Software patents, and how to route around them
Blog Microsoft recently used its patents on some aspects of the FAT filesystem to beat TomTom into submission, with the latter ending up having to change its products, pay Microsoft and license some of... [03 Jul 2009]
Government attitude to open source improving?
Blog Last year a Government project called Timely information to citizens was announced, which provided funding to local authorities for projects that gets information out to people faster and more... [26 Jun 2009]
Ericsson signs LTE patent deals
News Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson has signed its first licence agreements for LTE technology patents, allowing other companies to use the technology [23 Jun 2009]
Web standards group examining Apple patent
News The W3C is seeking prior art in an effort to get a handle on an Apple patent that could hold back the consortium's work to standardise web apps [18 Jun 2009]
Encarta's demise speaks volumes
Comment Microsoft's decision last month to shelve its Encarta multimedia encyclopaedia contains an important lesson, says Jeremy Phillips [20 May 2009]
- Encarta Demise - jjcos
IP infringement fines to increase tenfold
News The maximum fine will increase from £5,000 to £50,000, following an Intellectual Property Office consultation [06 May 2009]
Linux group takes aim at Microsoft patents
News In the wake of Microsoft's settled suit against TomTom, open-source advocates are stepping up an attempt to invalidate some of the software giant's patents [29 Apr 2009]
Pirate Bay defendants set course for retrial
News The anti-piracy case could go back to the Swedish courts following allegations over the trial judge's links to the copyright-protection industry [23 Apr 2009]
Pirate Bay confirms it has filed appeal
News In a blog post, Pirate Bay operators say the site will live on, and ask that fans stop raising money to help the defendants pay the fines [21 Apr 2009]
Microsoft hit by $388m patent verdict
News A US jury has found that the product-activation method used in some versions of Windows and Office infringes on a Uniloc patent [09 Apr 2009]
- Software should not be patentable, period. - Xwindowsjunkie
Apple denies royalty-free licence to widget patent
News The Mac-maker has asked the W3C's Web Applications Working Group to exclude one of its patents from the licensing requirements around a proposed standard for updating widgets [08 Apr 2009]
FAT replacement licensing must be pragmatic
Blog The settlement between TomTom and Microsoft may not be the outcome that everyone wanted, but it ends the uncertainty over the company's future, and as Rupert Goodwins noted, Microsoft's statement... [02 Apr 2009]
TomTom agrees to pay MS for patents, settles suit
Blog CNET US reporter Ina Fried has just reported that MS and TomTom have come to terms on their suit-countersuit. It looks like TomTom caved: "Microsoft and TomTom announced on Monday that they have... [30 Mar 2009]
Microsoft faces patent suit over update tech
News The software maker is being sued by BackWeb Technologies, which says Microsoft's automatic updating mechanism infringes on its technology [26 Mar 2009]
TomTom joins Linux protection group
Blog TomTom has joined the Open Invention Network, a company that was formed to protect Linux, as a licensee. The satnav maker announced it had signed up to the OIN on Monday. By joining, it gained... [23 Mar 2009]
Microsoft, Lexmark ink patent cross-licensing deal
News The software giant and printer maker Lexmark have entered a patent cross-licensing agreement, designed to encompass a wide range of their products [18 Mar 2009]
Intel, AMD spar over patent-licensing dispute
News Intel has threatened to pull its patent cross-licensing pact with AMD in the next two months, over concerns regarding its rival's creation of a joint-venture chip foundry [17 Mar 2009]
Microsoft's open source side-step
Blog Microsoft has announced the release of a plug-in for Eclipse which adds Silverlight development capabilities to the open source IDE. The plug in, Eclipse4SL, is itself available under the Eclipse... [14 Mar 2009]
Pirate Bay trial draws to a close
News Defence lawyers in the Pirate Bay trial make their final arguments, after prosecutors call for jail time for the defendants [04 Mar 2009]
Microsoft-TomTom suit puts open source on guard
News The open-source community prepares to defend itself following Microsoft's 'antagonistic' patent litigation involving Linux [27 Feb 2009]
Microsoft sues TomTom over Linux patents
News Three of Microsoft's claims in patent infringement suits against the GPS navigation company relate to TomTom's use of the Linux kernel [26 Feb 2009]
Poles Apart
Blog The Polish government appears to have watered down a law currently passing through the country's parliament, dropping a requirement for public sector IT projects to conform to open standards.... [23 Feb 2009]
Interesting...
Talkback “While there is no compromise between the two extremes, some have argued that what is needed is a sort of halfway house that recognises the needs of both sides.” ...but unless granting software... [23 Feb 2009]
Could 'quality patents' end software wrangles?
Comment The concept of fewer but better-quality software patents is being touted as a way to resolve many of today's intellectual-property problems, says Jeremy Phillips [23 Feb 2009]
- Interesting... - plh
Half the charges dropped in Pirate Bay trial
News After Swedish prosecutors drop some charges against four men accused of criminal copyright violations, a trial focuses on whether the site is making copyrighted files available illegally [19 Feb 2009]
Apple: iPhone jailbreaking violates our copyright
News Apple has laid out what is believed to be its first legal argument against the practice of jailbreaking an iPhone in response to an EFF petition before the US Copyright Office [16 Feb 2009]
Pirate Bay trial to begin in Sweden
News The four men behind the popular file-sharing site are accused of helping millions of internet users to illegally download protected movies, music and computer games [16 Feb 2009]
Microsoft granted 10,000th patent
News After five years of pushing for more patents, Microsoft has finally broken into five digits when it comes to the number of US patents issued [10 Feb 2009]
Microsoft gets stuck in to Visual Studio patent woes
Blog In a move likely to be symbolic of future conflict, Microsoft has filed suit to invalidate several patents held by WebXChange, an online services provider. WebXchange has previously sued three... [18 Nov 2008]
Software Jihad part 2
Blog I guess the point of my previous post (read rant if you want) was that Microsoft makes a lot of noise of "protecting" their IP but in reality they are only paying lip-service to it and the... [03 Nov 2008]
