Sun Microsystems inc.
Sun Microsystems inc. (Sun) was a hardware and software company that has fought against software patents. It was bought out by Oracle in 2010. This page will be kept to document the great work that Sun did in campaigns against software patents.
Sun signed a 10-year non-agression deal with Microsoft in 2004. (see Patent non-aggression pacts)
Contents
Paying Kodak for nothing
Sun paid $92 million to Kodak for protection against patents that Kodak claimed were being infringed by Sun's Java software.[1][2] Kodak originally asked for $1 billion.[3]
Paying IBM for nothing
In the 1980s, when IBM accused Sun of violating seven patents, Sun examined the patents and argued that IBM didn't have a case. The reply of IBM's lawyers was "maybe you don't infringe these seven patents. But we have 10,000 U.S. patents. Do you really want us to go back to Armonk [IBM headquarters in New York] and find seven patents you do infringe? Or do you want to make this easy and just pay us $20 million?" And Sun paid out.[4] This is another example of why invalid patents remain unchallenged.
Related pages on ESP Wiki
- Oracle v. Google (2010, USA) - a lawsuit launched by Oracle six months after acquiring Sun
- Java and patents
- Comparison of Java and C-sharp
External links
- Wikipedia: Sun Microsystems
- Sun's 1994 patent position
- A 2004 patent deal regarding StarOffice/OpenOffice.org, signed with Microsoft
- Are Software Patents Useful?, by Sun blogger Greg Papadopoulos, May 2007
- Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal, by Jonathan Schwartz about patent threats from Apple and Microsoft
- ZFS Puts Net App Viability at Risk?, Sun's CEO Jonathan Schwartz expresses regret at having to counter-sue Net App to defend ZFS, Oct 24, 2007
