[clug] Novell & Red Hat litigation - The start of a relentles grind? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[steve jenkin]

Roppola, Antti - BRS wrote on 15/10/07 12:56 PM:

Anti,

Really good observations.  Thanks.
This litigation is really pernicious and will ramp up.
It *will* sink F/OSS companies [wish I could give an example]

The only resolution will be Political/Legal: changes to IP laws or new
Common Law precedents.
The only way the Pollies will act is, *iff* there is real pain felt by
them or their lobbyists [hint: Money speaks]

If *anyone* can think of such a scenario we can leverage, please speak up.
Pollies need:
    a) simple, clear messages [Global Warming == 'bad'] and
    b) significant public ground-swell & media coverage
       [Greenpeace understands the important of 'cute & cuddly' campaigns]

e.g.: what if Apache had to be taken down on public websites &
development discontinued?
or BIND, sendmail/postfix/qmail/exim, PERL, Python, PHP, MySQL, Postgres??

regards
sj

> Just as the dust begins to settle on SCO, an IP patent troll appears the
> very next day
> just like Steve Ballmer threatened it would.
>  
> It strikes me that established players benefit from the poisonous
> atmosphere of software
> patents. Despite some collateral losses (like the Eolas lawsuit), the
> net gains stack up
> very much in favour of sustaining the status-quo.
>  
> Are we just going to see a relentless grind of one lawsuit after
> another? Will patents and
> the laws that protect them continue to be refined as a barrier to
> competition?
>  
> Is FOSS looking at enclosure of the digital commons?
>  
> Antti
>
> ------IMPORTANT - <snip> DAFF disclaimer
> ------
>   


-- 
Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist.
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