Red Hat, Novell win verdict over Linux software claim

Red Hat Inc and Novell Inc won a US verdict in a case brought by a Texas company that claimed their Linux-based products infringed patents for ways to share icons across computer workstations.

IP Innovation LLC, a unit of Acacia Research Corp, accused Red Hat and Novell of infringing three patents that cover a computer-based graphical user interface that spans multiple workplaces, and lets users access icons remotely, according to court documents.

A jury in Marshall, Texas, today sided with Red Hat and Novell’s defense that the patents were invalid.

“The jury knocked out three invalid patents that were masquerading as a new and important inventions, when they were not,” Michael Cunningham, general counsel for Red Hat, said in a statement, calling the patents “worthless.”

The company will “remain stalwart in resisting bogus shakedown tactics.”

The trial before Circuit Judge Randall Rader focused on technology that, for instance, lets someone use a laptop computer at home to access files and features on a workplace desktop. The lawsuit targeted the enterprise Linux Desktop and Server products, claiming the virtual workspaces and switching features infringe the patents.

Red Hat, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, is the world’s biggest seller of Linux operating system software and makes money by packaging Linux, a competitor to Microsoft’s Windows, with extra features. Red Hat reported $748.2 million in sales for the year ended February 28.