The U.S. Supreme Court's June decision against Grokster may need to be further defined in order to protect companies with no intention of breaking the law, according to at least one intellectual property attorney.

Case in point is Warner/Chappell's action against the Macintosh-based PearLyrics program, says Michael Graham, an intellectual property attorney and partner with Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP in Chicago.

Continue reading →

Following reports of overheating, Dell has issued a recall of batteries used in its Latitude, Precision and Inspiron notebook computers that were shipped between October 5 and 13 of this year. The recall includes 22,000 batteries shipped in the U.S. and another 13,000 distributed overseas.

Although it has heard of no injuries, Dell says the batteries, which were manufactured in China or Japan, could "pose a risk of fire." The company has setup a Web site for customers to find out if they are affected, and is providing a replacement order form and return information. "Batteries subject to recall should not be used while awaiting a replacement battery pack from Dell, it says."

Continue reading →

Five library associations voiced their support for the use of OpenDocument (ODF) in Massachusetts this week, sending a letter to William Galvin, the Commonwealth's Secretary of State. In it, the groups say the open source format is the best choice, as everyone has access to its specifications.

Secretary Galvin has publicly derided the plan, saying he has "grave concerns" about switching to OpenDocument from Microsoft Office. He also had been rumored to be pushing the various state agencies to decline to participate.

Continue reading →

Microsoft on Friday announced plans to acquire software and intellectual property from United Management Technologies, which it will integrate into the next revision of Office. UMT provides project and portfolio management software that already connects with Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management.

"With UMT's technology and portfolio framework, we will extend the Office EPM Solution to offer an end-to-end enterprise project and portfolio management solution," said Chris Capossela, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Information Worker Product Management Group. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Continue reading →

Google late Thursday rolled out Gmail Mobile, a miniaturized version of its popular Web mail service for cell phones and mobile devices. It automatically adjusts the interface depending on the size of the screen, and can even open attachments including Word documents, PDF files and pictures.

If a contact's phone number is in the Gmail address book, users can also reply to a message with a call. Gmail Mobile can be accessed free of charge by visiting m.gmail.com, but carrier data fees may apply. Google on Thursday also added two other features to Gmail: a vacation auto-responder and the ability to create contact groups.

Continue reading →

Cingular on Thursday detailed its plans for an upcoming 3G video service from the cellular carrier to be called Cingular Video. The new feature would allow for the on-demand streaming of video content, including clips from premium movie channel HBO.

Users would be able to personalize the service to their liking, which would also include news, sports, weather and entertainment clips. Those with compatible 3G phones could view the content over the carrier's new HSDPA network, announced on December 6.

Continue reading →

The Recording Industry Association of America refuses to give up its legal efforts to stem the illicit use of P2P networks for trading copyrighted material, filing suit against another 751 individuals, including college students. The John Doe suits serve as placeholders until the RIAA can discover the users' identities.

The RIAA also re-filed 105 lawsuits against former John Does, whose names have come out during industry's investigations and court proceedings. The latest round of filings brings the total number of cases above 17,000 and follows 693 lawsuits the RIAA announced in September. NPD Group reported yesterday that use of file sharing networks has dropped, although the survey's accuracy has been questioned.

Continue reading →

While America Online won't go as far as to say AOL Suite will replace the aging AOL 9.0 client, the company is preparing to distribute its new package of applications on CD as part of a beta test called "Topeka." AOL Suite will be the first software from the company to ship on CD aside from its namesake client.

Integrating AOL Explorer, Mail and AIM Triton, AOL Suite will serve as the company's next-generation interface for subscribers. The idea was to build software that is more in tune with current consumer behavior -- from broadband to multi-tasking -- while moving away from an all-in-one client experience.

Continue reading →

Scheduling software maker turned patent enforcer Forgent has announced an agreement with Yahoo in which the search engine will license the technology behind JPEG image compression. In exchange, Yahoo will be removed from litigation against companies Forgent claims are infringing on what it calls the '672 Patent.

Forgent obtained the patent through its 1997 purchase of Compression Labs. After unsuccessfully trying to sell its JPEG patent to Compaq, Forgent has switched its strategy to litigation -- a tactic that has proven successful. Forgent has sued 47 companies thus far and raked in more than $105 million in licensing fees from 50 others.

Continue reading →

The FCC will likely force Internet telephone, or VoIP, providers to contribute to the Universal Service Fund, a program that helps subsidize telecommunications services in high-cost regions of the country, and in schools and libraries.

The comments came from FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, who spoke Wednesday in Washington at a question and answer session hosted by Comptel, a group that represents communications service providers.

Continue reading →

Contempt of court proceedings against Kazaa owner Sharman Networks began Thursday in an Australian federal court in Sydney, with a judge suggesting that it would not be out of the realm of possibility that jail time could be doled out to Sharman executives.

The Australian music industry dragged Sharman back into court, accusing it of failing to follow a September 5 ruling that ordered it to prevent Australian users from committing piracy on its network. Sharman disagrees with that assessment, pointing to the fact that it was blocking users from the country through IP-filtering technology.

Continue reading →

UPDATED Just one day after it signed a licensing agreement with RIM rival NTP, wireless e-mail technology maker Visto announced on Thursday that it had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft. The suit claims that Windows Mobile 5.0 is a "blatant infringement" on Visto technology.

Microsoft told BetaNews Wednesday that while it could not comment on the suit as the company had not yet reviewed the complaint, it wished "to underscore that Microsoft stands behind its products and respects the intellectual property rights of others."

Continue reading →

Touting the success of it's new Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) process, Microsoft late Wednesday said Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP SP2 Professional and Embedded have secured the highest Common Criteria security certification from the United States government's National Information Assurance Partnership.

Four versions of Windows Server 2003 were certified, including Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition, Datacenter Edition and Windows Server 2003 Certificate Server. Both Windows 2000 Professional and Server editions previously achieved the same security rating, dubbed Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) 4.

Continue reading →

More changes are in store for Redmond as Microsoft plans to reorganize its entertainment division into four smaller groups to make it more competitive. Details of the split leaked out via an internal memo sent this week by Robbie Bach, head of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division.

Bach would control MSN Music after the split, and the group that handles relations with the entertainment industry -- previously under the Windows group -- would now be under his jurisdiction.

Continue reading →

Microsoft wants you to know that "Not For Resale" isn't just a recommendation. The Redmond company on Thursday announced that it had filed seven lawsuits against individuals who violated its Action Pack subscription agreement and three others against companies for pirating software.

The Microsoft Action Pack Subscriptions, or MAPS, offers a way for partners to obtain heavily discounted software from Microsoft. However, the software must only be used for internal testing and development, and may not be deployed on production systems or resold.

Continue reading →