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Software patents are a cancer.
Looks like one of those overly broad patents software litigation farmers get through the system. Probably based on prior art well-known at the time as well. Damn the IP mindset! It’s all thug lawyering and poison to creativity.
Then enforceability of software patents has been greatly exaggerated.
I thought it was recently established that you can't sue downstream providers, or at least that doing so is useless. Maybe that's just my interpretation of the LG v. Quanta suit that got slapped down because LG had exhausted its patent rights with Intel and couldn't chase the downstream provider Quanta. All these distributors would be immune if the suit fails or if it succeeds and Red Hat licenses the patent.
Unless Microsoft offers some of their billions of cash to support this “partner” behind the scenes (ala SCO), I suspect that RH, Dell, HP, et al have enough deep pockets and deep benches of legal beagles to bankrupt this little company- especially if there is any prior art or they can show that it is trivial or obvious.
I seem to remember a couple of other patent troll companies who have ended up with the extremely short end of the stick after trying to extort beeelyuns and beeeelyuns of sheckels from some well heeled companies on software patent actions recently.
And with their “partner” IBM having been on the receiving end of some of these patent troll actions, I would suspect that IBM will soon be known as a “former partner”.
Just my thoughts...
May be the key to the story:
“Software Tree’s partners include Microsoft... “