Comment 1177 for bug 1
Revision history for this message
| Faldegast (faldegast) wrote RE: [Bug 1] Re: Microsoft has a majority market share | #1177 |
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> I guess everyone has heard that HTC and Microsoft has signed a deal that
> makes HTC pay royalties to Microsoft for its Android OS use, implying
> that Android has infringed MS's "Linux patents". Also everyone knows
> that the Android OS is close or has reached its critical mass, hence,
> companies like Apple and Microsoft has been shaking the tree for patent
> infingements. My point is when Ubuntu reaches the same status as
> Android, will it be prone to threats to patent infringements,
> specifically similar to what Microsoft has been nailing HTC????
The answer is yes. However I do not think that the entire Linux community will fall flat and pay Microsoft. Instead the battle will be in court and many of those "Linux" patents will be invalidated.
The worst-case scenario is that there will be a small fee to pay for Linux users. Xandros has a "covenant" with Microsoft and users can opt in by paying $50 for it. Red Hat has a patent warranty included in their product. They have chosen to not pay and will meet patent holders in court should they choose to sue.
I see the $50 covenant as the worst-case scenario, and that is not really that expensive. Of course paying such a covenant fee also imply that we can use any known patented technology that we currently exclude from Linux-based products.
Personally I do not run Linux because it is cheap. I do not mind paying for it. I run it because of its quality.
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