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Red Hat shoots down brace of patent disputes

But still fighting third lawsuit

By Kelly Fiveash • Get more from this author

Posted in Operating Systems, 11th June 2008 10:56 GMT

HP whitepaper - The business case for Virtualization

Red Hat Inc today settled two patent lawsuits that the Linux software firm had been contesting.

It said that patent claims by Firestar Software Inc, filed in 2006, and DataTern Inc, filed earlier this year, have now been settled. The financial terms of both deals were kept secret.

However, the company remains embroiled in a third patent complaint filed last October by IP Innovation LLC and Technology Licensing Corporation, which has claimed damages and is demanding an injunction to stop Red Hat and Novell continuing alleged infringement.

The lawsuit accuses Red Hat and Novell of infringing three patents, all of which appear to have originally been assigned to Xerox.

The Linux vendors are accused of breaking several patents relating to "User Interface with Multiple Workspaces for Sharing Display System Objects". ®

HP whitepaper - The business case for Virtualization