Source Law

(UK) Patentability of computer programs

2008-12-15T06:37:00.000-08:00

"This notice provides further guidance on how patent examiners will assess the patentability of inventions with particular emphasis on the exclusion of computer programs as such. It follows the recent judgment of the Court of Appeal in the case of Symbian Ltd's Application [2008] EWCA Civ 1066 ("Symbian"). It should be read with the Practice Notices dated 2 November 2006 and 7 February 2008 on patentable subject matter."

Patent Prowess

2008-12-15T06:36:00.000-08:00

"Tech stocks may still be dropping in markets around the world, but that isn’t because companies are running out of new ideas, to judge from the compilation IEEE Spectrum is publishing here for the third year in a row. Last year inventors and their employers continued to file patent applications at an ever-increasing rate: there were 456 154 applications for U.S. “utility” patents—those for inventions as opposed to design ideas, new organisms, and so on—an increase of 7 percent over 2006."

http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2008/12/08/focus3-Software-and-business-method-patents-post-Bilski.html

2008-12-15T06:34:00.000-08:00

A case against Microsoft was filed on the 12th of September, after the Prosecution company Paltalk discovered that Microsoft broke one their patents they filed in 1998 with the use of their Xbox Live service.

Software and business method patents, post-Bilski

2008-12-15T06:30:00.000-08:00

"Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a ruling by the U.S. Patent Office denying a patent for methods of hedging in commodities trading. The decision, In re Bilski, is significant because it raises the bar for “business methods” and software-related patents. Companies pursuing or enforcing such patents would be wise to survey the post-Bilski landscape."

No such thing as effective license enforcement

2008-11-24T23:10:00.000-08:00

"The business model Microsoft uses for software like MS Windows and MS Office is, officially, dependent upon the assumption that the corporation can prevent people from using the software without explicit permission from Microsoft or one of its agents or partners. Ultimately, what this means for Microsoft’s current business model is that it relies on the assumption that it can somehow both provide customers with everything needed to run the software and, at the same time, prevent people from using the software for reasons that are not specific to any given copy of the software."

Access to Knowledge in Brazil: New Research on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Development

2008-10-22T03:45:00.000-07:00

The first book in this series, Access to Knowledge in Brazil, focuses on current issues in intellectual property, innovation and development policy from a Brazilian perspective. Each chapter is authored by scholars from the Fundação Getulio Vargas law schools in São Paolo and Rio de Janeiro and examines a policy area that significantly impacts access to knowledge in the country. These include: exceptions and limitations to copyright, free software and open business models, patent reform and access to medicines, and open innovation in the biotechnology sector.

Out in the open

2008-10-22T02:23:00.000-07:00

"While most user and vendor executives think of open-source licensing as General Public Licence (GPL), Berkley Software Distribution (BSD), and perhaps one or two others, in reality there are probably more than 1000 types of open source in the market. That number is likely to increase - as are the complexities of the licences themselves, and the issues regarding licence compliance."

Challenges of Open Content Licensing in Europe

2008-10-22T01:55:00.000-07:00

"More liberal copyright licenses for literal and artistic works have
quickly become popular on the Internet. This article discusses legal challenges of
the most popular open content licensing project Creative Commons (CC) in a
European context. We review different open legal issues with the use of CC
licenses with special emphasis on the infringement liability distribution between
the authors, distributors and users. Further, we discuss the idea, process and
problems of license internationalization. Finally, challenges to copyright
collecting societies and publishers are considered."

Wikipedia Page: Creative Commons Licenses

2008-10-22T01:47:00.000-07:00

"Many of the licenses, notably all the original licenses, grant certain "baseline rights",[1] such as the right to distribute the copyrighted work without changes, at no charge. Some of the newer licenses do not grant these rights.
Creative Commons licenses are currently available in 43 different jurisdictions worldwide, with more than nineteen others under development.[2] Licenses for jurisdictions outside of the United States are under the purview of Creative Commons International."

