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Simon Phipps's personal commentary

IPR offensive due? [WebTech]

Had you been wondering why Microsoft has been so keen recently to promote neutrality in the software ecosystem (I'd love to tell you where I most recently encountered this but I'm afraid it's a secret...)? Well, Dan Gillmor believes that it's because they are getting ready to switch from defensive use of patents to offensive use of patents.

Microsoft is going after open source. Make no mistake about this. I believe the primary method will be to launch patent lawsuits, and that this war will start fairly soon. Microsoft has explicitly threatened to do this, and I don't know how the open-source community can respond.

I hope that the fact the open source community is composed in no small part from the employees of large corporations (joining the community so their customers don't have to) will mean that such an offensive would be strenuously repelled.

posted at 9:47 PM (UK) | |