Microsoft's friends at Acacia Technologies Group have filed a patent lawsuit through yet another intermediary, IP Innovation LLC, against Linux giants Red Hat and Novell. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division.

The misspelled filing lists as plaintiffs IP Innovation LLC, a Texas liability company, and Technology Licensing Corporation, a Nevada Corporation. IP Innovation is a tool of the Acacia Technologies Group, a company studded with former Microsoft executives (Jonathan Taub -- responsible of strategic deals with Qualcomm and STMicroelectronics; Brad Brunell -- former Microsoft general manager of intellectual property licensing). The plaintiffs are being represented by Texas-based Ward & Smith Law Firm.

They allege Red Hat and Novell have infringed its patents in Red Hat Linux system, the Novell SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop) and the Novell SLES (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server). Specifically, at question is U.S. Patent No. 5,072,412 for a User Interface with Multiple Workspaces for Sharing Display System Objects issued Dec. 10, 1991 along with two other similar patents. The patent was originally held by Xerox PARC and describes a way to create a window with controls that enables users to switch between views of multiple objects within that window.

Bruce Lowry, Novell's director of global PR said, "We're assessing this filing now. Obviously, we'll defend our interests. But it's too early at this stage to talk about specifics on this case."

The plaintiffs are asking for:

A. The entry of judgment in favor of Plaintiffs and against the defendants;

B. An award of damages adequate to compensate Plaintiffs for the infringement that has occurred, together with prejudgment interest from the date the infringement began, but in no event less than a reasonable royalty as permitted by 35 U.S.C. § 284;

C. A finding the Red Hat’s and Novell’s infringement has been willful and an award of increased damages as provided by 35 U.S.C. § 284;

D. A finding the Red Hat’s and Novell’s infringement has been willful and an award of increased damages as provided by 35 U.S.C. § 285;

E. A permanent injunction prohibiting further infringement, inducement and/or contributory infringement of the ‘412 Patent, the ‘183 Patent and the ‘521 Patent; and,

F. Such other relief that Plaintiffs are entitled to under law and any other further relief that this Court or a jury may deem just and proper.

The lawsuit comes after, in May, Microsoft began threatening the Linux community. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer declared at the time that Linux and other open-source projects infringe 235 Microsoft patents, while Red Hat responded that "the community development approach of free and open source code represents a healthy development paradigm, which, when viewed from the perspective of pending lawsuits related to intellectual property, is at least as safe as proprietary software. We are also aware of no patent lawsuit against Linux. Ever. Anywhere."

Well, here comes the first one.