Archive for: ip
Since the dawn of Napster, the topic of filesharing and p2p downloads have been an extremely hot topic. Focusing on the music industry, there are two major sides: (1) The major music labels and (2) End users/consumers. We already know each respective side’s stance — Major music labels hate new types of technology such as p2p, filesharing, and basically anything innovative and exciting. Consumers love to share. The former has constantly criticized the latter for doing just that. But as it turns out, irony can strike in the most surprising places.
The biggest example of this “irony” recently surfaced in the three year long EMI vs. MP3tunes lawsuit where the current defendant, MP3tunes owner Michael Robertson, somehow managed to obtain a bevy of secret EMI internal e-mails. The most alarming revelation in the emails — according to German website Heise.de, EMI was willingly and frequently using p2p/filesharing networks to illegally distribute MP3s…
Last month we reported that Apple was suing popular Mac accessory maker, HyperMac. In their legal filings, Apple cited copyright/IP infringement specifically on their MagSafe adapters as the reason for the gavel toss. At first, anger is the only thing that came to mind. I mean, how could Apple put a truly innovative company out of business? Especially since Apple themselves won’t produce any type of external battery like HyperMac? And then it came to light that HyperMac was in talks with Apple to license their technology a bit more legally this time so that the 3rd party battery love fest could continue.
And continue it has. Sort of. HyperMac announced today that they will be re-branding themselves to “HyperJuice” in accordance with Apple’s lawsuit and licensing regulations. Hopefully a deal can be worked out so we can get these extremely useful batteries back on the market once again. Speaking of which, HyperMac batteries will officially go offline tonight at midnight. So if there was any lingering desire in your soul to get a HyperMac, now is the time.
Looking for a new host to provide your website with hosting service? Avoid BurstNet like the plague. BurstNet is the hosting company that hosts did host Blogetery. Blogetery was a collection of WordPress sites, covering some 73,000+ separate entities. Apparently, something ran against the law as BurstNet is citing “law enforcement requests” as the reason the Blogetery was taken down. If that isn’t a knee jerk reaction, I don’t know what is. I don’t care how bad a website is or the content they cater to, instantly shutting down 73,000+ sites because of a few bad ones (the word is that it’s copyright/IP infringement related) is a gross over reaction.
I know if I were a legitimate Blogetery customer, having my site knocked out with no explanation as to why or a time frame on when it would be back up would end my relationship with them immediately. Adding insult to injury, BurstNet is claiming they’re sworn to secrecy and that the data from the downed sites cannot be retrieved. One vital piece of information that’s lost — the Blogetery owner’s contact information, which I’m sure some 73,000 site owners are probably looking for right now.
There really is no excuse to go to such great lengths over IP/copyright infringement claims. If the content is really so bad, why not blacklist/shutdown/delete the infringing sites’ accounts? Why take down 73,000+? If this is what we can expect from the U.S. government’s new tougher stance on IP infringement and digital laws in general, the future does not look bright. It appears due process is utterly useless now. If this does turn out to be IP/copyright related, we can all assume that since the “fight against piracy” is utter bullshit, the government is simply resorting to shutting down the entire internet small bits at a time.
Stay tuned…
In this day and age, it’s becoming an increasingly common trait to misuse and confuse copyright law in the digital age. The simple matter of it is, you cannot place rules, business models, or regulations that were designed decades ago for physical goods on digital ones today. But alas, it is what it is. With that, we end up where we are today — Microsoft apparently realizing Android is a growing threat and instead of actually keeping their head down and putting all of their resources into Windows Phone 7, are looking to go down the legal route with Android.
If you can’t beat ‘em, sue ‘em…
As time moves along, it’s becoming more and more apparent that the little guy/end user is having more and more of their rights and freedoms taken away. For today’s depressing example, we’ll look at Sony and their continual effort to fuck over PS3 users.
