Open Source Blog

The statement from Steinman was as follows:

“Since we announced the Novell-Microsoft agreement in November, we've always said that the intellectual property agreement provided a foundation for the interoperability between Windows and SUSE Linux Enterprise. This foundation falls into two primary categories: 1) the "covenant not to sue," which provides customers with peace of mind when they deploy SUSE Linux Enterprise; and 2) the IP access necessary for the technical collaboration to deliver interoperability between Windows and Linux. For better or worse, the community and press at-large have focused on #1, although Novell has talked about both categories since we signed the agreement.

“The Novell-Microsoft agreement is about bridging the worlds of open source and proprietary software, and in order to build this bridge, we've had to do several unique things, including signing an intellectual property agreement that would let Novell's engineers get a look at some of Microsoft's proprietary code. We've also done several other unique things like having Microsoft representatives sell certificates for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscriptions to their customers. I'd submit that all of these things are good for the adoption and growth of Linux.”

I have looked at the original announcement, Novell’s FAQ, Microsoft’s FAQ, Novell’s further details announcement, and its open letter to the community and can find no reference to Novell engineers getting access to Microsoft IP as part of the patent cooperation agreement, but I could be missing something.

UPDATE - It just occured to me that Steinman might have been refering to Microsoft's promise not to sue openSUSE developers. During the announcement Microsoft's general counsel, Brad Smith, had this to say:

"The second thing we did in this area was add a promise that goes to developers, even developers who are getting paid to create code to OpenSUSE.org, code that Novell then takes and incorporates into its distribution, and that is then covered under the patent cooperation agreement between us, because after all Novell is ensuring that our patent rights are respected in an appropriate way, and that gives us the ability to address the needs and interests of those individuals."

If you consider Novell's engineers individuals that might count. Neither company has responded to requests for clarification as yet, though, so who knows. - UPDATE

I am also confused as to how Steinman’s explanation of the intellectual property agreement fits in with Novell’s earlier explanation of the patent covenant. For example, in its FAQ, Novell stated:

“Our agreement with Microsoft is focused on our customers, and does not include a patent license or covenant not to sue from Microsoft to Novell (or, for that matter, from Novell to Microsoft).”

It also stated:

“The patent agreement does not cover the development activities of Novell or Microsoft, and Novell has no plans to changes it development policies relating to patents.”

As I am awaiting clarification on this it’s best not to speculate, but I wanted to share Steinman’s confirmation that there was more to the patent agreement than I had previously reported.