Ruben, with your brains and energy, how about fighting this?
I have Paralegal Certificate from Brooklyn
College. I think I may
try for Law w:st="on">School only to fight Micro$oft.
face=Arial>New Yorksize=2 face=Arial> Post
Updated: Wed., Mar. 2, 2011, 12:02 AM home
Justice eyes Microsoft-Novell patent deal
By JOSH KOSMAN
Last Updated: 12:02 AM, March 2, 2011
Posted: 12:02 AM, March 2, 2011
Microsoft's attempt to gain a stronger position in the Linux
market might be coming to an end, The Post has learned.
The Justice Department is giving a Microsoft-led group's
$450 million purchase of 882 patents from Novell a "pretty serious
review," a source close to the situation who is not working for or against
the deal said yesterday.
"They could possibly nix the sale," the source
added.
Novell in November reached simultaneous deals to sell the
patents to a group including Microsoft, Apple, EMC and Oracle and the rest of
Novell to Attachmate in a deal totaling $2.2 billion. The Attachmate deal is
contingent on the patent sale.
Attachmate agreed to pay Novell $6.10 a share. Yesterday,
Novell shares closed at $5.87.
Novell is expected within days to answer a DOJ second
request for information, and a DOJ ruling would come roughly a month after that
is submitted, sources said.
The concern is Microsoft, which already claims Linux
open-source software violates its patents, could control more of the valuable
Linux market, and exclude rivals, including Red Hat, which sells its own Linux
product.
A possible DOJ remedy could be requiring Microsoft to only
use the acquired patents for defensive purposes, the source said.
Microsoft last month signed a patent cross-licensing
agreement with Amazon allowing it to use Linux.
Despite Google using Linux to power Google Search and
Android, it does not pay Microsoft any fees. Google and others have questioned
Microsoft's claims of patent rights over Linux.
Part of the DOJ's frustration is it does not have the
manpower to review 882 patents, sources said.
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