<story><title>Microsoft and Linux and Patents and Tweets</title><url>https://meshedinsights.com/2016/11/22/microsoft-linux-patents-tweets/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>simula67</author><text>This suggestion is a good one, but I have a better proposal.&lt;p&gt;The problem here is that Microsoft is free to cherry pick the best innovation that is coming out of the open source community while the reverse not being true. If Linux reinvents some feature already published by Windows, Linux vendors could get sued for patent infringement and have to settle with hefty license fees. Windows, on the other hand can and do copy improvements coming out of Linux community. See for example : containers.&lt;p&gt;For people to use a piece of technology, it should provide something that no other piece of technology provides. Linux community can patent serious improvements and give a world-wide license to anyone who wants to publish an open source version of the technology. Microsoft gets locked out ( totally fair, since the reverse is already true ), and Linux has a killer feature worth switching for.&lt;p&gt;If Microsoft wants to implement the feature, they can license it from Linux foundation. Linux foundation can redistribute this money back to corporations which paid license fee to Microsoft. Or they can put that money into Core Infrastructure Initiative</text></comment>
<story><title>Microsoft and Linux and Patents and Tweets</title><url>https://meshedinsights.com/2016/11/22/microsoft-linux-patents-tweets/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>rwmj</author><text>All the rest of the post seems good, except this: &lt;i&gt;A trade association should not permit its members to fight among themselves.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Surely a trade association which prevents &amp;quot;fighting&amp;quot; between its members is a cartel?  Whatever you think about software patents, MSFT is not doing anything illegal.  The real problem is (yet again) the existence of overbroad, non-specific, long-duration software patents.</text></comment>