[Patents] [EDUCAUSE@EDUCAUSE.EDU: Edupage, 22 November 1999]

[Bernard Lang Bernard.Lang@inria.fr]

SENATE PASSES HIGH-TECH BILLS
The Senate passed several high-tech bills on Friday, including
ones that addressed satellite TV, patents, and cybersquatters.
The patent bill will produce the most significant patent reforms
of the past five years, says Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah).  Small
businesses and inventors say the patent bill favors big
businesses.  Beverly Selby of the Alliance for American
Innovation calls the bill "devastating." 
  see:  Alliance for American Innovation  http://www.alliance-dc.org/


The above is the most interesting part. I did not know about this
organization which seems interesting... sort of... :-(


Below is the complete article, and other possibly interesting tidbits
on other topics.

----- Forwarded message from EDUCAUSE <EDUCAUSE@EDUCAUSE.EDU> -----

Approved-By: EDUCAUSE@EDUCAUSE.EDU
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2448.0)
Date:         Mon, 22 Nov 1999 16:46:39 -0700
Reply-To: edupage-editors@EDUCAUSE.EDU
From: EDUCAUSE <EDUCAUSE@EDUCAUSE.EDU>
Subject:      Edupage, 22 November 1999
To: EDUPAGE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU

.....

SENATE PASSES HIGH-TECH BILLS The Senate passed several high-tech
bills on Friday, including ones that addressed satellite TV, patents,
and cybersquatters.  The patent bill will produce the most significant
patent reforms of the past five years, says Sen. Orrin G. Hatch
(R-Utah).  Small businesses and inventors say the patent bill favors
big businesses.  Beverly Selby of the Alliance for American Innovation
calls the bill "devastating."  The cybersquatting bill, sponsored by
Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.), will protect consumers on the
Internet, Abraham says.  That may be true, but Shari Steele of the
Electronic Frontier Foundation says there is no need for the Senate to
produce cybersquatting legislation because the Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers has the power to resolve any disputes
on the issue. The Senate passed Abraham's digital signatures bill,
which must eventually be reconciled with a similar bill in the House.
Finally, the Senate passed Sen. Jon Kyl's (R-Ariz.) anti-online
gambling bill, which will be addressed when Congress convenes after
the holidays.  (Washington Post 11/20/99)


.....


THE NEW FORCES OF CHANGE
Microsoft's business customers seem unfazed by the Nov. 5
findings of fact in the antitrust suit, and many believe that any
final ruling might not change the industry as much as the
software giant's own changing business models.  In a recent
InformationWeek survey, 78 percent of IT managers said the case
will have no bearing on plans to purchase Microsoft technologies.
In fact, 86 percent plan to spend as much or more on Microsoft
products next year.  Still, 20 percent of respondents intend to
use greater caution in dealing with Microsoft as a result of the
suit, and 26 percent say if Microsoft is broken into smaller
firms, they will reconsider using the company's products.
Although breaking up Microsoft into separate firms for Windows,
application software, and Internet products has been discussed as
a potential solution, users say this remedy neglects the changes
the Internet is making on all aspects of Microsoft's business.
For example, Microsoft has introduced a licensing plan for
Windows 2000 server products that allows Web startups to license
thousands of users for a set fee.  (InformationWeek 11/15/99)

COLLEGES WEIGH LEGAL ACTION AGAINST WEB SITES THAT PUBLISH LECTURE NOTES
As the number of Web sites selling lecture notes grows, some
colleges and universities are beginning to evaluate legal action.
For example, the University of California's Berkeley and Los
Angeles campuses have sent warnings to two sites that post the
schools' lecture notes, saying that the sites break school
policies regarding unauthorized commercial use of its facilities
and institutional name.  One of the sites has requested a meeting
with Berkeley officials, which the school is likely to permit.
Although no students have been disciplined for selling notes, the
schools have issued warnings both to specific students and to
classes in which lecture notes have appeared online.  Berkeley
has sanctioned one note service, provided that the service
receives permission from the lecturer, allows the lecturer to
check notes for accuracy, and negotiates royalty payments with
the lecturer.  Meanwhile, most sites contend that they do not
violate copyright laws, because notes belong to students and not
to lecturers.  (Chronicle of Higher Education 11/26/99)


-- 
Bernard.Lang@inria.fr             ,_  /\o    \o/    Tel  +33 1 3963 5644
http://pauillac.inria.fr/~lang/  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  Fax  +33 1 3963 5469
            INRIA / B.P. 105 / 78153 Le Chesnay CEDEX / France
         Je n'exprime que mon opinion - I express only my opinion
                 CAGED BEHIND WINDOWS or FREE WITH LINUX