This is about the third Linux patent infringement story that I've stumbled across. I guess that just means that Linux is officially big business. Randy ------------------------------------------------- "Group: Linux potentially infringes 283 patents" By Stephen Shankland CNET News.com August 1, 2004 http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5291403.html excerpt: [An artifact of current patent law in the United States is that companies and individuals are discouraged from seeing if their products infringe, Ravicher said. "If you have knowledge and are found to infringe, a court can punish you," tripling financial penalties, Ravicher said. "If you say you didn't know and didn't see it, a court can't punish you. It's a screwed-up rule." Linux founder and leader Linus Torvalds has taken that approach. "Finding patent infringement has always been a responsibility of the patent holders," he said in a 2003 interview. "It is a fact that I do not encourage engineers to look up patent information."] ------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota Help beta test TCLUG's potential new home: http://plone.mn-linux.org Got pictures for TCLUG? Beta test http://plone.mn-linux.org/gallery tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list