Would i4i really go after OpenOffice for patent violation?
I guess that you never know, but I think that i4i is going after Microsoft because they are a deep pockets company, and frankly if I had a patent that I thought was being unfairly taken advantage of by a behemoth like Microsoft then I might sue as well. Maybe the company founder(s) want to lure Microsoft into a lucrative acquisition deal and spend the rest of their days checking email via satellite wireless from some private island somewhere? It would be a shame if they went after OpenOffice, especially since OpenOffice has a small market share and couldn’t possibly be threatening this i4i’s business. I wonder how valid their patent claim really is? There is not a great track record of for profit software companies suing open source software providers. I recall the famous SCO vs Linux debacle. Anyone even hear of SCO lately?
