http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal Legal Issues Affecting Linux and Open Source Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:46:09 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en At 9:00 AM EST today, the parties to Jacobsen v. Katz filed a settlement agreement with the U.S. Federal District Court for the Northern District of California. In doing so, they brought an end to one of the most important legal cases to date affecting the continued success of ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2010/02/19/a-big-victory-for-foss-jacobsen-v-katzer-is-settled/ I don't usually post twice a day, but today was opening day in Barcelona of the Mobile World Congress, the biggest mobile show of the year, and the announcements were popping thick and fast.  One of those announcements unveiled a new mobile platform called MeeGo - a new open source ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2010/02/15/please-welcome-meego/ In which Frank exposes The Truth about venture capital, and the secret of the Perpetual Kitten. Excerpt: "Frank snorted with derision.  iBalls!  What a lame concept!  He thought he’d seen everything during the madness of the Internet bubble years – companies formed to sell dogfood over the Internet; year-old startups spending millions ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2010/02/15/the-alexandria-project-chap-5-so-how-do-ya-like-them-iballs/ Our story so far:  Security expert Frank Adversego comes under suspicion when the Library of Congress is hacked by a mysterious cracker with motives unknown and a taste for the bizarre; to protect himself, Frank had better get to the bottom of things. Back in his cube again, Frank powered up ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2010/02/08/the-alexandria-project-chap-4-beware-of-greeks-bearing-trapdoors/ As you may recall, the CodePlex Foundation indicated in January that it expected to name a permanent Executive Director within a few weeks' time. That has now happened, and in the "small world" department, the new ED happens to be Paula Hunter - someone I've known for years, and ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2010/02/07/codeplex-foundation-picks-paula-hunter-as-executive-director/ ...Sure enough, as Frank strode up the half-lit corridor in Cube City, there was Rick standing next to his cubicle, coffee cup in hand.  His face lit up as soon as he saw Frank.  “Morning, Frank,” he called out.  “Recovered from your big Saturday night yet?”  He raised his coffee ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2010/02/01/the-alexandria-project-chap-3-i-just-hate-it-when-that-happens/ The last issue of Standards Today focused on XML - the underpinning of ODF and hundreds of other standards - and one of the most important standards ever developed.  Here is the editorial from that issue. One of the many intriguing concepts mooted by Pierre Tielhard de Chardin, a French philosopher ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2010/01/28/88/ The second chapter in this online cybersecurity mystery novel Frank wondered how long his phone had been buzzing.  He was about to turn it off when he saw that it was his daughter Marla calling. “Hi Kid,” he said, “Listen...” His daughter jumped in.  “Hey, Dad, thanks for picking up.  I considered worrying ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2010/01/25/the-alexandria-project-chap-2-the-plot-thickens/ This is the first chapter in my new cybersecurity eBook in which you'll meet Frank, our erstwhile hero, and get your first clue about the tangled train of events yet to unfold. Here's an excerpt: Frank snapped open his laptop and punched the keys with fury, rushing through the complicated ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2010/01/19/the-alexandria-project-chap-1-meet-frank/ Those that know me know that I firmly believe that there is a Monty Python vignette, or at least a catchphrase, for every occasion. And on this occasion, that catchphrase is, “And now for something completely different!” How completely different, might you ask, as if on cue? Glad you ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2010/01/17/introducing-the-alexandria-project/ Betamax vs.VHS, HD DVD vs. Blu-ray and now DECE vs. Keychest. Can't the consumer electronics industry and studios cut us a break? Think of the words "standards war," and unless you're a standards wonk like m...oh, never mind...you're likely to think of the battle between the Betamax and ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2010/01/11/here-we-go-again-video-standards-war-2010/ Earlier this week, I noted the fact that the 100 day mark for the CodePlex Foundation had passed (on December 19) without any comment from the Foundation on how they had fared against their aggressive goals for that time period, including the replacement of the founding, interim Board of Directors, ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2010/01/06/codeplex-foundation-reports-on-100-day-goals/ As you may recall, Microsoft announced back on September 10 that it had launched a new foundation "as a forum in which open source communities and the software development community can come together with the shared goal of increasing participation in open source community projects." It called it's new ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/12/30/all-quiet-on-the-codeplex-front-as-100-day-mark-passes/ Yesterday a very small company won a very big victory against a very large software vendor. The small company is i4i, a Canadian company that claimed that the large company had not infringed its patent accidentally, but knowingly and willfully, after engaging in discussions relating to the very ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/12/23/david-and-goliath-ii-i4i-wins-again-over-microsoft/ If you're like me, you became fully aware of free and open source software only