Clayton Cramer ruminates on the question.
Posted by david on March 29, 2004 02:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackMore on Linux/Microsoft/SCO/lawsuits (see my "Yee-Haw!" post, below, for a basic intro to this byzantine tech business absurdity):
I hope this nasty scheme was cooked up in the humid, Diet Coke fueled back rooms of the Redmond campus, rather than in the prim offices of Microsoft legal counsel in SF or NY, because if it's the latter then those lawyers have serious ethical issues on their hands. It will come out one way or another in the end. Note to the lawyers involved: remember, frivolous lawsuits are sanctionable under the Federal Rules. Walk away now and pretend you never got involved with this ugliness.
Good investigative reporting by Chris Preimesberger at NewsForge.
Posted by david on March 10, 2004 08:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackDennis Kennedy doing his best to help lawyers avoid further embarassing metadata situations.
In the future, if a client sues a firm over a metadata goof, what do you think the firm's malpractice carrier will say?
Perhaps some firms might want to, first, review their wordprocessing technology and establishing some guidelines/standards on the metadata issue, and second, speak to their carriers about coverage for such technological disasters.
Posted by david on March 8, 2004 09:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackIs it ethical to manufacture comments to one's blog?
My guess is that the answer depends on the form and degree of manufacture that occurs.
On the "innocent" end of the spectrum, asking people to read and contribute to your blog discussion seems acceptable (though mildly desperate). A blogger becomes more culpable when s/he solicits comments from strangers -- this is akin to "cold calling" or bulk emailing your resume. Then again, some may see this strategy as valid self-promotion.
When a blogger routinely post comments to his/her own blog using a pseudonym, I think the practice has reached unethical deception. This issue brings up a recent case in California, Rezec v. Sony Pictures, where Sony manufactured movie quotes from a film critic who doesn't exist. The fictitious reporter, Dave "Everyman" Manning, would say stuff like, "One hell of a techo-effects thrill ride!" in promotional materials for Sony films. But I digress...
Most bloggers thrive on attention, and it's no fun talking to the wind. In a way, comments validate the posts.
So, who knows the secret to getting real blog posts? (ah, the old end-the-post-with-a-question technique)
Posted by Andrew Zangrilli on March 5, 2004 11:43 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBackTech Law Adviser points to Aaron (RSS 1.0 co-author) Swartz's call for lawyers with an interest in such things to "sue for freedom".
First in his list of intellectual property windmills to tilt at is a suit for the protection of Seth Schoen's right to distribute his DeCSS haiku.
Schoen: "I was angry at the attempts by lawyers for the entertainment industry and the government to trivialize the free expression rights of programmers and other people engaged in technical communication."
Absolutely. Code is expression. A very powerful form of expression, but expression nonetheless. Courts do not yet really, fully understand that.
But then, the courts have been letting the IP laws beat the 1st Amendment with a stick, so why should we expect them to rise to the occasion and understand as sophisticated a concept as the essential expressiveness of code; or the long term value in protecting code as fully as any other form of expression.
But some people absolutely get it. Enjoy the Judge Kozinski quote in Swartz's post. Kozinski pithily demonstrates the ludicrious results from copyright law's victory over the First Amendment.
Posted by david on March 4, 2004 03:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackAs SCO keeps finding new companies to sue, I thought it might be helpful to link to this handy illustration of the litigation landscape that uses - for ease of understanding - the cast of Dukes of Hazzard.
Boy, if I had a dollar for every time a litigation mess could be analogized to a Dukes of Hazzard episode I might one day be able to repay my law school loans.
Posted by david on March 3, 2004 07:33 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack