Red Hat Seeks Defense Against Patent Lawsuit
In October 2007 IP Innovation filed a lawsuit against Novell and Red Hat for violation of certain virtual desktop patents. Red Hat is now asking the community for help to invalidate it.
IP Innovation LLC, a subsidiary of the California Acacia Technologies patent enforcement firm, had filed a claim in Texas court that Red Hat and Novell had violated three U.S. patents concerning a user interface with multiple workspaces. Red Hat is now seeking to counter the claim by providing proof that the technology had already been widespread at the time of the lawsuit, citing the "prior art" provision.
Red Hat has published information in its defense on the Post-Issue Peer to Patent pages of the Linux Defenders website. The patents had originated March 25, 1987, and addressed a "User interface with multiple workspaces for sharing display system objects" (full details of the lawsuit from Groklaw).
In a Fedora-announce-list e-mail, Red Hat's VP and counsel Rob Tiller claims that his company has "strong defenses in this lawsuit," but nevertheless seeks input from the FOSS community "to submit prior art relevant to the patents" to "reinforce" their defense.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
CIQ Releases Compatibility Catalog for Rocky Linux
The company behind Rocky Linux is making an open catalog available to developers, hobbyists, and other contributors, so they can verify and publish compatibility with the CIQ lineup.
-
KDE Gets Some Resuscitation
KDE is bringing back two themes that vanished a few years ago, putting a bit more air under its wings.
-
Ubuntu 26.04 Beta Arrives with Some Surprises
Ubuntu 26.04 is almost here, but the beta version has been released, and it might surprise some people.
-
Ubuntu MATE Dev Leaving After 12 years
Martin Wimpress, the maintainer of Ubuntu MATE, is now searching for his successor. Are you the next in line?
-
Kali Linux Waxes Nostalgic with BackTrack Mode
For those who've used Kali Linux since its inception, the changes with the new release are sure to put a smile on your face.
-
Gnome 50 Smooths Out NVIDIA GPU Issues
Gamers rejoice, your favorite pastime just got better with Gnome 50 and NVIDIA GPUs.
-
System76 Retools Thelio Desktop
The new Thelio Mira has landed with improved performance, repairability, and front-facing ports alongside a high-quality tempered glass facade.
-
Some Linux Distros Skirt Age Verification Laws
After California introduced an age verification law recently, open source operating system developers have had to get creative with how they deal with it.
-
UN Creates Open Source Portal
In a quest to strengthen open source collaboration, the United Nations Office of Information and Communications Technology has created a new portal.
-
Latest Linux Kernel RC Contains Changes Galore
Linux kernel 7.0-rc3 includes more changes than have been made in a single release in recent history.