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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Welcome to the Open Source Law Weekly Open Source Digest (OSWALD)
A rather quiet week this week, with Red Hat celebrating 10 years of their Enterprise Linux product. There are a couple of stories from the mobile patent wars, and the usual collection of stories about Oracle v Google. There is something of a buzz around software defined networking at the moment, with OpenFlow getting lots of attention.
*From my blog: http://brendanscott.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/more-on-ausgoal-lack-of-understanding-of-formats/
http://brendanscott.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/australian-government-and-open-data-they-just-dont-get-it/
http://brendanscott.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/megaupload-turning-farcical/
http://brendanscott.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/high-court-downs-inaction-as-authorization-case/
http://brendanscott.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/hca-downs-copyright-as-property-case/
Verbatim distribution with attribution ok.
Other distribution - email me.
Regards
Brendan
Brendan Scott
Open Source Law
***** Government/Policy
Patent Protector or Pest? http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/05/17/higher-ed-split-merits-patent-company-intellectual-ventures#.T7U42FLIowE.twitter
The question was simple enough: Has the University of South Florida ever had a business relationship with Intellectual Ventures, a leading collector of patents and a partner of many colleges?
Government reneges on open source promise for Cloudstore 2.0 http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=EE5128E4-AD60-557A-73FD5CDA623D7FF2
"We are still committed to considering a full open source solution as part of this ongoing development and are hopeful we can include API, product rating and reviews in future iterations too. "
Feds considering allowing DVD-encryption cracking http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/05/feds-considering-allowing-dvd-encryption-cracking/
Federal regulators considered testimony Wednesday here at UCLA Law School on whether to allow citizens and filmmakers to legally crack DVD encryption meant to protect the discs from being copied.
Do software patents stifle innovation? http://www.cio.com.au/article/424871/do_software_patents_stifle_innovation_/
Ben Sturmfels, lead developer at Sturms, said he represents thousands of members of the software industry in Australia who believe patents on computation and information processing are harming society instead of helping it, as the patent system originally set out to do.
***** Patent/CR/DRM News+Policy
U.S. Judge OKs Sales of Microsoft Xbox in Germany http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/05/15/46525.htm
Meanwhile, a similar dispute in Germany questioned whether Microsoft illegally uses video-compression software in its Xbox 360 and Windows 7 software, in violation of an agreement with Motorola.
HTC One X and Evo 4G LTE delayed at US Customs for investigation of Apple patent infringement http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/15/3022907/at-t-htc-one-x-blocked-at-us-customs-infringing-apple
http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/16/3024889/htc-one-x-evo-4g-lte-custom-android-build-apple-patent-linkify
The ban was delayed so HTC could engineer around Apple's patent claims, but it went into effect on April 19th — and although HTC claimed so-called "data tapping" was a "small UI experience" that would be completely removed from its US Android devices, Customs is now reviewing the One X and Evo 4G LTE.
Hearing on Patent Reform http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/Hearings%202012/hear_05162012.html
http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2012/05/pto-director-compares-smartphone-wars-to-patent-battles-of-old-1.html
Judge comes down hard on publishers, Apple in e-book case http://paidcontent.org/2012/05/15/judge-comes-down-hard-on-publishers-apple-in-e-book-case/
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Class-Action-Lawsuit-Price-Fixing-Agency-Model-eBooks,news-15228.html
Citing ongoing state, federal and international antitrust investigations, Cote turned down arguments that Apple and the publishers had acted independently when they changed the pricing model for e-books.
Alsup to Boies: I Can Code -- Can You? (Oracle v Google) http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1202553760500&slreturn=1
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/05/api-copyright/
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/mobile-cloud-view/oracle-declares-war-on-cloud-and-open-source/
http://www.groklaw.net/pdf3/OraGoogle-1153.pdf
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/05/17/46581.htm
"I could do [the 8 lines of infringing code]. You could do it," the judge told Boies. "It was an accident. "
Admitted file-swapper begs Supreme Court for help http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/05/admitted-file-swapper-begs-supreme-court-for-help/
Tenenbaum's lawyer, well-known Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson, wants the Supremes to understand that the industry's "litigation assault" on people like Tenenbaum is "procedurally unfair and profoundly unethical. ”
Finnish court: open WiFi owners not responsible for copyright infringement http://boingboing.net/2012/05/14/finnish-court-open-wifi-owner.html
A Finnish court has ruled that merely operating an open WiFi access point does not make you liable for copyright infringements committed on your network.
