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Eben on Software Liability

Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x2c

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Eben talks about "When Software is in Everything: Future Liability Nightmares Free Software Helps Avoid" to the Scottish Society for Computers and Law (SSCL) in Edinburgh, Scotland on June 30. Karen and Bradley introduce the talk to listeners.

Running time: 00:52:06.

Show Notes

Segment 0

Tags: bkuhn, karen, moglen, Europe, medical-devices


Bilski Rundown

Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x2b

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Dan Ravicher joins Karen and Bradley to discuss the Bilski case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Running time: 1:14:22.

Show Notes

Segment 0 (00:33)

Waiting for Bilski

Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x2a

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Karen and Bradley briefly talk about waiting for the Bilski case to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Running time: 08:39.

Show Notes

Segment 0 (00:35)

  • SFLC's office was under construction so Bradley and Karen were in different places, which is why Karen sounds like she is underwater. Producer Dan made it sound a lot better than the original audio! (01:02)
  • Karen referred to the SCOTUS blog(01:26)
  • Karen and Bradley agree to go on hiatus until Bilski (04:02)
  • Karen was not arguing that with Bradley (07:27)
  • Tags: bkuhn, karen, bilski


Motions for Judgment

Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x29

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Karen, Bradley and Aaron talk about SFLC's motion for default judgment against Westinghouse Digital Electronics, a defendant in the ongoing lawsuit concerning GPL violations of BusyBox.

Running time: 38:15.

Show Notes

Segment 0 (00:33)

  • Bradley quoted from Act I Scene II of Hamlet, in which he once played Bernardo in a college production. Karen never played Bernardo (01:02)
  • Aaron mentioned Shakespeare's son Hamnet. (01:53)
  • The play Karen quotes from is indeed Julius Caesar. She forgot that she also had the lines: “My lord?” and “I will, my lord. ”(02:25)
  • The Bilski decision once again did not come out this week. The Supreme Court publishes all decisions on its website. The SCOTUS blog provides up to date information about the court schedule, including a live blog on the mornings when decisions are announced.(03:03)
  • Karen thinks that Aaron and Bradley do not know that the cake is a lie. (03:54)
  • Karen mentions patent number 3,987,541: Cutting guide for layered cake. (04:39)
  • SFLC filed a motion in the Southern District of New York against Westinghouse Digital Electronics, a defendant in the ongoing lawsuit concerning GPL violations of BusyBox. (05:10)
  • The original complaint in the ongoing case can be found here. (08:05)
  • The motion for default judgment or summary judgment can be found here. (09:00)
  • Shira Scheindlin is not related to Judge Judy, at least to the best of our knowledge. (10:23)
  • Karen mentioned Serving Sara, so we provide the obligatory IMDB link. Other sources for how service should be provided would probably be more reliable. (15:30)
  • Sewer service, as described by Aaron, is invalid service. Or you can use google, but that will mostly teach you about sewers and their maintenance. (18:46)

Tags: compliance, copyrights, gpl, aaronw, bkuhn, karen, sflc, conservancy


Dan's Software Patent Presentation

Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x28

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Karen and Bradley play Dan Ravicher's speech from a conference held by Freedom to Innovate South Africa (FTISA) in Pretoria on software patents.

Running time: 52:51.

Show Notes

Segment 0 (00:33)

  • Karen and Bradley thank listeners for providing ideas for future episodes. (01:05)
  • Dan Ravicher, our “elusive” guest, is the Legal Director of SFLC. (02:40)
  • The Bilski decision did not come out this week. The Supreme Court publishes all decisions on its website. The SCOTUS blog provides up to date information about the court schedule, including a live blog on the mornings when decisions are announced.(03:34)
  • Karen mentioned Patent Absurdity, a short movie that features Dan (Karen's also interviewed). (06:21)
  • Bradley points out the previous episodes about patents: Episode 0x18: Re Bilski's Briefs and Episode 0x0C: Patently False. (06:43)

Segment 1 (07:06)

  • Slides for the talk are available here.

