____/ Doug Mentohl on Friday 14 March 2008 16:56 : \____
> "Trademark and patent attorneys Cruickshank have told executives from
> Yahoo!, Microsoft, MIT, Berkeley and Stanford that contrary to popular
> belief, software is patentable in Europe"
>
> http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single10510
>
> "a law firm's office on a quiet downtown street [in Dublin, Ireland ]
> houses an obscure subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. that helps the
> computer giant shave at least $500 million from its annual tax bill"
>
> http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_10003995.shtml
>
> "Round Island's legal address is in the headquarters of a Dublin law
> firm, Matheson Ormsby Prentice, that advertises its expertise in
> helping multinational companies use Ireland to shelter income from
> taxes"
>
> http://bestofbothworlds.blogspot.com/2005/11/tax-avoidance-2.html
>
> "The EC has launched a round of consultations on protecting
> intellectual property, prompting fears of a renewed effort to
> introduce software patents in Europe ..
>
> The new consultations stem from the Commission, with EU internal
> market commissioner Charlie McCreevy saying that good intellectual
> property rules are essential to stimulate innovation ", Mar 2008
>
> "The theme, or the background music, to both of these particular
> directives you could see as part of, anti-globalisation, anti-
> Americanism, anti-big business protests - in lots of senses, anti-the
> opening up of markets,", Charlie McCreevy July 2005
>
>
http://www.eupolitix.com/EN/News/200507/5d049d10-690a-4977-b116-4295c1a42937.htm
>
> "In a 648-14 vote (with 18 abstentions), the European Parliament has
> voted against the controversial 'Computer-implemented Inventions
> Directive' on its second reading.", July 2005
>
>
http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=56
>
> --
>
> "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers". - Henry IV, (Act
> IV, Scene II)
According to Microsoft's latest SEC filings, they now concentrate on what they
call "IP education" directed at business (i.e. patent brainwash). The reason
you'll find here:
http://www. microsoft.com/msft/SEC/default.mspx
“A prominent example of open source software is the Linux operating system.
Although we believe our products provide customers with significant advantages
in security, productivity, and total cost of ownership, the popularization of
the open source software model continues to pose a significant challenge to
our business model, including continuing efforts by proponents of open source
software to convince governments worldwide to mandate the use of open source
software in their purchase and deployment of software products. To the extent
open source software gains increasing market acceptance, sales of our products
may decline, we may have to reduce the prices we charge for our products, and
revenue and operating margins may consequently decline. ”
Microsoft will try to change the law. It's not yet above the international law,
but it owns the United States government. One could say that it's a case of
Microsoft against the world. That's how Larry Ellison puts it anyway.
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | "Stand for nothing and you will fall for anything"
http://Schestowitz.com | RHAT GNU/Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
run-level 2 2008-01-24 14:06 last=
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