No subject

will go after someone for patent infringement (e.g. IBM, RedHat, ...),
then they are merely trying to bring pressure to bear on the infringing
company, and provide a public record of the infringement claim. Sometimes
this is used as a negotiation tactic in getting large accounts to move
away from the competition. Its also been used to sway pending legislation
and court rulings.

Usually, patent infringement notices are "effectively ignored" by most
large corporations; they just automatically go into litigation mode. A
public announcement is good for putting it on the short list of TDDO items
for the infringing company's lawyers.

I note that SCO is going after RedHat, et. al. before IBM announces their
settlement. Which indicates to me that SCO is not on completely solid
ground (not at all surprising).

--Bruce (drowning in pollen)