m$ wants royalties on sketchy patents

[tuna at supertunaman.com]

Steve Ballmer seriously needs to learn something... Who's up for a
PLUG-sponsored trip to Washington to jump Steve Ballmer? :D

> moin moin,
>
> Microsoft hasn't come through on what patents are being used because once
> they do it will be shown that Microsoft is wrong about the patent use (
> invalid patents, patents not actually being used, etc. ) or the Free
> Software community will work around the patents.
>
> Maybe software patents will even finally be thrown out. Software patents
> aren't valid in Europe, China or India[0], so the Microsoft claims is
> holding back the US economy and ceding an innovative advantage to other
> countries.
>
> The purpose of patents is to keep others from using the patents. Microsoft
> not saying which patents are being infringed interferes with the Free
> Software community removing any offending code. The Free Software
> community tries to abide by copyright and patent law. Microsoft has been
> sued multiple times for specific copyright infringement[1]. It needs to
> list specific patent infringements or stop whining.
>
> "Microsoft's explanation is that this balancing payment was calculated
> as it would be in any cross-licensing deal: Novell has valuable
> network-computing patents that Microsoft products may infringe, and
> since Microsoft's products bring in so much more revenue than Novell's,
> Microsoft owed a balance.[2]"
>
> Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says, "What's fair is fair.[2]" Interesting
> phrase from the CEO of a company that 1) has been convicted multiple times
> of illegally maintaining a monopoly[3], 2) has successfully sued multiple
> times for copyright infringement, 3) admits it has infringed on patents
> from others.
>
> And, of course, groklaw already has something better than what I can come
> up with[4].
>
> Gotta love, "4. What kind of companies threaten to hurt you if you don't
> pay them protection money? Do you want to do business with that type of
> company? Can Microsoft risk that inevitable reaction?"
>
> [0] Any other countries that should be listed? What countries do allow
> software patents?
>
> [1] Anyone got a list of the copyright infringement suits m$ has lost?
>
> [2]
> http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/05/28/100033867/index.htm
>
> [3] Anyone got a list of the specific convictions and a listing of how
> they've
>
> [4] http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070513234519615
>
> ciao,
>
> der.hans
> --
> #  https://www.LuftHans.com/        http://www.CiscoLearning.org/
> #  veni, vidi, wiki - I came, I saw, I documented
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