| The first sentence on that page is a question. I'll answer the question in the
third line of this posting, after quoting that first line:
"A recent focus on
the problem of software patents raises the question: could Linux be sued off the
face of the Earth?"
Answer: no, it can not. For many reasons. The first
reason is that the earth might not be the biggest planet around, but it is
certainly bigger than the United States of America. So even if the usual
suspects (fruit, soft, etc.) start getting trigger-happy with their miserable
excuses for patents the rest of the world - or, to put that more succinct, the
other 95% of the world population - will just shrug and continue doing whatever
they were doing, using Linux if that happened to be part of their
activities.
Even though the USA as a country is lost when it comes to
patents, I have my sincere doubts as to whether it would be possible to "sue
Linux off the face of the rather small part of the earth occupied by the United
States of America". Linux is, what? A kernel? A distribution? If so, which
distribution? Who are fruitsoft going to sue to get Linux out of their backyard?
And what are they going to do with their televisions, which most likely run
Linux? And their routers, modems, telephones, warships, airplanes, space
hardware, submarines, guided missiles and whatnot which run Linux? This is where
that Star Wars quote comes to mind: the harder they squeeze, the more kernels
will slip through their fingers.
So, no. And as a beside, what is this
obsession with 'legal vulnerabilities'? Why is everybody always supposed to be
scared, of lawyers and terrorists and such? Get a life, use Linux and enjoy it.
Ignore the scaremongers. Don't fear the lawyer
(not that much difference between the reaper and a lawyer, come to think of it.
In the end the reaper wins though...) ---
[ "Omnis enim res, quae dando
non deficit, dum habetur
et non datur, nondum habetur, quomodo habenda est." ]
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