03.22.07
Microsoft’s Newest Patent Deal
and they can’t help but mention open source and Linux
Microsoft has inked a patent cross-license agreement with Fuji Xerox, allowing each company access to the others patent portfolio.
As has become customary, the specific details and financial terms are not being disclosed at this time, the release does note that there are both "monetary and non-monetary" provisions that allow both companies to receive compensation from their patent portfolios"
Fuji Xerox, which is owned by FUJIFILM Holdings Corp. and Xerox Corp., is a leading investor in Research and Development (R&D) related to document management systems and maintains a broad patent portfolio, including patents in the United States and in Japan. Like Fuji Xerox, Microsoft has a long history of R&D and maintains many patents related to software and computer hardware innovations.
Through the agreement, Fuji Xerox will obtain access to Microsoft patents for Fuji Xerox’s existing and future product lines, including products that incorporate proprietary source and open source software, such as Linux. Likewise, Microsoft will gain access to Fuji Xerox patents for Microsoft’s existing and future proprietary product lines, including Microsoft Office. The agreement contains monetary and non-monetary provisions that allow both companies to receive compensation from their patent portfolios. The terms of the agreement are not being disclosed at this time.
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.
gpl1 said,
March 22, 2007 at 3:10 pm
as long as the patents pass through to all distributers of the GPLd software (unlike the Novell deal), I don’t see a problem with it. It’s not clear to me whether that’s happening in this case…
Roy Schestowitz said,
March 23, 2007 at 1:58 am
Worth adding here are some legal battles from the past:
Is Microsoft infringing upon Xerox, Apple and Unix intellectual property?