OSWALD Newsletter Archives (by issue #, click to view)
The Open Source Law Weekly Digest or OSWALD first launched late in 2002. Since then it has been regularly providing updates on all things open source related. The focus of this newsletter is on business, rather than technical developments in open source. Another strong component of the newsletter is IP news, as it is of interest to me and has an effect on open source.
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OSWALD #367 Period ending 20 July 2010
Welcome to the Open Source Law Weekly Open Source Digest (OSWALD)
Neelie Kroes says some kind words in support of open source and NZ apparently ditches software patents (how is it that the NZers typically see sense a decade before the rest of the world?). OpenSolaris looks like it's headed nowhere and more punditry on the Bilski/Kappos decision.
>From my blog: http://brendanscott.wordpress.com/2010/07/01/example-copyright-damages-australian-industry/
http://brendanscott.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/creative-commons-australia-v3-0-licences-go-live/
http://brendanscott.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/iinet-and-the-sinking-of-the-nbn/
http://brendanscott.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/words-in-copyright-act-vs-time/
Verbatim distribution with attribution ok.
Other distribution - email me.
Regards
Brendan
Brendan Scott
Open Source Law
***** Open Standards/ODF
Please Welcome Open AXIS Group http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20100714053304769
The Open AXIS Group's mission is to expand the adoption, promotion, enhancement and maintenance of a robust airline industry standardized XML schema capable of delivering comprehensive functionality to both the supply and demand sides of the travel supply chain.
ODF 1.2 Begins Final 60-day Public Review http://www.robweir.com/blog/2010/07/odf12-public-review.html
A major milestone was reached for the OASIS ODF TC last week. The latest Committee Draft of ODF 1. 2 (CD 05) was sent out for a 60-day public review.
***** Off Topic
Microsoft's latest charitable tactic to boost Bing's search share http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/07/microsofts_latest_ploy_to_boost_bings_search_share.html
In order to enable the $3 donation, users must set Bing as their default search engine.
Gawker Media Deals Its Way Out of iPhone Search Warrant http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/07/gizmodo-warrant-void/
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?&entry_id=68084
A California court has granted the request of local prosecutors to withdraw a controversial search warrant against an editor for the tech site Gizmodo over its scoop about the iPhone 4G. Prosecutors reached an agreement with Thomas Nolan, the attorney representing Gizmodo and reporter Jason Chen, to return a computer and other seized items in exchange for "all of the materials in the computer sought by our investigators," San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe told Wired. com Friday.
***** Government/Policy
OSS: Europe vs. The United States http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/oss-europe-vs-united-states
http://www.osor.eu/news/kroes-on-open-source-in-public-administrations-attitudes-are-changing
She blasted proprietary software, saying that choosing it over Open Source alternatives can leave nations "unintentionally locked into proprietary technology for decades", and went on to note that even if Open Source options are later implemented, they "risk being systematically ignored. "
NHS loses massive Microsoft licensing rebate http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2010/07/15/nhs_microsoft/
[A little off topic, but goes to show what an exercise in futility any closed source licensing discount is.]
Without a new agreement every NHS organisations will be looking at expensive hardware audits of all their various offices, labs and surgeries. The original deal was good for up to 900,000 desktop machines, at the time the NHS had approximately 500,000 machines.
It's official: Software will be unpatentable in NZ http://www.nzcs.org.nz/news/blog.php?/archives/97-.html
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/software-patents-bill-clause-will-not-be-altered
This is significant. As we've previously pointed out software patents aren't black and white, and there are certainly pros and cons. However on balance, we believe they represent a far greater risk to smaller NZ-based software providers than opportunity, and there are many cases where they have significantly stifled innovation.
***** Patent/CR/DRM News+Policy
ASCAP's attack on Creative Commons http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lawrence-lessig/ascaps-attack-on-creative_b_641965.html
But there is not. Creative Commons, Public Knowledge and EFF are not aiming to "undermine" copyright; they are not spreading the word that "music should be free"; and there is certainly not yet any rally within Congress in favor of any of the issues that these groups do push.
Curse of the Greedy Copyright Holders http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704608104575220551906611796.html
When I asked to use a single line by songwriter Joe Henry, for example, his record label's parent company demanded $150 for every 7,500 copies of my book. Assuming I sell enough books to earn back my modest advance, this amounts to roughly 1. 5% of my earnings, all for quoting eight words from one of Mr. Henry's songs.
Report: More Patents Granted in 2009 http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2010/07/report-more-patents-granted-in-2009.html
The number of utility patents granted by the U. S. Patent & Trademark Office increased in 2009 after a two-year decline.
