| Red Hat spits on Microsoft/Novell patent assurances |
Nov. 03, 2006
Red Hat Inc. wasted no time in responding to the news that Novell and Microsoft had reached an agreement that, for a royalty fee, Microsoft would not be suing SUSE Linux customers for any possible Microsoft-patent infringement.
In an exclusive eWEEK interview, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that the distributors of other versions of Linux will not be able to tell their customers that Microsoft won't sue them for patent infringement. "If a customer says, 'Look, do we have liability for the use of your patented work?' Essentially, If you're using non-SUSE Linux, then I'd say the answer is yes," Ballmer said.
Ballmer went on to say that other Linux vendors "are certainly welcome to get involved to quickly provide these covenants not to sue." Added Ballmer, "There are a lot of Linux distributors now. All of the sudden you have got Oracle in the game; you've got Red Hat in the game." ... "They all "will have to face the issues and help their customers" in the same way that Novell is, Ballmer said.
Red Hat, for one, is not interested. In a public statement, the Raleigh, NC-based Linux company said, that it would not consider a similar patent deal with Microsoft. For Red Hat, "An innovation tax is unthinkable. Free and open source software provides the necessary environment for true innovation. Innovation without fear or threat. Activities that isolate communities or limit upstream adoption will inevitably stifle innovation."
Red Hat then reminded its users that it had already made its own patent guarantees years ago, "Our Promise." This reads, in part: "To the extent any party exercises a Patent Right with respect to Open Source/Free Software which reads on any claim of any patent held by Red Hat, Red Hat agrees to refrain from enforcing the infringed patent against such party for such exercise"
The company also observed that it's been an active leader in the OIN (Open Invention Network). The OIN, which also includes Novell as a member, has the goal of obtaining and shareing patents royalty-free to any organization that agrees not to assert its patents against Linux or its applications.
Red Hat spokesperson Leigh Day also pointed out that, "Red Hat covers customers with our warranty under our Open Source Assurance plan. We will replace any code that has any issue so that customers can continue with uninterrupted usage of our solutions."
This plan covers all current and future versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and JBoss Enterprise Middleware. It does not, however, currently cover indemnification against intellectual property infringement claims. Red Hat, however, plans to add that to the Open Source Assurance plan shortly.
-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Get the whole Novell/Microsoft picture here:
The Novell/Microsoft Linux Deal Reading List
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