TomTom joins Linux protection group
Summary
TomTom has joined the Open Invention Network, a company that was formed to protect Linux, as a licensee.
Topics
TomTom has joined the Open Invention Network, a company that was formed to protect Linux, as a licensee.
The satnav maker announced it had signed up to the OIN on Monday. By joining, it gained access to more than 275 patents and patent applications. In return, it has to open up its own intellectual property to other OIN members, royalty-free.
"As we look to enable the Linux Ecosystem, we are pleased to have TomTom become a licensee," said OIN chief executive Keith Bergelt in a statement. "TomTom is one of a growing number of companies, of all sizes, that value the openness and collaborative culture of the Linux community. We applaud their support for Linux."
TomTom's director of intellectual property, Peter Spours, said in the same statement that the deal would help TomTom "encourage Linux development and foster innovation in a technical community that benefits everyone".
TomTom is currently being sued by Microsoft over its application of several patents, several of which are Linux-related. According to Jeremy Allison, leader of the Samba project, Microsoft's suit is an attempt to undermine the GNU General Public Licence (GPL) that underpins the relevant patents.
Groklaw editor Pamela Jones wrote on Monday that TomTom joining the OIN means "the Microsoft/TomTom battle just got bigger, and TomTom is in a stronger position than it was".
This article was originally posted on ZDNet.co.uk.
Talkback Most Recent of 22 Talkback(s)
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Microsoft should litigate on every disputed patent
Enough is enough. There is a fine line between willing open source participants, and those that are getting their intellectual property stolen just because they refuse to get on board with the ideology.
Open source is fostering an atmosphere of theft among the general public by training people to expect free software, and to simply take it willfully if it isn't offered for free.
No one would accept this anywhere else in any other industry, and yet here we are in the software industry constantly devaluing innovation.
Do you get free plumbing service? Does Home Depot give you free pipe and supplies and make their money on selling you the tools? Of course not.
It would be an absurd business model.
Like Kraft giving away Kraft dinner, and trying to make a revenue stream selling plates to go with it. Idiotic.
croberts23rd Mar 2009 -
Well you should try to get use to it
Because its the next big thing ....
And yes Ms should try to do something about it ...But in the mean time MS could also be digging its own grave by starting a patent war that no one will benefit ....
Btw for you i can be idiotic and absurd but for other could be the next big thing food for thought ..........
Quebec-french23rd Mar 2009 -
Atmosphere of theft
You're just off a bit on your nomination for what you call an "atmosphere of theft".
This originated with the writers of the constitution when they authorized patents and copyrights to "Authors" and "Inventors" (Note: These are human beings.) and that they were authorized for "Limited Time".
These are government granted monopolies clearly intended to be held only by human beings and for only short times. The intent was to build a base of data upon which others could build, and for many years, until congress allowed companies to own these monopolies and the time limit was extended effectively into perpetuity, this idea worked very well. It promoted the great prosperity of the United States in the twentieth century, until the extensions took hold and instead of PROMOTING inventions these monopolies became instruments of RESTRICTION.
As now applied, these "limited time" monopolies are only harmful to economic growth and commerce. They attempt to regulate thought, which can not be done.
They should be returned to only held by human beings and only for a maximum of 5 years.
Update victim23rd Mar 2009 -
Software is not hardware
It costs close to nothing to produce as many copies as you want, so it cannot be compared to any physical goods. Period!
If Home Depot were able to refill their shelves with a mouse click I'm sure they would sell their (hard)wares very cheap.
But you cannot produce copies of software support easily. Software support is more akin to hardware. If you want to make comparisons compare software support with hardware, not software itself with hardware.
Arguing otherwise will only make you look stupid.
InAction Man23rd Mar 2009 -
Actually
Making such a sweeping statement about who looks stupid only demonstrates your stupidity.
For innovation to occur, there must be a way to recover the research costs. I am willing to take a risk and create systems, software or hardware, if I can know that the next person is not allowed to take my work and use it without contributing to my costs. There is no such thing as risk free or cost free, there are only those that are willing to accept the risk or accept the cost.
happyharry_z23rd Mar 2009 -
Actually, what you say is just not true. The cooperative development model
works very well and creates a ton of innovation. IBM contributes a ton to Linux and makes a ton. The best and the brightest in the world contribute to Linux, and there is no need for royalties.
On the contrary, proprietary closed source creates way to much friction, and makes it impossible to freely collaborate and build on one another's work.
DonnieBoy23rd Mar 2009 -
Thanks for arguing and fulfilling my prophecy
There's no shortage of stupid M$ schills (forgive the redundancy, the phrase sounds bad if the word stupid is remove.)InAction Man23rd Mar 2009 -
Right on...
...so lets get the stolen software out of MS as well. After all they charge for it right?
Lets be real...half the crap thats patented in software is not innovation.
storm14k23rd Mar 2009 -
What a load.
nt
none none23rd Mar 2009 -
It would be an absurd business model.
If Home Depot could refill all their shelves just by clicking a mouse then competitors could just click their mice too. Software is called software because it's not hardware. Your example of stealing from Home Depot reveals your grasp of the subject, which is next to none. As far as stealing is concerned, Microsoft wrote the book on it.
kozmcrae23rd Mar 2009 -
You arrogant little myope
My grasp of the subject is none?
So something that isn't physical has no value? Is that the height of your intellectual argument?
Well let's think about that for a moment. Money isn't real either. Maybe every spring the government should electronically transfer a couple million into everyone's account.
Software isn't free. Yes you can theoretically write a program and make 1000 copies "at the click of a mouse" but in reality that isn't the case. All software is full of bugs, there are new feature requests, and new operating systems to support. This doesn't include technical documentation (which is usually crap in open source projects), and certification if the software is supposed to do something important like process control in a factory or refinery.
For someone to offer free software means that they 1) either swallow that cost directly or 2) some programmer somewhere has worked for free to donate his/her time.
Either way, there was money involved just as surely as Home Depot supplying pipes for free.
I don't know what you do for a living, but maybe your employer could find someone who would want to do it free for a year.... maybe a student or intern. It wonder if he's keep you around for those 12 months for no good reason?croberts23rd Mar 2009 -
You do show amazing arguing skills.
Have you considered starting a new career as a lawyer?InAction Man23rd Mar 2009 -
Look for MS to figure out a fast way to exit this mess they created for
themselves. When they realize how much they have to lose, they will likely pay TomTom as in the Lindows suite, to avoid having a judgment against the patents.
Bad patents a huge value as long as you can keep them from being challenged.DonnieBoy23rd Mar 2009 -
There's a really simple solution
Don't use the file system. If MS is so bad, then why would you want to use their systems anyway?happyharry_z23rd Mar 2009 -
Greedy maybe?
TomTom could just use the EXT3 and avoid all the trouble, instead they just trying anything lately to dodge bullets.
Come on, TomTom! Are you jsut too lazy to customize the linux or what?
Samic23rd Mar 2009
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