Legal Archive

EU Council to Pass the Software Patents Without Vote or Debating

Submitted by Rahul Sundaram 2004-12-19 Legal 64 Comments

The EU council has decided to pass the heavily controversial patent directives on software without any vote or debate. We reported recently that Linus Torvalds and other European Open Source developers called this the single biggest threat to Free and Open Source software.

Australian Police Given Power to Use Spyware

Submitted by Kevin Chappell 2004-12-14 Legal 51 Comments

Federal and state police now have the power to use computer spyware to gather evidence in a broad range of investigations after legal changes last week. The Surveillance Devices Act allows police to obtain a warrant to use software surveillance technologies, including systems that track and log keystrokes on a computer keyboard. The law applies to the Australian Federal Police and to state police investigating Commonwealth offences. Read More ("smhguy/pass" to access)

USL vs Regents of California settlement agreement unsealed

Submitted by Merka Phoenix 2004-11-29 Legal 7 Comments

The AT&T (USL) vs BSDi (and UC Berkeley) settlement agreement has finally been unsealed thanks to California Public Records Law.

Novell May Try To Stop OpenSolaris

Submitted by Tim Hawkins of Rack64.com 2004-11-27 Legal 165 Comments

Novell hints at a conference all that Sun may not be able to open up solaris so easily since Novell claims copyrights and patents remain with Novell. Is this preventing the development of what may be the most powerful open source operating system in existance?

Sun plans patent protection for Solaris; MS Warns Asia of Lawsuits

Eugenia Loli 2004-11-18 Legal 48 Comments

When Sun Microsystems releases Solaris as open-source software, it plans to provide legal protection from patent-infringement suits to outsiders using or developing the operating system--one of several ways Sun hopes to make Solaris more competitive with Linux. Elsewhere, Microsoft's Ballmer warns Asia of Linux lawsuits.

Fact and fiction in the Microsoft-SCO relationship

Eugenia Loli 2004-11-15 Legal 10 Comments

The SCO Group's legal actions against Linux have shed light on the inner workings of the open-source programming project and on the operations of a company desperate to survive. They've also created a cottage industry for conspiracy theorists over Microsoft's role in the affair.

Microsoft Settles With Novell : $536 Million

Submitted by Nehemoth 2004-11-08 Legal 19 Comments

Microsoft has agreed to a $536 million settlement with Novell stemming from long-standing anti-trust complaints. Of course, Microsoft admits no wrongdoing, as is the case with such settlements. This settlement does not cover some outstanding WordPerfect patent claims. Novell, who formerly owned WordPerfect, still intend to take Microsoft to court over that issue.

IBM Pushes for End to SCO’s Case

Submitted by Tudy Parghel 2004-09-17 Legal 14 Comments

SCO has been seeking more time for its Unix intellectual property case against IBM, while IBM strives to end the case quickly. The SCO Group Inc. and IBM are locked in a blizzard of claim and counterclaim paperwork in the U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City. Matters reached a climax Wednesday as the court heard arguments on four motions.

DVD-copying trailblazer shuts its doors

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-04 Legal 47 Comments

DVD copying software maker 321 Studios has closed its doors, driven out of business by a succession of court decisions that said its most popular product was illegal to distribute. Several courts subsequently ruled that even if consumers might have a theoretical right to make their own personal DVD copies, 321 Studios could not sell tools that would help them break through that copy protection.

A fresh — and optimistic — take on patents and open source

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-02 Legal No Comments

Dan Ravicher, President, Executive Director, and Founder of the Public Patent Foundation, believes there are plenty of ways open source developers, advocates, and users can fight against innovation-hindering software patents. But he also believes fighting may be less necessary than some people think.

Patents in an open source world

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-27 Legal 1 Comment

Open source appears challenged by patents but that fear is often exaggerated. Lawrence Rosen, technology attorney and author of "Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law" (Prentice Hall, 2004), offers a calming view of the patent situation. He describes reasonable steps we can take to prevent patents from interfering with software freedom.

Microsoft and Apple Sued for Patent Infringement

Submitted by Anjali Desai 2004-07-21 Legal 20 Comments

BTG Plc., a West Conshohocken, Pa.-based company, has filed patent infringement lawsuits against both Microsoft Corp. and Apple Computer, Inc. The firm claims that Microsoft and Apple has infringed its patent for web-based software updating technology. Our Take: Hey, they forgot to sue most Linux distros and... SkyOS.

Microsoft pays to end Lindows suits

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-19 Legal 27 Comments

Microsoft will pay upstart Linux seller Lindows $20 million to settle a long-running trademark dispute, according to a regulatory document filed Monday.

EU: Microsoft Will Not Have to Make Windows Changes

David Adams 2004-06-28 Legal 13 Comments

The antitrust penalties that the EU laid down on Microsoft a few months ago will not be implemented until an appeals court has a chance to decide whether the penalties should be suspended for the entire length of the appeal, which is expected to be several years. Had this step not been taken, the penalties would have gone into effect today.

Dutch Parliament Considers Revoking Support for Patent Directive

Guest post by Arend Lammertink 2004-06-21 Legal 73 Comments

The battle about Software Patents in Europe seemed as good as lost. The Council of Ministers voted for a directive that basically slapped the European Parliament in the face because they shamelessly put aside a democratic decision taken by the European Parliament. And even though the Parliament still has a second reading where it will have to go trough a lot of trouble to repair the damage done by the Council, it is a serious matter that the Council of Ministers seems to have no idea how sloppy their directive is. It does allow general, broad softwarepatents, practically without restrictions even though several explanations by the Ministers say they don't.

FAT Patent Review May Threaten Linux Foundation

Eugenia Loli 2004-06-21 Legal 36 Comments

The Patent Office's recent review of Microsoft's file system could put Linux and other GPL-licensed products at risk warn industry figures.

Linux certificate puts kernel developers in impossible position

Submitted by Matt 2004-06-07 Legal 14 Comments

A patent expert has attacked the Open Source Community's latest initiative to document the provenance of code contributed to the Linux kernel so that proving its origins will be quicker and easier in the face of litigation. The Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.0 asserts that the developer submitting the code which it covers has either written or modified that code according to their rights to do so, or it is being submitted, unchanged, on behalf of someone else who asserts these rights.

Richard Stallman talks about software patents

Submitted by Timothy 2004-05-27 Legal 54 Comments

Speaking in London last week, Richard Stallman, founder of GNU, argued passionately against the legalisation of what he calls "software idea patents". The core of Stallman's argument is that if companies are allowed to patent software ideas, big business will ride roughshod over the smaller players, and the free software movement will be effectively strangled.

Usenix president: Patent challenges will invade open source landscape

Submitted by Michael S. Mimoso 2004-05-26 Legal 19 Comments

Bunker down for a spate of battles over software ownership and patents in the near future, said Usenix Association president Marshall Kirk McKusick.

Microsoft behind $12 million payment to Opera?

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-24 Legal 41 Comments

Microsoft agreed to pay Norway's Opera Software $12.75 million to head off a threatened lawsuit over code that made some Web pages on MSN look bad in certain versions of Opera's Web browser, CNET News.com has learned.