Trend Micro Learns That Suing For Patents On Open Source Software Can Backfire
from the don't-mess-with-the-community dept
It seemed rather bad form back in December for Trend Micro to sue a competitor claiming that its anti-virus system violated a patent for using some open source software. Not only would it likely slow down innovation in the space and allow those with bad intent to distance themselves even further from security professionals trying to stop them, it also would piss off the open source community. We've already seen that community step up in the effort to find prior art, and now Slashdot is reporting that open source supporters are starting a boycott of Trend Micro products in response to the lawsuit. It seems like yet another case of the lawyers getting ahead of the business people in deciding who to sue.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: boycotts, open source, patents, security
Companies: trend micro
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Mike strikes out again
I for one would never sue open source developers.. What for ? there is no money involved and nobody to sue
Commercial entiry making money on open source code which happens to infringe on somebody's patent is a whole different story..
With all this said, Trend Micro's products suck big time
A bloated piece of junk
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Re: Mike strikes out again
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Re: Mike strikes out again
Does anyone know if Webroot's Antivirus compares to Trend Micro's?
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Re: Re: Mike strikes out again
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Re: Re: Re: Mike strikes out again
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Re: Mike strikes out again
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Angry Dudette is watching the wrong ballgame
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Re: Angry Dudette is watching the wrong ballgame
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Re: Mike strikes out again
Did I say otherwise?
However, Trend Micro is clearly targeting the open source component of that software, and that action has triggered the community to respond. I'm not sure how you can deny that that is exactly what has happened.
I've asked you before to take the time to understand things to respond. It's disappointing to see you choose not to follow that advice.
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Mike got it right
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I don't get it
Is TrendMicro suing this other company because they are profiting from Open Source Code, which is a violation of this open source's developers' GNU license?
Did I get that part right?
If so, then shouldn't the developers of the OSS be responsible for that?
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finger pointes @ trend micro
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AVG ROCKS!!! Never hogs resources, FREE, NO ADS, Has found java and other viruses NORTON did not find.
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Avoided Trend Micro
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