Torvalds Challenges Microsoft’s Patent Violation Claims

May 18, 2007: Linus Torvalds has hit back at Microsoft’s recent remarks about Linux infringing on a number of its patents, announcing that the software giant should reveal the list of violations so the open source community can respond appropriately.

Earlier this week in an interview with Fortune magazine, Microsoft council Brad Smith mentioned a list of 235 patents that the company claims the open source is currently infringing upon. Namely 42 violations for the Linux kernel, 65 infringements by the GUI and 45 violations by Open Office programs.

Torvalds, the “father of Linux”, has come out fighting saying in no uncertain that Microsoft should either come clean about what it thinks is actually being violated or be quiet.

“It's certainly a lot more likely that Microsoft violates patents than Linux does,” Torvalds told Informationweek.com, adding that if Microsoft’s Windows was put under a similar microscope it would be violating patents owned by other companies itself.

“Basic operating system theory was pretty much done by the end of the 1960s,” Torvalds wrote in an email response to the website. “IBM probably owned thousands of really 'fundamental' patents. The fundamental stuff was done about half a century ago and has long, long since lost any patent protection.”

Torvalds says that instead of just spreading fear, uncertainty, doubt, Microsoft should name the patents that are being infringed so developers can either re-write offending code or so that the claims can be tested in the proper place – namely in court.

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