This is very good news. IMO, Microsoft is filing lots of software patents as a last ditch effort to kill open source software through legal efforts. The SCO debacle was merely a test run.
We must all be ready for that day. Are you an EFF supporter yet? If not, http://www.eff.org. John --- Brad Bendily <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > An interesting announcement from Novell. > > > Novell's NEW PATENT POLICY > > > 12 Oct 2004 > > Dear Valued Customer: > > Today Novell expands its commitment to you by > putting its extensive patent > portfolio squarely behind its customers, and we > thought you'd like to know > about it. Our motivations are simple: protect > customer choice and preserve > marketplace innovation. > > Novell has just issued a statement announcing our > preparedness, if necessary, > to use our own patent portfolio - which covers > technologies with significant > value and widespread deployment in the IT sector > today - to defend against > patent attacks on open source products we deliver. > Both the press release > and policy statement are available at > http://NovellNzone.rsc03.net/servlet/cc5?ghNQUWAQWVIjHKxkLtmQLKmV2VR > > > This initiative is aimed at any vendor that tries to > mislead customers using > intellectual property rights as a reason to avoid > pursuit of an open source > offering. To our knowledge, no vendor has actually > filed a patent suit > against an open source product. Instead, some appear > to be simply trying > to sow doubts in the minds of customers to avoid > competing on technical > merits, security, quality of service and value. > Novell believes that open > source software poses no greater risk of patent > infringement than does > closed source software. > > I believe our Chairman, Jack Messman, said it best > when he stated, Our > approach is to protect customer choice, not threaten > it, and support the > innovation inherent in the open source model. With > this policy, we're saying > we'll use our patents to actively protect Novell's > open source technologies > against any third party asserting patent claims > against our offerings. We will > use our patents for the original purpose patents > were established to > encourage innovation not to shut down options for > customers. We hope > our leadership in this arena will lead other patent > holders to take a similar > stance. > > I greatly appreciate the trust and confidence you > have placed in Novell. > > Sincerely, > > Ronald W. Hovsepian > President, Novell North America > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > [email protected] > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > _______________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Declare Yourself - Register online to vote today! http://vote.yahoo.com
