Microsoft files patent lawsuit against TomTom over Linux-based GPS systems
By Nilay Patel 
posted February 25th 2009 6:48PM
posted February 25th 2009 6:48PM
Microsoft has long maintained that Linux infringes at least 235 of its patents, and it looks like it's reaching deep into the bin for some extra ammo in a new case filed against TomTom over nav systems -- of the eight alleged patent infringements in the complaint, five are specifically about portable navigation devices , while the remaining three cover what look to be filesystem-management techniques inherent to the Linux kernel itself. It seems like the Linux issue is less important to Redmond than the GPS patents -- deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez says there aren't any broader plans to go after Linux vendors and that it "respects and appreciates" open source -- but if Microsoft scores a victory here, it'll have an incredible advantage should it decide to take on any other Linux-based products. We'll be following this one very closely, we'll keep you in the loop.[Via Business Insider]
Read - Techflash
Read - Microsoft complaint [PDF]
With all the suing going around, the lawyers should be revitalizing the global economy any moment now...
This is ridiculous..
Or helping deteriorating it with companies or small businesses that cant keep up spending their much needed resources on either fighting them or paying them off. Money that could be allocated elsewhere for job creation, R&D, cutting prices or keeping employees.
Considering that Microsoft thinks of Linux as a bigger competitor than Apple, I don't doubt there's some underhanded "kick em while their down" tactics going on with companies using Linux. With a bad economy, a war chest behind Microsoft, and a history of evil practices I wouldn't put it past them.
http://osnews.com/story/21035/Ballmer_Linux_Bigger_Competitor_than_Apple
I hate Patents.
They do seem slightly redundant. When did you last hear about one of these 'keeping it real fake' type manufacturers getting attacked for violating patents? If patent laws can't even prevent people manufacturing near-identical copies of stuff, why should they be used on some vague grounds that actually reduces the number of cool, original products on offer?
@dan most of those KIRF manufacturers are based in china. and china has no respect for western intellectual rights, including rights to free speech, human rights, and democracy
235? there is still some room for more, until it reaches 256.
bu-bu-but you might get blue screened =\
Microsoft = God's answer to GPS and mobile technology.
What is the question posed to God?
I support Microsoft!!! Don't stop buddy, protect you intellectual property rights!!! !
My Name is Caboose
should say "your",
But i don't think anyone will make fun of my spelling error, that is not what the internet is about
My name is Caboose
Really now? I thought your name was cadouche...
Why do you set yourself to be made fun of lol?
No we will laugh at you name and you repeatedly telling us.
Look at all the children, Aznofazns and Shattered Ice dont you both have nurserys to go to.
i laughed....
Why do you think people care that your name is Caboose?
Yes, protect your "rights" to other people's ideas.
The FAT nonsense are the ones that are most galling as they have painfully obvious prior art.
Although most of the other "patents" involved in the TomTom case are no better.
Compared to patents, the GPL is positively benign.
i think there should be a law limiting companies to how many lawsuits they can file.
i'm suing microsoft for wasting...time
LOL
That would go far haha
But really with the current state of our system you might win.
FYI it's only the third time ever (yes 3!) that Microsoft files a patent lawsuit against another company!
One against Belkin and one against Primax.
You were probably think about some other fruit company..
Yes, there should be a limit. Apple should be reaching theirs soon on people trying to install OSX on non-Apple computers.
@Ike (wife beater) Turner. Please tell me where you got your information about 3 lawsuits? I know they sued Apple at least 4 times in the eighties.
Izzy - do you mean saved?
Yeah, thanks for the misinformation, Ike.
Actually, MS had already filed three patent infringement lawsuits in the Alcatel-Lucent matter alone (ITC, San Diego and Texas), so this TomTom suit cannot be only Microsoft's third!
Limiting lawsuits would put Apple out of business....the most litigious company in the history of personal computers. And to Izzy below, get your facts straight...Apple sued Microsoft three times in the 80s....
Looks like Ballmer has something against Google too:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/05/chair_chucking/
Your 4 year old news is irellavent.
Maybe this is how Balmer intends to "kill google." If they win the judgment against Tom-Tom, then perhaps they will then go after Android, which runs off of Linux, as well.
Microsoft must be jealous because Tomtom's GPS units don't crash like the ones based on the Windows CE.
Also doesn't Garmin use Linux as well?
Yes, I believe that some units use the Gnome mobile stuff.
I can vouch for that! Stupid win CE
Then what do you have to say for yourself when I can run TomTom perfectly on my Touch Pro, which is a WinCE based PPC (in this case WM 6.1)?
