Microsoft aims patent guns at Red Hat

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has warned users of Red Hat Linux that they will have to pay Microsoft for its intellectual property.

"People who use Red Hat, at least with respect to our intellectual property, in a sense have an obligation to compensate us," Ballmer said last week at a company event in London discussing online services in the UK.

A video report of Ballmer's speech (registration required) was posted on Mydeo over the weekend.

Red Hat has repeatedly stated that it will not pay Microsoft for its software patents, referring to such payments as an 'innovation tax'.

Microsoft has been the second most aggressive party in pursuing alleged intellectual property claims against Linux and open source in general.

The firm ranks behind SCO, which failed in its attempt to prove that it owns the intellectual property to Linux and now faces bankruptcy.

Microsoft inked a partnership with Novell last year in which Novell agreed to license Microsoft's intellectual property in exchange for a patent pledge to users of Novell's SuSE Linux.

Ballmer praised Novell at the UK event for valuing intellectual property, and suggested that open source vendors will be forced to strike similar deals with other patent holders.

He predicted that firms like Eolas will soon come after open source vendors or users. Microsoft paid US$521 million to settle a patent claim by Eolas in August.

"Every time an Eolas comes to Microsoft and says: 'Pay us,' I expect they eventually would like to go to the open source world [as well]," said Ballmer.

"Getting an intellectual property interoperability framework between the two worlds, I think, is important."

Microsoft supported the European software patent directive, which would have allowed software patents to be filed within the EU.

Software patents are permitted in the US today. But poor oversight and quality control at the US Patent and Trademark Office allow for many 'bad' patents to be awarded.

Patent critics argue that software does not need long term protection by patents. Development costs of software innovations require fewer investments than for mechanical or pharmaceutical innovations.

Linux侵权？微软枪口直指Red Hat

      微软首席执行官史蒂夫-鲍尔默表示，微软认为开源操作系统侵犯了它的知识产权，并警告红帽Linux软件的用户应当支付微软知识产权费。

       鲍尔默在上周微软在伦敦举行的活动中说，“使用红帽软件的用户至少应该尊重我们的知识产权，有义务最终对我们进行补偿。”本周微软网站公布了鲍尔默这段讲话的视频。

       之前SCO曾为Linux知识产权索取费用，后来失败并面临破产。微软之前亦曾多次声明表示Linux侵犯了微软的知识产权并向开源社区索要产权费。

       然而红帽也多次表示，拒绝支付微软类似的费用，而且微软也没有从其他开源企业那里收到真正的知识产权费用。

       鲍尔默还赞扬了Novell在知识产权方面做的工作，并暗示除了微软，开源企业还会跟其他专利拥有者产生类似的冲突。

       鲍尔默还预言像Eolas这样的公司一定会很快成为开源产商。8月份的时候，微软曾为Eolas专利声明之父了5.21亿美元。“每次Eolas来到微软面前说‘给我钱’，我就知道他最终会加入开源世界。”

       “在这两个世界中（指微软和开源）建立知识产权互用性框架和协议是很重要的。” 鲍尔默说。

      微软支持欧洲软件专利条约——在欧洲范围内软件专利归档。更令鲍尔默和微软无奈的是，美国虽然支持软件专利，但是美国专利商标局出现的监察不利以及质量控制等问题，导致专利问题时常出现。