Red Hat Settles Patent Lawsuit

Red Hat (RHT) on Tuesday said it has settled a patent infringement lawsuit that covers the company’s open source software and any other derivative works.

The lawsuit was launched by Firestar Software and DataTern in 2006. Firestar has a platform called EdgeNode that automates distributed processes such as supply chain integration, trading networks and payment transactions. DataTern makes software designed to speed up application development and reduce testing time.

In a statement Red Hat said the settlement protects it, its customers and the open source community, “whose considerable efforts benefit our business.” The settlement covers all Red Hat brands. According to Red Hat:

The settlement also protects derivative works of, or combination products using, the covered products from any patent claim based in any respect on the covered products. Essentially, all that have innovated to create, or that will innovate with, software distributed under Red Hat brands are protected, as are Red Hat customers.

In an FAQ, Red Hat added:

 The lawsuit was originally filed by Firestar Software, Inc. (“Firestar”) in 2006 in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas (Civil Action No. 2-06CV-258). It alleged violation of U.S. Patent No. 6,101,502 (“’502 patent”), which relates to a method for interfacing an object-oriented software application with a relational database to facilitate access to the relational database. Firestar contended that Hibernate, a JBoss product, infringed the ‘502 patent. Red Hat denied that allegation and vigorously contested the claim.

Comments

[Dennis Byron]

I am trying to figure out the investment aspect of this move by Red Hat and admit I am struggling with for an opinion (which is why I didn't post one).

Of course, Red Hat says the settlement is not public information so we can't tell if money changed hands and, if so, in what direction. If Red Hat paid for these " precedent-setting rights," I am assuming it was a small amount given what this was about technically. My guess is that it paid.

However if Red Hat didn't have to pay (or even got the other guys to pick up legal fees), it's still small potatoes but it means more share-value-affecting posturing by Red Hat over IP philosophy, Open Standards (in upper case), and more of the "U.S. bashing is good for open source" stuff Red Hat's CEO apparently said in March--see www.ebizq.net/blogs/op...).

The argument for the "Red Hat won" scenario is a FAQ sheet that accompanied the press release which said "More generally, the settlement demonstrates Red Hat’s commitment to standing up for the community against patent aggressors. We believe it will serve as a precedent that should discourage future similar cases."

The plaintiffs don't look like patent agressors to me and the precedent that Red Hat is talking about is not a legal precedent as it implies but simply the idea that it is not just indemnifying itself but also those upstream and downstream in the development process.

[Skjellifetti]

Hmmm. Filed in the Eastern District of Texas? The Capital of Patent Trolls? Now look at the patent itself. As a Sr Software Geek, this patent looks to me like it belongs in the "every developer has written code to do exactly this at one point or another." I hope Red Hat smacked them down hard.

[Dennis Byron]

Update on who "won:"

According to another web site (www.hemscott.com/news/...) that seems to be tied to the LSE, Red Hat paid to settle the lawsuit with Firestar/Datatern, both of which are partnered (16.7%/100%) with Amphion.

Both Firestar and Datatern appear to offer technology for sale and are not apparently solely in the business of acquiring and maximizing patent values, which would seem to be what Red Hat means by a "patent aggressor." However, Amphion says Datatern was formed to " commercialise selected intellectual property opportunities, in partnership with its Partner Companies."

"As a result," according to the other web site referenced, "revenues directly attributable to Amphion from the license fee after costs are
approximately $800,000." Why Amphion is not tooting its horn a little more and letting Red Hat position itself as the winner is unclear.