Seriously, another lawsuit/court case with patents. Microsoft, leave Linux alone. You should be sued by all users of Vista because it is ao bad!!!
Your right, Vista is terrible, and all user should sue Microsoft for the second edition of Windows Me. By the way, I returned a 1500$ laptop with 4 gig of ram and a core 2 duo because of that MS crap.
Isn't this just the SCO-Linux thing again?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCO-Linux_controversies
M$ sure likes to spread the FUD.
Good article regarding Linux, M$ and patents:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/05/28/100033867/
i thought engadget finally lost all the Micro$ucks Trolls. i guess not
seriously guys, this being only their third lawsuit,
and being based on something that they could actually fight for rightly...
you shouldn't be hating on Microsoft so much.
especially for the fact that they haven't already sued linux eventhough they could...
plus, tom tom is a big company, they should have been watching out for this kind of stuff before releasing.
if microsoft didnt sue, more companies would take it's patents less seriously
there's that... and then there's the fact that apple sues like crazy and everyone agrees,
even when apple isnt really in the right position to sue. (im sure this trend would continue onto the palm pre)
and also that whenever microsoft gets sued even for the wrong reasons... people support the lawsuit.
refer to the omg, they're charging me for xp! downgrade should be free
It's not their third lawsuit. They have sued....
Apple
Google
DHL
Ancora
TomTom
Many former employees
Dozens of "pirates" (89 lawsuits to be exact)
Dozens of hackers for code infringement
Dozens of spammers (not a bad thing)
Woolworths
A company that was releasing test results about Vista
Wiston Group
#9 Software
East Outlet LLC
Super Supplier LLC
Belkin
"Phishers"
And I can go on. Check your facts before you spout BS.
It's the 3rd time they sue for fucking PATENT INFRINGEMENT! What's so hard to understand ?
Do we have to spell it to you ?
@ Ike (again) - they have filed three patent suits in the Alcatel-Lucent matter (one in the ITC, one in San Diego and one in Texas) before this.
Therefore this CANNOT BE "only the third time" MS has sued for patent infringement.
At best, it can be the fourth (if MS have never sued for patent infringement except in the Alcatel-Lucent case.) So instead of asking people if they need it spelled to them, perhaps you ought to be checking your own spelling, hey?
No, I'm sorry, you're an idiot if you think these suits are anything but litigious and show a complete lack of prior art and any sort of research by the US Patent office. Did you even read the patents they're attempting to enforce?
6,175,789 “Vehicle Computer System with Open Platform Architecture”
7,054,745 “Method and System For Generating Driving Directions”
6,704,032 “Methods and Arrangements for Interacting with Controllable Objects within a Graphical User Interface Environment Using Various Input Mechanisms,”
7,117,286 “Portable Computing Device-integrated Appliance,”
6,202,008 “Vehicle Computer System with Wireless Internet Connectivity,”
5,579,517 “Common Name Space for Long and Short Filenames,”
5,758,352 “Common Name Space for Long and Short Filenames,” (yes, again, somehow)
6,256,642 “Method and System for File System Management Using a Flash-Erasable, Programmable, Read-only Memory”
These patents are so broad and wide reaching they could apply to pretty much any electronic device ever made. The fact is, they should never have been granted. Most of these methods existed before Microsoft even existed.
This gives Linux a look at some of the patents Microsoft is claiming...
Linux, it's time to get busy changing your code base so you don't violate
those patents.. In the meantime I wonder if we should "Open Patent" some
of our own stuff (especially if we can get one Microsoft violates..)
Licensing Terms: Free available license available only to those who do
not sue the holder for violation of other patents.
quite the opposite, the nature of open source versus patents on closed source software make even the hint of a real court case a big win. After all, Microsoft has had years to download the kernel and identify information that might be patented.. nobody is stopping them! For microsoft to WIN any court battle they'll have to open up some code and start showing judges that review patent cases why their parts are patented and specifically where in the source is claimed to infringe.. almost all closed source companies start dropping cases like flies when courts demand them to put up source or shut up.
What about all the other tech devices that run off Linux? I can think of plenty. This must be Microsoft's revenge against the EU for that irritating Antitrust trial...
Well, they tried getting money from former employees, I guess this the next logical step :|
The issue here is that microsoft probably licenses a lot of its embedded windows software to tomtom for their gps devices, and with them switching to linux, they cut that cost out.
Microsoft is like one of those psycho girlfriends you hear about that come to your house in the middle of the night and key your car after you dumped them for being psycho in the first place.
Patents can burn in hades, and Microsoft with them. I only feel sorry for their employees. (Hey, our stockholders want your severance pay back so we froze your bank account until we can arrange the transaction).