European Court of First Instance rejects Microsoft challenge to European Commission decision Edited by Johnathan Jenkins Judgment T-201/04 Full opinion European Court of First Instance summary and press release On September 17, the European Court of First Instance rejected Microsoft’s challenge to the European Commission’s 2004 determination that Microsoft “abused a dominant market position” by: refusing to supply competitors with proprietary “interoperability information” necessary to develop products that would compete with Microsoft workgroup server products, and bundling Windows Media Player ... Read More...

House Passes Major Patent Reform Bill By David Lawson — Edited by Wen Bu H.R. 1908 Full Text with Comments CRS Bill Summary Details of the Vote On September 7, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1908, a major patent reform bill, by a vote of 220-175. The bill is now on the Senate legislative calendar awaiting action. The Washington Post identifies the players and summarizes the debate. Peter Zura’s 271 Patent Blog focuses on the late amendments that ... Read More...

Stronger 1st Amendment Review of Expansions in Copyright Protection? By Nick Bramble On September 5, the 10th Circuit handed down its opinion in Golan v. Gonzales, No. 05-1259 (10th Cir. Sept. 4, 2007). The court held that the implementation of the Berne Convention on Copyrights (the Uruguay Round Agreements Act § 514) may violate the 1st Amendment by removing some materials–books, films, and songs, mostly–from the public domain and placing them under copyright protection. Generally, the court’s ruling would expand ... Read More...