http://www.osnews.com/ Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams OSNews version 4 donotreply@osnews.com (Adam Scheinberg) donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:54:34 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com/ 120 http://www.osnews.com/story/22456/Judge_Norwegian_ISP_Does_Not_Have_to_Block_The_Pirate_Bay/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22456/Judge_Norwegian_ISP_Does_Not_Have_to_Block_The_Pirate_Bay/ Every now and then you come across these news items that make just too much sense to be true. Earlier this year, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry threatened Norway's largest ISP, Telenor: block access to The Pirate Bay within 14 days, or face legal action. Telenor refused to comply - so it went to court. In what can only be seen as a major victory, the judge sided with Telenor. Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:22:55 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 17 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/22450/EU_Adopts_Internet_Freedom_Provision_on_Internet_Cut-offs/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22450/EU_Adopts_Internet_Freedom_Provision_on_Internet_Cut-offs/ "For weeks, the major governing institutions of the European Union have been locked in a battle over three-strikes laws, Internet disconnections, and the appropriate role of judges in the process. Just after midnight last night, the deadlock was broken and all parties agreed to a new 'Internet freedom provision' that reinforces the presumption of innocence, the right to privacy, and the right to judicial review under any Internet sanctions." Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 1 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/22427/Psystar_Asks_Judge_to_Rule_Its_Business_Is_Legitimate/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22427/Psystar_Asks_Judge_to_Rule_Its_Business_Is_Legitimate/ While the Apple v. Psystar case is currently on hold until the hearing regarding the motions for a summary judgement takes place (November 12) the Psystar v. Apple case (still with me?) is only just beginning. Psystar has amended its original complaint in this second lawsuit, asking the judge to order Apple to cease calling Psystar's business "illegal", claiming it hurts the clone maker financially. Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:13:04 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 69 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/22405/Apple_to_Nokia_We_ll_Defend_the_Case_Vigorously/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22405/Apple_to_Nokia_We_ll_Defend_the_Case_Vigorously/ As most of you will know, Nokia slapped Apple with a patent lawsuit last week. Nokia claims that Apple's iPhone infringes upon 10 patents related to GSM, UMTS, and WiFi connectivity. In its SEC 10-K annual report filing, Apple made its first cautious response to Nokia's claims. Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:20:04 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 32 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/22379/Nokia_Sues_Apple_for_Patent_Infringment/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22379/Nokia_Sues_Apple_for_Patent_Infringment/ Remember when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, and proclaimed, to much applause, that they patented the hell out of it? Well, apparently Apple likes to boast about its own patents, but when it comes to dealing with other's they're not so willing. That is, if you believe Nokia: the largest phone manufacturer in the world has sued Apple for patent infringement. Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:17:23 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 86 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/22357/Psystar_Wants_to_Reveal_Protection_Measures_in_Leopard/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22357/Psystar_Wants_to_Reveal_Protection_Measures_in_Leopard/ Remember the motions for a summary judgement filed by Apple and Psystar earlier this week? Large parts of them were censored per Apple's request. These censored parts detailed the protection measures Apple put in place in Leopard to prevent it from being installed on non-Apple labelled computers. Psystar filed a motion a few days ago asking the judge to uncensor the information. Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:50:12 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 63 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/22342/Borland_in_the_1980s_Treat_Software_Just_Like_a_Book_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22342/Borland_in_the_1980s_Treat_Software_Just_Like_a_Book_/ Let's do a little trip down memory lane. We're talking the '80s, early '90s, and we're looking at a company called Borland, which produced several well-known and popular products related to software development. Back in those days, Borland had an end user license agreement. However, contrary to the EULAs we know and despise today, Borland's 'No-Nonsense License Statement' was a whole lot simpler, and in fact, is a perfect example of how software should be treated. Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:47:51 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 34 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/22333/EFF_Warns_TI_Not_to_Pursue_Legal_Threats_Against_Hobbyists/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22333/EFF_Warns_TI_Not_to_Pursue_Legal_Threats_Against_Hobbyists/ So, we have Apple who is paranoid about people installing legally purchased copies of its operating system on non-Apple labelled machines. Just when you thought it couldn't get any more ridiculous than that, we have a hardware company trying to prevent people from installing operating systems on its hardware. Wait, what? Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:21:44 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 52 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/22327/Apple_Psystar_File_Motions_for_Summary_Judgement/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22327/Apple_Psystar_File_Motions_for_Summary_Judgement/ Now that all the nastiness of the discovery phase is behind us in the Apple vs. Psystar case, both parties are trying to get the case settled before it goes to court, much like the recent Vernor vs. Autodesk case. Both Apple and Psystar have filed motions asking for a summary judgement. Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:25:11 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 85 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/22304/Dutch_RIAA_Plans_to_Charge_Bloggers_for_Embedding_Videos/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22304/Dutch_RIAA_Plans_to_Charge_Bloggers_for_Embedding_Videos/ Here on OSNews I've already talked about various copyright related issues here in The Netherlands - obviously because I'm Dutch and live there. As a small nation, the copyright issues we face here serve as nice, comprehensible discussion starters that we can all grok. Well, we've got another one. Our own RIAA equivalent has caused quite the stir by announcing that they will start charging bloggers and social website users for embedding YouTube videos with copyrighted content. Say what? Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:15:38 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 23 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/22295/Microsoft-Beating_Company_Sues_Apple_Google_Etc_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22295/Microsoft-Beating_Company_Sues_Apple_Google_Etc_/ The patent wars rage on. Eolas, a company that before won US$585 million from Microsoft in 2003 in a suit that challenged the use of ActiveX and AJAX, is now after twenty-three separate companies allegedly because their precious patent was spoiled by all of them. Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:43:45 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Jordan Spencer Cunningham) Law and Order 36 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News Moulinneuf http://www.osnews.com/story/22293/New_Rules_to_End_Blogger_Payola_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22293/New_Rules_to_End_Blogger_Payola_/ "US regulators will for the first time crack down on bloggers who fail to disclose fees or freebies they get from companies for reviewing products. The Federal Trade Commission, decided to update its nearly 30 year old guidelines to clarify the law for the vast world of blogging. Offenders could face eventual fines of up to $11,000 (GBP 6,900) per violation." Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:10:22 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Kroc Camen) Law and Order 18 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/22270/Judge_Sides_with_Vernor_Slams_Autodesk/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22270/Judge_Sides_with_Vernor_Slams_Autodesk/ Yesterday morning, we ran an item on the Autodesk case, but we (as in: me) got all confused about what exactly was going on. As it turns out, I was right from the start; despite my update to the item, the case was not resolved. The link in the update referred to an earlier stage of the legal ramblings. However, we now have a real conclusion in this case - and once again, Autodesk lost: software is sold, not licensed. Note: Thanks to Brian W. Carver from Cyberlaw Cases for clearing everything up via email. Much appreciated! Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:04:18 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 12 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/22266/Microsoft_Prevails_in_Patent_Battle--_Again/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22266/Microsoft_Prevails_in_Patent_Battle--_Again/ A long-term patent battle between Microsoft and a California- and Singapore-based security software company known as Uniloc has found Microsoft on the winning side... again. The said battle began about six years ago when Uniloc first sued Microsoft for allegedly infringing a patent of a technology that decries piracy by way of an activation key. Microsoft was supposed to have violated the patent by integrating the technology into the Windows XP and Office products' activation sequences that we all know and love. In short: Microsoft won the original case in 2003, Uniloc appealed and eventually won the appeal in April 2009 after many years of long and drawn out legal proceedings, and Microsoft appealed the appeal and won that appeal just recently, now not having to pay the US$388 million from the last appeal. Oh, and Uniloc already has plans to appeal. Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:09:58 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Jordan Spencer Cunningham) Law and Order 7 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News Moulinneuf http://www.osnews.com/story/22260/Autodesk_eBay_Seller_in_Court_Over_Reselling_Software/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22260/Autodesk_eBay_Seller_in_Court_Over_Reselling_Software/ A very simple question for you. How often have you resold software that you legally purchased? Often enough, right? Well, if it's up to Autodesk, the company behind AutoCAD, you will no longer be allowed to resell your software. Update: As it turns out, the matter has already been resolved: Autodesk lost. A win for all of us. Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:09:22 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 32 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News