The proprietary software company Trend Micro has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Barracuda Networks. They claim that Barracuda is violating their patent by distributing the free software antivirus program ClamAV.

We should avoid using any proprietary software, but companies that use software patents for aggression are the lowest of the low.

Lawsuits like this are a threat to the entire IT community, and to free software programmers in particular. There is little that can be done to stop patent trolls from exploiting the patent and legal system for financial gain, until we put a stop to the patenting of software altogether. But there is an immediate opportunity to punish and deter trolls like Trend Micro.

Let all of Trend Micro's potential customers know that by doing business with Trend Micro, they are supporting this attack on all creators of software works, including the entire free software community, and that the strongest message they can send to Trend Micro is to publicly boycott all of their products and services.