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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006 Court Affirms Creative Commons License French Legislators Try to Avert Music Monopoly Microsoft to Support Competitors Sun Launches Grid for Hire COURT AFFIRMS CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE A Dutch court has ruled that a publisher who used photographs protected by a Creative Commons license is subject to the terms of that license, marking what is likely the first case law pertaining to the Creative Commons. Former MTV VJ Adam Curry had posted photographs of his daughter on Flickr and assigned one of the Creative Commons license levels to those photos. A Dutch gossip magazine published those photos without Curry's permission, in violation of the terms of the license. The magazine argued that the licensing terms were unclear and that information about how to obtain further information about the license was not obvious. The court rejected that argument, saying the onus is on users of copyrighted content to understand the applicable license and obtain necessary permissions. According to Creative Commons Canada, the ruling sets an important precedent in that it affirms the Creative Commons licenses, which are a relatively new program for specifying usage rights, and that it holds users of protected content liable "even without expressly agreeing to, or having knowledge of, the conditions of the license." CNET, 21 March 2006 http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6052292.html FRENCH LEGISLATORS TRY TO AVERT MUSIC MONOPOLY Lawmakers in France's National Assembly, the country's lower house, have passed a bill that would require purveyors of digital music technologies to share access to those technologies, allowing cross-operation among files and players. The most obvious target of the legislation is Apple Computer, whose iPod device and iTunes music format are linked. Under the bill, users would be able to play iTunes songs on non-Apple music players, and iPods could be used to play music files in other formats, such as those from Sony or Microsoft. Apple responded to the move by saying that if passed by France's Senate, the law will only serve to increase music piracy. A spokesperson from Apple said if the law is passed, "music sales will plummet just when legitimate alternatives to piracy are winning over customers." Others noted that the law could slow innovation because it does not offer strong protections for intellectual property. French officials countered by saying the law would in fact increase sales of online music and that they hope other countries pass similar legislation. CNET, 22 March 2006 http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6052058.html MICROSOFT TO SUPPORT COMPETITORS In its latest effort to comply with a March 2004 ruling by the European Commission (EC), Microsoft announced it would provide free, unlimited technical support to software companies developing products to work with Microsoft's server software. The 2004 antitrust ruling requires Microsoft to make its code available to rivals that want to develop products that run on Windows machines and compete with some of Microsoft's applications. Microsoft had previously offered 500 free hours of technical support and said it has also extensively updated the documentation for its products. In its latest announcement, Microsoft said the improved documentation along with unlimited support should address the EC's concerns. Jonathan Todd, spokesperson for the European Union (EU), said that the technical documentation appears to remain insufficient, noting that it should provide competitors with all the information they need and that they "should not be forced to rely on help from Microsoft staff." The EU, which is expected to issue a ruling some time in the next two weeks about Microsoft's compliance, could impose a fine of nearly $2.5 million per day, retroactive to December 15. Wall Street Journal, 22 March 2006 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114302628720105056.html SUN LAUNCHES GRID FOR HIRE Sun Microsystems now offers pay-as-you-go access to its Sun Grid Compute Utility to U.S. customers. The new service is similar in concept to that provided through contracts between Sun and a number of organizations including Princeton University. Under those contracts, customers could buy processing power from Sun and only pay for processing cycles that they use. With its new offering, Sun will bill users $1 per hour per CPU through online payment service PayPal. The service, which is available through an online portal, is reportedly the first grid utility that can be accessed through a personal computer, though users must have AMD Opteron or Sun UltraSparc computers to use the new grid utility. Sun said the service would be available internationally later this year. Internet News, 21 March 2006 http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3593156 ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your settings, or access the Edupage archive, visit http://www.educause.edu/Edupage/639 Or, you can subscribe or unsubscribe by sending e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName To UNSUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SIGNOFF Edupage If you have subscription problems, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE RESOURCES The EDUCAUSE Resource Center is a repository for information concerning use and management of IT in higher education. 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