Microsoft: open source developers violate 235 patents

20th May 2007

Microsoft Corporation has taken a new tactic against open source, saying that its developers illegally used technologies belonging to Microsoft, thus violating more than two hundred patents. According to the Corporation`s officials, developers of the software with open source must play by the same rules as other developers, and respect licenses and proprietary technologies.
In particular, representatives of Microsoft stated that the Linux`s core uses technologies violating 42 patents, and its interface - 65 patents. A popular package of office applications OpenOffice.org violated 45 patents, and other applications that have been developed under Linux - 83 of them.
Microsoft sees solution of the problem not in suits, but in signing of special license agreements, as was the case with Novell, Toshiba, Siemens and others. But this is possible only if it concerns large companies.