Preliminary Injunction Against SuSE

Random Walk writes "The German news site Heise Online reports that on behalf of an anonymous client, a lawyer has won a preliminary injunction (German only) against the Linux distributor SuSE. The injunction forbids the delivery of SuSE CDs as long as they contain some program name that apparently violates a registered trademark. No more details available, but SuSE seems to be in negotiations with the other party." Head over to the fish for translation.

Comments

comedic gold

[nomadic]

Babelfish translation:

Gravenreuth against Linux Distributor SuSE
After Samba and kIllustrator now a further open SOURCE program employs the lawyers. The attorney Guenter Frhr. v. Gravenreuth obtained a provisional order against the German Linux Distributor SuSE before the regional court Munich. The cause seems to be one on the SuSE d referenzierte open SOURCE often commodity. Gravenreuth let obvious forbid to the Nuernberger enterprise judicially to deliver its Linux distribution further as long as on it the disputed program name is contained. For SuSE from it a substantial financial loss could arise, if the copies already produced could not be issued any longer.

Frhr. v. Gravenreuth acknowledged on demand a provisional order against the indication of an open SOURCE often commodity to have received. It did not want to call further details however, since its mandator " with the opponent agree " become and require no denomination. Christian Egle, press speaker of the SuSE GmbH, explained, his enterprise in the next days as the affair will express themselves. ( odi / c't)

Does OSDN own stock in altavista or something?

my translation

[Cardinal Biggles]

Neither English nor German is my first language, so flames to /dev/null please...

Gravenreuth versus Linux Distributor SuSE

After Samba and kIllustrator, another Open Source program is keeping the lawyers busy. The lawyer Günter Frhr. v. Gravenreuth has obtained a preliminary injunction from the State Court in Munich against the German Linux distributor SuSE. The reason seems to be an Open Source program referenced (?) on the SuSE CD. Apparently Gravenreuth has had the court ban the firm from Nürnberg from further distributing its Linux distribution as long as the debated program name is included. This could lead to substantial financial loss for SuSE, if the already produced copies are no longer allowed to be sold.

Frhr. v. Gravenreuth, when asked, confirmed he had obtained a preliminary injunction against the mark used by an Open Source software package. But he would not give further details, because his client would "come to an agreement with the opponent" and didn't want to be named. Christian Egle, press spokesman for SuSE, said that the firm would release a statement on the matter within the next few days.

Real translation by a native German speaker

[st.n.]

Gravenreuth against Linux-Distribution SuSE

After Samba and kIllustrator there is another open-source-program which keeps the attorneys busy. The lawyer Günter Frhr. v. Gravenreuth has won a preliminary injunction at the Landgericht (court) in Munich against the German Linux distributor SuSE. The cause seems to be some open-source-software referenced on one of SuSE's CDs. Apparently Gravenreuth keeps the company from Nuremberg legally from delivering their Linux-distribution any further, as long as it contains the contoversial program name. This could bring a significant financial loss for SuSE if the already produced copies couldn't be sold any more.

Mr. Gravenreuth confirmed on inquiry to be granted a preliminary injunction against the name of an open-source-software. But he didn't want to tell further details, since his client is going to aggree with the opponent and would like not to be mentioned. Christian Egle, press spokesman of SuSE, explained that his company would express itself on the matter in the next days.

Moderation

[VA Software]

Slashdot Moderation
last updated 9.9.99 by CmdrTaco
last summarised 8.Jan.2002 by VA Software

This document will attempt to explain the moderation system that lies underneath Slashdot's vast comment section. It will try to explain some of the history of the system, as well as how it works (or doesn't work) from both the perspective of the user, and the moderator. It is always in flux.

1. Why
2. Goals
3. History
   1. Before Moderation
   2. Hand Picked Few
   3. 400 Lucky Winners
   4. Today: Most Anyone
4. Who
5. How
6. FAQ
   1. I just got moderator access, what do I do?
   2. Why can't I suddenly moderate any more?
   3. I found a comment that was unfairly moderated!
   4. Is this censorship?
   5. What is a Good Comment? A Bad Comment?
   6. What is "Karma"?
   7. 3 Days Is Not Enough Time To Moderate!
   8. If I Post in a Discussion I moderated, Why Don't I get My Points Back?
   9. How can I improve my Karma?
7. Ideas for the Future

Why?

