CRAP lawyer sues Microsoft
p2p news / p2pnet: CRAP is IN.
It’s both smelly and life-threatening. But everyone who’s anyone in the corporate entertainment and software communities wants some so they can smear it on their customers.
CRAP is, of course, short for, "Cancellation, Restriction, and Punishment". DRM, in other words. And DRM, in turn, is an acronym for Digital Restrictions Management ‘copy protection’.
Although snake-oil companies such as SunnComm and Firs 4 Internet of Sony BMG rootkit scandal infamy are selling it, CRAP is a farce.
Anything which can be seen and/or heard can be copied by one means or another.
Texas IP lawyer Kenneth Nash sued Microsoft over its DRM activation program and lost when a judge in Houston ruled against him, says CNET News. So on Thursday, "he took his patent claim before a federal court here in hopes of a victory on appeal," says the story, going on:
"The dispute involves patent 6,449,645. It describes how to collect the unique ID – such as a serial number or activation key – assigned to each computer in an Internet database, preferably without the user’s knowledge, and checking for multiple copies of the same program running. That could let it flag two friends who were illegally running, say, a video game with the same activation key.
"If the software patent is found to be valid and to apply to Microsoft’s software, other companies could be at risk. Adobe Systems says it uses software activation technology that ‘uniquely’ identifies the computer and sends the information ‘to Adobe’s Web server.’ Symantec also uses product activation. And the patent is broader than just software; it also covers ‘digital music, digital movies, multimedia or the like’."
So-called "patent trolls" who never use a patent except in litigation, "have drawn fire from Congress and companies like Hewlett-Packard and Intel," CNET says.
"Last week’s narrowly averted shutdown of Research In Motion’s BlackBerry service has also spurred calls for patent reform."
A decision is expected later this year.
Also See:
smelly – Apple and its C.R.A.P, March 4, 2006
life-threatening – Is CRAP life threatening?, March 8, 2006
CNET News – Lawyer insists Microsoft infringed antipiracy patent, March 9, 2006
March 13th, 2006 at 9:07 pm
“collect the unique ID â such as a serial number or activation key – assigned to each computer in an Internet database, preferably without the user’s knowledge”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t “collecting data without the users knowlege” known as hacking, which is illegal?
No matter who wins this one the consumer is the loser.