Red Hat and Novell Sued Over Alleged Linux Patent Violations

Red Hat and Novell were sued by IP Innovations over patents used in their Linux products.  These are the first suits against open source software involving patents.  Microsoft has always threatened legal action against Linux, and Red Hat in particular.  Steve Ballmer claims Linux violates 235 Microsoft patents but declines to identify them.  Ballmer makes so many bombastic statements that one hardly wonders what is the real truth.  Still, he must be looking fondly at this suit to see how it turns out before unleashing the legal dogs at Microsoft. Groklaw has an interesting take on the litigation which highlights a potential Microsoft connection to the plaintiffs.