The "Real" story behind MS and patent issues with Linux

[kamaboko]

The irony here is that the patent infringements were found by the Open Source Risk Management group in 2004. And, of the 283 potential patent infringements, they have identified 27 patents owned by MS. Read for yourself.

http://www.osriskmanagement.com/press_releases/press_release_080204.pdf

[benanzo]

We already know MS got their info from that study. The study also raises questions as to the quality of those patents, which MS has conveniently overlooked.

IBM has more patents than MS and just as much money to throw into a legal defense/offense. No one is suing anyone anytime soon.
Here's what Dan Ravicher, the author of that study, had to say (http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1729908,00.asp) about MS' claims.

[forrestcupp]

Wow! So MS only owns 27 of those 283 patents. They make it sound a lot worse than it really is. 1/3 of the patent holders are friendly to Linux.