Fair Use as a Complement to Open Licensing

2008-10-22T01:43:00.002-07:00

"The open educational resources movement has long concentrated on the use of licenses to turn material that is copyrighted and permanently transform it into material that is free for anyone to use, copy, and modify. These licenses depend on copyright to work, in that the work has all of the normal entitlements of copyright attached, only some of which the author reserves."

Copyright And Open Licensing: Not Mutually Exclusive

2008-10-22T01:43:00.001-07:00

"Yesterday the open source world got handed a major victory in the courts -- or, rather, given another brick for its growing wall of legal defense. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the use of content under a properly worded open license is still protected by copyright law."

Wikipedia Page: Open Content

2008-10-22T01:42:00.001-07:00

"Open content, a neologism coined by analogy with "open source", describes any kind of creative work published in a format that explicitly allows copying and modifying of its information by anyone, not exclusively by a closed organization, firm or individual. The largest open content project is Wikipedia.[1]"

A guide to open licensing

2008-10-22T01:39:00.000-07:00

"A license is a document that specifies what can and cannot be done with a work (whether sound, text, image or multimedia). It grants permissions and states restrictions. Broadly speaking, an open license is one which grants permission to access, re-use and redistribute a work with few or no restrictions."

ENABLING REPRODUCIBLE RESEARCH: OPEN LICENSING

2008-10-22T01:38:00.000-07:00

"There is a gap in the current licensing and copyright structure for the growing number of scientists releasing their research publicly, particularly on the internet. Scientific research produces more than the final paper: the code, data structures, experimental design and parameters, documentation, figures, are all important for communication of the scholarship and
replication of the results. I propose the Open Research License for scientific researchers to use for all components of their scholarship. It is intended to encourage reproducible scientific investigation, facilitate greater collaboration, and promote engagement of the larger community in scientific learning and discovery."

Does open source mandate change in copyright law?

2008-06-13T06:24:00.000-07:00

"The ever-insistent calls to criminalize copyright infringement or to impose greater controls on content, must therefore be assessed against the effect on the amateur sphere, which is emerging as a relevant alternative to the commercial sphere..."

Software Freedom Law Center Files Another Round of GPL Violation Lawsuits on Behalf of BusyBox Developers

2008-06-13T06:22:00.001-07:00

"The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) today announced that it has filed two more copyright infringement lawsuits, on behalf of two principal developers of BusyBox, alleging violation of the GNU General Public License (GPL). The defendants in this new round of lawsuits are Bell Microproducts, Inc. and Super Micro Computer, Inc..."

Canada to ratify copyright treaty

2008-06-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

"The Canadian government has released its long-awaited legislation that would amend the Copyright Act to prohibit users from removing technical protection measures (TPMs) on software, but a copyright blogger complains the amendments would still discourage open source developers and IT security researchers..."

ISO: there can be only one

2008-06-13T06:20:00.000-07:00

"ONLY ONE STANDARD type of electronic document will survive the struggle for supremacy between convicted monopolist Microsoft and the Open Source movement, said the world's leading standards regulator..."

Red Hat claims victory in two of three open source lawsuits

2008-06-13T06:18:00.000-07:00

"...the agreements do include “protection” for Red Hat customers and the open-source industry, Red Hat said in a statement. Firestar and DataTern filed the suits.The “protection” for customers stresses a point emphasized by Red Hat and other open-source developers who faced possible legal repercussions for use of Linux-related technology..."

The Law Goes Open Source

2008-06-13T06:12:00.000-07:00

"A new breed of online services is putting the law within the reach of everybody...Eight years and $7 million later Rosenthal and Walters have their alternative, an online legal-research service called Fastcase. It uses computer algorithms to perform all the case indexing now done by the thousands of human editors at Westlaw and Lexis..."

