Tiemann: OSI asks German Federal Cartel Office to investigate CPTN transaction

On the Open Source Initiative's (OSI's) blog, Michael Tiemann reports that OSI has asked the German competition authorities to investigate the Microsoft-led acquisition of Novell's 882 patents. "The fact that Microsoft was leading the takeover of Novell's patents was itself alarming to the open source community, but when it was revealed that Microsoft had recruited Oracle, Apple, and EMC to be co-owners of the patents, the OSI Board felt compelled to request that competition authorities take a closer look at the proposed transaction. We found that the German Federal Cartel Office was open to receive comments from the public about this transaction during the month of December, and so we drafted and sent a letter (see attached [PDF]), outlining our concerns and requesting that they investigate this transaction thoroughly. We have received an acknowledgement of receipt by the department in charge, and we stand ready to offer any additional assistance that may be required by investigators should they ask for such help."

Comments (none posted)