soon
Voter Suppression Tactics by Team Battistelli Serve to Reaffirm View That the EPO is an Authoritarian Regime Which Loathes Voting

In spite of the dirty tricks employed by Team Battistelli, staff managed to guard the integrity of the staff committee and vote for a strike; the dirty tricks, however, will not and should not be forgotten
Leaked: Job Opening Advertised as Battistelli’s 'Mole' at the Administrative Council, Jesper Kongstad, Leaves in Shame

Having disgraced the Administrative Council of the EPO, e.g. by protecting the person whom he is supposed to supervise, Jesper Kongstad will leave in 3 months
As Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Ramps Up Its Campaign Against Software Patent Trolls the Patent Microcosm Attacks the Messenger (EFF)

In an effort to thwart Alice and the EFF (two birds, one stone) the patent microcosm goes behind the scenes and saturates the media with misleading articles, including attacks on the EFF itself
In Sandoz v Amgen, the Federal Circuit is Again Found to Have Delivered Patent Injustice

SCOTUS continues to disagree with CAFC on everything that it decides to reconsider, even the very latest decision (formally delivered earlier this month)
The Supreme Court Can Reassert the Legitimacy of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Later This Year or Next Year

What lawyers-centric media characterises as a risk to PTAB may actually be an opportunity to silence critics of PTAB and help it carry on squashing bogus patents
The US Patent Office (USPTO) Should Now be Headed by Drew Hirshfeld, a Patent Examiner Who Rose to the Top, Not a Lawyer Like Joseph Matal

Donald Trump's Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, pushes to the top the patent microcosm rather than technical people who are equipped with the knowledge and experience to run the Office as well as Michelle Lee did
After Latest Supreme Court Rulings on Patents, Including Impression v Lexmark, the Federal Circuit is Left Disgraced

Hostility towards the patent microcosm's patent maximalism, as witnessed at the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS), culminated in another decision and will soon result in yet more decisions, as SCOTUS has since then picked more patent cases to look at
IBM, Apple and Facebook Pursue Software Patents in India in Defiance of the Ban

Multinationals from the United States, or digital colonisers with ambitions to spy on and control finance, continue to behave as though Indian law is not applicable to their operations in India and repeatedly attempt to patent software anyway
Wouter Pors Under Fire for Lying or Manipulating in the Name of the Unitary Patent (UPC)

The argument between Team UPC and other patent professionals (without a lot of eggs in the UPC basket) heats up as Wouter Pors resorts to desperate measures and Bristows belatedly admits constitutional problems in the UK
Systemic Injustice at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Causes Serious Harm to Complainants' Health, Including EPO Complainants

The high human cost of ILO's failure to fulfill its stated mission while pretending that it has things under control (that is clearly no longer the case, especially as far as EPO cases go)
Links 24/6/2017: GNOME Music Improves, FreeBSD 11.1 Beta 3

Links for the day
Microsoft and Bill Gates Become More Actively Involved in Their Biggest Patent Troll (and World's Biggest Troll), Intellectual Ventures

The world's largest patent troll, which reportedly operates (litigates) through literally thousands of shells, has received yet more financial aid from Microsoft and Bill Gates
The STRONGER Patents Act is One Among Several New Pushes for Patent Chaos in the United States

US patent law is being 'massaged' again, with bills being pushed forth that propose a return to Armageddon, undoing much of the progress made possible by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA)
SUEPO and the EPO's Central Staff Committee Condemn Battistelli's Latest Attempt to Change the Rules in Defiance of Laws

Staff representatives at the EPO voice opposition to so-called 'reforms' which are neither desirable nor legal
The Tide Has Turned Against the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and It Finally Looks as 'Alive' as TPP

The UPC is now stuck if not dead because officials are realising -- however belatedly -- that this entire charade was from start to finish just a coup d'état of the patent 'industry'
Potential Targets of European Patent Office (EPO) Whistleblowing

Priorities for whistleblowing at the European Patent Office (EPO), which operates secretly and occasionally illegally, too
Links 23/6/2017: Wine 2.11 Released, HPC Domination by GNU/Linux

Links for the day
Primer to the Crisis and Scandals at the European Patent Office (EPO)

An introduction to the chaotic state of what used to be the world's leading patent office and quickly became Europe's biggest embarrassment
Workers of the European Patent Office (EPO) Are Going on Strike Again, Almost 90% Voted in Favour

Thousands of brave EPO employees chose to cast a vote and make it known that they are in favour of another strike
Benoît Battistelli Has Lost the Election at the EPO

FFPE candidates (or moles from the yellow union) failed to enter the Central Staff Committee in spite of Battistelli's attempt to help them get in
Emerging Threat to Patent Reforms at the USPTO

Our plan of returning to coverage of US patent affairs in the wake of powerful lobbies that pursue patent maximalism