Zhang Yu: Open-source software does not have to worry about Microsoft's "Legal intimidation"

Recently, the much-watched SCO lawsuit against IBM worries about the future of Linux. SCO sued IBM for using some of SCO's proprietary UNIX Software Components in IBM's new Linux operating system. Industry insiders believe that this lawsuit will have a huge impact on the global operating system landscape.

At the same time, Microsoft reached an intellectual property settlement with sun and widely spread the news that "open source software may infringe intellectual property rights.

"This is a large-scale legal threat campaign launched by Microsoft to curb the development of open-source software ." Zhang Yu, vice president and chief technology officer of gongchuangopen source, said.

He said that Microsoft's "legal threat" strategy had a significant effect, and many people began to have questions about intellectual property rights for Linux and open-source software.

"Despite all kinds of questions, most people are still confused about 'what is intellectual property protection. What is the legal basis for intellectual property protection? What does it actually protect? Is China's law the same as that in the West ?"

Zhang said that "Intellectual Property Issues" are not unique to open-source software. The closed source code software has the same problem, but Microsoft does not take the closed source code software as its opponent for the moment, so it did not emphasize it.

He said that the state and Beijing Intellectual Property authorities have long noticed this issue and have carried out a lot of research, research and investigation. The related patents were strictly searched and experts were organized for analysis. At present, the relevant information about intellectual property rights has been clarified to the maximum extent possible.

First, in China, the legal basis for intellectual property protection is mainly based on the copyright law, patent law, and anti-Unfair Competition Law. The Copyright Law protects the work itself. For computer software, the problem involved is the display effect of the user interface. What is displayed on the screen is legally the same as what is displayed on the paper. Therefore, the screen display interface is protected by copyright.

However, for graphic elements such as icons, if they are more practical than artistic, they will not be protected by copyright; if they are more practical than practical, they will be protected by copyright. Therefore, it is a violation of copyright law to deliberately imitate the appearance of a completely identical screen interface. However, if the screen interface is similar and more practical than the aesthetics, it does not violate the Copyright Law.

Patent protection is a technical solution, a method to achieve a certain goal, rather than the result of this goal. For example, "Save As Doc document format" does not violate the patent law, but if a technical solution used to achieve the "Save As Doc document" function violates the patent, it is not allowed. Up to now, Microsoft has applied for a total of 326 patents in China. Compared with more than 4000 patents in Europe and the United States, many domestic enterprises have not infringed Microsoft's patents.

Article 5 is the main constraint of the anti-Unfair Competition Law on computer software. That is, do not "Use the unique name, packaging, and decoration of a well-known product without authorization, or use a name, packaging, or decoration similar to that of a well-known product, resulting in confusion with other well-known products, mistaken the purchaser for this well-known product ". When developing products, ordinary consumers must be able to distinguish them from any version of Microsoft products, and consumers will not confuse them to comply with the anti-unfair competition law requirements. Most enterprises in China, including co-creation products, have no infringement problems.

"Therefore, if the technical solutions of open-source Enterprises in China do not violate the patent, the operation interface is only similar but not the same, and the differences can be identified by ordinary consumers in shape packaging, you don't have to worry about Microsoft's legal intimidation '". Zhang Yu. (Enet reporter Zheng Zhiyi)

Source: http://www.enet.com.cn/