Microsoft versus Linux – MSFT goes to war against free and open source software
Microsoft (MSFT) claims that freeware like Linux violates 235 of its patents. This means the company wants royalties to be paid by distributors and users.
Let’s cut to the chase. Microsoft has never been pro-entrepreneur…even in its infancy. Bill Gates was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and presumably got some very good legal advice from his lawyer father, a partner in a major Seattle law firm, when negotiating with IBM regarding MS-DOS.
Now that Windows Vista has shown the emperor is without clothes, Mr. Softee is trying to choke the competition out of existence. Back in 1998, The Onion created a satire piece titled “Microsoft Patents Ones, Zeroes.” Truth is stranger than fiction.
I hope that the Fortune 500 users of Linux stop this Microsoft shakedown. The average open source software user isn’t going to have the financial means to fight Microsoft in court.
In presidential politics, it looks like Congressman Ron Paul with his libertarian views would be most likely to rein in a patent system run amuck. However, at the moment he’s a dark horse candidate.
Hat tip to Roger Parloff at CNNMoney.com.
Licensing Agreements Can Grow Your Business
A license agreement is a contract in which one party grants another party permission to do something that would otherwise be illegal. These types of licenses are common for intellectual property protected by copyright, patent, or trademark. It can include a proprietary way of doing business, such as real estate investing or even operating a yoga studio.
Licensing agreements are more flexible than franchises because they are not heavily regulated by the government, are more flexible, and are less expensive to create and control than a franchise. Licenses promote entrepreneurs instead of suffocating them with a one-size-fits-all method of doing business one finds with franchises.
There are two primary ways to grow your business through licensing: (1) find others who are willing to pay licensing fees for what you own and make money by replicating your business through these licensees; and (2) become a licensee for the rights to something that would be profitable for your business to use.
If you’ve invented the wheel, license it and make money. If you haven’t, don’t reinvent it. License it from the inventor.
