Red Hat Inc. announces undisclosed settlement in patent infringement lawsuits.

Raleigh, NC: (Jun-11-08) A settlement agreement has been announced in two of three patent infringement lawsuits against Raleigh, NC-based Red Hat. Linux distributor, Red Hat, announced the deal, but did not disclose the financial terms of the settlement, although they did add the settlement protects not only Red Hat but also protects customers who rely on its Linux distribution. Beginning in 2006, Firestar filed suit against Red Hat, claiming that Hibernate, a JBoss product, infringes on a patent related to a middleware layer between a software application and a relational database. Red Hat denied any infringement; as the case was proceeding, Firestar assigned the patent to DataTern, which joined the suit. DataTern then filed a separate suit in April 2008 alleging infringement on another patent; that suit will also be dismissed as a result of the settlement. A third patent lawsuit is still in the courts between Red Hat and IP Innovation LLC and Technology License Corporation.