Managing Rights Management

Open Source Meets Proprietary: Where's the Balance?

BusinessWeek has an article on open source and restrictive and/or proprietary technologies such as DRM. The article reports a discussion with Nokia's Dr. Ari Jaaksi: Jaaksi, Nokia's vice president of software and head of the Finnish handset manufacturer's open-source operations, said: "We want to educate open-source developers. There are certain... Read more →

Software Freedom Law Center Sues Verizon Over Open Source Software

The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Verizon on behalf of the two principal developers of BusyBox, alleging violation of the GPL V2. BusyBox is a lightweight set of standard Unix utilities commonly used in embedded systems and is open source software licensed under... Read more →

First Open Source Law Suit Settled

The Register (UK) reports that the Software Freedom Law Center announced that it has reached an agreement with Monsoon Multimedia to end the SFLC's copyright infringement suit against the company. With the actual settlement announced yesterday, the SFLC got what it was holding out for: money. The agreement includes an... Read more →

SFLC GPL Enforcement Law Suit Filed Against Monsoon Multimedia

The Software Freedom Law Center has filed a law suit against Monsoon Multimedia seeking to enforce the terms of the General Public License V2 (not the more recent GPLv3). Stephen Shankland writing on ZDNet says: Dan Ravicher, SFLC's attorney on the case, said the suit isn't part of a broader... Read more →

Torvalds Says GPLV3 Authors 'Hypocrites'

Information Week is quoting Linux creator Linus Torvalds as saying that In a posting on the Linux kernel mailing list, Torvalds said the Free Software Foundation's position on Tivoization is one reason he won't license his Linux kernel under GPLv3. "The GPLv3 doesn’t match what I think is morally where... Read more →

GPLV3 Launched - Does Anyone Care?

Writing in Linux-Watch / eWeek, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols wonders if anyone cares about GPLV3: Now that the GPLv3 (GNU General Public License Version 3) has finally been released, however, there's one wee problem. Tell me, is anyone of significance -- besides the Samba Group for its CIFS (Common Internet File... Read more →

GPLV3 Launched, Reactions Vary

Information Week has an article asserting that reaction is "muted" to the GPLV3 which was launched last Friday. Still early to draw conclusions. In several postings relating to earlier drafts I noted that attorneys should be consulted before adopting GPLV3. I believe this continues to be excellent advice. The InfoWeek... Read more →

Torvalds Remains Skeptical Toward GPLv3

Linux creator Linus Torvalds remains skeptical about GPLv3, says VNUNET. "I was impressed in the sense that it was a hell of a lot better than the disaster that were the earlier drafts," he said. The Linux founder has previously dismissed the licence as "religious". He disagrees with its attempts... Read more →

GPLv3 Draft 4 On Patents

The fourth and presumably final draft of the GPLv3 was published late last week. As noted, Stallman remains on the anti-patent path. Here's what the fourth draft says about patent licenses: 11. Patents. A "contributor" is a copyright holder who authorizes use under this License of the Program or a... Read more →

Stallman on Why Upgrade to GPLv3

Through a Free Software Foundation mailing list, I received a mailing from Richard Stallman on why upgrade to version 3 of the General Public License. As discussed here previously, this version of the GPL is extremely anti-patent. Stallman is the best spokesperson for his position: Another threat that GPLv3 resists... Read more →

Developers Don't Want GPLv3 to Muck With Patents

According to eWeek, developers don't want the GPLv3 to police patents or to prevent future deals such as the Microsoft-Novell deal. This according to a Microsoft-funded study available here. Quoting from the study: While many developers cited displeasure with the patent element of the Novell-Microsoft deal, the use of Digital... Read more →

Free and Open Source Software Violates 235 MSFT Patents

Fortune Magazine has an article in which Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith, and licensing chief Horacio Gutierrez assert that free and open source software ("FOSS") such as Linux infringe 235 Microsoft patents. More specifically, [Gutierrez] says that the Linux kernel - the deepest layer of the free operating system, which... Read more →

GPLv3 Draft - Overreaching?

Earlier in this series of blogicles regarding the 3rd draft of the GPLv3 open source license, attorney Ed Walsh cautioned those who are considering using this license should it become final while incorporating certain provisions of section 11 (Patents). These provisions are a response to the Microsoft-Novell deal regarding patent... Read more →

GPLv3 Draft - Ed Walsh on the Anti-Microsoft-Novell provisions

To say that the anti-Microsoft-Novell provisions of the draft GPLv3 are controversial is a major understatement. I asked Ed Walsh, an attorney at Wolf Greenfield & Sacks whose practice includes advising on issues relating to open source licensing, about paragraphs 4 and 5 of section 11 (Patents) of the GPLv3.... Read more →

GPLv3 Draft - License or Contract

The latest discussion draft of the GNU General Public License has been strongly criticized for its position on the Microsoft-Novell deal in which Microsoft agreed not to assert whatever patent rights it might have. The Association for Competitive Technology has published white papers extremely critical of the new draft. These... Read more →

GPLV3 Draft - One Attorney's Opinion

I asked Ed Walsh, an attorney whose specialties include open source software licensing, about current discussion draft of the GPLv3 license. Ed is an attorney with well-respected IP law firm Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks. Here's what he told me: A summary of the way this draft balances concerns of competing... Read more →

GPLv3 Draft - Firestorm of Criticism

The third discussion draft from the Free Software Foundation of the GNU General Public License v. 3 (GPLv3) has been out for a few weeks. This draft has ignited a firestorm of criticism by some who object to language in this draft intended to prevent deals such as that between... Read more →

Draft GPL V3 and DRM

The Free Software Foundation today released its revised draft of the General Public License V3 for comment. The GPL is one of several licenses available for the distribution and use of copyrighted works although it's typically used with software. This version of the GPL has been controversial in at least... Read more →

GPLv3 Draft Due Out Wednesday

CNET reports that the next version of the General Public License v3 (GPLv3) from the Free Software Foundation is due out tomorrow. The timing pushes back by about three months the original deadline of March for a new version of the license. One reason for the delay was the announcement... Read more →

Did Lessig Endorse DRM?

The Register (UK) reports that Lawrence Lessig of Creative Commons fame has endorsed DRM, or at least Sun's open source DRM efforts, the Open Media Commons. The endorsement is in a press release announcing release of code and specifications for OMC DRM. The release quotes Lessig: Lawrence Lessig, Chairman of... Read more →

Sun To Publish Specs For Opensource DRM

TechWeb reports that Sun will soon publish Open Source DRM specs. Snippet: The open-source project is under Sun's Open Media Commons (OMS) initiative to license content to individuals rather than machines, such as cellular phones, MP3 players, PCs and set-top boxes. "The specifications need more work before they can ship,... Read more →