| Microsoft-Samsung pact includes Linux patent 'protection' |
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Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday signed a broad cross-licensing agreement with close partner Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. that includes a controversial provision granting the Korean electronics conglomerate rights to patents Microsoft claims have been illegally borrowed by the Linux operating system.
Samsung is the third company to ink a similar cross-licensing pact, which critics say de facto advances Microsoft’s unproven claims to Linux-related intellectual property. The first deal, an alliance signed Nov. 2 between Microsoft and longtime rival Novell Inc., saw the latter firm agreeing to pay Microsoft $40 million in return for immunity for Novell’s customers against any Linux-related patent violations.
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