Developer Plans To Sue Microsoft Customers
from the the-SCO-legal-strategy dept
A developer of Microsoft applications in Australia is claiming that the latest release of Microsoft Office violates patents that he has applied for, and warns that anyone buying the software may be opening themselves up to being sued by him. Of course (as Microsoft points out) the guy hasn't actually received any patents yet, so he might want to wait until it's actually been determined that the "intellectual property" is his. At the same time, Microsoft says there's pretty clear prior art, so they're not worried. Finally, if this really is a patent violation, why threaten to sue the customers instead of focusing on Microsoft?
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He's read too many SCO press releases? by Oliver Wendell Jones on Oct 28th, 2003 @ 12:15pm
why threaten to sue the customers instead of focusing on Microsoft?
He's read too many SCO press releases? That's the only thing I can think of...
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His strategy by Lester Burnham on Oct 28th, 2003 @ 1:21pm
This guy is going for a "shut up and go away" settlement from Microsoft. If he sued MS directly, he would have to commit to a head-to-head legal battle. By threatening to sue their customers, I'm guessing that he is hoping that he will generate so much publicity that it will cut into Microsoft's business. Enough lost business and it will be cheaper for Microsoft to pay him off than to ignore him.
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Re: His strategy by Mr. Fazookus on Oct 28th, 2003 @ 2:30pm
Which brings us back to SCO ;-)
I think Linus said it best (more or less) "SCO is playing the American legal system like a lottery". Maybe it'll work elsewhere.
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