An audit conducted by Open Source Risk Management (OSRM) found 283 potential patent infringements in the Linux 2.4 and 2.6 code base. The OSRM, a group that offers indemnification against Linux copyright infringement claims, conducted a study in advance of the expansion of its indemnification offerings to cover patent infringement. According the OSRM, 27 of the patents are held by Microsoft, which has signaled its intention to make patent licensing a major source of future revenues. Another 98 are owned by companies with heavy Linux investments, including 60 from IBM and 20 from HP. HP acknowledged the possibility of patent infringement risks two years ago in an internal memo, which was subsequently made public.

Nice way to wakeup the pack of wolves. Hopefully this sets of the alarms within the community and people begin to look into how they can cirumvent these patents.

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