Roy Mark

Will wikis help change how software is patented? The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) is about to find out with a plan to collect public comment on the Web for select software patent applications. Harnessing familiar social networking tools like community ratings, rankings and the processing of the data collected, combined with feedback from […]

Under pressure from governors and civil liberties groups, the Bush administration Thursday gave states another year and a half to comply with the REAL ID Act, the controversial 2005

U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) dropped some heavy-handed hints this week he might favor delaying the digital television (DTV) if over-the-air (OTA) viewers don’t get a bigger end of the digital stick. Speaking before the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), Dingell, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told the broadcasters he has […]

WASHINGTON — Tim Berners-Lee went to Congress today with a global view of the future of the Internet and was hit with a dose of here-and-now U.S. policy questions, including network neutrality, digital rights management (DRM) and Internet pornography. Berners-Lee, the widely acknowledged inventor of the hypertext-linked Web and the author of the first version […]

Two veteran fair-use advocates introduced legislation Tuesday to amend provisions in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that severely limits the ability to make copies of legally purchased content. The Freedom And Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship Act of 2007 (FAIR USE Act) introduced by Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and John Doolittle (R-Calif.) would allow consumers […]

In a new legal campaign launched today against illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is offering college and university students a chance to settle before they get sued. On behalf of the major music labels, the RIAA sent 400 “pre-litigation” settlement letters to 13 different colleges and universities. Each […]

Though a San Diego jury stunned Microsoft with a staggering, record-breaking $1.52 billion judgment Thursday for infringing Alcatel-Lucent’s MP3 patents, Redmond won’t be writing a check anytime soon. If ever. The software giant plans to fight the judgment, and it will begin by asking the presiding judge to strike down the verdict or, at least, […]

Analysis: The Supreme Court this week had a chance to dig deeper into the issue of software patents as it resided over oral arguments in the patent case between Microsoft and AT&T. The companies went before the high court with a relatively straightforward dispute: Is Microsoft violating U.S. patent law by sending master copies of […]

Proposed legislation in Massachusetts would make retailers financially responsible for breaches of their databases that lead to consumer identity theft. Under a bill introduced by Rep. Michael Costello, Massachusetts would become the first state to move beyond consumer notification requirements of data breaches to make all commercial entities that keep consumer information bear the costs […]

Microsoft  made its first ever appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court today, arguing copies of Windows shipped abroad should not be subject to U.S. infringement laws. Despite years of litigation over matters large and small, no Microsoft case had made it to the Supreme Court before Redmond decided to appeal lower court decisions holding the […]

In August of 2005, Consumerinfo.com paid a $950,000 fine to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for deceptive advertising practices. The company, doing business as Experian Consumer Direct, Wednesday agreed to another $300,000 FTC settlement for failing to mend its ways. According to the FTC, Consumerinfo.com advertised “free credit reports” to consumers but failed to adequately […]

It took three years of legal wrangling with Australia, but the U.S. government finally got their man Tuesday. Hew Raymond Griffiths, an alleged warez kingpin, appeared in a U.S. district court and was charged with conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and criminal copyright infringement. If convicted on both counts, Griffiths could receive a maximum […]