Legal Archive

EU: ‘No Fee for Windows Source Code’

Thom Holwerda 2006-01-31 Legal 56 Comments

European Commission antitrust head Neelie Kroes told EU lawmakers on Tuesday that Microsoft cannot charge a licensing fee for the Windows source code it has promised to share, unless it can prove such code is "innovative." Microsoft made the offer last week in order to comply with a 2004 court ruling.

EC Accuses Microsoft of Source Code Song and Dance

Thom Holwerda 2006-01-27 Legal 34 Comments

A representative of the European Commission faced down a Microsoft exec on the BBC Radio 4 programme this morning, accusing it of holding a press shindig in Brussels but not popping round the corner to tell it what was going on. Microsoft may have briefed hacks and others on the elements of source code it is prepared to give its competitors, said an EC representative, but as far as the organisation was concerned it has still not complied with the terms of the agreement.

Microsoft Says Gets More Time to Reply on Fine Proposal

Thom Holwerda 2006-01-24 Legal 7 Comments

Microsoft said on Monday it had been given extra time by the European Commission to respond to the threat of a $2 million-a-day fine over allegations that it has failed to comply with a landmark EU antitrust ruling. "We have been granted an extension to February 15," a spokesman for the company said. On the other side of the Atlantic, however, Microsoft is falling behind in meeting certain obligations under its antitrust agreement with the US government, the Bush administration said Monday.

‘DRM Is a Complete Lie’

Thom Holwerda 2006-01-23 Legal 64 Comments

"DRM is a lie. When an agenda driven DRM infection peddler gets on a soapbox and blathers about how it is necessary to protect the BMW payments of a producer who leeches off the talented, rest assured, they are lying to you. DRM has absolutely nothing to do with protecting content, it is about protecting the wallets of major corporations. The funny thing is they aren't protecting it from you, they are protecting it from each other."

UK Judge Frowns on Software Patents

Submitted by John Mills 2006-01-17 Legal 10 Comments

A UK judge has questioned whether software patents should be granted, and has criticized the U.S. for allowing "anything under the sun" to be patented. Sir Robin Jacob, a judge at the UK's Court of Appeal who specializes in intellectual-property law, spoke about the potential problems surrounding software patents at a seminar for the Society for Computers and Law on Thursday evening in London. "Do we need patents for computer programs? Where is the evidence for it?" Jacob asked.

IP Attorney: Why SCO Has No Case

Submitted by Jane Walker 2006-01-10 Legal 45 Comments

IP attorney Thomas Carey shoots down SCO's cases against Linux, Linux users, IBM and Novell, but predicts that "SCO will follow Hitler's example and go on fighting a losing battle".

Microsoft, Google and Lee Settle Hiring Dispute

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-23 Legal 7 Comments

Some five months after Google announced plans to open a product research and development center in China, and said it was appointing former Microsoft vice president Kai-Fu Lee to head the operation, the parties have settled the matter. In a brief statement released late Thursday, Microsoft spokesman Jack Evans said the parties had entered into a private agreement that resolved all issues to their mutual satisfaction.

Submitted by raver31 2005-12-22 Legal 97 Comments

The European Commission has threatened to fine Microsoft up to 2m euros a day until it gives rivals more access to its systems. Brussels said the software giant had failed to supply adequate information about its server programs. Microsoft has five weeks to provide improved documentation before the daily penalties are imposed. But the company pledged to contest the EU's "unjustified" demands by whatever means possible. Update: Microsoft contests.

FSF Keeps Pushing for Microsoft Server Protocols

Thom Holwerda 2005-11-25 Legal 68 Comments

Microsoft argues that revealing its server protocols would violate its intellectual property rights, but the Free Software Foundation Europe believes that the software giant's 'secret' information is just a messy implementation of standard technologies.

Submitted by Rahul 2005-11-16 Legal 6 Comments

A database containing more than 500 software patents and backed by big-name vendors has been posted online to foster development of litigation-free open source. Open Source Development Labs has launched its Patent Commons Project with backing from IBM - the industry's largest holder of technology patents - Computer Associates International, Novell, Red Hat, Intel and Sun Microsystems.

