Slashdot Mirror
Burst.com and Microsoft Settle
prostoalex writes "Microsoft and Burst.com announced a tentative settlement, where Microsoft will pay Californian company $60 mln for allegedly stolen multimedia streaming software. Robert X. Cringely provided the recap of the court case back in 2003 (and Slashdot discussion ensued). According to Burst claims, Microsoft entered a non-disclosure agreement with the company to learn about Burst's multimedia streaming technology. Later the technology, for which Burst has 37 patents, has been found in Windows Media Player. When aksed to present the archives of the e-mails and all communications within the company for the trial, Microsoft somehow presented all the documents that preceded before the deal and the documents that followed it. The e-mails during the 35 weeks that negotiations were held mysteriously disappeared. In court Microsoft claimed the e-mails were erased from employee's desktops, e-mail servers and server backups. The technology was not interesting to Microsoft, lawyers insisted, so the electronic trail of communications was erased."
In court Microsoft claimed the e-mails were erased from employee's desktops, e-mail servers and server backups.
I don't know how Microsoft's IT structure works but I know at where I work we have snapshots of all of our data done every week and held for a month. Then at the month limit we archive our data for another year. Not to mention the nightly incremental backups. Essentially we can go back to any time of a week for a month, then in month increments and recover that snapshot.
I guess what I'm getting at is how exactly does a company lose "uninteresting" data spanning a period of 35 weeks unless it's intentional?
It would be near impossible for someone to cover ones tracks without going through only God knows how many tapes and erasing said data.
I'm a virgo and on Slashdot. Coincidence? Yes.
Microsoft should see its day in court for this. This case was so clearly predatory and demonstrates the continued belligerence of Microsoft and its corporate strategy. I'm not sure if Burst.com decided that it was too expensive to take this to court, or if Microsoft simply made them an offer they couldn't refuse. Just shows how fluid the law is when there's enough money in the equation. With settlements being the de facto standard response to criminal corporate behavoir, it's no wonder anti-social companies like MS are more and more common - meaining known to the public to be criminals. What really blows me away is the public acceptance, or at least apathy, of companies like MS because it's more practical to look the other way.
I Want To Believe
Double standards, anyone?
Seriously, this is getting tedious.
This case had all the indications that MS workers would finally be found guilty of perjury and sent to jail.
And if they were found guilty of perjury, I would really like to see the crooks doing hard time. In fact, I wish some DA picks up the leads (even after the settlement) and investigate what would possibly be the most blatant case of lying to a Court Judge we have notice of.
Then comes money and it's all forgotten. Now they can go on and do the same thing to the next victim they can find.
Someone define Justice for me, please.
Is that money I smell? Welcome to Slashdot where we advertise gadgets and technology you must have and the lawsuits behind them. I love my iPod I couldn't live without it. Isn't the war in Iraq great? Oh yeah, Klerck is dead. Ho hum.
Materialism.
I spent my week putting in overtime because my job demands it. Spent 60 hours just so I would have a job to buy stuff I enjoy.
Petit Materialism.
I log into Slashdot to tell everyone the joys of Apple computing. I paid a lot for my Mini-Me Mac but it was worth it! I feel so great I must tell the world.
GDP is going up. Humanity is going down.
As long as you have enough money you are above the law?
Once again Microsoft learns that laws are now impediment. Everyone complains about their illegal business practices, but why shouldn't they do what's illegal? It's not like they hide it. They simply say, yes we broke the law and we accept the penalty because the penalty doesn't even come close to the amount of money we've made from the illegal practice. Time and again they learn that our legal system is totaly incapable of punishment or correction for mega corporation like them. I say bravo for providing such a vivid demonstration of how broken our legal system is. If it's brokeness is not plainly revealed, it'll never get fixed.
Remember, way back in the Win3.x days, that whole thing about DoubleSpace and Stacker? These things have happened before, and they will probably happen again.
Companies which exist for the sole purpose of creating and making money off of patents are called RESEARCH companies.... Our government created the patent system on purpose, not by accident. It is supposed to, and in most cases, does stimulate creativity and research.
Companies that IGNORE other peoples' intellectual property and just take what isn't theirs disgust me.
They should have held out for more than a billion. The fact the MS deleted the e-mail says they were horribly guilty. In addition, this is one area that MS is trying desperately to win. It is easily worth several billions to MS.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
well you're wrong. Burst was not just a patent company, they developed and produced a product, they did not just patent ideas.
Perhaps you should be worrying about Microsofts actions and seeming lack of punishment instead.
Microsoft disgusts me.
After watching the great documentary The Corporation, all of this makes sense, since the government basically has given corporations all the rights of humans, but none of the responsibility or accountability. So Microsoft can blatantly spit in the face of court subpoenas and suffer virtually no consequences. Sad, but welcome to the 21st corporate-centric century.
Gods damn it, you ADD children with your IM and SMS vocabularies need to stop making up your own abbreviations when talking with regular people. Appropriate abbreviations for "million" are "mil" or "M". Saying "mln" is just ignorant.
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
Microsoft got off cheap. Very, very cheap.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
RTFA ... they didn't just sit on it. In fact at some point Microsoft was in negotiations to buy SAID technology. They must have been out actively marketing it, then got hamstringed by one potential buyer.
Ouch
Here, have a glass of milk. Would you like some cookies too?
C|N>K
Noone suggested software patents are good (except Microsoft). You just posted that without reading what people were saying.
People are saying that it's good that they are getting bitten by their own tactics because maybe they will realise that software patents are a bad idea.
There are no double standards there.