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Apple to Lodsys: ‘App makers are protected by [our] license’
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A little more than a week after iOS developers were threatened with legal action by a company that holds various patents, Apple’s legal department has struck back.
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The crux of Apple’s letter, from senior vice president and general counsel Bruce Sewell, is right in its opening paragraph, which reads in part: “Apple is undisputedly licensed to these patents and the Apple App Makers are protected by that license. There is no basis for Lodsys’ infringement allegations against Apple’s App Makers. In addition to stating that Apple would share the letter with developers—which it has—the company also says that it “is fully prepared to defend Apple’s license rights.”
Cisco sued for helping China build Golden Shield
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Members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement have filed a lawsuit against Cisco Systems Inc. accusing it of supplying the Chinese government with computer-networking equipment used to spy on and persecute dissidents.
Android Market’s new movie rental service blocked from rooted devices
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We can’t make this up people. According to Google, who gets to make the rules since it’s their service, rooted devices are not supported by the Android Markets new movie rental service“due to requirements related to copyright protection”. You’ll even see a specific error message when you attempt to try — “Failed to fetch license for [movie title] (error 49)”.
So now people who root their phones, whether to get rid of the crap “open” that’s forced down their throats, or to have a current version of Android, are punished and lumped in with folks who steal movies. Nice move, Google. That makes me want to buy more of your products and use more of your services, so I can be treated like a criminal just because I’m smart enough to get rid of CityID, or want a safe version of Android on my phone. And of course, I’d much rather steal movies streamed with a poor bitrate at a low resolution to my phone than use Google to search out any of the thousands of places where I could steal them using my computer. Facepalm.
10 Steps to Defeat the Corporatocracy
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Many Americans know that the United States is not a democracy but a “corporatocracy,” in which we are ruled by a partnership of giant corporations, the extremely wealthy elite and corporate-collaborator government officials. However, the truth of such tyranny is not enough to set most of us free to take action. Too many of us have become pacified by corporatocracy-created institutions and culture.
Some activists insist that this political passivity problem is caused by Americans’ ignorance due to corporate media propaganda, and others claim that political passivity is caused by the inability to organize due to a lack of money. However, polls show that on the important issues of our day – from senseless wars, to Wall Street bailouts, to corporate tax-dodging, to health insurance rip-offs – the majority of Americans are not ignorant to the reality that they are being screwed. And American history is replete with organizational examples – from the Underground Railroad, to the Great Populist Revolt, to the Flint sit-down strike, to large wildcat strikes a generation ago – of successful rebels who had little money but lots of guts and solidarity.
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lol…this doesn’t actually sound evil, just self-defeatingly Sony kind of dumb.
I would imagine that Google are not going to make a statement any time soon that says effectively “Guys, the use of the word ‘Open’ in our advertising is quite obviously marketing spin; bullshit – get over it. We want and need as much control over our platform as any other player out there. Our aim is to swamp the market with Android OS devices by partnering with as many manufacturers as possible. That obviously gives us the challenge of keeping a tight rein on what our manufacturers and carriers can do with the OS, a challenge that Apple simply doesn’t have. We still want to give manufacturers a degree of freedom because, you know, these variations will keep consumers interested and constantly discussing which kind of Android device is better. Android : Lots of variations, lots of devices = lots of buzz and discussion. iOS: two/three basic device types, no variations = meh. You see? We’re not really interested in quality or consistency across the devices because that rarely wins any brand wars. We just want to muscle iOS and BlackBerry out of the market, a bit like VHS vs Beta in the old days. P.S. We’re winning, too.”