The suit claims that the "Free Software Foundation has entered into contracts and otherwise conspired and agreed with individual software authors and commercial distributors of commodity software products such as Red Hat Inc. and Novell Inc. to artificially fix the prices charged for computer software programs through the promotion and use of an adhesion contract that was created, used and promoted since at least the year 1991 by the Free Software Foundation" Update: A Groklaw article casts some serious doubt on the validity of the suit and sheds some light on serious inaccuracies in the Linux Business News article linked above.
We today face the risk of software patents being approved in the EU because not enough parliamentary members will be showing up to vote. Due to this it is important for those of us who oppose software patents to make sure EU parliament members see the damage software patents cause, so they realize it is important to be there to vote providing the needed absolute majority. But sending out a clear message is also important for the process of patent reform in the US and other places who have fallen into the trap of introducing them.
A report in today’s Wall Street Journal suggests Microsoft has fiddled with the registry in its stripped-down Windows offerings and the result is that video clips embedded into Microsoft Word documents don’t run properly, for example. The Journal quotes Jonathan Todd, a spokesman for European antitrust chief Neelie Kroes, as saying: 'The commission is still in the process of assessing ... whether Microsoft is complying properly with the requirement to offer a fully functioning version of Windows without Media Player.'
The Council Presidency today declared the software agreement of 18 May 2004 to have been adopted, in violation of the procedural rules and in spite of the evident lack of a qualified majority of member states and the requests of several states to reopen negotiations. More here.
Groklaw is reporting that the Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) of the European Parliament has decided today to apply the article 55.1. of the Rules of Procedure and ask for a new first reading on the Computer-Implemented Inventions directive. The decision was reached with an overwhelming majority of the Committee, and with the support of all major political groups.
A judge overseeing the legal fight between the SCO Group and IBM over Linux and Unix on Tuesday ordered Big Blue to show all versions of its two Unix products, AIX and Dynix
Although it appears in a "Mainstream" (non-technical) publication, this lengthy indictment of Bill Gates and software patents from 'The Guardian' is another interesting indicator of how the public's view of the issue is shifting.
Apple is suing thinksecret over recent stories, including the proposed headless Mac. Apple sites specific articles in the suit. It's not crazy to assume the speculative articles are based on good information.
A News.com article speculates about what changes may come to the General Public License as Richard Stallman and co. prepare for a third revision to the license that has become so important and controversial with the rise of Linux and other GPL-licensed software.
Microsoft is to start shipping a cut-down version of Windows in Europe from January, following the failure of its appeal to the European Court of First Instance over penalties imposed by the Commission earlier this year. Microsoft hasn't run out of appeal routes, but the Court ordered the company to begin carrying out the Commission's decision immediately. Also see eWeek coverage.
There's been an important development in the EU software patents story we've been covering.Poland refused to go along with the software patent rubber stamp: "The Software Patent Directive has been withdrawn from the Agenda of the Agricultural Council. Poland's minister Marcinski requested it firmly at the beginning of the meeting. The Commissioner expressed regret, but the A-item has been deleted and will not be decided this year."
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.
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)
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?
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.
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 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.
