logical.order.of.chaos

Microsoft is claiming that Open Source software violates 235 of its patents.  The article says that Microsoft is claiming that the Linux kernel violates 42 of Microsoft’s patents, and the user interface violates 65.  I guess Microsoft has come a long way since they stole the look and feel of Lotus 123.  Microsoft is certainly not a stranger to theft of concepts. 

 That being said, software patents remind me of the Monty Python skit The Ministry of Silly Walks.  I am as much a capitalists as the next guy in America, in fact probably more so.  However, I have never been a fan of software patents.  The problem with software patents is that they give out patents for things that really are look and feel related, and things that are obvious to someone trained in the field.  Technically most software patents should never have been issued.  Hopefully these patents will start to be looked at more carefully as more people understand computers.

There is case law from Lotus Dev. Corp. v. Borland Int’l, Inc. that says basically that you can’t copyright something that is a “method of operation.”  This means that menuing systems are fair game.  We will have to see how this bears out in the end…

Filed under: Open Source, Web, News, Computing, Tech Law