TripleDeb - Slashdot User

Comment Luis Villa's thoughtful response (Score 4, Informative) 232

by TripleDeb on Monday June 28, 2010 @12:35PM (#32717870) Attached to: Supreme Court Throws Out Bilski Patent

Is also worth reading. Basically, while this is not a hands down win for opponents of software (or business method) patents, the upholding of the older cases (Flook, Diehr, etc.) could give some guidance on future cases that may help them rule out abstract ideas and algorithms. Villa also talks a bit about how the lower courts may see this and how he thinks they may be handling future patent cases.

Supreme Court Throws Out Bilski Patent 232

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 28, 2010 @11:40AM from the well-isn't-that-special dept.

ciaran_o_riordan writes "The US Supreme Court has finally decided the Bilski case (PDF). We've known that Bilski's patent would get thrown out; that was clear from the open mockery from the judges during last November's hearing. The big question is, since rejecting a particular patent requires providing a general test and explaining why this patent fails that test, how broad will their test be? Will it try to kill the plague of software patents? And is their test designed well enough to stand up to the army of patent lawyers who'll be making a science (and a career) of minimizing and circumventing it? The judges have created a new test, so this will take some reading before any degree of victory can be declared. The important part is pages 5-16 of the PDF, which is the majority opinion. The End Software Patents campaign is already analyzing the decision, and collecting other analyses. Some background is available at Late-comers guide: What is Bilski anyway?" More analysis of the decision is available at Patently-O.

Submission + - Where Will Your Next Gadget Be Made In? (yahoo.com) 2

Submitted by hackingbear on Monday June 07, 2010 @11:53AM

hackingbear writes: The New York Times warned the possibility of an inflation, not from our skyrocketing government debt but skyrocketing cost of doing business in China. Coastal factories are raising salaries, local governments are hiking minimum wage standards and if China allows its currency, the renminbi, to appreciate against the U.S. dollar later this year, the cost of manufacturing in China will almost certainly rise. [The report missed the biggest cost factors in China — electric and water utility costs.] “For a long time, China has been the anchor of global disinflation,” said Dong Tao, an economist at Credit Suisse. “But this may be the beginning of the end of an era.” The shift was dramatized Sunday, when Foxconn, the maker of the iPhone and everything else, said that within three months it would double (rather than the rumored 20%) the salaries of many of its assembly line workers. And last week, the Japanese auto maker Honda said it had agreed to give about 1,900 workers at one of its plants in southern China raises of between 24 percent and 32 percent in the hopes of ending a two week-long strike, according to people briefed on the agreement. [However, while big and famous manufactures, like those in the US and Europe, may worry about their PR images and give in to labor demands, it is unclear thousands of smaller ones would follow. And given the millions of workers waiting for work from India to Vietnam, the only thing changed, if any, may be the Made in China label of your gadgets. ]

Submission + - Venture capitalists lobby against software patents (feld.com)

Submitted by ciaran_o_riordan on Monday June 07, 2010 @09:12AM

ciaran_o_riordan writes: No matter which side the US Supreme Court's Bilski decision pleases, it will be just the beginning of the software patent debate in the USA — the other side will start a legislative battle. The lobbying has already begun with venture capitalist Brad Feld arguing against software patents, mailing a copy of Patent Absurdity to 200 patent policy setters. As Feld puts it, "Specifically, I'm hoping the film will bring you to an understanding of why patents on software are a massive tax on and retardant of innovation in the US." The patent lawyers and big patent holders often tell us that patents are needed to secure investment, so it's interesting to see now that venture capitalists are refuting that. And Brad Feld's not the only vocal one, there's a growing list.

FSF Asks Apple To Comply With the GPL For Clone of GNU Go 482

Posted by timothy on Wednesday May 26, 2010 @04:04PM from the y'know-fellas-the-license dept.

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "The Free Software Foundation has discovered that an application currently distributed in Apple's App Store is a port of GNU Go. This makes it a GPL violation, because Apple controls distribution of all such programs through the iTunes Store Terms of Service, which is incompatible with section 6 of the GPLv2. It's an unusual enforcement action, though, because they don't want Apple to just make the app disappear, they want Apple to grant its users the full freedoms offered by the GPL. Accordingly, they haven't sued or sent any legal threats and are instead in talks with Apple about how they can offer their users the GPLed software legally, which is difficult because it's not possible to grant users all the freedoms they're entitled to and still comply with Apple's restrictive licensing terms."

Harald Welte Calls Out Netgear's Open Source Sham 199

Posted by timothy on Thursday October 08, 2009 @02:42PM from the they're-workin'-on-it dept.

Simon80 writes "Harald Welte, known for his involvement in various open source communities, has pointed out the shortcomings of Netgear's open source router hype. Netgear's own astroturfed community site reveals that the router requires the use of binary-only kernel modules for the wireless and ethernet hardware, which is supplied by Broadcom. Also worth noting are the missing features in third-party firmware versions supplied by Netgear."

Photoshop Disaster Draws DMCA Notice For Boing Boing 391

Posted by timothy on Thursday October 08, 2009 @01:58PM from the need-to-fatten-that-one-a-bit dept.

Pickens writes: "Cory Doctorow writes that Ralph Lauren issued a DMCA takedown notice after Boing Boing republished the Photoshop disaster contained in a Ralph Lauren advertisement in which a model's proportions appear to have been altered to give her an impossibly skinny body with the model's head larger than her pelvis. Doctorow says that one of the things that makes their ISP Priority Colo so awesome is that they don't automatically act on DMCA takedowns and proceeded to dare Lauren to sue. 'This is classic fair use: a reproduction "for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting," etc,' writes Doctorow. 'Copyright law doesn't give you the right to threaten your critics for pointing out the problems with your offerings.' Doctorow adds that every time Lauren threatens to sue he will 'reproduce the original criticism, making damned sure that all our readers get a good, long look at it,' 'publish your spurious legal threat along with copious mockery,' and 'offer nourishing soup and sandwiches to your models.'"

Working With Ogg Theora and the Video Tag 187

Posted by samzenpus on Saturday August 22, 2009 @01:13AM from the fighting-the-good-fight dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Free Software Foundation's Holmes Wilson is just back from Berlin, where he participated in the Ogg Theora book sprint put on by FLOSS Manuals. Here is a broad look at Ogg Theora and how it fits into the push for free formats: where we're winning, what works, and what could be improved."

FSF Settles Suit Against Cisco 194

Posted by timothy on Wednesday May 20, 2009 @04:06PM from the good-on-them dept.

Saint Aardvark writes "The Free Software Foundation has announced that they've settled their lawsuit with Cisco (reported earlier here). In the announcement, they say that Cisco has agreed to appoint a Free Software Director for Linksys, who will report periodically to the FSF; to notify Linksys customers of their rights; and to make a monetary donation to the FSF. An accompanying blog entry explains further: 'Whenever we talk about the work we do to handle violations, we say over and over again that getting compliance with the licenses is always our top priority. The reason this is so important is not only because it provides a goal for us to reach, but also because it gives us a clear guide to choosing our tactics. This is the first time we've had to go to court over a license violation.'"

Comment Re:Movies (Score 5, Funny) 395

by TripleDeb on Monday January 26, 2009 @03:21PM (#26610883) Attached to: Daemon

Your problem with Battlefield Earth was the technology?? That's like complaining that the horn's broken on a car with no wheels.

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