• CNET News.com, Wednesday, May 16, 2007 10:46 AM

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's open admission that the company plans to take free software to court for allegedly infringing on 235 of its patents has (of course) drawn the ire of most of the technology industry. Did the software giant have to go there? Why?

No, experts say. The company's strategy is to blackmail the many Fortune 1000 firms operating on Linux software into coming to the negotiating table. The software giant struck its first deal with Linux seller Novell in 2006, a move met with serious criticism by the IT sector. Worse, Microsoft is telling companies to find out which patents they infringe upon and then make the software king an offer.

Linux writer Linus Torvalds, for one, has flatly refused to search for patent infringement. "The bulk of all patents are crap," he said. "Spending time reading them is stupid. It's up to the patent owner to do so, and to enforce them." Indeed, given the convoluted--even ridiculous--U.S. patent system, "It's gotten to the point where most software application developers cannot plausibly say they've conducted complete patent searches," adds Matthew Schruers, general counsel to the Computer and Communications Industry Association, a tech-lobbying firm, which called the move "very troubling." Microsoft's request would be very costly--not to mention totally uncool. "The fear of willfulness is so great that often firms instruct their engineers not to look at patents," Schruers added.

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