Bilski v. Kappos - Post-Decision SCOTUScast http://www.fed-soc.org/publications/pubid.1902/pub_detail.asp
http://www.groklaw.net/pdf/proudler.pdf
http://www.allthingspros.blogspot.com/
http://www.awakenip.com/?p=456
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20100713173032257
http://thepriorart.typepad.com/the_prior_art/2010/07/post-bilski-landscape-attempt-to-ban-biz-meth-patents-fails.html#more
Sony v. Tenenbaum http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/copyright/
This ruling is critically important because it has the potential to affect every copyright litigation's damages calculations when statutory damages are at issue.
eBay served with $3.8 billion patent suit http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20010471-93.html
According to the suit, which was filed Tuesday in a Delaware federal district court, technology that was built into PayPal's patent had previously been shared with PayPal confidentially by representatives from XPRT and is contained in a total of six XPRT patents. eBay, the complaint alleges, incorporated those details into an April 2003 patent called "Method and System to Automate Payment for a Commerce Transaction. "
Ha ha ha ha ha. RIAA paid its lawyers more than $16,000,000 in 2008 to recover only $391,000 http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2010/07/ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-riaa-paid-its-lawyers.html
The RIAA paid Holmes Roberts & Owen $9,364,901 in 2008, Jenner & Block more than $7,000,000, and Cravath Swain & Moore $1. 25 million, to pursue its "copyright infringement" claims, in order to recover a mere $391,000.
***** Applications/Gadgets
Linux game console adds GPU, accelerometers http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/46445
GamePark Holdings (GPH) is readying a new version of its GP2X handheld game console running open source Linux games. The "GP2X Caanoo" is equipped with a 533MHz ARM9 CPU and 3D-ready GPU, a 3. 5-inch display, Wi-Fi, and an accelerometer with a vibration motor.
SugarCRM 6 Debuts with Open Source and Commercial Features http://www.ecrmguide.com/article.php/3892731
FreeType 2.4 now free from patent restrictions http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/FreeType-2-4-now-free-from-patent-restrictions-1039730.html
The FreeType development team has released version 2. 4 of the rendering library for TrueType and PostScript fonts. FreeType is used in almost all Linux and open source Unix systems. The latest version is also much more stabile when dealing with broken or damaged font files.
***** Reports
DuckDuckGo: A New Search Engine Built from Open Source http://ostatic.com/blog/duckduckgo-a-new-search-engine-built-from-open-source
..the entire site is built on open source tools, ranging from FreeBSD for the operating system to good old-fashioned Perl for the logic.
Mandriva Linux avoids bankruptcy; we test the new version http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2010/07/mandriva-rescued-from-bankruptcy-releases-new-version.ars
The Spring 2010 version was finally released last week after some new investors bailed out the company and made it possible for development efforts to continue.
EMC Moves into Business Analytics with Greenplum Acquisition http://www.ecrmguide.com/article.php/3892176
Greenplum is built on the open source PostgreSQL database and commodity hardware, giving the company a pricing edge over competitors. It also developed its own MapReduce technology after initially looking at Hadoop.
Exploring the software behind Facebook, the world’s largest site http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/06/18/the-software-behind-facebook/
In some ways Facebook is still a LAMP site (kind of), but it has had to change and extend its operation to incorporate a lot of other elements and services, and modify the approach to existing ones.
OpenSolaris governing board threatens dissolution http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/OpenSolaris-governing-board-threatens-dissolution-1037134.html
In an act of desperation, the OpenSolaris governing board (OGB) has issued an ultimatum to Oracle. The company must nominate a contact person able to take decisions regarding OpenSolaris by the 16th of August or the board will dissolve and relinquish control of OpenSolaris to Oracle.
Amazon opens supercomputing service http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20010363-264.html
The cluster service, which is available with Linux and a customer's own software added into the mix, is best suited to parallel tasks that can be divided into independent pieces that run simultaneously.
Compiere Open Source failed? http://www.compieresource.com/2010/06/compiere-open-source-failed.html
Nevertheless, the Compiere product exists and is certainly superior in its market (= the primary motivation for Consona to invest in Compiere). This may be a good time to revitalize the momentum of Open Source ERP and Compiere. In the second part of this series I will cover the lessons learned from building (and losing) open source community support.
Richard Stallman to hit Australia http://delimiter.com.au/2010/07/14/richard-stallman-hits-australia/
free and open source software luminary Richard Stallman will hit Australia for an unknown period of time in October, with a keynote scheduled to be held at the University of New South Wales.
Richard Stallman on .NET, Mono and DotGNU http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=3074&blogid=14
The basic point is that Microsoft has patents over features in . NET, and its patent promise regarding free software implementations of those is inadequate. It may someday attack the free implementations of these features.
