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Torvalds plays pro bono lawyer to Linux community

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linus torvaldsLinux superstar Linus Torvalds generously gives free legal advice to ward off threats coming from Microsoft on patent infringement. He finds it ironic that a monopolist like Microsoft would run after smaller players over patents.

I think Microsoft really sees patents as a marketing thing and I think that for two reasons: … I don’t think Microsoft has ever sued anybody over patents. They have been sued by other people, but I don’t think they’ve … generally used patents as a weapon. But they’re perfectly happy to use anything at all as fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the marketplace. Patents are just one thing where they say, ‘Hey, isn’t this convenient? We can use this as a PR force.”

Well, the man has a point but his lack of legal expertise will not help in this situation. The rift between Microsoft and Linux started when both parties partnered to distribute Novell SUSE Linux and exchange know-how to promote interoperability. Unfortunately, the ambitious project led to patent disputes

Via InformationWeek

Originally posted on February 6, 2008 @ 6:55 am

2 men convicted for pornographic spamming business

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Two men have been sentenced to more than five years in prison for organizing and running an international pornographic spamming business that grossed over $1 million.

Jeffrey A. Kilbride, 41, of Venice, Calif., and James R. Schaffer, 41, of Paradise Valley, Ariz., were sentenced by U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell of the District of Arizona in a hearing that began on Sept. 24, 2007, and concluded yesterday. Kilbride was sentenced to 72 months in prison and Schaffer was sentenced to 63 months in prison.

Beginning in 2003, Kilbride and Schaffer established a spamming operation in the United States. Their business model consisted of sending millions of unsolicited email messages which advertised commercial Internet hard-core pornography Web sites.

Kilbride and Schaffer earned a commission for each person they caused to subscribe to one of these Web sites. Hard-core pornographic images were embedded in each email they sent and were visible to any person who opened the email.

In all, AOL and the FTC received over 1.5 million complaints from spam recipients. The evidence at trial established that the defendants falsified header information and domain names of the messages they sent by creating a fictitious employee at a shell corporation in the Republic of Mauritius, in order to hide their criminal conduct.

Originally posted on October 13, 2007 @ 1:15 pm

Lulu sues Hulu

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The big fuss on NBC’s chosen name for its much awaited YouTube rival, Hulu, has still not died down. And I don’t think it’s going to die down anytime soon.

Towards the end of August, CEO Jason Kilar, announced the launch of Hulu.com, after five months of being simply known as NBC’s “New Site”. Kilar did not do much explaining as to the origin of the name but simply stated in the site’s official release that they picked Hulu because it’s “short, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and rhymes with itself.” Furthermore, he said that “Hulu strikes us as an inherently fun name, one that captures the spirit of the service we’re building.”

A lot of us would have just let it pass and watch from the sidelines how Kilar’s team would pull it off. After all, Hulu.com is still in private beta and has not laid down its aces just yet. Then again, that was before we knew what “Hulu” means in different translations, and that in Swahili, it means “cease and desist”.

The raised eyebrows following the announcement of Hulu.com should have been warned them enough. Apparently, a small internet publishing firm called Lulu Enterprises took NBC’s naming Hulu an unfair play. Filing a trademark infringement lawsuit against Hulu, Lulu’s founder Bob Young complains that “widespread consumer confusion will occur and Lulu will be irreparably harmed.” Team Hulu declined to comment as of the moment.

Now, Lulu vs. Hulu is up on the courts while the rest of the web awaits. Is the Swahili translation of Hulu really prophetic? Is this the point where NBC decides to let Hulu “cease and desist” and rename this much-awaited online video venture?

Via NYTimes

Originally posted on September 10, 2007 @ 11:09 pm

Facebook founder faces accusations for stealing idea

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Facebook founder Mark ZuckerbergFacebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, 23, will face the court on Wednesday to defend a lawsuit that was originally filed in 2004, accusing him that he stole the Facebook idea from three fellow Harvard classmates.

Twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra, claimed to have been developing their own social networking site, ConnectU in 2003 when they decided to hire Zuckerberg to help them.

According to them, the accused deliberately slowed down the development of ConnectU while he developed a similar system which he eventually released three months ahead of ConnectU. Zuckerberg is said to have stolen their idea, source code, and business plan for Facebook. Needless to say, Facebook enjoyed greater attention and popularity than ConnectU.

The claimants are demanding for full control of Facebook and its assets, as well as damage fees. Zuckerberg, along with his two other co-founders, denies accusations and wants the issue over and done with.

Amidst these serious accusations are speculations that Facebook may be getting a £1 billion bid after Zuckerberg has turned down an offer worth £500 million. With the current lawsuits against the 23 year old owner of Facebook, a large sum of money, indeed, is at stake.

Originally posted on July 23, 2007 @ 2:22 am

Warner dismisses suit against Imeem

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Imeem, Warner MusicWarner Music Group dismisses copyright infrigement claims against Imeem, a social networking site that centers around music and other forms of media, and licenses its songs and music video as they continue to stream on the music network.

Alex Zubillaga, Warner Music’s executive VP of digital strategy and business development, said the deal “opens the door for imeem and WMG to develop new strategies and products that will help introduce a more vibrant media marketplace to the social networking environment.” Imeem has about 16 million users to date.

Warner sued Imeem in May for inviting users “to flock to its website to copy, adapt, distribute and perform unlicensed sound recordings and music videos.” Information concerning the financial aspect of the deal was not disclosed.

Originally posted on July 13, 2007 @ 5:45 am