gradually, rather than suddenly and all at once. In my case, the process was somewhat schizophrenic, because I was personally involved, through my clients, in some of the evolutionary steps of FOSS itself, and ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/12/19/a-concise-introduction-to-free-and-open-software/ Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose — French Proverb Ah yes — "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Isn't that how the old saw goes? Or, in the more impatient parlance of today, simply "Same old, same old." So perhaps it should be no surprise that ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/12/11/smart-phones-ebook-readers-and-the-same-old-same-old/ According to Reuters, one more thread in the long-running saga of Rambus and the JEDEC SDRAM standards abuse saga appears to be reaching an end. Specifically, the wire service report that next Wednesday the European anticompetition regulators will accept the settlement terms offered last June by chip maker Rambus. Under ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/11/25/rambus-eu-settlement-appears-near/ Over the next ten years, tens, and possibly hundreds of millions, of new platforms are going to be put into place in the United States as part of a new national infrastructure; an equal number will be installed in Europe (many are already being installed). The same may happen ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/11/16/the-birth-of-the-sgip-live-from-denver/ It's been more than a month since I last wrote about the CodePlex Foundation, the new open source initiative announced by Microsoft in early September. While things were pretty quiet at the Foundation site for some time, that changed on October 21, when the Foundation posted its new Project Acceptance ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/11/05/checking-in-on-codeplex/ It's easy to appreciate the wonders of the Web, and all of the riches that the Internet brings into our lives. All of which makes it easy indeed not to notice the things that tend to slip away, as the collateral damage of progress. Recently, we woke up ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/11/02/digitization-and-the-vanishing-arts-of-the-book/ One of the realities that every standards professional must deal with is the sad fact that everyone else in the world thinks that standards are… [start over; no one else thinks about standards much at all] Ahem. One of the things that standards folks must come to ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/10/27/the-constantine-code-and-the-missing-standard/ Some of the best software available is open source, but non-proprietary software has enemies as well as friends. Not surprisingly, then there's been plenty of fog on Capitol Hill about free and open source software (FOSS) for a decade now. In the beginning, most big software companies were a'gin it, ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/10/20/its-time-for-obama-to-come-out-for-foss/ Two weeks ago, I wrote an analysis of the governance structure of the CodePlex Foundation, a new open source-focused foundation launched by Microsoft. My opinion, as expressed in that piece, was that significant changes (which I outlined) would need to be made to the Foundation before it would be ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/09/30/further-reflections-on-the-codeplex-foundation-the-glass-half-full/ Well, it’s been a busy week in Lake Wobegon, hasn’t it? First, the Wall Street Journal broke the story that Microsoft had unwittingly sold 22 patents, not to the Allied Security Trust (which might have resold them to patent trolls), but to the Open Inventions Network (which might someday ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/09/14/the-codeplex-foundation-first-impressions-and-recommendations/ Steve Jobs is a genius of design and marketing, but his track record on calling the right balance between utilizing proprietary arts and public resources (like open source and open standards) is more questionable. Two news items caught my eye today that illustrate the delicacy of making choices involving ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/08/31/open-vs-closed-the-iphones-future-or-folly/ Modern society harbors many bad habits. One is its penchant for enthusiastically embracing the benefits of new technologies before considering their less desirable side effects. Whether we look at the development of automobiles (first) and safety features (much later), or industrialization (first) and environmental protection (much, much later), the story ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/08/28/technologys-reach-and-securitys-grasp/ Mea Culpa. I am uncharacteristically late in commenting on the XML Wars of August, 2009, which have already received so much attention in the press and in the blogs of the technology world.  The wars to which I refer, of course, broke out with the announcement early in the month ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/08/21/so-what-about-those-xml-patents-anyway/ Cybersecurity is an increasingly frequent topic in the news, and this week brought word of the indictment of someone who must be the leading contender for the title, Master Cybercriminal of All Time (Payment Card Fraud Division): Albert Gonzalez. More recent press reports point to additional conspirators who ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/08/20/how-safe-is-your-creditdebit-card/ Last week, Microsoft and the EU each announced that they had reached a proposed settlement of the various anticompetition law violation claims that had been brought against Microsoft by the EC. If you've been reading the reams of articles that have been written since then, you may have noticed ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/07/27/parsing-the-microsoft-eu-interoperability-commitment/ I'm pleased to report this morning