[nylug-talk] Patent Infringement Lawsuit Filed Against Red Hat & Novell

[Chris Knadle]

On Friday 12 October 2007, Gary Mort wrote:
> Henning Follmann wrote:
> > The patent is only related to X11 stuff. So you could run a linux server,
> > which would not be touched by this patent.
>
> I just browsed the link, would it have an affect on X11 in general?  It
> seemed more geared towards KDE or Gnome.  Reading it, it seemed to refer 
> to "multi desktop" environments.  Not windowed apps in general, but
> having duplicated desktops.

   Not just KDE or Gnome by far; clearly many available X11 window managers 
have had multi-desktop features for a long time.  I mean heck, even CDE had 
these features on commercial Unix more than TEN YEARS AGO, predating the 
existance of Acacia.  Even if it does infringe on the patent(s) in question, 
I think this is a pretty clear case of being beyond the statute of 
limitations to bring the suit.
   Reading the comments in the Slashdot, Digg, and Groklaw stories on the 
subject also bring another interesting question: if Acacia don't actually 
sell any related product, how can they claim DAMAGES for patent infringement?

   No matter which angle I look at this from, it all seems wrong.

   -- Chris

-- 

Chris Knadle
Chris.Knadle at coredump.us