'PatentGate,' one year later: Microsoft against the open-source world

2008-06-02T04:06:00.000-07:00

"It was just over a year ago that Microsoft Corp. dropped a bombshell of a claim: users of Linux and open-source software were unwittingly violating as many as 235 Microsoft software patents.
"This is not a case of some accidental, unknowing infringement," Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft's vice president of intellectual property and licensing, told Fortune magazine at the time. "There is an overwhelming number of patents being infringed.""

Indian Tech Universities Put Lectures Online For Free

2008-06-02T03:03:00.001-07:00

"The most sought-after Indian institutions like IIT and IISc have put their course lectures on YouTube. The site is up from last December and is slowly gaining momentum in terms of lectures available online. This is India's own program similar to MIT's OpenCourseWare. Good to see the competition, and that students have many sources of knowledge for free."

Open source licensing suits settle in short order

2008-06-02T02:37:00.000-07:00

Many open source licences are only two or three paragraphs long and read more like a manifesto than a traditional software licence. The simple but unorthodox nature of open source licences, along with the fact that the software is provided “free,” has lulled many into a false sense that these licences must surely be unenforceable and that the use and redistribution of open source software will have no consequences.

The Open Source Legal Landscape

2008-06-02T02:23:00.000-07:00

A publication by Open Source Lawyer, Brendan Scott.
Highly Recommended - Pria

OPEN SOURCE BEHIND LEGAL DOORS: THE PATENT

2008-06-02T01:57:00.000-07:00

"Software has not only gained copyright protection in legislation but can now also be patented in
some countries. This paper examines the adequacy of legal protection of open source software in
the context of South African legal system. The US and EU systems are accordingly considered
focusing on advantages and disadvantages of patenting of software."

European Commission lukewarm to Microsoft pledge

2008-05-22T23:50:00.000-07:00

''BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - The European Commission on Thursday cautiously welcomed Microsoft Corp.'s announcement it will make its file format for storing documents compatible with that of rivals but the latter termed the move insufficient and a delaying tactic.''

Copyright sentence: A first for Beijing court

2008-05-22T02:21:00.001-07:00

''A Beijing court has handed down the first jail sentence in the Chinese capital for copyright infringement, state media reported on Saturday.''

CeBIT 08: Red Hat and Ice Systems join for Open Source 3.0

2008-05-22T01:23:00.000-07:00

''Australian-owned service provider, Ice Systems, has joined with Red Hat to preach the word on Open Source 3.0. Both Red Hat and Ice Systems believes the open source community needs to join together to become more structured. ''

Info security ‘should be more than AV'

2008-05-12T07:39:00.000-07:00

''Enterprise information security must include corporate governance and enterprise risk in order to be taken seriously...''

Public interest advocacy group Public Knowledge last week filed a legal brief against an attempt by Blizzard, the maker of World of Warcraft (WoW), to

2008-05-08T01:39:00.000-07:00

"Are high-profile copyright claims putting you off open source? If so, here's a story to reassure you. A video utility, which disappeared from Google Code in a puff of threatened litigation, is back again - in less than a week."

World Of Warcraft's Legal War To Defend Copyrights Heats Up

2008-05-08T01:37:00.000-07:00

"Public interest advocacy group Public Knowledge last week filed a legal brief against an attempt by Blizzard, the maker of World of Warcraft (WoW), to redefine software license violations as copyright infringement rather than contractual breaches."

Copyright infringement a debatable issue

2008-05-08T01:23:00.000-07:00

"At minimum, Kee wants the new Canadian legislation to include a prohibition against circumvention devices. Modification chips, freely available for purchase at retail stores, allow consumers to crack security locks and upload pirated computer and video games.
"There's nothing prohibiting the activity. However, the entire business model is predicated on piracy," said Kee."

Does US Patent Law have Extraterritorial Application?

2008-05-08T01:22:00.001-07:00

"The US Patent Act (title 35 U.S.C) is the legal framework for patent protection in the US. The US Patent Act § 101 defines what is patentable in the US: "Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefore..." Section 271 of the US Patent Act sets the requirements for a valid cause of action on patent infringement. Within section 271, literal (f) is one of the ones raising controversy because §271(f) seems to invite for extraterritorial application. This article analyses § 271(f) of the US Patent Act in light of its most relevant court interpretation in AT&T v. Microsoft."

