Software patents are tricky, and they don’t get any simpler in the open source world.
But archrivals Novell and Red Hat joined forces to share counsel in defense against infringement charges brought by a firm called IP Innovation. And they won.
After three years of litigation, the two Linux vendors convinced a jury that the patents in question were invalid in a case open source enthusiasts are heralding as a major victory.
Datamation has the details on the victory of Novell and Red Hat in the Linux patent dispute.
Think you can scare Linux vendors into submission with a patent challenge? Think again. Linux vendors Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL) and Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) have won a patent verdict in a Texas jury trial.
In an October 2007 lawsuit, intellectual property firm IP Innovation LLC had claimed that the Linux vendors were infringing on its U.S. Patent No. 5,072,412, which describes a “User Interface with Multiple Workspaces for Sharing Display System Objects.” The company had been seeking damages “in no event less than a reasonable royalty.”
However, the jury in the trial found that patents were, in fact, invalid.