Follow me inside for the joyous news…
You know, the audacity of the RIAA/MPAA astounds me. Not only do they lie about their general purpose in life, but they constantly push their personal profit seeking ways harder and further with each passing year. If you think the whole censorship/web monitoring thing in China is bad, the RIAA/MPAA’s new plans submitted to the Office of Intellectual Property Enforcement are enough to scare anyone. Have a look for yourself, here’s what those bastards want:
For those who care (and you all should) ACTA, or, the “Anti-Counterfeiting and Trade Agreement” treaty has been leaked from start to finish online. All 56 pages are ready and waiting for your prying eyes to delve deep into the twisted grammatical concoctions. Just in case “the cave” has been your house for the last few months, ACTA is an all encompassing bill of sorts that will bring about some pretty monumental changes to the online world. Namely, IP infringement and network policing are two of the bigger items.
Of course, this whole “leak” wouldn’t be all that important in the news if the committees and governments drafting this legislation actually adhered to previous promises of “openness” and “transparency”. Both of which all parties involved have lacked up until this point, even going as far as threatening in various forms those who do try to share any information.
From the beginning, I as well as countless others have been highly against the secretive approach that’s been taken. If a bill is going to affect so many people in pretty profound ways, there is absolutely no reason it should be kept a secret. Corporate lobbying at it’s best I’m afraid. Now it’s our turn.
I haven’t read through it all yet, but will spend a good deal of the latter of the day doing just that. Go ahead and let me know anything interesting you find!
- Check out ACTA from start to finish here.
Update 2: Well well well. Looks like at least part of the ruffled feathers are centered around Android. How specific does it get? We’ll shall see…
Update: It seems HTC wasn’t enough aware of the filings yet, they only learned of the suit from Engadget’s post and Apple’s press release, They haven’t even been served yet. Here is what HTC sent in to Engadget:
“We only learned of Apple’s actions based on your stories and Apple’s press release. We have not been served yet so we are in no position to comment on the claims. We respect and value patent rights but we are committed to defending our own innovations. We have been innovating and patenting our own technology for 13 years.”
Apple has reportedly submitted over 700 pages to the courts, head over to Engadget to read the entire story.
Who loves a good lawsuit? Well get ready because this one involves two heavyweights: Apple and HTC. Apple of course makes the iPhone. A mobile device that has stirred up quite a bit of innovation over the last few years in the mobile realm. And then you have HTC who has done some equally impressive things with their own hardware/software. Apparently HTC has been doing a little too much in the way of “borrowing” ideas from Apple as the Cupertino giant is taking them to court for infringing on no less than 20 of their patents. Jobs himself had this to say:
“We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”
I’m all for protecting what’s yours and common sense forms of intellectual property. But more often than not, companies simply sue the competition to keep them from legitimately competing. I mean, cut through the BS — how many different ways can you really design a phone to read inputs from a finger sliding across some glass? Once the dirty details of the lawsuit are made public, we’ll be better able to judge if Apple has some actual footing here or if it’s another example of how broken our patent/IP system/mindset is in this country.
Apple thinks they own the whole idea of a basic touchscreen phone that can access the internet. Only problem is, such an idea is entirely too vague to actually enforce. Besides, need we be reminded the whole point of patents and copyrights is to promote the advancement of technology. If we have companies suing each other with overly vague patents, nothing is gained except the prosecuting companies’ pockets. It’s all about money and power unfortunately.
Who’s side are you on?
Engadget Mobile
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- December 22, 2009 3:25 pm
Fighting a losing battle and getting stuck in a vicious black hole of denial seems to be the name of the game for Microsoft. A month or so back Microsoft found a fresh lawsuit on their doorstep compliments of i4i. The infringing code revolved around Microsoft’s use of protected algorithms dealing with the handling of .xml, .docx, and .docm files in Microsoft Office — more specifically Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007. Not surprisingly Microsoft appealed — and they lost, with the court ordered Office ban going into effect as originally planned on January 11th.
Microsoft does have a couple more options. A second appeal is all but certain. After a likely second (third if you count the original lawsuit) failure, Microsoft can always just shut up and pay up. I can understand wanting to protect your pride and fighting for your beliefs, but after losing twice in court, I’d seriously take a look at how much the lawyers are costing the company as well as what any settlement cost would be.
And companies wonder where their money goes…
Engadget > WSJ
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