The dangers of software patents for free software have always been a hot issue. But with the news that Red Hat and Novell are being sued for alleged patent infringement by IP Innovation, the matter has moved from theory into practice.

Novell continues to feed the longtime software patents proponents from Gartner; lawyers promote software patents regardless of their impact on the market

OpenOffice.org is a flagship for free and open source software and a success by most measurements, but there have long been murmurings of discontent among developers. In this feature Richard Hillesley discusses the issues with Michael Meeks who works as an OpenOffice.org developer at Novell

5 more patents are awarded to Novell, which is in possession of a dangerous portfolio that could be auctioned away

Jeff Jaffe's broken link (still available in the CTO blog) shows fanaticism for software patents at Novell; Microsoft's cash infusion for Novell is running out

Novell gets granted a software patents; Microsoft's new acquisition is hit.

In hindsight, it is claimed that Red Hat too has an ambivalent view on the subject of software patents, at least historically; Novell, as expected, is not against software patents

“Pinta” comes from Novell staff and software patents tax (on SLE*) comes from Microsoft in the form of vouchers

Is OpenOffice.org (OOo), the popular free office application, "a profoundly sick project," as developer Michael Meeks alleges? Or are his comments a poorly concealed effort to promote Go-OO, Novell's version of OOo, as the anti-Novell lobby suggests?