OIN buys Microsoft patents
Open Invention Network (OIN) is reportedly buying up a number of Linux-related patents that Microsoft sold the rights to earlier this year, states PC World.
The move allows OIN to retain legal rights to the patents and license them freely to the open source community, thereby ensuring that less-scrupulous buyers don't acquire them and initiate frivolous patent-infringement cases.
The open source community operates from a different point of view as it relates to intellectual property ownership and generally abhors the concept of patents.
Lawsuit tags nagware as spyware
A US lawsuit has alleged that Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), Microsoft's controversial anti-piracy software, is little better than spyware, according to The Register.
The lawsuit (which seeks class-action status) filed in the Washington district court last week, also cries foul over false advertising as well as allegations of privacy law violations.
More specifically, the suit alleges that the XP version of WGA was offered to users as a security update rather than as an anti-counterfeiting technology.
TiVo awarded another $200mn
TiVo has been awarded another $200 million in damages in its long-running patent infringement suit with EchoStar, bringing the total to over $400 million, reports Digital Trends.
The amount works out to about $2.25 per month per EchoStar DVR subscriber - although maybe EchoStar is counting itself lucky, since TiVo was seeking $1 billion in penalties.
EchoStar and Dish Networks are appealing the patent infringement decision, and are looking to have TiVo's patent declared invalid.
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