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The patent troll world is ever so interconnected, reports Groklaw

Sigh. These patent trolls are an incestuous lot.

Matt Asay Contributing Writer
Matt Asay is a veteran technology columnist who has written for CNET, ReadWrite, and other tech media. Asay has also held a variety of executive roles with leading mobile and big data software companies.
Matt Asay

Groklaw has uncovered a curious, but perhaps not surprising, connection between Acacia, the patent troll behind the Linux desktop patent lawsuit against Red Hat and Novell, and BayStar, SCO's sugardaddy (with Microsoft behind its support for SCO). Incest runs amok in the patent trolling world.

Guess who has Acacia Research, the parent of IP Innovation, now suing Red Hat and Novell over alleged patent infringement, in their portfolio, or at least demonstrably did in 2006? Baystar [PDF]. What a small world. Who'd think that the very same Baystar, whose Lawrence Goldfarb told the court in the SCO v. IBM litigation that it was Microsoft that induced it to invest in SCO would also be an investor in the company now attacking Red Hat and Novell?

So many coincidences, so little time.