[Ubuntu-PH] Fwd: [FLOSS WORLD EDUCATION] Microsoft, Linux Foundation issue joint letter opposi...

Wed May 20 12:34:58 UTC 2009

Comment requested folks....

Thanks

Roy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: yosif <queroph at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, May 20, 2009 at 8:31 PM
Subject: [FLOSS WORLD EDUCATION] Microsoft, Linux Foundation issue joint
letter opposi...
To: cpunion at googlegroups.com

Truth can, indeed, be stranger than fiction — as is evidenced by a May 14
letter on software-licensing policies that was signed by both Microsoft and
Linux Foundation officials.

The letter, which the two sent to to the American Law Institute (ALI), was
designed to “express our shared concerns with the group’s draft Principles
of the Law of Software
Contracts<http://microsoftontheissues.com/cs/blogs/mscorp/archive/2009/05/17/different-business-models-common-concerns.aspx>,”
according to a blog post by Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice
President and Deputy General Counsel.

(Yes, that same Horacio Gutierrez who is known for claiming free and
open-source software violated 235 of Microsoft’s
patents<http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=436>
.)

According to Gutierrez’s latest blog post, while Microsoft and the Linux
Foundation have been almost always on opposite sides of the
software-licensing fence, they both agree that the ALI Principles — designed
to provide guidance to judges and others charged with interpreting
software-licensing agreements — could do more harm than good. Gutierrez
blogged:

“While the Principles reflect a lot of hard work and thought by the ALI,
Microsoft and the Linux Foundation believe that certain provisions do not
reflect existing law and could disrupt the well-functioning software market
for businesses and consumers, as well as create uncertainty for software
developers.

“We have asked the ALI to allow more time for comment from interested
parties reflecting the wide range of software developers and users.”

The joint letter to the
ALI<http://microsoftontheissues.com/cs/files/folders/5090/download.aspx>specifically
highlights the policy body’s call for a non-disclaimable
“implied warranty of no material hidden defects” as being onerous to both
Microsoft and the Linux Foundation. (The Linux Foundation has been objecting
to this proposed implied warranty and its possible negative effect on free
and open-source software
<http://lawandlifesiliconvalley.com/blog/?p=56>since at least August
2008.) Microsoft and the Linux Foundation both are
advocating that by making this warranty disclaimable, vendors will be more
willing and able to offer customers their applications and services under a
variety of software-licensing models. (That’s my best attempt at explaining
this; I’m sure folks more conversant with legal language will be able to
chime in as to exactly what the pair want….)

*Update*: Linux Foundation chief Jim Zemlin explains the warranty issue in a
May 18 blog post this way: “The principles outlined by the ALI interfere
with the natural operation of open source licenses and commercial licenses
as well by creating implied warranties that could result in a tremendous
amount of unnecessary litigation, which would undermine the sharing of
technology.”

Raymond Nimmer, a professor at the University of Houston Law Center and
co-director of the Houston Intellectual Property and Information Law
Institute, wrote a strong critique of the ALI draft
principles<http://www.ipinfoblog.com/archives/licensing-law-issues-flawed-ali-software-contract-principles.html>,
where he also objected to the proposed implied warranty

Nimmer blogged on May 11: “(I)f the (implied warranty) ‘principle’ were
followed, the software industry would be subject to a rule that does not
apply to any other industry. Why discriminate against one of our few
burgeoning industries?”

The ALI’s annual meeting — where the final vote by memebers on the proposed
draft of the Principles<http://www.ali.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=meetings.annual_schedule09>is
expected — takes place this week.

--
Posted By yosif to FLOSS WORLD
EDUCATION<http://lamundofloss.blogspot.com/2009/05/microsoft-linux-foundation-issue-joint.html>at
5/20/2009 05:29:00 A
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-- 
Yosif Roque Santos Morales
====================
School Administrator
Asian Academy of Business and Computers
Educational Management Consultant
Professor, Sociology, Strategic Studies and Islamology
Ubuntulinux user
Linux machine # 365046.
https://sites.google.com/a/ympn.org/memltd/Home
http://lamundofloss.blogspot.com/
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http://strategicresearchinstitute.blogspot.com/
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