Make sure your contract protects your intellectual property

2008-04-29T00:54:00.001-07:00

Consultants who write applications for their clients are wise to spell out their ownership rights in their contracts with clients. Here's a look at what one consultant checks when he's signing a contract with his clients.

Do IT consultants have a right to reuse code?

2008-04-29T00:51:00.000-07:00

Do you have the right to reuse code that you create for one IT consulting client in an engagement for another client? Naturally, you learn new techniques as you work on a problem that you can’t help but apply to similar projects in the future. But how different does the algorithm have to be in order to be free of your first client’s copyright or nondisclosure agreement?

Microsoft Wins The OOXML Battle ...

2008-04-15T07:53:00.001-07:00

But the war over whether Office Open XML is a brave new standard or a sneaky bid for lock-in continues.

Questions Swirl Around Open XML Approval

2008-04-15T07:51:00.000-07:00

Controversy over the ISO voting process continues to rage, with calls for an investigation into why Norway changed its vote.

A week in the life of Open XML

2008-04-15T07:50:00.000-07:00

The main players in the ongoing row over the approval of Microsoft’s Open XML (OXML) file format as an international standard ended the week further apart than ever.

Software Compliance Policy Basics

2008-03-25T23:48:00.000-07:00

Simply put, making or downloading unauthorized copies of software is breaking the law, no matter how many copies or people are involved.
Whether you are casually making a few copies for friends, loaning disks, distributing or downloading pirated software from the Internet, or buying a single software program and then installing it on multiple computers (including personal), you are committing copyright infringement—also known as software piracy.

The State of Open Source: Issues and Opportunities

2008-03-25T23:47:00.000-07:00

Roundtable: 11 leaders from the open source and vendor communities discuss the current open source climate and outline the challenges and opportunities ahead

Web users warned about online exposure

2008-03-12T03:57:00.000-07:00

''The information commissioner is advising people to consider their "electronic footprint" before posting personal details online.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has warned web users about the risk of posting personal details online after a study found that the amount of digital information stored about us will grow by a factor of ten between now and 2011...''

Taiwan warns companies about piracy

2008-03-12T03:54:00.000-07:00

''Following a crackdown on piracy at Germany's CeBIT computer fair in which 12 Taiwanese companies' booths were searched, Taipei on Monday warned its companies to respect copyright...''

EU mulls Internet privacy concerns

2008-01-23T05:26:00.000-08:00

''Cyber big brothers or friendly providers of targeted information? European parliamentarians have found themselves at odds with Internet giants such as Google on the thorny issue of online privacy''.

Media companies have to take a different approach to protecting their content against illegal copying, says the Web 2.0 guru

2008-01-22T22:48:00.000-08:00

''Media companies will have to abandon their efforts to prevent digital music from being copied and concentrate instead on tracking a song's path around the internet, the head of the one of the world's most popular Web 2.0 sites has said.

The chief executive of Digg, which created controversy earlier this year when users published a code that unlocked digital rights management (DRM) software designed to prevent illicit copying, said that media companies had to change the way they policed intellectual property. ''

Microsoft accused of violating Chinese-text patent

2008-01-22T04:00:00.000-08:00

"A small Chinese hi-tech firm is suing Microsoft for allegedly stealing its invention that allows internet users to type Chinese characters.
Microsoft countered the claim on Friday."

MICROSOFT PLANS an open source project to write a translator from binary document formats into Office Open XML (OOXML) formats.

2008-01-22T03:57:00.000-08:00

"it has arbitrarily withdrawn support for older file formats of certain Office programs, including Word 6.0 and Word 97 for Windows, older versions of Excel and PowerPoint, and of some third-party programs such as Lotus Notes, Corel Quattro and Corel Draw. In doing so, it has broken an implicit covenant with its users that it will maintain backwards compatibility with earlier file formats."