The moderation system is designed to sort the gems and the crap from the steady stream of information that flows through the pipe. And wherever possible, it tries to make the readers of the site take on the responsibility.

Goals

1. Promote Quality, Discourage Crap
2. Make Slashdot as readable as possible for as many people as possible.
3. Do not require a huge amount of time from any single moderator.
4. Do not allow a single moderator a 'reign of terror'

History

Before Moderation

Hand Picked Few

400 Lucky Winners

Today: Most Anyone

Who

How

When a moderator is given access, they are given a number of points of influence to play with. Each comment they moderate deducts a point. When they run out of points, they are done serving until next time it is their turn.

Moderation takes place by selecting an adjective from a drop down list that appears next to comments. Descriptive words like 'Flamebait' or 'Informative'. Bad words will reduce the comments score by a single point, good words increase a comments score by a single point. All comments are scored on an absolute scale from -1 to 5. Logged in users start at 1 (although this can vary from 0 to 2 based on their overall contribution to discussions) and anonymous users start at 0.

Moderators can not participate in the same discussion as both a moderator and a poster. This is to prevent abuses, and while it is one of the more controversial aspects of the system, I'm sticking to it. There are enough lurkers that moderate, that if you want to post, feel free.

Moderation points expire after 3 days if they are left unused. You then go back into the pool and might someday be given access again.

Concentrate more on promoting than on demoting. The real goal here is to find the juicy good stuff and let others read it. Do not promote personal agendas. Do not let your opinions factor in. Try to be impartial about this. Simply disagreeing with a comment is not a valid reason to mark it down. Likewise, agreeing with a comment is not a valid reason to mark it up. The goal here is to share ideas. To sift through the haystack and find needles. And to keep the children who like to spam Slashdot in check.

FAQ

I just got moderator access, what do I do?

The fact that you are reading this document proves that you are already on the right track.

Why can't I suddenly moderate any more?

Moderator access only lasts 3 days.

You can't moderate and post in the same discussion.

Do you still have any moderator points left? You only got 5...

If you unfairly moderate a comment, you might have your access revoked, although this is almost never the reason people lose access.

I found a comment that was unfairly moderated!

Lemme know and I'll look at it. Sometimes I might agree and revoke access to a moderator. Usually I disagree and let it go. Its difficult to be the judge on this stuff since it is so subjective.

Is this censorship?

We're not technically deleting anything. In fact "We" technically aren't really doing much at all. The masses are doing this for themselves (in theory anyway). And you are always given the option of clicking the threshold control over to '-1' and reading everything uncut, so I really have a hard time saying this truly is censorship. But if you really want to call it that, I can't really argue. We're trying to make as many people happy as possible here- if you don't like something, you can probably change it in the user preferences to more suit your tastes anyway.

What is a Good Comment? A Bad Comment?

Good Comments are insightful. You read them and are better off having read them. They add new information to a discussion. They are clear, hopefully well written, or maybe amusing. These are the gems we're looking for, and they deserve to be promoted.

Average Comments might be slightly offtopic, but still might be worth reading. They might be redundant. They might be a 'Me Too' article. They might say something painfully obvious. They don't detract from the discussion, but they don't necessarily significantly add to it. They are the comments that require the most attention from the moderators, and they also represent the bulk of the comments. (Score: 0-1)

Bad Comments are flamebait. Bad comments have nothing to do with the article they are attached to. They call someone names. They ridicule someone for having a different opinion without backing it up with anything more tangible than strong words. Bad comments are repeats of something said 15 times already making it quite apparent that the writer didn't read the previous comments. They use foul language. They are hard to read or just don't make any sense. They detract from the article they are attached to.

What is Karma?

3 Days Is Not Long Enough To Moderate!

On the contrary, I think its to long, although maybe I should change it to like "24 hours after you first are informed that you have moderator access". My reasoning is pretty simple: I don't want people to stockpile their points. I want people to use them or lose them. Otherwise people will hold on to their X points until a story comes on that they have a strong opinion in, and they will be tempted to moderate the discussion so as to sway things "their way". By expiring points quickly, moderators are encouraged to use them. Sometimes their points might expire unused, but thats ok: the system will just give points to someone else. r

Why Don't I get my points back after I post in a discussion I moderated?

How can I improve my Karma?

Ideas for the Future

This is a system in development.