Trend Micro Learns That Suing For Patents On Open Source Software Can Backfire
from the don't-mess-with-the-community dept
It seemed rather bad form back in December for Trend Micro to sue a competitor claiming that its anti-virus system violated a patent for using some open source software. Not only would it likely slow down innovation in the space and allow those with bad intent to distance themselves even further from security professionals trying to stop them, it also would piss off the open source community. We've already seen that community step up in the effort to find prior art, and now Slashdot is reporting that open source supporters are starting a boycott of Trend Micro products in response to the lawsuit. It seems like yet another case of the lawyers getting ahead of the business people in deciding who to sue.