on the formation of a new advocacy group for the use of free and open source software in the U.S. Government. The Linux Foundation is a founding member, and Jim Zemlin and I have been asked to serve on its Board of Advisors, ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/07/22/a-new-voice-for-open-source-in-government/ The dominance of Microsoft's Office in the marketplace would be logical (if frustrating, to those that think that competition breeds better products), if it was simply a matter of developer seats. After all, Microsoft deployed hundreds, and then thousands of engineers to develop and evolve its flagship app over ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/07/06/software-smackdown-softmaker-comes-out-on-top/ Why did perennial litigant Rambus, Inc. settle with the European Commission? Certainly the most watched standards-related legal conflict of the decade involves the participation of memory technology vendor Rambus, Inc. in a working group hosted by standards developer Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) in the early 1990s. The fame ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/06/22/the-ec-settlement-rambus-writs-and-the-rule-of-law/ I am a avid, lifelong, read of newspapers in general, and of the New York Times in particular. And I'm a staunch believer in the essential role of an independent press in a modern democracy. I’m also the owner of a Web site that serves over a million ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/05/21/googling-to-newspaper-solvency/ Before Linux.com went dark late last year, it was one of the most visited open source news aggregation and discussion sites. As you may recall, word got this March that the Linux Foundation had taken Linux.com over, and was committed to making it bigger, better and richer than before. ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/05/14/linuxcom-goes-live-for-the-community-and-by-the-community/ Any old standards hand forced to choose the single most disputed issue in standard setting over the past decade would likely respond with a deceivingly simple question: "What does it mean to be an 'open standard?'" A similar debate rages in the open source community between those that believe that ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/04/08/how-open-a-platform-does-open-government-need/ It's said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but I guess being the kind of organization that people love to leak news about might be the next. That seems to be the case with the Linux Foundation, which for the second time in a matter of weeks ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/04/02/linux-foundation-takes-over-stewardship-of-intels-moblin-os/ It would be an understatement to say that Microsoft's patent suit against Dutch GPS vendor company TomTom has been closely watched. Why? Because Microsoft alleges that several of the patents at issue are infringed by TomTom's implementation of the Linux kernel. In this first month of the ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/03/20/strikecounterstrike-tomtom-sues-microsoft/ Economic downturns have a tendency to accelerate emerging technologies, boost the adoption of effective solutions, and punish solutions that are not cost competitive or that are out of synch with industry trends. So begins a new white paper from research analyst IDC. History supports the logic of the statement, but ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/03/16/linux-usage-to-rise-its-an-ill-recession-wind-that-blows-no-one-good/ The headline act, if you will, was announced this morning for the third annual Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit, and it promises to be an interesting show: the Foundation's Jim Zemlin, Microsoft's Sam Ramji, and Sun's Ian Murdock, each giving their respective futures on the future of the operating system they ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/03/10/linuxwindowssolaris-who-owns-the-future-of-the-os/ The number of standard setting organizations (SSOs) from which specifications have been drawn to create Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are legion, due to the complex nature of these goal. Some of the standards utilized are generic, and common to any sophisticated Internet-enabled commercial system. Others are specific to science, but ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/02/22/view-from-the-ehr-trenches-an-interview-with-hl7s-chuck-jaffe/ Here in New England, where I practice law and have been representing startups for thirty years, we have a mixed blessing. On the plus side, we have great universities, like MIT and Harvard, with professors and students that come up with great inventions that new companies can be formed ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/02/08/raising-venture-capital-and-other-risk-factors/ The following is the text of the Editorial from the latest issue of my eJournal, Standards Today. You can find the complete issue here, and receive a free subscription here. On January 20, a new show opened in Washington D.C. After eight years under one administration, ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/02/04/getting-electronic-health-record-standards-right/ When I was much younger, still in school, I was fortunate enough to receive a ticket to a Presidential inauguration. It was a good ticket, allowing me to stand not a hundred yards from the podium where the new president would stand as first he was sworn in, and ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/01/20/inauguration-day-january-20-2009/ Vietnam will ring in the Tet New Year on January 26 this year, and 2009 will be the Year of the Buffalo. And for government servers, it appears that it will be the year of a few other animals as well, including the GNU and the Firefox. This, according ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2009/01/08/vietnam-starts-new-year-with-open-source/ Yesterday I filed a pro bono amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief with the United States Supreme Court in support of the Federal Trade Commission's petition for writ of certiorari in its suit against Rambus Technologies. I'm pleased to report that 19 standard setting organizations (SSOs) - including ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/12/24/19-standards-orgs-including-lf-support-rambus-brief/ If you haven't already heard the news, long-term kernel developer and pillar of the open source community Ted Ts'o has been named the new Chief Technology Officer of the Linux Foundation. Ted is a great choice for a variety of reasons, one of which is that few people have ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/12/20/congratulations-ted-as-the-linux-foundations-new-cto/ If you've ever wondered whether there is a SCO case for open standards, many people would say that the answer is "yes." And the stand in for SCO that they would pick is a company called Rambus incorporated. Long time readers will recall that perhaps the most high-profile (and high ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/12/15/rambus-redux-the-ftc-tries-one-last-time-and-so-do-i/ The goals of the Obama administration are in tune with — but in some technical respects, ahead of — the technological times. Unless certain standards-related dependencies are promptly addressed, the timely achievement of the president-elect's innovation and technology policy will be jeopardized. Unfortunately, the government does not have the historical ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/12/07/10-standards-recommendations-for-the-obama-administration/ Open source projects lean toward meritocracies, rather than democracies. As a result, some voices and votes in open source projects mean a lot more than others, and nobody pretends otherwise. Democracies, on the other hand, claim that everyone's vote should be equal. But is that really the ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/12/02/45/ Although much of the brouhaha of the OOXML adoption process has abated, the post-partum process of reviewing how SC 34 gave birth to IS 29500 continues. SC 34 is the committee in ISO/IEC that adopted both ODF and OOXML. SC 34 continues to hold meetings in which a ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/11/23/looking-back-on-ooxml-sc-34-recommends-iso-reforms/ If you hail from one of the hot beds of high tech - Silicon Valley, say, or (in my case) the Route 128/495 area of Massachusetts, you've doubtless heard the phrase "serial entrepreneur." What those words describe is someone who has started several companies, and the phrase, when used, ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/11/03/innovation-past-and-future-what-price-venture-capital/ How do you measure the value of free and open source software (FOSS)? That's a puzzler, because it's, well, free. Moreover, a popular distribution like Linux can incorporate the contributions of thousands of individuals working remotely from around the world. That means that there are almost no associated overhead costs ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/10/25/avoided-costs-and-competitive-benefits-estimating-the-value-of-linux/ Note: Nominations for the awards noted below will close on October 8, so please act now I almost missed this story, until I caught a link to it at Bob Sutor's blog. As I was about to do the same and simply add a link to it to my ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/10/08/odf-alliance-awards-do-you-know-an-odf-hero/ Although most of the thunder of the OOXML adoption battle has now died away, the after effects of that controversial process continue to linger. Some of the residual effects have been intangible, such as hard feelings on the part of at least four National Bodies over their inability to ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/09/23/ibms-new-itstandards-policy-and-a-call-for-wider-reform/ In the latest twist in the OOXML - ODF document format story, ISO and IEC, two of the most venerable standards organizations in the world, have been dealt a slap by government IT agencies in six countries. In a public statement, the agencies deplore the refusal of ISO and ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/09/01/six-nations-just-say-no-to-isoiec/ ISO and IEC have announced the rejection of the four appeals submitted by the National Bodies of Brazil, India, South Africa and Venezuela, as earlier recommended by the Secretaries General of each of the two standards organizations. to their respective management boards not to give the appeals further consideration. ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/08/15/isoiec-reject-ooxml-appeals-paving-way-to-publication/ Today those who believe in free content and free and open source software won a major victory in court. The underlying facts, and counsel, were hardly major figures on the commercial landscape: the open source software at issue had been developed for model train buffs under an infrequently used ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/08/13/a-big-day-in-court-for-the-foss-community/ The latest edition of Linux World ground to a halt in San Francisco today. I made it into town just last night for a VIP party hosted by the Linux Foundation where I caught up with lots of the true believer friends (developers, journalists and corporate supporters), and for ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/08/08/linux-world-2008streets-of-san-francisco/ Ever since Steve Jobs addressed the adoring crowds at this year's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, the press, Apple fans - and most especially, Apple investors - have been concerned over the state of his health. The reasons are obvious: Five years ago, Jobs announced that he had been diagnosed, ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/07/26/putting-the-sneer-before-the-scoop-joe-nocera-and-steve-jobs/ Back in December of last year, Google posted a brief announcement of a new experiment in online publishing. At first blush it seemed to represent a challenge to the Wikipedia - but with a few differences. Google summarized the concept as follows: Earlier this week, we started inviting a ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/07/25/whither-the-knol-google-takes-a-new-experiment-live/ Long time followers of the ODF-OOXML story will recall that there is a third editable, XML-based document format in the race to create the documentary record of history. That contender is called UOF - for Uniform Office Format, and it has been under development in China since 2002. ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/07/21/dont-forget-uof-here-comes-eioffice-2009/ Although I'm a little late doing so, I'd like to add my voice to Amanda McPherson's in welcoming Brian Proffitt to the Linux Foundation. Amanda is the Linux Foundation's Vice President, Marketing and Developer Programs, and posted the official welcome on Thursday at the Linux Foundation Web site here. As ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/07/19/welcoming-brian-proffitt-and-looking-forward-to-the-ldn/ Last night someone sent me a copy of a document delivered by the CEOs of ISO and IEC earlier that day to the ISO Technical Management Board (TMB). That documents summarizes the four appeals filed in relation to the adoption of DIS 29500 (OOXML), and provides a response ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/07/09/iso-tmb-recommends-rejection-of-ooxml-appeals/ Microsoft has made many acquisitions for many reasons over its history - 122 to date, according to the list maintained at the Wikipedia. Almost 100 of these have been consummated in the last decade, as the company that triumphed in operating system and office productivity software has sought (often ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/07/08/post-gates-microsoft-competition-and-the-semantic-web/ Regular readers will notice that I've been woefully silent the last few weeks, at first due to having too many irons in the fire, and for the last ten days due to being on a family vacation abroad, returning not till July 2. As a result, I've been not ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/06/26/how-ignorant-of-standards-was-microsoft-really/ On Thursday I reported that Brazil had filed an appeal of the ISO/IEC JTC 1 approval of Microsoft's OOXML specification, including the text of that appeal, with it's many charges of irregularities. The Brazil appeal followed on the heals of the earlier appeal by SABS, the National Body of ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/05/31/make-that-three-india-appeals-ooxml-approval/ OpenDocument and OOXMLMicrosoft today announced that it would update Office 2007 to natively support ODF 1.1, but not to implement its own OOXML format. Moreover, it would also join both the OASIS working group as well as the ISO/IEC JTC1 working group that has control of the ISO/IEC version ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/05/21/microsoft-office-2007-to-support-odf-but-not-ooxml/ On Wednesday, I introduced The Hague Declaration to those that visit this blog, promising to write again shortly to introduce the new organization that created the Declaration. That organization is called the Digital Standards Organization (Digistan, for short), and I'm pleased to say that I am one of its ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/05/20/please-welcome-digistan/ When one thinks of international human rights, one thinks of The Hague - home of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, and the situs of an increasing number of Tribunals chartered to redress the assaults on human dignity that inexcusably continue to plague this planet. ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/05/13/announcing-the-hague-declaration/ The one great principle of the English law is, to make business for itself. There is no other principle distinctly, certainly, and consistently maintained through all its narrow turnings. Charles Dickens, Bleak House According to John the Apostle, the poor will be always with us. So too, it seems, ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/04/26/rambus-ruling-overturned-a-legal-dispute-of-dickensian-proportions-lurches-on/ It is with an eerie, but rejuvenating, sense of deja vu that I just received word of what may be the first public demonstration in support of open standards. And what could be more of a ratification of the concept of Civil ICT Standards than the news that ordinary ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/04/08/standards-to-the-people/ There was a time, not that long ago, when most standards were set in a largely collegial atmosphere by career professionals who met in face to face meetings over a period of years. Along the way, they came to know each other as individuals, and established relationships that helped ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/04/06/vendor-escalation-process-politicalization-and-what-needs-to-happen-next/ In his later years, the American Jazz Age author F. Scott Fitzgerald ruefully observed that "There are no second acts in American Lives." That now-famous verdict was based upon the personal experience of the once celebrated author, by then a self-described "Hollywood Hack," reduced to writing B Movie scripts for ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/03/09/steve-jobs-endangered-second-act/ This rather long essay is in one sense a reply to the open letter recently released by Patrick Durusau, in which he suggested that it was time to acknowledge progress made and adopt OOXML. But it is also an explanation of why I have for the first time in ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/02/24/why-the-ooxml-vote-still-matters-a-proposal-to-recognize-the-need-for-%e2%80%9ccivil-ict-standards%e2%80%9d/ If you've always been itching to launch a startup but just couldn't come up with a killer idea, well, your ship is about to come in. No, it won't be quite as good as the Internet Bubble years, when any fool could raise a few million (hell, $30 or ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/02/17/going-mobile-the-year-of-the-oss-smart-phone-startup/ OpenDocument and OOXMLThe Wall Street Journal reported this morning that EU regulators have announced a third investigation into Microsoft's conduct on the desktop. This latest action demonstrates that while the EU has settled the case against Microsoft that ran for almost a decade, it remains as suspicious as ever ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/02/08/eu-initiates-investigation-against-microsoft-ooxml-push/ The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced the most important resolution of a standards-related enforcement action since Rambus, and possibly since its landmark settlement with Dell Computer in 1995. At issue was whether a licensing promise made by a patent-owning participant in a standards development process is binding upon ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/01/31/ftc-announces-landmark-settlement-with-patent-troll/ OpenDocument and OOXML Regulators in the EU announced on Monday that they are opening two new investigations against Microsoft, this time focusing not on peripheral functionalities like media players, but on the core of Microsoft's business: its operating and office suite software. The investigations are in response to a ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/01/15/eu-opens-two-new-investigations-against-microsoft-%e2%80%93-one-involving-ooxml/ This is the fifth chapter in a real-time eBook writing project I launched and explained in late November. Constructive comments, corrections and suggestions are welcome. All product names used below are registered trademarks of their vendors. Chapter 5: Open Standards One of the two articles of faith ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2008/01/07/12/ Back in March of 2006, I interviewed Alan Cote, the Supervisor of Public Records in the Public Records Division of the Massachusetts Secretary's office. Alan had testified back in October of 2005 in the hearing where Peter Quinn, the Massachusetts State CIO, had been called on the carpet to ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2007/12/28/as-go-document-formats-so-goes-video/ Or so, at least, Google would like you to conclude. Significant differences include single-author control (but the freedom for other authors to set up competing pages as well), bylines for page authors, reader ranking, and - oh yes - Google ads (authors interested in allowing ad placements would get ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2007/12/15/when-is-a-wikipedia-not-a-wikipedia-when-its-a-knol/ As the date for the February BRM (Ballot Resolution Meeting) on ISO/IEC JTC1 DIS 29500 (a/k/a Ecma 376, a/k/a Microsoft OOXML) approaches, more and more attention is being paid to how Ecma will propose the disposition of the comments submitted during the general voting period. This level of heightened ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2007/12/13/a-peek-behind-the-ecma-ooxml-curtain/ For some time I've been considering writing a book about what has become a standards war of truly epic proportions. I refer, of course, to the ongoing, ever expanding, still escalating conflict between ODF and OOXML, a battle that is playing out across five continents and in both the ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2007/12/11/odf-vs-ooxml-war-of-the-words-an-ebook-in-process/ Some twenty years ago, information technology vendors began opting out of the accredited standards system with increasing frequency in order to form organizations they called fora, alliances, and (most often) consortia. The reasons for the schism were several, but the development was remarkable in that the separatists presumed that standards ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2007/11/23/its-time-for-a-global-consortium-standards-organization/ Regular visitors to the LF site may recall that in late August we posted a statement urging eligible standards bodies around the world not to vote in favor of approving Microsoft’s OOXML document format standard for adoption by ISO/IEC JTC1, the global standards body that has approved many IT standards, ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2007/11/18/barack-obama-pledeges-support-for-open-document-formats/ Regular visitors to the LF site may recall that in late August we posted a statement urging eligible standards bodies around the world not to vote in favor of approving Microsoft's OOXML document format standard for adoption by ISO/IEC JTC1, the global standards body that has approved many IT standards, ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2007/11/09/putting-the-opendocument-foundation-to-bed-without-its-supper/ One of the enduring soap operas this year has involved the ongoing patent infringement threats by Microsoft against "Linux, OpenOffice, email, and other open source software." According to Microsoft, 235 of its (unnamed) patents are being infringed, and it should be entitled to be paid for this use of ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2007/11/03/giving-the-lie-to-patents-and-innovation/ Andy Updegrove That's the title of the press release we issued yesterday. Given the number of conferences that are being held on open source licensing issues all the time, you might understandably wonder why we feel it's necessary to have two more. In fact, there are some pretty good reasons, and ... http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/legal/2007/09/13/the-linux-foundation-announces-first-legal-summits/