Patent hit - MS goes after Linux - FreeBSD ?

[Robert Bonomi]

> From: Bill Tillman <btillman99 at yahoo.com>
> Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2012 05:09:00 -0700 (PDT)
> Subject: Re: Patent hit - MS goes after Linux - FreeBSD ?
>
> > From: C. P. Ghost <cpghost at cordula.ws>
> > Subject: Re: Patent hit - MS goes after Linux - FreeBSD ?
> >
> > On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 8:57 PM, Chad Perrin <perrin at apotheon.com> wrote:
> > > It is possible that Microsoft is going the way of SCO -- into its 
> > > grave, having hung all its hopes on litigation.  Along the way, though, 
> > > it will probably do a lot of damage to a lot of people, projects, and 
> > > businesses, and I just hope it doesn't get as far as the FreeBSD 
> > > project or any FreeBSD users before things come crashing down.
> >
> > Right!
> >
> > Let's also hope that most patents that could harm us (should there be 
> > some lurking out there) will have expired by then. Unless Congress pulls 
> > a Mickey Mouse Protection Act-lookalike on patents by extending them just 
> > as they did with Copyright.
> >
> > But as usual with Congress, I wouldn't hold my breath: they aren't 
> > exactly known for enacting reasonable and sensible laws. Especially not 
> > when heavily lobbied by mega corps with deep pockets like MSFT, Oracle, 
> > Apple and so on. Yes, things will get really nasty once those 
> > corporations go the way of the SCO.
> >
> > > (disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.  This is not legal advice.  Et cetera.)
> > >
> > > --
> > > Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]
> >
> > Regards,
> > -cpghost.
>
> For M$ to talk about patent infringment is like the kettle calling the 
> pot black. Ever take a copy of M$ ftp.exe and place it on a unix machine 
> and then run this on it:
>
> strings.exe ftp.exe | grep Copyright
>
> Just see what you find there.

And you think this is surprising, why?

Have you ever read the actual U.C. Berkeley License for, say, the
BSD 4.4-Lite software source-code distribution?

Do you know that Microsoft has a *PAID*FOR* license, for using, AND
redistributing, Unix; -both- from the  University of Calif. (for "BSD"),
_and_ from what was then AT&T Bell Labs (for "Sys V")?

Do you think MS is doing something 'improper' by preserving the copyright
notice in _licensed_ code that they are *LEGALLY* using?

BTW 'copyright' and 'patent' are two _very_ different subjects, with 
different rules, and governed by different laws.