News about legal issues involving Linux, Open Source and Free Software

 Broker launches open source insurance, Dec 12, 2005

A US brokerage is offering insurance against the possibility of being sued for using non-commercial software.

Philips Electronics China Group announced Wednesday that the company, together with Sony, IBM, Red Hat and Novell, has decided to join funds to create a joint venture-- the Open Invention Network (OIN), to purchase core patents of Linux operation system and offer them, free of charge, to any institutions or individuals. The effort is meant to aid the advancement of Linux and break the global dominance of Windows by Microsoft.

The rules governing the use of most free software programs will be revised for the first time in 15 years, in an open process that begins today.

The entertainment industry has put itself on the fast-track to destruction, using well-proven tactics as explained in Preventing DVD Playback on Linux Like Prohibition in the 1920's. Are their heavy-handed tactics to lock up and control everything we touch signs of plain old human stubborness? Stupidity? Insanity? A bit of each? How else do you explain their inexplicable actions?

The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) has filed a request with the European Union asking to get involved in an EU antitrust suit against Microsoft.

Concern has grown over the past year that Linux could be under legal threat from claims it infringes certain software patents.

Controversial copy-protection software used by music publisher Sony BMG on music CDs appears to have tapped an open source project, raising questions about copyrights, software experts said on Friday.

The Patent Commons has launched, but one activist has hit out at the idea that pledging a few hundred patents will prevent IP warfare

The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) has announced the launch of its online patent commons reference library, the foundation of its Patent Commons Project. The project's goal is to provide greater confidence for developers and customers of all open source software by providing access to patents committed in favour of open source software by a range of companies.

Five big backers of Linux are funding an effort to buy up related software patents, part of a plan to reduce legal risks that could impede the broader use of the open source operating system, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), provider of pro bono legal services to protect and advance free and open source software, today announced the expansion of its operations with the appointment of two additional lawyers.

Society crossed an invisible but decisive border when it started to allow patents not only on tangible inventions but also on computer software. It must have felt good at the time, but today it is becoming increasingly obvious that software patents do no good. In that regard software patents are like smoking

"We're not talking about open brand here, this is open source. Companies can say they're offer training and consulting for JBoss. What they cannot do is use the JBoss trademark in their brand name. A lot of people offer support for JBoss without being a partner," said Fleury

"I think in ten years you will see Microsoft become a major opponent of patents and we will see very large software vendors turn around their position on patents," [Ubuntu founder Mark] Shuttleworth said.

The U.S. Patent Office has rejected two Microsoft patents over the FAT file format, but the software maker said Wednesday that it's not ready to give up its battle to protect its widely used method for storing data.

The Linux Mark Institute, set up by Linus Torvalds in 2002 to protect the Linux trademark, has denied reports that it has "failed" to register the Linux trademark in Australia and clarified its position on Linux trademark licensing

While the Linux Mark Institute (LMI) is drawing some criticism for enforcing the trademark Linux, such criticism is unwarranted, given the nature of trademarks and the alternative to their enforcement.

An attempt by the nation's peak Linux body to register the name 'Linux' on behalf of Linus Torvalds has failed.

Pamela Jones, a paralegal and maintainer of the Groklaw website, told us that it's difficult to decide now what is irrelevant for the open-source projects of the future and welcomed CA's initiative.

Contrary to recent reports that the next version of the GPL would include penalties against those who patent software or use anti-piracy technology, no such decisions have actually been made.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts says legal worries helped drive it to open standards, but Microsoft has lambasted the move

A lawyer acting on behalf of Linus Torvalds has hailed as "favourable" the fact one in nine Australian vendors targeted by a letter campaign asking them to relinquish any legal claim to the 'Linux' name have agreed to do so.

The freedom to run and modify software is more important than what you call it, according to the GNU founder

From Moglen's point of view, the efforts of the LMI to protect the Linux Trademark (notably in Australia lately) are not necessarily something that should be applauded or booed.

