Micrsoft sues TomTom to protect Linux patents
In a bizarre twist to Microsoft’s torrid relationship with Linux companies, the company has decided to sue TomTom for allegedly violating its Linux patents. This move comes as quite a surprise from a company that has been claiming that Linux violates its patents for almost a decade.
This marks the first time that Microsoft has sued over a Linux intellectual property claim, though it’s far from the company’s first time in court. The Windows development company has pursued claims against companies offering versions of LInux for nearly a decade.
One of the first major victories was against a Linux company calling its product Lindows. The software was meant to look similar to Windows while running the less expensive Linux operating system. Lindows relented on the name.
The next twist was when Windows started going after Novell for violation of its patents in Linux. Microsoft claims that entire sections of Linux code were lifted from its software.
The issue with TomTom stems for Microsoft patents concerning in-car navigation and file systems. TomTom’s navigation devices run a small version of Linux.
All told, Microsoft is claiming that TomTom is in violation of eight of its patents. Five of the patents are related to navigation and the other three to the Linux file system used on the devices.
Microsoft lawyers say they decided to file the claim after TomTom was unresponsive to Microsoft’s attempts to initiate licensing talks. The Redmond company has struck 500 such licensing agreements in the past five years.
With weak Windows Vista sales and their mobile devices being trumped by both Apple and Google, Microsoft definitely needs to find a new stream of revenue to maintain its dominance in the computing industry. But can the company survive on bullying smaller companies for scraps for very long without an innovative new product?
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February 28th, 2009
I’ve just been looking at the first of the “Halloween documents”, and it makes very interesting reading – in particular since it dates from 1998. It is clear that although Microsoft have long understood the mortal threat posed to their business by open source, they have, to this day, been utterly powerless to combat it.
Now Microsoft is out of time, and this lawsuit is merely the angry and reflexive lashing out of a beast that knows that it is doomed. One can see Steve Ballmer as the captain of Titanic – he wants to sue the iceberg. Sadly for Mr Ballmer and his arrogant henchmen, the iceberg cannot sink any more than Titanic can stay afloat…