Jul 29, 2002 | audio, DRM, file_sharing, law
The entertainment industry has so far proven to be completely paralyzed by new consumer technology, unable or unwilling to come up with ways to do business that take changing consumer desires and expectations into account. Instead, it’s been enriching legions of...
Jul 25, 2002 | law, photos
Here’s more information about Forgent’s claim that it has a patent on the .JPEG file format (see below). It’s not the first time that a company has waited until some technology has become ubiquitous and then popped up with a demand for royalties. The .GIF format went...
Jul 25, 2002 | audio, DRM, file_sharing, law
Congress is about to consider an entertainment industry proposal that would authorize copyright holders to disable your PC if you run a file sharing program. Later this week, Rep. Howard Berman, (a California Democrat whose district includes Hollywood) will introduce...
Jul 18, 2002 | law, photos
This is fun. Forgent Networks, Inc., is attempting to ambush the digital imaging industry by claiming that it owns the software patent on JPEG compression technology. Forgent says it is “in contact” with computer, software, camera, and other digital imaging product...
Jul 1, 2002 | law, Microsoft
Here’s one of those things that might be trivial, or it might be enormously significant. There’s no way to be sure – but this is not a time when I have a very high opinion of the decisions made for us by big businesses. Microsoft included language in the license...
Jun 26, 2002 | audio, DRM, file_sharing, law
Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., whose district includes part of Hollywood, is preparing a bill that would let copyright owners, such as record labels or movie studios, hack into your computer or effectively disable your Internet connection if you use a file-sharing...