Microsoft wants open sourcers to write an OOXML translator

2008-01-22T03:09:00.000-08:00

"MICROSOFT PLANS an open source project to write a translator from binary document formats into Office Open XML (OOXML) formats."

Digging into SA's software piracy woes

2008-01-22T03:00:00.000-08:00

"Reducing software piracy over the next four years in SA could create a stronger local IT sector, generate new high paying jobs and contribute to the country's economy, according to a new study released on Tuesday by the Business Software Alliance (BSA)."

Examining Source Code Evidence

2007-11-15T01:52:00.000-08:00

"More fundamentally, does the software that operates these tools do what it claims? Due process demands that defendants have the opportunity to examine the programs that run the machinery of scientific testing."

Rabble Rousing for Cyber Heads: Development in South Africa’s IP law and international investment concerns

2007-11-08T00:26:00.000-08:00

"The Haupt case interpreted and applied the concept ‘exercised control’ and found that it means that the person who specifies the outcomes of a computer program owns the copyright thereof, rather than the programmer who physically coded the program."

The Four Freedoms Applied to Software as a Service

2007-11-02T06:54:00.000-07:00

"The Free Software Foundation has defined Four Freedoms related to software. These freedoms apply to users of software, not necessarily developers. In the view of the FSF, these freedoms are ethical in nature, so much so that they argue that software which violates these freedoms is unethical...I’ve argued before that I don’t care about Google’s source code, for example, but if those underlying principles exist, then it should be possible to identify them. It should also be possible to extrapolate concrete expressions of those principles in new contexts… such as software run by vendors to provide a service to users."

Govt migrates 23 entities to open source platforms - Venezuela

2007-11-02T06:51:00.000-07:00

"Venezuela's government has migrated a total of 23 public institutions to open source platforms, the government said on its website.

The 23 entities in question have successfully migrated 65% of their servers and 19% of work stations to open source, according to the national IT institute CNTI.
The CNTI expects the majority of public entities to have migrated to open source software by the government's end-2008 deadline, CNTI's president Carlos Figueira previously told BNamericas. "

Federal Government Votes for Open Source

2007-11-02T06:50:00.000-07:00

"The Federal Open Source Alliance, an organization devoted to open source education, today announced the results of its “Federal Open Source Referendum” study, the first annual report designed to identify current open source adoption rates and trends in the Federal market. The study reveals Feds’ increasing appetite for open source – 71 percent of respondents note that their agency can benefit from open source. Similar to the state government market1, Feds view data center consolidation as accelerating open source transition – 58 percent of respondents note they are more likely to consider moving to open source as they consolidate data centers. The full study is available for download at www.federalopensourcealliance.com."

Microsoft Not to Open Source Codes in China

2007-11-02T06:48:00.000-07:00

"Microsoft Corporation recently agreed to fully comply with an antitrust decision by the European Union (EU) in 2004, thus ending the three-year-long antimonopoly dispute between them.
In addition, the software giant also decided not to lodge an appeal against the punishment imposed by EU in 2005, and even consented to open some software code of its operating system Windows for sharing with European software manufacturers. "

Microsoft privacy guru’s site hacked

2007-11-02T06:42:00.000-07:00

"IdentityBlog.com, a Web site run by Microsoft’s chief architect of identity and access, has been hacked and defaced."

South Africa adopts ODF as govt standard

2007-11-02T06:37:00.000-07:00

"Open Document format (ODF) yesterday became an official standard for South African government communications. The ODF standard is included in the government's Mininimum Interoperability Standards for Information Systems in government (MIOS) released yesterday. In the foreword to the document, department of public service and administration minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, says that "this updated version of MIOS contains an explicit definition of open standards as well as the inclusion of the ISO Open Document Format"."

