Novell outlines GPLv3 worst-case scenario
Published:29-May-2007
By BR staff writer
The final draft of the GNU General Public License version 3 could interfere with Novell's controversial patent covenant with Microsoft, Novell has admitted.
The SUSE Linux distributor said that an unfavorable final GPLv3 could mean "Microsoft may cease to distribute SUSE Linux coupons in order to avoid the extension of its patent covenants to a broader range of GPLv3 software recipients".
The company also "may need to modify our relationship with Microsoft under less advantageous terms than our current agreement, or we may be restricted in our ability to include GPLv3 code in our products, any of which could adversely affect our business and our operating results."
Microsoft has committed to buy from Novell and resell 70,000 "coupons" or certificates, each of which entitle the bearer to a period of SUSE Linux support, over the next five years. It paid Novell $240m for this privilege.
The statements were included in the "Risk Factors" section of Novell's 10-K annual report with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, filed late Friday after options review-related delays. As such, the warning could be viewed merely as a worst-case scenario.
A Novell spokesperson had told us in late March: "Nothing in this new draft of GPL3 inhibits Novell's ability to include GPL3 technologies in SUSE Linux Enterprise, openSUSE, and other Novell open source offerings, now and in the future."
Discussion Draft 3 of GPLv3 contains a provision that would specifically outlaw the types of patent covenant inked by Novell and Microsoft last November. Under this deal, both companies promise not to assert their patents against customers of the other.
This clause in the GPL would only apply to such deals made after March 28 2007, the date of the publication of the Discussion Draft. But the Free Software Foundation has indicated that this "grandfathering" clause could be dropped if the community demands it.
According to the new Novell 10-K, it faces the threat of Microsoft shutting down SUSE Linux coupon sales only if this grandfathering clause is eventually abandoned by the FSF.
Along with the 10-K, Novell has publicly filed redacted versions of the three November agreements, but, based on a cursory layman's reading of the contracts, they don't reveal a great deal that was not already known about the controversial partnership.
The three documents are the Patent Cooperation Agreement, which carries the no-sue deal, the Business Collaboration Agreement which outlines Microsoft's SUSE reselling and marketing commitments, and the Technical Collaboration Agreement, which details interoperability efforts.
The patent agreement has by far been the most controversial of the three, as Microsoft has been using it to heavily imply, and more recently to directly say, that there is patented Microsoft technology in open source software including Linux.
Novell has strenuously denied that the agreements imply any such admission, and the patent agreement published Friday does appear to back up that assertion.
"Nothing in this Agreement shall imply, or be construed as an admission or acknowledgement by a Party, that any Patents of the other Party are infringed, valid or enforceable," the contract reads.
