Novell To Loose Linux Rights

The open source world is abuzz with speculations that Linux vendor Novell’s license to sell the latest versions of the free software could be revoked in the coming weeks. The Free Software Foundation which controls intellectual property rights to key parts of the open-source Linux operating system is said to be reviewing Novell’s rights to sell new versions of Linux software.

This comes in as a result of Novell’s tie-up with Microsoft announced in November last year. Novell infuriated the members of the open-source community by entering in a deal with Microsoft under which the two companies agreed to jointly sell their products and also develop technologies to facilitate better interoperability between Linux and Windows software.

Following the announcement, the entire open source community admonished Novell and accused it of jeopardizing the interest of the free software community. Critics called on the board to punish Novell by banning it from distributing new versions of Linux software.

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“The community of people wants to do anything they can to interfere with this deal and all deals like it. They have every reason to be deeply concerned that this is the beginning of a significant patent aggression by Microsoft,” said Eben Moglen, the Foundation’s general counsel.

If the foundation imposes a ban on Novell, it would prevent it from selling new versions of Linux covered under a licensing agreement due to take effect in March. It would also mean that Novell won’t have access to the latest versions of the open-source code provided by the Foundation.