Segment 2 (50:11)

Tags: bkuhn, karen, patents, ravicher


Talking about Software Freedom

Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x27

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Karen and Bradley discuss their views on software freedom advocacy.

Running time: 49:48.

Show Notes

Segment 0 (00:33)

  • Bradley and Karen discussed the term “evil” in Episode 0x26. (00:39)

Segment 1 (03:39)

Segment 2 (37:44)

  • Bradley and Karen ask for input from listeners as to what they would like to hear on the show.

Tags: bkuhn, karen


How Evil is Evil?

Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x26

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Bradley and Karen discuss whether or not proprietary software is “evil”, mention the new documentary film about patents, and discuss briefly new non-profit filing requirements.

Running time: 00:49:56.

Show Notes

Segment 0 (00:31)

Segment 1 (41:12)

Tags: bkuhn, karen, evil


Sean Egan of the Pidgin Project

Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x25

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Karen and Bradley interview Sean Egan of the Pidgin project.

Running time: 00:37:04.

Show Notes

Segment 0 (00:33)

Segment 1 (05:30)

Segment 2 (26:24)

  • Karen and Bradley wrap up from the interview
  • Karen mentions Hot Tub Time Machine (27:40).
  • John Cusack was also in Say Anything, Better Off Dead, High Fidelity and Being John Malkovich (29:20).
  • Karen and Bradley agree that Back to the Future is a great movie (34:36).
  • UPDATE: Karen went to see Hot Tub Time Machine, and calls it "highly enjoyable".

Tags: bkuhn, karen, trademarks


Directors and Conferences

Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x24

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Bradley and Karen discuss the obligations and details of serving on a Board of Directors of a not-for-profit organization. Following that, they briefly discuss The Open Source Business Conference and LibrePlanet conference.

Running time: 01:00:18.

Show Notes

Segment 0 (00:31)

Segment 1 (35:30)

  • Karen attended and spoke at OSBC and LibrePlanet. Bradley attended and spoke at LibrePlanet. (36:00)

Tags: bkuhn, karen, non-profits


Public Domain

Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x23

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Aaron, Karen and Bradley discuss issues around the public domain and how it relates to copyright in general and copyrights on software in particular.

Running time: 00:58:13.

Show Notes

Segment 0 (00:36)

  • Aaron, Bradley, and Karen consider Aaron's status as a “special host”. Bradley wondered if that meant Aaron hosted a parasite. (Aaron subsequently got sick two days after recording, and is now playing the role of a biological “special host”.)
  • Bradley joked that copyright never expires in the USA due to retroactive extensions enacted by Congress. Aaron noted the Sony Bono 1998 Copyright Extension Act was the most recent act to do this. (05:47, 06:28)
  • Public domain dedications are relatively easy in the USA, but moral rights issues in European jurisdictions make public domain dedications difficult. (17:19)
  • The Berne Convention respects the issue of public domain, insofar as something definitely in the public domain in one country doesn't fall under copyright restrictions in other countries, but doesn't do much more than that regarding public domain. (17:30)
  • Creative Commons wrote CC0 to attempt to harmonize public domain dedication around the world. (18:53)
  • Bradley pointed out that the “WTFPL” license FAQ points out that it exists in part because of difficulties in putting things in the public domain in some jurisdictions. (25:36)
  • Karen looked up the word merchantability in Black's Law Dictionary. (30:07)

Segment 1 (29:52)

Tags: bkuhn, karen, copyrights, aaronw, public domain


Some of What You Need to Know About Trademarks

Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x22

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Karen and Bradley discuss some basic issues regarding trademarks for Free Software projects.

Running time: 00:58:13.

