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Apple and Microsoft being sued for not using enough DRM
Posted: 2007-05-11 06:06pm
by Dominus Atheos
Forbes
Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc could face a possible lawsuit for failing to include measures to control access to copyrighted material in products such as Vista OS, iTunes and the iPod, two companies have warned.
Media Rights Technologies (MRT) and BlueBeat.com have issued cease and desist letters to both companies and to Adobe Systems Inc (nasdaq: ADBE - news - people ) and Real Networks -- which produce the Adobe Flash Player and Real Player respectively -- for actively avoiding their X1 SeCure Recording Control, which they said is an effective copyright protection system.
MRT and Bluebeat said the failure to use an available copyright protection solution contravenes the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which prohibits the manufacture of any product or technology designed to circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a copyrighted work or protects the rights of copyright owners.
They said a failure to comply with the cease and desist order could result in in a federal court injunction and/or the imposition of statutory damages of 200-2,500 usd per product distributed or sold.
Posted: 2007-05-11 07:01pm
by Rightous Fist Of Heaven
Watching this unravel should be hilarious.
Posted: 2007-05-11 07:28pm
by DarkSilver
Unfortunately, this frivolous (as i see it) lawsuit may have some footing....apparently MRT went to Microsoft, Real Media, Adobe, and the others with their X1 tech, and they were "blown off". (as stated from
this article).
And according to
Hank Risan (CEO of MRT and perpetrator of the lawsuit) at his own blog, Microsoft and others are doing this all purposely, even going so far as microsoft building their own native stream ripper into Vista! (He's, of course, referring to Sound Recorder, which has been in every version of Windows I'm aware of since 3.1.....).
He's expecting to sue collectively, for no approximatly than 200 billion....and I can see him somehow obtaining a small amount of this number. But come on...suing for NOT using their tech?
What will we see next?
Posted: 2007-05-11 07:32pm
by Shogoki
I hope this opens the floodgates for entrepreneurs suing costumers for not complying with their demand needs. Set up shop in the US and then SUE potential costumers for profit, the american dream!
Posted: 2007-05-11 08:14pm
by bilateralrope
So their lawsuit is based on the assumption that their DRM works, therefore anyone who isn't using it is encouraging copyright infringement because they either have a broken DRM or no DRM.
If the people who can crack it hadn't noticed it yet, they have now. It will be interesting to see how they react when a crack for it is introduced as evidence.
Posted: 2007-05-11 10:01pm
by Arthur_Tuxedo
Hopefully this will raise awareness about what the DMCA contains and lead to its repeal. Hell, I hope they win. That would really raise awareness about it.
Posted: 2007-05-11 10:03pm
by Davis 51
This reminds me of a lawsuit where Diebold sued a state because they didn't use their voting machines.
Posted: 2007-05-11 10:48pm
by DarkSilver
Well, the entire thing is their DRM is supposed to stop you from ripping a audiostream from a website, thus stopping copyright infringement of the copyrighted material. He goes so far to even say that it's possible to go back onto sites like CNN news and Youtube, both who use software which have their "stream ripping" loophole as built in by the manufacturers.
So basically....their DRM stops you from starting up a separate audio recording program, and hitting record...
Yes, That is EXACTLY what their DRM is supposed to stop you from doing, somehow destroying the accompanying file that is outputted by the program.
I want to know what DRM, exactly, is that supposed to be, and how soon before we see one of the RIAA trying to hide it onto hybrid audio CD's.
Posted: 2007-05-12 12:03am
by Durandal
So Microsoft, Apple and Adobe versus ... Media Rights Technologies.
Gee, wonder who'll win this one.
Posted: 2007-05-12 12:58am
by Fingolfin_Noldor
Durandal wrote:So Microsoft, Apple and Adobe versus ... Media Rights Technologies.
Gee, wonder who'll win this one.
Or rather, who will run out of money first.
Posted: 2007-05-12 04:01am
by ray245
How rich is Media Rights Technologies anyway?
Posted: 2007-05-12 07:33am
by haas mark
ray245 wrote:How rich is Media Rights Technologies anyway?
Not enough, gathering from the companies they're attempting to sue.
Posted: 2007-05-12 10:46am
by Mr Bean
haas mark wrote:ray245 wrote:How rich is Media Rights Technologies anyway?
Not enough, gathering from the companies they're attempting to sue.
The only company's that can out money Microsoft are industry giants. And I mean true giants. For example Microsoft VS Exxon or McDonald's might be a fair money fight, but short of the top twenty of the F500 companys there's very few company's who can out money MS.
Posted: 2007-05-12 11:20am
by PeZook
Can I sue customers who don't buy my hamburgers, too?
Or...I know! I'll start a security company and sue people for not using my services, arguing they're endangering lives of their customers! Brilliant!
Posted: 2007-05-12 11:42am
by The Dark
Mr Bean wrote:haas mark wrote:ray245 wrote:How rich is Media Rights Technologies anyway?
Not enough, gathering from the companies they're attempting to sue.
