10.24.07
Microsoft Hit by a ‘Company… Solely Focused on Commercializing its Patent Portfolio’
When all weak patents break loose
The patent trolls strike again. The victim, ironically enough, is a so-called ‘patent terrorist’ [1, 2, 3, 4].
According to Timeline’s SEC filing last week, Microsoft agreed to pay Timeline $5 million within 14 days as part of the settlement. Timeline, which describes itself as a “company … solely focused on commercializing its patent portfolio,” had sued the Redmond computer giant and its subsidiary ProClarity Corp. for patent infringement.
Sadly enough, even Big Blue seems to be up to no good, again.
IBM Corp. says it has dreamed up a new method for profiting from its vast storehouse of patents. And by the way, the company wants to patent the idea.
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.
Eric Gearhart said,
October 25, 2007 at 8:41 am
“IBM Corp. says it has dreamed up a new method for profiting from its vast storehouse of patents.”
How do you know IBM will use this patent for “evil” and not “good”? What if IBM uses this to sue anyone who tries to be a patent troll in the future? That would be a nice hack on the broken patent system, wouldn’t you say?
Roy Schestowitz said,
October 25, 2007 at 9:16 am
Yes, I saw this type of discussion before. Still, it’s a case of fighting fire with fire, IMHO. A patent like this won’t collapse the system.