Novell reaffirmed that Linux users do not violate Microsoft copyright

Despite signing a contract to protect SuSE users before intellectual property lawsuits with Microsoft, Novell insists that Linux does not violate any Microsoft copyright. Microsoft responded to Novell's move, saying that the two companies were "on the face and not satisfied".

Novell rejected the idea that Linux violated Microsoft 's copyright, even though it recently signed a deal with Microsoft to protect SuSE users from lawsuits that could come from the software giant.

We object to Microsoft's open letter implying that Linux violated Microsoft's intellectual property law - Novell board chairman Ron Hovsepian said in an "open letter to his open source community". .

Microsoft responds that the two companies are "on the face of dissatisfaction" in some open-source Microsoft piracy projects. Both Microsoft and Novell violated their contracts for general improvements in Windows and Linux.

This month, the two companies have reached an agreement including copyright protection programs, business support and co-development of technology for Windows-Linux. Under the contract, Microsoft promised not to sue Novell for copyright infringement originating from current source code in Novell's Linux SuSE, or future co-development techniques for both companies. At the same time Microsoft will also receive such copyright protection from Novell.

Microsoft implies that its source code can be exploited indiscriminately in the open source community. Developers require Microsoft to point out specifically which source code has been compromised. Last week, board chairman Steve Ballmer added fuel to the fire, saying: " Anyone with Linux in their data center today has a certain secret legal balance ." There are also comments about the Professional Association on SQL Server that were included in the discussion on the Seatle Post-Intelligencer website.

In fact, in Microsoft-Novell agreement, Microsoft is more profitable than Novell. Microsoft only had to pay $ 108 million in advance for copyright protection programs while Novell agreed to pay at least $ 40 million over five years.

Microsoft said in its speech: " Microsoft and Novell agree on some unresolved disagreements. Maybe some open source projects violate Microsoft copyright. But there are times when Microsoft infringes copyright. Novell ".
"The contract between us offers a viable solution for customers with their problems. We do not require an infringement contract ," the software maker continued.

The company said that Novell refused to acknowledge any copyright issues that violated the contract. But Microsoft has identified a number of cases that its own protection program will be extended to customers, on products offered in the contract.

" At Microsoft, we take on the role of separate analysis of copyright and affirm the necessity and importance when creating copyright contracts for customers of those products ."

The key impetus to get an agreement at Microsoft is customer satisfaction when the alliance between Linux and Windows appears. Microsoft made this argument in the November 2 release.

" We only intend to sign a contract to ensure interoperability between operations and sales contracts. But Microsoft also requires joint cooperation on copyright. right now , "Hovsepian said.

In the end, the president firmly asserted that Novell kept its principle: " protect, maintain and upgrade the freedom of free software and open source software ". And Novell also welcomes the contribution of the development community towards those goals.

T.Thu