Patent Infringement Lawsuit Filed Against Red Hat & Novell - Just Like Ballmer Predicted

2007-10-15T04:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071011205044141
"Plaintiffs IP Innovation and Technology Licensing Corp. claim to have the rights to U.S. Patent No. 5,072,412 for a User Interface with Multiple Workspaces for Sharing Display System Objects issued Dec. 10, 1991 along with two other similar patents.
Defendants Red Hat Inc. and Novell have allegedly committed acts of infringement through products including the Red Hat Linux system, the Novell Suse Linex Enterprise Desktop and the Novell Suse Linex Enterprise Server. "

GPL defenders say: See you in court

2007-10-15T04:09:00.000-07:00

http://www.news.com/GPL-defenders-say-See-you-in-court/2100-7344_3-6210837.html
"For years, violations of the General Public License, or GPL, have been met with quiet discussions to resolve compliance problems that can result when open-source software is used improperly. Now, however, the Software Freedom Law Center is taking a hard-line approach, filing a copyright infringement lawsuit against Monsoon Multimedia for allegedly failing to abide by requirements of the GPL."

An Open Source of Legal Business

2007-10-15T04:03:00.000-07:00

http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=1543 "Last year, business software maker Terracotta Inc. abandoned traditional sales models and dived into the complicated legal waters of open source.
Selling software this way attracted "an explosion" of customers -- and brought a whole array of new legal questions, said Terracotta General Counsel Tim McIntyre. For instance, now that anyone can tinker with the company's software and suggest changes, Terracotta must make sure the changes don't infringe on anyone else's copyrighted software code, McIntyre said."

5,072,412 - Patent Summary

2007-10-15T03:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.google.com/patents?id=3tUkAAAAEBAJ&dq=5,072,412 Read more about the patent that Novell and Red Hat have allegedly infringed.

Patent number: 5072412
Filing date: Mar 25, 1987
Issue date: Dec 10, 1991
Inventors: D. Austin Henderson, Jr., Stuart K. Card, John T. Maxwell, III
Assignee: Xerox Corporation

IT Survival Guide: Exercise Caution Amid Open Source Options

2007-10-02T08:45:00.000-07:00

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202102627

"GPLv3 applies to a minor part of open source code so far. Only 693 projects are issuing code under it. By comparison, 5,219 projects license under GPLv2 "or later," meaning the same code is available under both licenses. GPLv2 projects were never expected to convert en masse to GPLv3. That will happen gradually as developers decide on the merits of GPLv3 when releasing new or updated software."

GPL case settled out of court

2007-10-02T08:25:00.000-07:00

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2199463/gpl2-case-settled-court

"Monsoon Multimedia, which was being sued by the Software Freedom Law Center for violating the terms of the General Public Licence version 2 (GPL2), has settled out of court."

India Throws MS Open Format Out of the Window

2007-09-19T06:39:00.000-07:00

http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2007-08-24-018-26-NW-MS-PB

"India on Thursday gave Microsoft a thumbs-down in the war of standards for office documents."

ISO Rejects Microsoft's OOXML as Standard

2007-09-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136711-c,techindustrytrends/article.html

"Microsoft has failed in its attempt to have its Office Open XML document format fast-tracked straight to the status of an international standard by the International Organization for Standardization. The proposal must now be revised to take into account the negative comments made during the voting process."

Can Other Vendors Implement Microsoft's Office Open XML?

2007-09-19T06:35:00.000-07:00

http://holloway.co.nz/can-other-vendors-implement-ooxml.html

"This paper examines whether OOXML can be fully implemented by vendors other than Microsoft and concludes that a number of application specific and undisclosed behaviours (as well as a number of other technical flaws) in the proposed standard make this impossible. Also while Microsoft has waived patent claims for the explicit and required parts of the specification it is clearly stated that this does not extend to the undisclosed behaviours or ambiguous definitions, providing a legal as well as technical barrier to OOXML's implementation."