SCO Describes Alleged IBM Unix Misuse to Court

Eugenia Loli 2005-11-01 Legal 32 Comments

It took more than two and a half years, but the SCO Group finally has disclosed a list of areas it believes IBM violated its Unix contract, allegedly by moving proprietary Unix technology into open-source Linux.

Microsoft, RealNetworks Near Settlement?

Thom Holwerda 2005-10-11 Legal 11 Comments

Microsoft is nearing a settlement of RealNetworks' long-running antitrust lawsuit with a deal valued at $750 million (E624 million), according to reports. Under terms of the settlement, which could still fall through, Microsoft would offer a combination of cash and promotions for RealNetworks' music and game services through Microsoft's online services and software, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. In addition, the newspaper said, the two companies would collaborate on technology initiatives in the future. Update: It's official.

RMS Discusses GPL3 Terms

Submitted by anonymous 2005-09-24 Legal 48 Comments

In a recent interview, ESR shocked a lot of people when he said, "We don't need the GPL anymore." Federico Biancuzzi recently contacted RMS, founder of the Free Software Movement and initial developer of the GNU system (the G in "GLAMP"), to talk about the past, the present, and the future of the GNU GPL. Among other things, they discussed the new clauses of the upcoming GPL version 3.

Submitted by kellym 2005-09-14 Legal 30 Comments

The Electronic Frontier Foundation last week won the right to unseal court documents related to Apple's efforts to subpoena the sources of online journalists. The documents, previously sealed by the Court and unavailable to the journalists and their attorneys, show that Apple moved to subpoena the reporters' sources before conducting a thorough investigation within the company.

Submitted by kellym 2005-08-23 Legal 104 Comments

The antitrust regulator in South Korea will begin a crucial hearing on Tuesday (Monday evening US time) to determine whether Microsoft violated the country's fair trade rules by bundling its instant messenger and Media Player programs into its Windows XP platform. Officials have been reticent about whether the regulator, the Fair Trade Commission, will rule on the case after a closed hearing of two days. The commission held a closed hearing in July to listen to arguments from Microsoft and its local competitors, but it has not clarified how many more hearings it will need before ruling.

Torvalds Demands $5000 for the Use of Linux Name

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-19 Legal 189 Comments

More than 90 Australian companies have been asked to pay a licence fee for Linux software in a move apparently backed by Linus Torvalds. Letters demanding US$5000 for use of the Linux name were originally dismissed as a hoax. But according to the Sydney Morning Herald, Linus Torvalds is dead serious.

Submitted by Ben2040 2005-08-17 Legal 65 Comments

Creating a surprise twist in the portable music wars, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has denied Apple's application to patent its method of using hierarchical menus to navigate through the iPod's contents. The basis for the denial: a similar method outlined in a Microsoft researcher's patent application, filed after the iPod was introduced but before Apple sought its own patent.

Anti-MS Group Aims to Block Vista

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-09 Legal 176 Comments

Andy Martin of The Committee to Fight Microsoft on Tuesday announced his intentions to block Microsoft from releasing its Windows Vista operating system. Martin intends to ask Microsoft for an unconditional warranty that the operating system is free of bugs that could result in security vulnerabilities. He argues that no company in America gets away with selling a "defective" product the way Microsoft does.

Submitted by rm6990 2005-07-30 Legal 24 Comments

Today, Novell has answered SCO's complaint alledging Novell slandered SCO's ownership of the Unix copyrights. Novell claims that SCO approached Novell in 2003 to try and pursuade them to go along with the Linux Licensing Scheme. When Novell refused, SCO attempted to talk Novell into transfering the Unix Copyrights to SCO, which Novell also refused to do. Novell has also filed four counterclaims against SCO, one of them being Slander of Title (for SCO slandering Novell's ownership of the Unix Copyrights).

Microsoft Faces Court Over Vista

Thom Holwerda 2005-07-25 Legal 55 Comments

Microsoft's decision to call the next version of its OS Vista might have a raised a few smiles last week but one Redmond resident is less than impressed. The boss of Vista, a software and services company for small businesses is considering taking legal action against the software giant.