Simon

Cumbria

IT

The threat of court action over alleged patent infrignement is something that everyone should take seriously. While it's nice to think that there is no infringing code, I wouldn't bet on it given the number of patents Microsoft file every year (and the lack of quality of some patents granted). I think we can be fairly safe in the assumption that Microsoft has quite a few patents on some obvious techniques that are used in Linux - these might be 'obvious' or have 'prior art', but it will cost a LOT of money to defend the action while waiting for the patent to be re-examined.

If Microsoft do sue then they will choose their target carefully - and it won't be pretty. Even if they have no case whatsoever, defending the action will cost money - serious money that few open source developers have. Assuming you get the case thrown out at teh first hearing, you can expect Microsoft to appeal, and appeal again - all the way up the court system.
It's a simple technique widely abused by large cash rich companies like Microsoft - just keep the pressure on, appeal everything, and wait till the other side runs out of money. They done it before when they've been found guilty of stealing other peoples IP, and I dare say we'll see them do it again.

You only have to look at the SCO fiasco to see how much damage, how much cost, and how much inconvenience, a company can cause by sueing people with no grounds. The difference is that with Microsoft it won't be a case of waiting until they run out of cash !