Apple-Samsung http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120514-714582.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/14/us-apple-samsung-patent-idUSBRE84D0RA20120514
A federal appeals court revived Apple's bid to block U. S. sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab tablet computer --But the court rejected other Apple legal claims that sought to bar sales of Samsung smartphones
Meat Cutters Discover a New Steak - Patents Pending http://www.newser.com/story/146137/meat-cutters-discover-a-new-steak.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=slate&utm_campaign=greatfinds_rss
Business Insider picks up on the weird scoop from the Drovers Cattle Network, which proclaims that the steak "is the latest and perhaps last steak to be found from the beef carcass. " Patents, believe it or not, are pending.
US says it will bar some Motorola Mobility phones http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47483092/ns/technology_and_science-wireless/
Some Motorola Mobility smartphones infringe on a Microsoft patent and will be barred from importation to the United States, a U. S. trade panel said on Friday.
***** Applications/Gadgets
FuseSource Launches New Open Source Integration and Messaging Platforms http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Linux-and-Open-Source/FuseSource-Launches-New-Open-Source-Integration-and-Messaging-Platforms-241168/
FuseSource, the open-source integration company, announced the availability of new products that enable enterprises to use open-source technology for integration and messaging.
***** Reports
Red Hat celebrates 10 years of Red Hat Enterprise Linux http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/red-hat-celebrates-10-years-of-red-hat-enterprise-linux/10984
http://www.serverwatch.com/server-trends/red-hat-no-regrets-about-moving-to-the-enteprise-model.html
http://www.linuxplanet.com/news/red-hat-enterprise-linux-turns-10-as-slackware-lives-on.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/15/redhat_rhel_ten_years/
Today, Paul Cormier, Red Hat’s president of products and technologies said in a statement that “Red Hat is thankful to the worldwide Linux community and all our partners, and is proud to recognize the achievements we’ve made with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Banned PlayStation Hacker Sees Hope of Return in Jailbreaking Deliberations http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/05/dmca-jailbreak-exemptions/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_campaign=twitterclickthru
He settled the suit last year by agreeing never to tinker again with a Sony product, but his hacker itch has him awaiting a looming decision by federal copyright regulators that, for the first time, could legalize videogame-console jailbreaking.
an example of the usefulness of bittorrent for entirely legal purposes http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2012/05/an-example-of-the-usefulness-of-bittorrent-for-entirely-legal-purposes.html
http://www.itworld.com/cloud-computing/277540/bittorrent-not-always-piracy-says-wil-wheaton
As you can see from the images above, if I'd downloaded the iso straight from their server, it was going to take the better part of an hour, so I decided to grab the torrent instead. Turns out it was a good choice, because it was finished in about six minutes.
Debian Administrator's Handbook published -- and Freed
https://lwn.net/Articles/496797/
This translation into English of the fifth edition of the French “Cahier de l'Admin Debian” (published by Eyrolles) has been crowdfunded, and the results are just released.
Skype for Linux Not Dead http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/05/skype-for-linux-not-dead/
Since then there has been one very minor update for Skype on Linux - compared to 17 updates to the Windows version in the same time frame.
Dan Pitt Exec Chair, Open Networking Foundation Explains Why OpenFlow is the Future http://www.internetnews.com/blog/skerner/video-dan-pitt-exec-chair-open-networking-foundation-interop.html
http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/nethub/openflow-protocol-1.3.0-approved.html#
At Interop 2012, there was one theme that dominated all others - Software Defined Networking (SDN). At the center of the SDN revolution is OpenFlow and the center of that is the Open Networking Foundation.
Android boosts open source development for mobile http://www.infoworld.com/t/mobile-development/android-boosts-open-source-development-mobile-193265
One of the drivers behind the trend is the abundance of high-quality open source code that's readily available for developers to harvest and use for their own projects, according to Vescuso. "We see over 18,000 [open source] projects targeted specifically to mobile platforms, plus around 600,000 open source projects to choose from which offer other useful components. Why reinvent the wheel?" he said.
Red Hat, IBM Counter VMware In Government Market http://www.thevarguy.com/2012/05/14/red-hat-ibm-counter-vmware-in-government-market/
Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) and IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) are countering VMware (NYSE: VMW) in the government market, promoting a secure virtualization platform on IBM x86 servers. But here’s the twist: VMware has offered a similar level of security since at least 2010.
Apache Isn't Just About HTTP Anymore http://www.internetnews.com/blog/skerner/apache-isnt-just-about-http-anymore.html
Looking beyond the 104 TLPs are 51 incubated projects (or Podlings) including big names like Wave (formerly Google Wave) and OpenOffice (formerly Oracle/Sun).
Google to centralize Android development and sales http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/google-to-centralize-android-development-and-sales/11003
This news comes ahead of final approval for Google’s acquisition of Motorola. Many people are speculating that Google is trying to centralize Android programming, sales, and marketing to reassure its partners that Google is going to use Motorola devices to compete with them.
