Volokh on Academic Legal Blogging

Prof Volokh mentioned some of the criteria he uses to determine whether to blog on current events. It might also be a useful guide for practitioners and students to decide what to mention in their blawgs. One shouldn't underestimate the amount of time it takes to write a thoughtful analysis on a particular topic, but then it doesn't take as much effort to accumulate resources for your particular research interests. Some groups I'm involved in, like the ABA Cyberspace Law committee, use blogs to report on the progress of their meetings for those who are unable to attend.

If you're new to blogging, take a look at some of the services available, like Blogger and MSN Spaces, that can get you up and running quickly and, best of all, FOR FREE. Try it!

Online trademark & domain name dispute resolution

The ABA Business Law Section CyberSpace Law Subcommittee on Electronic Commerce is putting together a safeselling.org site as a counterpart to safeshopping.org.  I will be adding resources and information on trademark & domain name dispute resolution to this page for anyone who is interested.

NoSoftwarePatents.com Leader Prefers Computer Games

The EETimes and ZDNet UK report that Florian Mueller, manager of nosoftwarepatents.com, would rather spend his time developing computer games and is leaving the fight against software patents in Europe to the FFII.

Mueller said he is folding www.NoSoftwarePatents.com, although its work will be carried on by another anti-software patent organization, the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII). Hartmut Pilch is the president of the FFII, based in Munich, Germany.

Ribstein on the Law & Economics of Blogging

Prof Ribstein is developing his blog article on, of all things, the law & economics of blogging.

I haven't had a chance to look at the preliminary chapters, but this might be a worthwhile read for folks interested in an L&E analysis of a particularly relevant topic.

"N" for "not with WMP"

The AP is now reporting MSFT and EU officials have agreed to use the "N" designation on the modified version of Windows without Windows Media Player. Apparently, this satisfies EU officials enough since the disincentive associated with purchasing version "N" is now less obvious. Even MSFT's top lawyer in Europe has his misgivings about the new name:

We fear it may cause confusion for consumers buying the product, but we will adopt the commission's name in order to move forward and accelerate the pace of the implementation process.

--Horacio Gutierrez

FOSS as a Potemkin Village?

Jim Delong's clever description of what the FOSS movement could actually be

something that appears elaborate and impressive but in actual fact lacks substance

EU Threatens Microsoft with More Fines

The BBC and AFP are reporting today that the EU has grown impatient with Microsoft's attempt to abide by sanctions imposed in its historic ruling last March.

"We remain confident that they will take the necessary steps to remain in line with the commision position," said Jonathan Todd, spokesman for EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes.

But he reiterated that, if Bill Gates software titan did not comply, the EU had the right to start imposing daily fines of up to five percent of the company's global turnover.

Among the complaints, competitors allege Microsoft's WSPP program is discriminatory and the proposed royalties are unjustifiably overpriced.

The saga continues...

EC in Collusion with Microsoft re Software Patents?

EUROPEAN COMMISSION ACTED IN COLLUSION WITH MICROSOFT, SAYS HIGH-PROFILE AUSTRIAN MEP DR. MARIA BERGER

In her opinion, the Commission adopted the position of Microsoft founder Bill Gates on the subject "without further thought".

Considering how much effort went into the Microsoft investigation for abuse of dominant position, it's hard to believe the Commission would give in so easily on this.

Useful information:

About the NoSoftwarePatents.com Campaign

The NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign was launched on October 20th and is supported by three IT companies (1&1, Red Hat, and MySQL AB). The views expressed by the campaign are those of the campaign manager and not necessarily those of the aforementioned companies.