January 15, 2007
Two words: "Prior Art"
I am not a lawyer (yet). I have not passed the Intellectual Property Bar (and probably won't). But it doesn't take a law professor to be able to tell that you can't patent something a competitor has spent the past five years developing.
Which is exactly what Red Hat is trying to do by filing a patent for pretty much exactly the same kind of DRM that is to be used in Vista.
Nice try, guys, but that really isn't supposed to work. Especially as SCOTUS has just handed down a ruling which enables patent licensees to sue the licensor over the validity of the patent, something previously not possible.
Got to give 'em credit for trying though. I'll be greatly entertained and amused should the patent be granted, as Red Hat will simply refuse to license the patent and sue the bejesus out of Microsoft, but it ain't gonna happen.
