Managing Rights Management

Züs (0Chain) and Red Hat Smart Contract and Blockchain Patents

Smart contracts, (blockchains, distributed ledgers) and rights management broadly construed are the themes of today's Spotlight Patents. Assigned to Züs, the first patent addresses techniques for self-administered protocols on a blockchain platform. Assigned to Red Hat, the second patent addresses techniques for providing smart contracts including secrets encrypted with oracle-provided... Read more →

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 →