Show Notes

Segment 0 (00:33)

Segment 1 (14:06)

  • Karen mentioned the slides of her talk would be on the SFLC website. (14:20)
  • Trademark rights originate when you use a certain name and/or logo. (15:30)
  • You have to use the mark “in commerce” (though for a short period of time you can file for registration with “intent to use”); to have the mark; however, the rules and lingo seem a bit “old fashioned” when focused on online publication and distribution of free software. (16:30)
  • The most obvious benefit of registering a trademark is that registration is clear notice that the mark is being used, and creates a presumption of notice and ownership. (18:15)
  • There are other Karen Sandlers, such as a Romance novelist and HIV researcher and doctor. (19:49)
  • There is a Brad Kuhn (not Bradley) race car driver and a Bradley Kuhn killed in Arizona in 2008. (20:17)
  • Bradley mentioned an issue of Sony's Restaurant in Baltimore in 1987, which was Bradley's first introduction to trademark law. (22:23)
  • The Madrid Protocol is a treaty that helps people who have registered trademarks in one country to easily obtain registrations in other countries. (27:05)
  • Trademarks are indefinite. A trademark can be kept as long as you maintain it and continue to use it. Copyrights, by contrast, are supposed to be limited by how long they can be held (but in reality don't seem to be, due to copyright extension lobby). (37:15)
  • The GNU name actually carefully avoid trademark infringement of Unix by having the name say explicitly: GNU's Not Unix. (39:50)
  • The classic example of a genericized trademark is “xerox” becoming a verb to mean “to photocopy”. (41:43)
  • Bradley used a Used a vi implementation called vile on MS-DOS before he had a Unix-like system on his computer. (45:10)
  • Karen recommends that Free Software projects adopt explicit trademark policies that explicitly permit all the types of uses that the project wants to permit. (47:13)
  • Trademark implies some sort of quality control; “naked licensing” refers to giving a license without monitoring quality. (48:50)
  • Trademark policy statements can be good tools to help handle “naked licensing” issues. (52:10)
  • Bradley briefly mentioned the Iceweasel rename of Firefox in Debian. (52:40)

Tags: bkuhn, karen, trademarks


Medical Devices and Karen's Heart

Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x21

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Karen and Bradley welcome Laura Moy, who joins them in studio to discuss the issues of software freedom with medical devices.

Running time: 00:50:54.

Show Notes

Segment 0 (00:32)

Segment 1 (18:17)

Tags: bkuhn, karen, lmoy, medical-devices


Book Settlement Update And Other Topics

Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x20

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Karen and Bradley discuss an update on the Google Books Settlement, some follow up from 0x1F regarding feedback on the mobile phones show, and discuss Karen's new position as General Counsel.

Running time: 00:48:24.

Show Notes

Segment 0 (00:28)

Segment 1 (19:20)

  • Episode 0x16 discussed the Google Books Settlement in more depth. (32:10)
  • Segment 2 (33:30)

    Tags: bkuhn, karen, documentation, mobile, android


    Is Mobile Software Freedom Possible?

    Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x1F

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    Aaron Williamson, Karen Sandler, and Bradley M. Kuhn discuss the issues of software freedom on mobile telephone devices.

    Running time: 00:47:32.

    Show Notes

    Segment 0 (00:32)

    Tags: bkuhn, karen, aaronw, mobile, android


    Fontana Redux

    Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x1E

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    Karen and Bradley interview this show's first-ever second-time guest, Richard Fontana, who is an Open Source Licensing and Patent Counsel at Red Hat.

    Running time: 00:49:44.

    Show Notes

    Segment 0 (00:29)

    Bradley and Karen introduce the guest, Richard Fontana.

    Segment 1 (00:58)

    [Photo of Richard Fontana]

    Segment 2 (44:19)

    • Karen points out that license interpretation is often an exercise in risk analysis. (45:02)

    Tags: bkuhn, karen, fontana, red hat, copyrights, gpl


    GPL Enforcement

    Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x1D

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    Karen and Bradley discuss enforcement of the GNU General Public License, and in particular the lawsuits recently filed by SFLC against various violators of the GPL.

    Running time: 00:33:11.

    Show Notes

    Segment 0 (00:32)

    Segment 1 (17:50)

    Tags: bkuhn, karen, sflc, gplv3, copyrights, gpl


    Sun, Oracle and the European Union

    Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x1C

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    Karen and Bradley discuss Eben Moglen's letter to the European Commission regarding the Oracle acquisition of Sun.

