Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) has expressed confidence in the robustness of Intellectual Property (IP), patents and copyright surrounding Linux, and called on the operating system’s detractors to publish details of patents they allege Linux infringes.
In a statement, OSDL chief executive Stuart Cohen suggested only companies who feel threatened by Linux have raised the subject of patent infringement.
Over the past 18 months a handful of companies and individuals who are threatened by Linux’s success have tried to argue that Linux may infringe others’ software patents. We find it interesting that none of those companies or individuals have said which patents Linux may offend, Cohen said.
Detractors of Linux on patent grounds should be asked to point to the specific patents that they claim infringe, Cohen said.
OSDL, whose members include Linux founder Linux Torvalds, reacted following comments made by Microsoft’s chief executive last week whilst attending the Asian Government Leaders’ Forum, in Singapore. Ballmer claimed at the Forum that Linux violates more than 228 patents.
Ballmer apparently based his evidence on a report by Open Source Risk Management (OSRM), published in April and that identified 287 patents in the Linux kernel. OSRM, though, did not say Linux violated any patents, adding none of the patents had been tried in court.
