"Microsoft has no current plans to join the Open Innovation Network, a move that some in the free and open-source community have suggested would benefit them both."

KDE e.V. is pleased to announce that we have joined the Open Invention Network community as a licensee. Open Invention Network was founded as a way to help defend the Linux ecosystem, and by extension much of the Free and Open Source software world, from the risks associated with software patents.

One of the enduring soap operas this year has involved the ongoing patent infringement threats by Microsoft against “Linux, OpenOffice, email, and other open source software.” According to Microsoft, 235 of its (unnamed) patents are being infringed, and it should be entitled to be paid for this use of its intellectual property.

I have pointed this out time and again. Like it or not, the patent war is already here. Luckily, if it hits full throttle, Google will be a part of it on the side of Linux vendors. Google uses Linux and is ready to battle alongside the rest of Open Invention Network, utilizing a collection of Linux patents against Microsoft if it comes down to it.

According to a report published online by the Wall Street Journal, the Open Invention Network (OIN) has announced plans to purchase 22 former Microsoft patents.

Security software appliance vendor Barracuda Networks is joining the Open Invention Network (OIN) today as a licensee. In exchange for agreeing not to assert any of their own patents against the Linux software ecosystem, Barracuda will gain royalty-free access to the significant collection of patents held by OIN—which includes the Commerce One web services patents.

The Open Invention Network has launched a project to find prior art for Microsoft's patents on the FAT filesystem. The OIN believes that the FAT patents will not hold up to scrutiny and the organization hopes that the Linux community will assist in an effort to have it invalidated.

The following snippets from a news article contain propaganda terms such as “piracy” and “IPR”. The article also comes from a publication that typically published pro-Microsoft agenda. The intention here is to show you just how Microsoft overrides local laws and pushes software patents onto those who must not accept them.

Director of Source Program at Microsoft Corporation Jon Rosenberg submitted its Shared Source License called "Microsoft Community License" to Open Source Initiative for considering it as an OSI approved Open Source License.