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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a group of open-source backers is poised to buy 22 graphics patents formerly the home of Microsoft.The patents in query appear to consist of some or all of the 3D-graphics-related ones that Microsoft purchased from SGI in 2002. Microsoft offered these patents previously this 12 months to a third-party patent broker,Office 2010 Professional Key, Allied Security Believe in (AST). The Journal reported on September eight that AST is selling the patents towards the Open Invention Network (OIN), a group of corporations which includes IBM, Novell, Red Hat and Sony. The gist with the Journal;s tale is OIN members desire to buy the graphics patents to head off potential patent trolls who may be thinking about getting them to make use of towards open-source vendors.I;ve asked OIN, AST and Microsoft for more specifics and have however to hear back again from any of them.Update: Microsoft responded Tuesday afternoon. Spokesperson Michael Marinello sent the following statement:“We offered 22 patents to AST in July 2009. The terms were confidential. We acquired these patents several years ago as part of a larger business agreement with SGI.“We are constantly evaluating our patent portfolio – which recently received top ranking in the software industry — to ensure its makeup fits into the business goals of the organization. These patents were deemed to be non-core to our business and non-essential for our IP portfolio. When an interested buyer for this technology was identified, after discussing it both internally and together with the potential buyer, we felt this was the right direction to go in relating to these specific patents.”Marinello advised me to get in touch with AST, as they own the patents now. I still have not heard back again from AST or OIN. But OIN issued a press release at 4 pm ET today confirming that it purchased the 22 patents from AST, but offering no further details or details — not even a confirmation that the patents “read on Linux.” “To date, the Have confidence in (AST) has invested $40 million in patent purchases over its 30 months of operations,” the release said.The original WSJ story leaves me with extra than a few questions: Lately, Linux vendors have been steeling themselves versus the possibility of Microsoft pursuing them for alleged patent violations. But in this case — since Microsoft offered these patents — who were the OIN members worried about? Which trolls were lurking?The Journal cites an OIN official claiming that Microsoft presented the graphics patents as being “Linux-related” when it auctioned them off previously this year. (Microsoft did not confirm this characterization in the Journal;s tale.) If the patents really are Linux-related,Office 2010 Home And Stude/nt Key, I;d think Microsoft would have wanted to hold onto them,Office 2010 Activation Key, to give the company a leg up against its Linux competitors, rather than sell the patents off, claiming they weren;t germane to Microsoft;s core business.What, exactly, do these 22 patents cover? Back again in January 2002, The Register reported that Microsoft paid $63 million for SGI;s graphics patent portfolio. In July of that same yr,Microsoft Office 2007 Product Key, Microsoft was rattling the patent sabers over OpenGL. Microsoft officials said they had “feasible claims” on a technology called vertex programming,Office 2010 Professional Plus, a technology that controls 3D effects for example lighting. A ZDNet story from that time noted that “The claims caused some consternation within the OpenGL Architectural Review Board (ARB), which governs the specification.” Anything else about this transaction of interest to you (in case I do get to talk to any with the parties in query later today)?