    Running time: 00:44:03.

    Show Notes

    Segment 0 (00:30)

    Segment 1 (22:16)

    • Bradley said that if it were up to him, all published and deployed software in the world would be Free Software, and he wishes that the European Commission would require that for the merger to go through, but it's not their mandate to do such things. (23:50)
    • Bradley said if he could make a wish, that he'd wish the European Commission would put the MySQL code base into a non-profit entity chartered to never make MySQL proprietary, and to release it under GPLv3-or-later. (25:45)
    • Bradley pointed out that it might be good if before that, Oracle releases MySQL under GPLv3 to get the extra patent assurances, although Karen points out Eben's letter raises the issue that there is an implicit patent assurance from the GPLv2 release of MySQL already. (26:01)
    • Bradley talked briefly off-topic about the file, Double Indemnity. (26:30)
    • Bradley mentions Oracle's ownership of MySQL copyrights is dangerous because Oracle's goal is to take away software freedom from the world with regard to databases, by trying to get all users to switch to proprietary databases, and that they are likely to use the MySQL codebase toward this horrible mission. (29:40)
    • Bradley pointed out that any organization that isn't committing to releasing all its software as Free Software is a dangerous place for centralized copyright of a FLOSS codebase. (32:04)
    • Karen is skeptical about for-profit corporate control of Free Software because they will always focus on shareholder value over software freedom principles. (36:08)
    • Bradley tries not to start sentences with Look, but does so accidentally sometimes. (36:53)
    • Bradley pointed out that he believes the software freedom world would be better off if Oracle had not ported their proprietary databases to GNU/Linux. (38:00)
    • Bradley and Karen mentioned that the one year anniversary on 2009-11-11. (41:31)
    • Bradley mentioned Bashpodder and gpodder (42:00)

    Tags: Europe, Oracle, anti-trust, gpl, for-profit, bkuhn, karen, Sun


    Jeremy Allison of the Samba Team

    Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x1B

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    Bradley and Karen interview Jeremy Allison of the the Samba Team.

    Running time: 00:55:38.

    Show Notes

    Segment 0 (00:11)

    Bradley and Karen let folks know that we are releasing the podcast early so that folks traveling for the holiday in the USA can get it early and listen to it while traveling.

    Segment 1 (01:35)

    • Bradley mentioned PRI as well as NPR to be fair to Ira Glass. (02:20)
    • This episode is somewhat of a follow up to Episode 0x10 with Carlo Piana. (04:31)

    Segment 2 (05:47)

    [Photo of Jeremy Allison]

    Segment 3 (49:20)

    • Karen corrected Bradley's misconception regarding how statutory damages work under copyright law. (49:43)
    • Karen encouraged people to just comply with the GPL since it's easy, and look at A Practical Guide to GPL Compliance. (52:00)
    • Bradley mentioned he was a judge at the quiz bowl where Jeremy imitated Steve Balmer. (53:00)

    Tags: bkuhn, karen, copyrights, microsoft, anti-trust, gpl, Jeremy Allison


    Mike Linksvayer of the Creative Commons

    Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x1A

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    Bradley and Karen interview Mike Linksvayer of the Creative Commons .

    Running time: 00:49:21.

    Show Notes

    Segment 0 (00:28)

    Segment 1 (05:48)

    [Photo of Mike Linksvayer]

    Image of Mike Linksvayer by http://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/, Licensed CC BY 2.0.

    Segment 2 (38:47)

    Tags: bkuhn, karen, numbering, copyrights, creative-commons


    Checking Up on Non-Profits

    Software Freedom Law Show episode 0x19

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    Bradley and Karen discuss the USA IRS Form 990, which non-profit donors can use to understand and check up on the activities of charitable organizations in the USA.

    Running time: 00:49:26.

    Show Notes

    Segment 0 (00:34)

    Segment 1 (12:24)

    Tags: bkuhn, karen, conservancy, non-profits

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