Notice

Just a reminder, these posts are not legal advice. This site is the personal blog of Mark Radcliffe and the opinions expressed are those of Mark Radcliffe and not those of his clients, DLA Piper or the clients of DLA Piper.

About Me:

Mark Radcliffe

I earned a B.S. in Chemistry magna cum laude from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. I have been practicing law in Silicon Valley for over 25 years and am now a senior partner at DLA Piper. DLA Piper is a new global law firm formed in 2005 from the merger of three law firms. The firm now has 3600 lawyers in 25 countries and 65 cities. My practice is a mix of corporate securities and intellectual property. I work with many startups as well as large global companies. I have had the opportunity to work with companies in many industries, ranging from semiconductor to digital media to open source. I am the General Counsel, pro bono, of the Open Source Initiative and I ran the "Users" committee reviewing the GPLv3 draft.

Microsoft Sues TomTom: Is this a Challenge to Linux?

28/02/09

Microsoft Corporation has recently sued TomTom for patent infringement for its device which includes Linux. Although a number of stories have assumed that the suit is the first salvo in the long awaited patent assualt on Linux by Microsoft, I think that these concerns are premature. First, the suit is part of a longstanding controversy between the two parties and filing this type of suit is a common method of encouraging the other side to come to the bargaining table. Second, a brief review of many of the patents indicate that they are focused on GPS and other claims unrelated to Linux. Third, the claims relating to Linux, such as the FAT, are based on features common to many operating systems and are likely to be subject to challenge under the new higher standards for patents set by the Supreme Court.  They are unlikely to be Microsoft’s strongest patents reading on Linux.

I think that Jim Zemlin of the Linux Foundation got it right: calm down, but be alert http://www.linux-foundation.org/weblogs/jzemlin/2009/02/26/note-on-microsoft-tomtom-suit-calm-down-hope-for-the-best-plan-for-the-worst/. I may have more to tell tomorrow when we will hear from Sam Ramji at the Open Source Think Tank.

Post tags: ,

2 Comments

  1. gps devices…

    GPS Vehicle tracking systems are suitable for many businesses spanning a wide range of industries….

    Trackback by gps devices — May 9, 2009 @ 3:48 pm

  2. [...] 9.  Microsoft Sues TomTom for Patent Infringement.  Microsoft Corporation sued TomTom for patent infringement for its GPS device which includes Linux. Although a number of commentators assumed that the suit was the first salvo in the long awaited patent assault on Linux by Microsoft, I was (and am) skeptical and thought that these concerns are premature. The claims relating to Linux, such as those covering FAT, are based on features common to many operating systems and would be likely to be subject to challenge under the new higher standards for patents set by the Supreme Court. Moreover, the case settled quickly, suggesting that it was not the beginning of a Microsoft assault against Linux   http://lawandlifesiliconvalley.com/blog/?p=214.  [...]

    Pingback by Law & Life: Silicon Valley » Top Ten Open Source Legal Developments: 2009 — December 31, 2009 @ 11:26 am

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.