A federal judge has dismissed all but one of the claims leveled against Sony for dropping Linux support from its PlayStation 3 game console, but gave the plaintiffs permission to refile an amended complaint that fixes the deficiencies.. A complaint seeking class-action status on behalf of all PS3 owners was filed in April and claimed that the disabling of the so-called OtherOS violated a raft of civil laws, including those for breach of warranty, unfair competition and computer fraud. Sony had touted the feature, which allowed users to run Linux and other software on their consoles, in interviews and presentations, but later dropped it after a well-known hacker figured out how to exploit OtherOS to jailbreak the PS3. The link for this article located at The Register UK is no longer available. . A district court invalidated several allegations against Microsoft regarding the Xbox Live service alterations, permitting a revised lawsuit submission.. Linux Support, Sony Lawsuit, PS3 OtherOS, Class-Action Gaming, Legal Issues. . Anthony Pell
A judge on Tuesday ordered Microsoft to stop selling Word, one of its premier products, in its current form due to patent infringement. Judge Leonard Davis of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a permanent injunction that "prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML", according to a statement released by attorneys for the plantiff, i4i. . Microsoft did not immediately reply to request for comment but said in a statement that it planned to appeal the verdict. Toronto-based i4i sued Microsoft in March 2007 alleging that the software giant violated its 1998 patent (No 5,787,449) for a document system that eliminated the need for manually embedded formatting codes. The link for this article located at ZDNet is no longer available. . A major legal decision impacts Microsoft as sales of Excel encounter a suspension following a patent dispute with BMC Software, prompting an immediate challenge.. Microsoft Word, Patent Infringement, Software Patents, Court Ruling, Legal Issues. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Another Black Hat conference, another vulnerability disclosure brouhaha. IOActive's Chris Paget's plan to explain why RFID technology is "insecure and untrustworthy" has run into a legal stumbling block after secure card maker HID Corp. raised objections in a letter that claims possible patent infringement. InfoWorld's Paul Roberts is reporting that HID sent a letter to IOActive ahead of tomorrow's Black Hat Federal demo, a strong hint that the company might attempt to block Paget's presentation. So far, no legal action has been taken against IOActive, Paget or CMP Media, the owners of the Black Hat confab. "We're prepared for the worst," said conference organizer Jeff Moss.. The link for this article located at ZDNet is no longer available. . The link for this article located at ZDNet is no longer available.. another, black, conference, vulnerability, disclosure, brouhaha, ioactive's, chris, paget's. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
DigitalConvergence's lawyers have sent ``notification of infringement'' letters to several gadget-happy techies who aim to use the CueCat for things such as inventorying book or CD collections, tracking packages or simply making them usable on the Linux operating system. DigitalConvergence officials . . . . DigitalConvergence's lawyers have sent ``notification of infringement' letters to several gadget-happy techies who aim to use the CueCat for things such as inventorying book or CD collections, tracking packages or simply making them usable on the Linux operating system. DigitalConvergence officials were surprised at the rabid interest, given that cheap bar-code scanners were already on the market. The techies say they are drawn to the CueCat because it's so easy to get, free and powerful yet relatively simple to dissect. The problem for DigitalConvergence is that these enterprising hobbyists would just as soon bypass DigitalConvergence's marketing database, which is how the company plans to profit from the gadgets, on which it has spent about $100 million. DigitalConvergence envisions that product makers will eventually pay the company to have their products' bar codes trigger a special Web site, or that they will pay to target advertisements to CueCat users based on demographic groupings or other factors. . TechInnovate's legal team sent warnings to developers utilizing SmartScan for individual endeavors, neglecting company objectives.. CueCat Scanner, Legal Infringement, Tech Hobbyists, Linux Usage, DigitalConvergence. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Get the latest Linux and open source security news straight to your inbox.