Archive for the 'Legal Issues' Category...
Filed under Legal Issues
Open source operating system and productivity suite Ubuntu will not be joining the list of vendors that recently inked interoperability deals with Microsoft, said Ubuntu founder and Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth. “We have declined to discuss any agreement with Microsoft under the threat of unspecified patent infringements,” Shuttleworth stated. “Allegations of ‘infringement of unspecified patents’ carry no weight whatsoever. We don’t think they have any legal merit, and they are no incentive for us to work with Microsoft on any of the wonderful things we could do together.”
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Original post by Kimberly Hill and software by Elliott Back
Filed under Legal Issues
This spring, at a packed bar in east London, Mark Shuttleworth, chief executive and founder of Canonical Software, launched the next generation of his Ubuntu distribution of the Linux operating system. One of the first questions from the audience was: “Aren’t you worried that Microsoft is going to sue you for patent infringement?” The self-styled “first African in space” was quick on the draw. He would, he said, welcome the day Microsoft made good on its threat to sue Linux users for patent infringements.
Original post by Becky Hogge and software by Elliott Back
Filed under Legal Issues
The Free Software Foundation has released the “last call” draft of version 3 of the GNU General Public License. The near-final draft simultaneously paves for the way for the controversial Microsoft-Novell Suse Linux distribution pact while at the same time inhibits similar deals from occurring again in the future. Under GPLv3, distributors who make discriminatory patent deals after March 28 may not convey software under the new license, the FSF says.
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Original post by Chris Maxcer and software by Elliott Back
Filed under Legal Issues
The flap erupted earlier this month. The Motion Picture Association of America started sending Digital Millennium Copyright Act requests to Digg.com and a slew of other popular blogging sites on which users had posted a 32-hexadecimal digit code, a processing key that could be used to circumvent DRM protection in HD DVD discs. Though the MPAA was vigorously attempting to keep its copyright protections intact, the act may have unleashed more harm than good in preventing the spread of a crack code.
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Original post by Jack M. Germain and software by Elliott Back
Filed under Legal Issues
Microsoft’s push to get the free and open source software world to license its technology has ignited a firestorm of criticism and speculation. The software behemoth’s actions have perhaps also generated a strong dose of fear, uncertainty and doubt — aka FUD — in the minds of open source developers, providers and users. Microsoft’s latest licensing push stems from its claim that FOSS infringes on 235 of its patents, and that those patents are intellectual property that should result in fair compensation to Microsoft in the form of licensing fees.
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Original post by Chris Maxcer and software by Elliott Back