Roadmap for Open ICT Ecosystems

2007-09-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/epolicy/roadmap.pdf

"This ROADMAP – and the best practices and recommendations it provides – represents an unprecedented collaborative effort of senior government officials from thirteen nations, thought leaders from five global organizations, experts from two leading technology companies and academics from one of the world’s most respected universities. Economic growth depends increasingly on information and communications technologies (ICT); countries, enterprises and individuals need to harness this power through collaboration, innovation and development. This report demonstrates, by its process and its outcome, the enormous potential of open collaboration and information sharing."

Interoperability Framework for the Commonwealth (Australia)

2007-09-10T04:41:00.000-07:00

http://www.bilgitoplumu.gov.tr/kdep/34/avustralyaDraft%20Interoperability%20Framework%20v2%20_07-05-02.pdf
"We believe that interoperability between agencies for the exchange of data and services is an important cornerstone for improving Government business operations. This draft of the Interoperability Framework for the Commonwealth Government represents a collaborative effort by representatives of a number of agencies. The draft Interoperability Framework is a starting point in managing future Information and CommunicationTechnologies investment strategies on behalf of government."

e-Government Interoperability Framework (UK)

2007-09-10T04:38:00.000-07:00

http://xml.coverpages.org/egif-UK.html "The Version 4.0 (07-March-2002) release is issued in two parts: Part One presents the e-GIF Framework itself; Part Two documents the Technical Policies and Specifications. The e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF) "sets out the UK government's technical policies and specifications for achieving interoperability and information systems coherence across the public sector."

HANDBOOK ON MINIMUM INFORMATION INTEROPERABILITY STANDARDS

2007-09-10T04:31:00.000-07:00

http://www.capegateway.gov.za/Text/2004/10/mios_v3_16_april_02.pdf
"A blueprint to guide seamless and interoperability in public service as presented by the Department of Public Service and Administration."

JBoss indemnifies. But does it really matter?

2007-09-10T04:28:00.000-07:00

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/index.php?p=1240&tag=nl.e539 "according to the story in InfoWorld, and another in eWeek, the new indemnification program consists of three components. Says the InfoWorld story, they will (1) defend customers on an unlimited basis if any complaints are lodged pertaining to infringement of copyright or software patents, (2) repair and replace any infringing code on an unlimited basis, and (3) provide damage coverage of as much as four times the value of a customer’s support contract, based on the company’s Gold and Platinum support levels."

Protect Thyself 101: A primer on indemnification

2007-09-10T04:24:00.000-07:00

http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/indemnification_primer.html "Does your indemnity include an obligation to defend or handle lawsuits, demands and all manner of claims--actual or alleged? Or is it only a pure indemnity, which means that you will be held harmless at some future point for damages you sustain, but does not automatically mean you are going to be defended in the actual claim or lawsuit."

Sarbanes Oxley & GPL: No special risk

2007-08-16T04:51:00.000-07:00

http://www.softwarefreedom.org/resources/2006/Sarbanes-Oxley.pdf
"Some have recently argued that corporate executives face increased risk of criminal liability under the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) if their companies develop and distribute code licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). The argument, as it has been made, raises significant concerns about SOX compliance, but it fails to clarify the scope and context of these points. We have reviewed these issues and, as discussed more fully below, there is in fact no special risk for developing GPL'd code under SOX."

OpenDocument Format (ODF) in Free and Open Source Software

2007-08-16T03:16:00.000-07:00

http://www.softwarefreedom.org/resources/2006/OpenDocument.pdf "On the factual basisdescribed, and subject to reservations, it is our opinion that ODF, as standardized and licensed by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information (OASIS),is free of legal encumbrances that would prevent its use in free and open source software, as distributed under licenses authored by Apache and the FSF."

Google joins open-source patent network

2007-08-16T02:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/cnet/2007-08-08-google-joins-open-source-patent-network_N.htm
"The Open Invention Network, an organization created to help take the pressure of patent litigation off Linux developers, has added Google to the ranks of its contributors."