Patent Reform Legislation in Congress Amounts to Little More Than a "Get Out of Jail Free" Card for Microsoft

Linux founder Linus Torvalds is defending protection of the Linux trademark and insists that sublicensing is a loss-making operation.

I got email on this and I see mucho anguish on Slashdot. Why, oh why, some wonder, would lawyers be sending out letters in Australia, asking folks using the mark LINUX to formally license the mark? And *pay* for it? What is this?

Lloyd's of London is close to offering independent insurance protection worldwide against potential IP litigation involving Linux and open source software.

Supporters of the next GNU General Public License are girding for an onslaught of comment and controversy, but they remain confident that the open-source community will survive and be made stronger for the effort.

Open source activist Bruce Perens has dismissed as inadequate a new IP initiative backed by Linus Torvalds. The Open Source Development Labs' (OSDL) patent commons project is intended to provide patent protection to open source developers.

Linux developers need to be wary of lawsuits, advocates warned, as well as the tactics of large software companies whose livelihood may be threatened by the growth of the upstart operating system.

At the LinuxWorld tradeshow in San Francisco, OSDL chief executive Stuart Cohen told delegates that the project will build a library of patents that have been pledged to support open source. It will also allow individual paten holders to indicate that they allow the use of their patent in open source products.

The European Commission has proposed a law that could allow criminal charges to be pressed against a business using software believed to infringe upon another company's intellectual property.

So the question naturally arises, What should we focus on next? The answer: software licenses and software patents. These are two of the most important legal issues the industry will address in the coming years.

The threat of legal action has stifled several open source efforts that allowed interoperability between Linux-based computers and Plextor DVD burners.

The European Parliament has rejected a controversial measure that would have legalized software patents in the European Union.

A final decision on the European Computer Implemented Inventions Directive is imminent

Information technology professionals identify indemnification of "open source" products, such as the freely distributed Linux operating system, as a primary and growing concern, according to a new survey of 200 United States-based IT professionals.

I don't think the GPL is the principal reason for Linux's success. Rather, I believe it's because in 1991 Linus was the first person to find the right social architecture for distributed software development.

In the wake of SCO's controversial attempts to claim ownership of key elements of the Linux operating system, industry watchers have noted that senior IT executives are becoming much more worried about open source intellectual property indemnification.

Most of the time, open source supporters think of lawyers as a crowd of hungry vultures, throwing patents and cease-and-desist letters at innocent hackers. However, in the province of Foggia, Southern Italy, two small groups of lawyers have turned themselves into open source evangelists.

The issue of software patents for Europe heated up as some 250 demonstrators descended on members of the European Parliament to argue in favor of strong software patent laws.

Novell can pursue its claims that Microsoft in order to protect its own software interests, tried to undermine and damage Novell's ability to market its WordPerfect and Quattro Pro spreadsheet programs, a Baltimore judge ruled last week.

The GPL may be difficult to enforce due to a lack of clarity over who owns the copyright to the software, according to a legal expert on Monday.

Software developers are angry that Microsoft has been granted a patent for the conversion of objects into XML files.

We can honestly thank IBM for agreeing not to sue us with 500 of its patents, and we can thank Nokia too for agreeing not to attack one of our community's projects. But don't be distracted from the real issue at stake. Nokia most likely intends to use this announcement as a way to put us in more danger.

Developers on the Windows compatibility project Wine have been forced to abandon an important feature due to the existence of a Borland patent.

Here's a study in contrasts. First, from the proprietary world, we have an article on ZDNET about the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) which is telling companies their IT staff can't be trusted. They say they need to be monitored to make sure they don't download software on to company computers:

The SCO Group, through its landmark lawsuit against IBM, gets much of the credit for stirring up demand for automated tools that compare intellectual property against open-source source code.

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) and the General Public License (GPL), the great enabler of the open source movement, were sued last Thursday for restraint of trade under the Clayton Antitrust Act (15 US Code Section 26) in the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.

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