"We did this to ourselves"

Matt Asay brings us a very handy update from Sun Microsystems regarding its NetApp case (see references at the bottom for context).

I received this update from Sun Microsystems on Tuesday on the ongoing ZFS patent litigation with NetApp. While colored by its source, the news seems positive for Sun (and, given the importance of ZFS, for the open-source development community). Sun has succeeded in getting the venue changed to California and it appears that its public request for examples of prior art have yielded fruit.

Here we have yet another case where everyone seems like a loser, except for the lawyers. Those patent lawsuits, which are often fruitless, show no signs of abatement. From yesterday's news:

SILICON GRAPHICS (SGI) has served a subpoena on Dell to force it to testify in its law suit against ATI, which it claims breaches its patents with the Radeon and FireGL graphics chips.

Also in the news, you'll find that Microsoft is accused of copyrights infringement. (yes, again!)

The website, alleges Grisoft, infringes its copyrights and trademarks.

The lawyers said: "The website's proponent, with MSN's facilitation, is taking a 'free ride' on our clients rights" and the proponent of the website is distributing AVG software for a fee.

Microsoft was last sued over copyrights only days ago. A different company was a litigator. Later on, Microsoft and its allies explain that antitrust action is not needed because the legal system is "overburdened". ⬆

Related articles:

• Sun plans to countersue NetApp



• ZFS Puts Net App Viability at Risk?



• Sun lawsuit seen as open-source test case



• Sun calls NetApp's blog bluff...with open source...in a blog



• NetApp + Sun = legal havoc



• A few thoughts on Sun and NetApp



• ZFS on Linux: It's alive



• Linux: ZFS, Licenses and Patents



• Sun's Schwartz: High-Performance Computing Will Be Pervasive



• Sun's Chief Open Source Officer Talks Patents



• Jonathan Schwartz on the future of Sun