The only company's that can out money Microsoft are industry giants. And I mean true giants. For example Microsoft VS Exxon or McDonald's might be a fair money fight, but short of the top twenty of the F500 companys there's very few company's who can out money MS.
To be a bit more specific, Microsoft's #49 on the
Fortune 500. And some of the companies above them aren't terribly healthy (GM and Ford). Unless you're a Wal-Mart, a Boeing, or one of the big financial institutions (Citigroup, Bank of America, Wachovia), you can't out-money Microsoft.
Posted: 2007-05-12 03:00pm
by Admiral Valdemar
Mr Bean wrote:
The only company's that can out money Microsoft are industry giants. And I mean true giants. For example Microsoft VS Exxon or McDonald's might be a fair money fight, but short of the top twenty of the F500 companys there's very few company's who can out money MS.
Or the EU. You so much as sneeze the wrong way, and the EU will take you to court on anti-trust.
Posted: 2007-05-12 03:04pm
by General Zod
The Dark wrote:Mr Bean wrote:haas mark wrote:
Not enough, gathering from the companies they're attempting to sue.
The only company's that can out money Microsoft are industry giants. And I mean true giants. For example Microsoft VS Exxon or McDonald's might be a fair money fight, but short of the top twenty of the F500 companys there's very few company's who can out money MS.
To be a bit more specific, Microsoft's #49 on the
Fortune 500. And some of the companies above them aren't terribly healthy (GM and Ford). Unless you're a Wal-Mart, a Boeing, or one of the big financial institutions (Citigroup, Bank of America, Wachovia), you can't out-money Microsoft.
I'm surprised that Walgreens and fucking
Dell are actually higher up in the food-chain than Microsoft on that list. . .
Posted: 2007-05-12 03:15pm
by Vendetta
General Zod wrote:
I'm surprised that Walgreens and fucking Dell are actually higher up in the food-chain than Microsoft on that list. . .
That's because it's done by gross revenue, not profit. Companies that sell high price items in bulk can easily have a higher operating income than Microsoft, which sells a lot of it's volume in discount bulk to OEM builders.
Listed according to operating
profit, Microsoft would be bubbling around the bottom of the top ten.
Posted: 2007-05-12 05:54pm
by bilateralrope
Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:Durandal wrote:So Microsoft, Apple and Adobe versus ... Media Rights Technologies.
Gee, wonder who'll win this one.
Or rather, who will run out of money first.
Unfortunately in many lawsuits in the US its cheaper, per lawsuit, to settle it than to fight it even if your completely in the right. So I won't be surprised to see this settled.
Posted: 2007-05-12 05:57pm
by Lisa
bilateralrope wrote:Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:Durandal wrote:So Microsoft, Apple and Adobe versus ... Media Rights Technologies.
Gee, wonder who'll win this one.
Or rather, who will run out of money first.
Unfortunately in many lawsuits in the US its cheaper, per lawsuit, to settle it than to fight it even if your completely in the right. So I won't be surprised to see this settled.
They should audit for legit copies of software...
Posted: 2007-05-12 06:46pm
by bilateralrope
Though it seems that they haven't been sued yet, just sent cease and desist letters.
blog link
No. Apple et al Were Not Sued and Slashdot Sucks
Update: More from Ars.
Another day, another screwed up headline on Slashdot.
No lawsuit was filed. This was merely a publicity stunt by Media Rights Technologies (who doesn't deserve a link), and the only action taken were cease and desist letters that were sent but are simply not going to be enforced.
Shame on Forbes and their supposed "journalism" for being unable to tell the difference between a serious legal threat and a publicity stunt, and shame on the Slashdot editors for being too lazy to read the linked articles before accepting submissions.
Ars Technica article linked to in the blog post. It only mentions the cease and desist letters and the threat of a lawsuit.
Not that I'm ruling out a lawsuit when they ignore the cease and desist letters, but they haven't sued yet.
Lisa wrote:They should audit for legit copies of software...
Even if Microsoft only finds fully compliant copies of MS software, doesn't M&T have a obligation to reduce the harm to themselves. ?
Such as by not using infringing products, which by their own arguments include all operating systems.
Posted: 2007-05-12 07:18pm
by Chris OFarrell
Good.
Hopefully they'll sue, Apple, Microsoft and Adobe will put together a team of lawyers that would make Satan run for the hills and absolutely destroy DRM.
Everyone is happy.
Posted: 2007-05-12 08:36pm
by Durandal
So what do their cease and desists say? "We demand that you cease and desist not using our products!"?
Posted: 2007-05-12 08:44pm
by Arthur_Tuxedo
Yeah, it's kind of the opposite of "cease and desist" when you think about it.
Posted: 2007-05-12 11:46pm
by Phantasee
This is the dumbest publicity stunt I've ever heard of. And Slashdot and Forbes are dumb for confusing 'cease and desist' with 'sue.' Altough, that doesn't really matter, since the cease and desist is more like a 'start and continue.'
This ties with the story about the ghost company running under the NEC banner in China for sheer audacity, though.