Microsoft has been having a very busy time at the courts and with regulators. The first item comes from Europe, where they have been trying to comply with the European Commission’s competition enforcement. They are supposed to provide the Commission with documentation and protocols from their server division, and if Read more
I am becoming rather ambivalent about moral rights, which goes against my Civil Law upbringing. I believe that moral right of attribution is a good thing, but that the moral right of integrity can be difficult to apply, and when it is it may prove more trouble than it’s worth. Read more
One of the main arguments against software patents is that it reduces innovation and generates unnecessary litigation. Microsoft has been suffering considerably from software patent litigation, perhaps because they are the largest and juiciest target for patent trolls and for patent owners interested in reducing MS market power. Symantec is Read more
The long-awaited U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding the patent dispute between eBay and MercExchange has finally been decided. This case is of importance because it rules on the strength of the injunction power awarded to patent holders in the United States. In this particular case, MercExchange held business method patents Read more
(via Out-Law) The England and Wales High Court has ruled that email addresses are not to be considered signatures (Metha v J Pereira Fernandes SA [2006] EWHC 813 (Ch)). JPF is a Portuguese company that supplies bedding products, and supplied then to a British company called Bedcare Ltd. Bedcare failed Read more
Lawyer Simon Hart has sent me this very interesting email, and has allowed its reproduction: I was involved in the recently decided Macrossan case [2006] EWHC 705 (Ch) before the High Court in England which I believe will be of interest to intellectual property lawyers and anyone who follows UK Read more
Lucent sued Microsoft a couple of years ago over their U.S. patent 5,227,878 for a method for “Adaptive coding and decoding of frames and fields of video”. The first case was thrown out in 2005 because the patent contained a typo. This was corrected and now Lucent is at it Read more
Professor Bernt Hugenholtz has distributed a translation of the Dutch CC case, very useful for those of us who have never been to the Netherlands (unless you count transfers at Schiphol Airport). The relevant text reads: “All four photos that were taken from www.flickr.com were made by Curry and posted Read more
Bringing infringing suits against consumers is a bad idea. This seems to be the message of Canadian music publisher Nettwerk. 15-year-old Elisa Greubel’s dad got sued by the RIAA for having 600 songs in their computer, alleging specifically infringement for 8 songs. Elisa contacted some artists, where she mentioned that Read more
(via IPKat) A very unfortunate turn of events for innovation. The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear the case of Research in Motion Ltd (RIM), the inventors and makers of the famous (and perhaps infamous) Blackberry, versus patent trolls NTP Inc. RIM has been trying to attack an injunction against Read more