SCO stock nosedives after court ruling

2007-08-16T02:53:00.000-07:00

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/233090/ "That ruling, according to Linux fans, dealt a death blow to SCO's claims that IBM stole code from Unix and put it into Linux, and also potentially puts an end to SCO's attempts, over the past four and a half years, to force hundreds of Linux users to pay licensing fees."

United States: Version 3 Of The GNU General Public License (Gplv3) Published; Significant Changes For Open Source Software Licensing

2007-08-16T02:52:00.000-07:00

http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=51352 "The Free Software Foundation (FSF) on June 29 published the final, official new version of the GNU General Public License, GPLv3. The new version is the result of extensive public comment and heated debate, and could have far-reaching effects on the use of open source software. GPLv3 is the successor to GPL version 2 (GPLv2), first published in 1991, used extensively today, and among the most popular open source licenses available."

IDC: Patents Inhibit Open Source Adoption

2007-08-03T04:31:00.000-07:00

http://news.earthweb.com/dev-news/article.php/3691596 "The potential for copyright and patent infringement is the No. 1 inhibitor right now for organizations in adopting more open source software in their organization," Lawton said in the afternoon conference call. "Close behind that is the availability of support."

Microsoft seeks OSI licence approval

2007-07-31T08:11:00.001-07:00

http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2888&iArticleId=3960761 Bill Hilf, general manager of platform strategy at Microsoft, announced last week at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON), that the company was submitting its shared licences, which include the permissive license, community license and reference licence, to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) for certification as true open source licences.

Free Software Foundation releases GPLv3

2007-07-03T02:54:00.000-07:00

http://news.google.co.za/news?hl=en&cr=countryZA&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&tab=wn&q=software+law After 18 months of sometimes inflamed debate, the Free Software Foundation on Friday released version 3 of the General Public License, a highly influential legal document that embodies the principles of the free- and open-source programming movement.
The new licence adjusts to software industry changes that have arisen in the 16 years since the foundation's founder and president, Richard Stallman, released GPLv2.

Venezuela: Free and open source software often seen as a political tool!

2007-06-26T02:10:00.001-07:00

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=72617 Free and open source software is often seen as a political tool. While many developers try to avoid the political aspects and concentrate on the code, events periodically tend to remind us that FOSS is a powerful tool in the fight for people's minds.

Nine Ways to Protect Your State From the Legal Risks Posed by the Use of Open Source Software

2007-06-04T07:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=itdterminal&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Open+Initiatives&L2=Open+Source+Legal+Toolkit&sid=Aitd&b=terminalcontent&f=legal_nine_ways_to_protect_your_state_from_the_risks_posed_by_the_use_of_open_source_software&csid=Aitd The legal risks posed to states by the use of open source software must be considered in light of the risks posed by the use of proprietary software. States that use open source software face fewer legal risks than their private sector counterparts. The legal risks posed to states by the use of open source software can be managed.

Open Source Licenses - Quick Reference Chart

2007-06-04T07:08:00.000-07:00

http://www.mass.gov/Aitd/docs/quickrefchart.xls (This is an amazing reference comparing the rights granted; as well as indemnifications and warranties offered under the various licenses. A must see - Pria)

You Need a Corporate Open Source Policy

2007-06-04T07:05:00.000-07:00

http://linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reports/6267/1/ As organizations bring more and more open source software into their IT environments, they are beginning to realize the need for more control. Decisions about whether or not to incorporate open source into their operations involve complex issues that go beyond the technology. With over two dozen approved open source licenses, compliance can be tricky. Requirements are different for code used internally and code distributed to external users. Code contributed to open source projects by employees could have licensing problems, or may not be approved for release. Compliance can be difficult to control wherever development is outsourced. The budgetary impact should also be considered for every possible open source migration. It's time for an open source policy.

Policy on FOSS Use by SA Government

2007-06-04T04:53:00.000-07:00

http://www.oss.gov.za/FOSS_OC_POLICY_2006.pdf Policy on Free and Open Source Software Usage by government approved by South African Cabinet on 22 February 2007.