Linux buys Microsoft patents

The Open Invention Network, a group of Linux software makers including IBM and Microsoft, has bought 22 patents formerly owned by Microsoft for an undisclosed sum.

OIN said the purchase from Allied Security Trust, which successfully bid for the patents from Microsoft in July, would help keep software accessible to consumers.

“The prospect of these patents being placed in the hands of non-practicing entities was a threat that has been averted with these purchases, irrespective of patent quality and whether or not the patents truly read on Linux,” CEO Keith Bergelt said in a statement.

But Bergelt told the Wall Street Journal the OIN was not invited to bid directly in Microsoft’s July auction – raising the concern that Microsoft had been more interested in selling to someone that targeted Linux.

Linux is a free open-source operating system that competes with Microsoft’s popular Windows program.