10.30.07
Acacia Continues to ‘Innovate’ with Portfolio
Acacia, which has already identified as a threat to Linux with various links to Microsoft [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9], continues along its path of litigation.
Acacia has become one of the most hated firms by technology companies that actually do stuff. That’s because Acacia is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) firms out there in the business of buying up patents solely to sue companies.
The gist of it all is that NetFlix is now being targeted by Acacia. The specifics are, as usual, laughable, but a quick settlement for even just a fraction of the claims makes a worthwhile investment.
If you anticipate an optimal patent reform, don’t hold your breath.
Executives and lobbyists from some of America’s richest and most influential companies are walking the halls of Congress, buttonholing senators to argue for strong patents to preserve U.S. innovation.
Yes, there continues to be opposition from those who benefit the most from misuse of ownership ethics. Remember the absurd example where one is not even allowed to photograph a tree? How far will we go?
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.