China clears Google purchase of Motorola Mobility http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iVAuRCMV1n8iWabBupWuw_Qypkqg?docId=CNG.44cbdf859088ec899a09fc0d716feecb.481
Conditions put on the rubber stamp from China's Ministry of Commerce included Google keeping its Android software for gadgets such as smartphones and tablet computers free and open for at least five years.
***** Snippets
EU to 'remain Vigilant' on Microsoft's Browser Commitments http://www.pcworld.com/article/255641/eu_to_remain_vigilant_on_microsofts_browser_commitments.html
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Cloud-Computing/Google-Mozilla-Complaints-About-Microsoft-Browser-Eyed-by-Senate-Panel-770481/
Innovate or Imitate? Where Linux Lags, Where Linux Leads
https://www.linux.com/learn/docs/576247-innovate-or-imitate-where-linux-lags-where-linux-leads
Canonical's Ubuntu Business Desktop Remix Evolves http://www.thevarguy.com/2012/05/14/canonicals-ubuntu-business-desktop-remix-evolves/
Fedora 17 & GNOME 3.4: Return to a useful Linux desktop http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/fedora-17-gnome-34-return-to-a-useful-linux-desktop-review/10975
Notes from the Open Source System Management Conference http://linuxaria.com/article/my-notes-from-open-source-system-management-conference-2012?lang=en
Is Mozilla Punting on Web Apps for Linux? http://www.internetnews.com/blog/skerner/is-mozilla-punting-on-web-apps-for-linux.html
Red Hat OpenShift PaaS: Will Cloud Developers Climb Aboard? http://www.talkincloud.com/red-hat-openshift-paas-will-cloud-developers-climb-aboard/
Kernel Log: Coming in 3.4 (Part 3) - Graphics drivers http://www.h-online.com/open/features/Kernel-Log-Coming-in-3-4-Part-3-Graphics-drivers-1571683.html
SNMP Version 3 on Linux http://beginlinux.com/server/centos/snmp-version-3-on-linux
How Google Developers Use Ubuntu http://www.ubuntuvibes.com/2012/05/how-google-developers-use-ubuntu.html
Canonical Prepares a GNOME Flavor of Ubuntu http://news.softpedia.com/news/Canonical-Prepares-a-GNOME-Flavor-of-Ubuntu-269229.shtml
Six Key Features Coming in Mageia Linux 2.0 http://distrowatch.com/
Linux 3.4 rc7
https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/5/12/60
Ubuntu will hit the big time on Amazon: Here's how http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/04/amazon_aws_platform_sales/
Updated Debian 6.0: 6.0.5 released http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120512
Multi-Tenant Public Clouds: Security Risk or FUD? http://www.esecurityplanet.com/network-security/multi-tenant-public-clouds-security-risk-or-fud.html
Free and Open-Source Software bring an Open-Community http://www.unixmen.com/free-and-open-source-software-bring-an-open-community/
Say Goodbye to Linux on the Desktop http://reallylinux.com/docs/saygoodbyetodesktoplinux.shtml
Linux at 21: A new Linux Foundation t-shirt contest http://www.linuxfoundation.org/
Ubuntu Zombies http://www.unixmen.com/ubuntu-zombies/
Introducing Ubuntu Bliss Lens for Unity http://news.softpedia.com/news/Introducing-Ubuntu-Bliss-Lens-for-Unity-269917.shtml
Hybryde Linux lets you switch Desktop Environment on the fly http://www.linuxuser.co.uk/news/hybryde-linux-lets-you-switch-desktop-environment-on-the-fly/
Apache OpenOffice. Windows Users Dominate Downloads http://www.internetnews.com/blog/skerner/apache-openoffice-windows-users-dominate-downloads.html
Mandriva Community Planning Next Release http://ostatic.com/blog/mandriva-community-planning-next-release
What's next after GPL and Apache? http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/whats-next-after-gpl-and-apache-193376
Mandriva SA Cedes Control To Mandriva Community http://www.itworld.com/it-managementstrategy/277627/mandriva-sa-cedes-control-mandriva-community
Linux Desktop Space is no Place to Concede http://reallylinux.com/docs/linuxdesktoptruth.shtml
Need a resume boost? Get involved with an open source project http://opensource.com/business/12/5/get-resume-boost-from-open-source-projects
Lotus Symphony realigns with Apache OpenOffice http://www.itworld.com/it-managementstrategy/277507/lotus-symphony-realigns-apache-openoffice
Introducing PuppetDB: Put Your Data to Work http://puppetlabs.com/blog/introducing-puppetdb-put-your-data-to-work/
Linux 3.4 released
https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/5/20/126
Mageia 2 and the default GNOME 3 desktop http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2012/05/18/mageia-2-and-the-default-gnome-3-desktop/
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