The Patent Puzzle

[ Thanks to Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols for this link. ]

"Patent fights are fights about money. The secondary issue, the one that makes the headlines, is control. To really understand what's going on in the current patent posturing involving Microsoft, Novell, and a host of open-source companies and groups, it helps to keep those factors firmly in mind.

"What makes this current brewing battle particularly puzzling is that it is based on software patents. The naïve can confuse software patent issues with those of copyright and trademarks. Unlike copyright and trademarks, however, where one can point at the offending code or trademarked image or language, there is no such bright shining line in software patents..."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• Hey Microsoft, Sue Me First(May 26, 2007)
• What Microsoft Fears More than Linux(May 25, 2007)
• Drivers, Patents and Other Threats, Yawn.(May 24, 2007)
• Microsoft's Patent on a Pile of Baloney(May 23, 2007)