Open Source Hardware Defined http://www.linuxpromagazine.com/Online/News/Open-Source-Hardware-Gets-Defined
Members of the open source hardware community publicly issued a list of standards that define a specific piece of hardware as open source.
Top Solaris developer flees Oracle http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/14/oracle_lavender_opensolaris/
Greg Lavender, the lead developer in charge of the Solaris operating system at Oracle, has left the company. And the OpenSolaris Governing Board, which is supposed to steer the open source version of Solaris, is thinking about disbanding because Oracle has not had any contact with the board for the past six months.
A line in the sand for graphics drivers http://lwn.net/Articles/394702/
The situation in the fast-growing mobile space is not so comforting, though. As can be seen in recent conversations, free support for mobile graphics looks like the next big problem to be solved.
Droid X actually self-destructs if you try to mod it http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2010/07/14/droid-x-actually-self-destructs-if-you-try-to-mod-it/
If the eFuse failes to verify this information then the eFuse receives a command to "blow the fuse" or "trip the fuse". This results in the booting process becoming corrupted and resulting in a permanent bricking of the Phone. This FailSafe is activated anytime the bootloader is tampered with or any of the above three parts of the phone has been tampered with.
Linux Phones To Dominate Mobile Market http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/linux/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225800196
"The number of Linux-oriented initiatives recently seen in the mobile industry indicates that Linux will be a key technology in the next generation of netbooks, media tablets, and other mobile devices," said senior analyst Victoria Fodale in a statement.
Editor's Note: What Good is it if They Don't Know it's Linux? http://www.linuxtoday.com/developer/2010071603235OSBZCY
Apple bought CUPS in 2007. The first release of CUPS was in 1999, and has been maintained all these years by its inventor Michael Sweet. Apple had nothing to do with it, and even now would have no interest in it except for the hidden Unix underpinnings that makes OS X CUPS-compatible.
Intel Can't Ship Their Own Driver With Their MeeGo OS http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODQxOA
The overall situation since has only become worse and even MeeGo (their own Linux OS) will be shipping without Intel's EMGD driver.
***** Snippets
Announcing FOSSology 1.2.0 Release http://lwn.net/Articles/395801/
Microsoft UK: Don't Cave to UK Survey's Linux "Suggestions" http://www.itworld.com/open-source/113636/microsoft-uk-dont-cave-uk-surveys-linux-suggestions
What FOSS communities can look like from the outside http://blog.melchua.com/2010/07/13/what-foss-communities-can-look-like-from-the-outside/
IBM's "Complete Defense" To Any SCO Claim of Copyright Infringement - Transcribers Needed http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20100712041127830
MeeGo keynote address at Akademy 2010 http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20100712#feature
Open Source Business Models Become More Attractive http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/open-source-business-models-become-more-attra
Google SketchUp in Linux - A reality! http://dedoimedo.com/computers/google-sketchup.html
Weaver: Framework for Game Development for Linux http://www.nongnu.org/weaver/
SugarCRM Jumps the Open Source shark http://twitter.com/webmink
SCO says its claims not dead yet http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/sco-says-its-claims-not-dead-yet/6839
Ballmer: Microsoft is 'hardcore' about Windows 7 slate machines http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/07/ballmer_microsoft_hardcore_about_slates_running_windows_7.html
IBM's Defense Against SCO's Copyright Infringement Claims - The Memorandum, Part 1 http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20100712145530620
Open Source Cornerstones: Foundational Ideas and People in Open Source/Free Software Movement http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/63676
T2 System Development Environment 8.0 arrives http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/T2-System-Development-Environment-8-0-arrives-1039188.html
Mandriva Press Release Raises More Questions http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/mandriva-press-release-raises-more-questions
FSF developing social networking software http://www.itwire.com/opinion-and-analysis/open-sauce/40419-fsf-developing-social-networking-software
MediaWiki and Script Translation for the Morevna Project http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/columns/mediawiki_and_script_translation_morevna_project
At Least Motorola Admits It http://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2010/07/15/motorola-admits.html
A considered future for OpenSolaris http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=3076&blogid=41
London Stock Exchange CTO leaves during move to Linux http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/open-source/open-source-business/news/index.cfm?newsid=21160
Bordeaux 50% off sale in celebration of the Wine 1.2 release http://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/2010071603135NWDTSW
Well over half of the most reliable hosting companies run on Linux http://maratux.blogspot.com/2010/07/well-over-half-of-most-reliable-hosting.html
Virtualization Software for Linux http://www.junauza.com/2010/07/virtualization-software-for-linux.html
Droid X Proves a Hit: Sold Out http://www.pcworld.com/article/201276/droid_x_proves_a_hit_sold_out.html?tk=hp_new
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