February 20, 2006 – 10:27 pm
Geeklawyer notes that Microsoft is ‘cracking down‘ on software piracy again. Not for their sakes of course. Well only incidentally anyway; no, their concern is for the economy. Stupid. ‘Cos a mere 10% reduction in piracy would create 34000 jobs in the UK and add £3 billion to the economy in tax revenues.
By Geeklawyer
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Also posted in copyright, crime, linux, microsoft
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Tagged crime, IT, licensing, microsoft, Open Source, pirate, software, terrorism
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January 26, 2006 – 2:25 am
“Microsoft is to open up the source code behind its server communication protocols”
says the Register. One cheer says Geeklawyer. Microsoft said: “The commission asked for specifications. If you want to understand the protocols the source code is even better. This is the ultimate documentation. Indeed, and in this respect Microsoft echoes, word […]
January 18, 2006 – 7:48 pm
Geeklawyer confesses to not having fully read the interim GPL3 draft yet.
That won’t dissuade him from giving an opinion of course since informed truth is as hemlock to commentary.
November 2, 2005 – 8:51 pm
IPKat reveals the case of Sawyer v Atari Interactive which discusses a number of interesting jurisdictional issues. Sawyer started an action in the UK against Atari who in turn applied to have it transferred to the US as the forum conveniens, basing their application on the grounds of ’stuff’.
October 17, 2005 – 3:50 pm
Boing Boing reports on software that automatically analyses licences. At first Geeklawyer thought this to be a hoax. Analysing an unstructured piece of complex technical text such as a licence to understand, it even approximately, would be a fairly horrendous job.
October 12, 2005 – 5:14 pm
the Common Information Environment Group (CIE) have just released a study on the potential for Creative Commons Licences to simplify access to digital resources. The CIE fund ways of making digital work more widely available for reuse and so the CC licence is a big issue for them. The group was motivated by the needs […]
October 2, 2005 – 10:34 pm
Geeklawyer was accused of using boilerplate text in a contract. He was asked to justify the high price of the contract given that the text was “just boilerplate lifted from an online precedents database” (such as LexusNazis) with a single clause to be drafted & inserted.
September 21, 2005 – 8:26 pm
Over at Naked Law the Cambridge boys are chewing the Clearspring gristle. This is a classic contract negotiation problem to IT lawyers: who gets the code copyright?
By Geeklawyer
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Also posted in Intellectual Property, copyright
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Tagged contract, copyright, developer, EULA, IP, IT, lawyers, legal advice, libraries, licence, negotiation, software
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September 5, 2005 – 4:01 pm
‘Force Against Something’ alerts Geeklawyer that Lexmark are at it again, but with more success this time around. You may recall they sued Static Control Corporation unsuccessfully (pdf), using the DMCA, for providing an alternative cartridge market. Lexmark has substantial motive in crushing competition. Inkjet printers are sold on the ‘razor blade’ method […]
By Geeklawyer
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Also posted in Intellectual Property, patents
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Tagged anti-competitive, contract, copyright, DMCA, EULA, IP, lawyers, licenses, litigation, patents, US
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