licenses

Updated 12:09 p.m. PDT with additional information and background and at 12:42 p.m. PDT with comment from the plaintiffs.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen fired a patent shot across the bow of several prominent technology companies Friday, suing Apple, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and others over patent claims.

Allen's firm Interval Licensing filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that the above companies, as well as AOL, eBay, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, and Staples, are violating patents he received for several Internet technologies while leading Interval Research, now out of business. The case was filed in U.… Read more

Video host Vimeo on Tuesday is rolling out a new feature that will users apply Creative Commons (CC) licenses to their uploaded videos.

In short, when a user applies one of the six standard licenses, which range from "attribution" to "attribution with noncommercial and no derivatives," it gives those who intend to use the video elsewhere a specific set of rules for what they can do with it--all without having to first contact the creator for explicit permission.

Creative Commons licensing has been available for some time on a growing number of video- and photo-sharing sites, … Read more

Microsoft has started licensing a technology that could come in handy for anyone who as ever tried to put new batteries in a flashlight in the middle of the night.

The company said Thursday it has a patent for designing devices so that batteries can be inserted either way, regardless of polarity. Dubbed InstaLoad, Microsoft said, the technology is now available for license to other companies.

Further, the company said it will offer the license royalty-free to companies making products for people with hearing, vision, or learning disabilities.

Battery maker Duracell and flashlight manufacturer AE Light are among the first companies to license the technology, … Read more

YouTube users who want to add music to their uploaded videos can now buy lifetime licenses for certain songs thanks to the company's new deal with Rumblefish.

Unveiled on Tuesday, Rumblefish's new music program, dubbed FriendlyMusic, offers a catalog of copyright-cleared songs, which YouTube videomakers can purchase for $1.99 each and legally edit into their videos before posting them online. The new feature is YouTube's answer to users who have had their videos blocked in the past due to the unauthorized use of copyrighted music, according to the company's blog.

The new deal confirms reports … Read more

As a tax-paying, sun-worshiping, tourist-tolerating resident of California, may I say how delighted I am to hear that my state is leading the way toward digital license plates?

As a commercially caring, capitalism-believing, creatively challenging resident of California, may I say how delighted I am that these digital plates will have ads?

There is nothing more dull than sitting behind another car on the Golden Gate Bridge and having to stare at a number plate that reads "5XYJ204."

How could anyone have imagined that a random set of numbers and letters could make anyone happy? Well, anyone other … Read more

California officially has the worst traffic in the country, and it's about to become the most annoying: the legislature is examining ways to create electronic license plates that support ads.

And you thought your commute couldn't get any worse.

A bill is in the state assembly which, if passed, will commission a study on emerging electronic license plate technology and examine ways that it could introduce new ad revenue streams for the budget-challenged state.

The technology is being developed by Smart Plate, a three-person start-up in San Francisco, and would only be used on the vehicle's rear … Read more

Flickr has added a new option by which people can turn their images at Yahoo's photo-sharing site into revenue.

In Flickr's initial partnership with photo licensing powerhouse Getty Images, Getty representatives cherry-picked Flickr photos and photographers they liked. Later, Flickr members could offer their own candidates for evaluation by Getty for licensing.

The new option, called Request to License, lets photographers nominate photos in a way that those who want to license figure into the transaction.

Here's how it works. A photographer can label a photo to be part of the Request to License program. When somebody … Read more

VMware says that, like its rival Parallels, it has virtualization software that can help ease the transition from Windows XP to Windows 7.

While its approach is less comprehensive than Parallels $50 product, VMware's approach is free, using a combination of VMware Converter and VMware Player, both of which are available from the company's Web site. VMware's approach uses Converter to package up and transfer a physical XP desktop into a virtual machine and then allows that XP desktop to run virtually inside the new Windows 7 machine.

VMware's products have been available for some time, … Read more

Ten years on, Mozilla has concluded that its open-source underpinnings are due for a refresh.

The Firefox browser and Thunderbird e-mail software are governed by the Mozilla Public License, which determines what rights and restrictions apply to programmers who want to use the software in their own projects, extend it in various ways, or just peek at the programming instructions that underlie the software.

"Version 1.1 of the Mozilla Public License has been in use by Mozilla and other projects for over a decade. The spirit of the license has served us well by helping to communicate some … Read more