Ballmer: Red Hat has 'obligation' to pay Up
InternetNews | at | by Mike
Microsoft may have toned down its rhetoric about claims that Linux violates its patents, but you wouldn't know it by listening to company CEO Steve Ballmer.
During a question-and-answer session in London last week for the Oct. 4 U.K. rollout of Microsoft's Startup Accelerator Program, Ballmer took a swipe at Red Hat.
"People who use Red Hat Linux, at least with respect to our intellectual property, in a sense have an obligation to eventually compensate us," Ballmer said during the session, which was Webcast. He cited last year's licensing deal with Novell, as well as Microsoft's recent settlement with patent contender Eolas, as examples of how companies compensate others for the use of intellectual property.