Novell 10k filings: No proof of Microsoft patents

Back when Microsoft and Novell announced their alliance in November, details on the open-source deal were scant. Even now, as the two companies start selling support certificates to customers under the agreement, details are still pretty scarce. However, Novell's recent 10k filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shed some light on the deal, most notably on the purported patent agreement. As you'll recall, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made some pretty controversial comments following the deal, claiming that Linux infringes on Microsoft patents and suggesting that the agreement with Novell was made, at least in part, to address the liability stemming from those patents. Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian fired back, asserting that Novell had not agreed to infringing on any Microsoft patents.

Without getting bogged down in the legal vagaries of the 10k text, we can now say that there is still no proof that Linux violates Microsoft patents and that, as Hovsepian stated, Novell did not enter a patent agreement with Microsoft. It's likely that Microsoft will continue to wave its supposed 235 patents at the open-source community in a threatening manner though it's seeming increasingly unlikely that anyone is going to take them seriously. As always, the burden of proof remains on Microsoft for this one.

For more on the 10k filing:
- see this eWeek article
- and this article from Network World