Attacks on GNU/Linux and Free/libre software, but OIN cannot do anything about it

Summary: Microsoft's patent litigation strategy has become clearer, and patents-centric efforts such as OIN offer no defence against such a strategy, which attempts to pressure everyone to flock to Microsoft for 'protection' (from Microsoft itself)

SEVERAL readers have sent us this latest article about OIN, which we no longer believe does anything beneficial to Linux, except in name. The USPTO continues to grant software patents (more rarely than before) and OIN plays a role in a group designed to promote software patents, or support their resurgence. Where has OIN been when we needed it? Our readers emphasise that OIN is not effective against trolls and Benjamin Henrion (FFII) recently said that OIN itself had admitted it. So if OIN isn't trying to stop software patents and isn't effective against trolls, what good is it anyway? It's somewhat of a distraction from the real solutions. The latest puff piece for OIN says: "When you think of Linux and open-source companies, the automobile industry is not the first business to spring to mind. But maybe it should be. Daimler, Mercedes-Benz's parent company, has joined the Open Invention Network (OIN), the Linux and open-source non-aggression patent consortium."

So what?

"Where is OIN now that Microsoft is coercing Linux/Android OEMs into bundling malware, using threats of patent lawsuits?"The piece was possibly initiated by some phonecall and/or a press release from OIN's CEO (I should know as he phoned me too, in order to garner support). Where has OIN been when Microsoft attacked GNU/Linux? Where is OIN now that Microsoft is coercing Linux/Android OEMs into bundling malware, using threats of patent lawsuits? Microsoft already sued over it, e.g. Microsoft v Samsung.

We kindly remind readers that Microsoft is passing patents, usually in bulk, to trolls, which OIN can do nothing about (by its own admission). Buying patents before these make it into the hands of trolls would not work if the seller is Microsoft or a company intruded by Microsoft, such as Nokia when it sold patents to MOSAID. OIN is absolutely useless in circumstances such as these. Recall our recent article titled "As Long as Software Patents Are Granted and Microsoft Equips Trolls With Them, “Azure IP Advantage” is an Attack on Free/Libre Software" -- one among several such articles, posted along with the following articles:

• Microsoft Offers That Infamous “IP Peace of Mind” to Free/Open Source Software Users as Long as They Pay Rents to Microsoft
• Microsoft's Latest Attack Plan on GNU/Linux Has Become Clearer and It's Still About Software Patents
• IAM 'Magazine' Rented Out to Microsoft Again, in Order to Attack Amazon (as Host of Free/Libre Software) Using Software Patents FUD
• The Long Reach of Microsoft's Patent Troll, Intellectual Ventures, and the Impact on TiVo
• With Latest Promotions, Microsoft Puts Its Tokens in the Patent Shakedown Basket, Its Patent Trolls Fight for Software Patents
• Microsoft Continues to Hoard Patents -- Even Buying Patents -- While Using Them Against GNU/Linux

One reader that alerted us about the OIN piece had already found out a curious report from Microsoft's booster Kurt Mackie. "I lost the link (ignored it because of Azure)," this reader explained, "but after thinking about it, if Microsoft is selling or renting patents to trolls (NPE) then their tactic works. In particular they are able to attract trolls with the bait on Azure, let them have a patent for a fee, and then point the troll at their competitors. Just speculation but I that's what I though after considering the Azure news."

Upon further exploration the article in question was found again. "I found where I saw it," our reader explained, quoting the following passage from it:

Lastly, Microsoft is promising that if it transfers Azure-associated patents to "nonpracticing entities," then the arrangement will be such that the holding company can't assert IP claims against Azure customers. This latter arrangement is called a "springing license" arrangement in legal lingo.

This is pretty significant as it shows that our interpretation of the strategy was all along correct. "If Microsoft is doing those "transfers"," our reader noted, then "it is effectively siccing trolls on its competitors' customers."

The strategy above is rightly compared to the Novell deal that we protested against for a very long time. To quote: "On the IP side, Microsoft early on provided "IP peace of mind" by issuing certificates for Novell's SuSE Linux Enterprise server use in a controversial program that promised customers using that software that they would not be subject to IP claims from Microsoft. That program emerged from Microsoft's early legal claims that Linux and other open source software had violated 235 of Microsoft's patents."

"This is pretty significant as it shows that our interpretation of the strategy was all along correct."So again, just like we had said all along, Microsoft basically reintroduced the same tactics. It just markets them differently now, using similar words but a different platform. 10 years ago Microsoft tried to get everyone to use SUSE, which it taxed, and now it is trying to make everyone move to Azure, with perceived or concrete risk of patent lawsuits as an encouraging factor.

And some people naïvely believe (based on a PR campaign) that Microsoft has changed... ⬆