Linux users could face European patent threat

Linux users in the United Kingdom could face a greater threat from Microsoft than previously thought, but experts agree that British open source users are in far less danger than US users from Microsoft's claim that open source software infringes its patents.

Microsoft has claimed that Linux and other open source software infringes 235 of its patents. Although the company has refused to say which patents are involved, the risk must be lower in the United Kingdom than the US, because the company has far fewer patents in the United Kingdom, argued Andrew Katz, a solicitor at Moorcrofts, last week.

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