Well, to be fair, any list of bloggers is going to be less fun than any expectation you could possibly have for it. (And your expectations for a blogger list better be pretty low to begin with.) But this list of who commented on the Oracle vs. Google trial, while also being paid by Google? Dud. More »
As the last details of the Google vs. Oracle Java lawsuit wrap up, both companies have responed to a court order to disclose paid bloggers. Google has claimed they had none, despite Oracle’s assertions to the contrary. Oracle fessed up to one. More »
U.S. District Judge William Alsup is worried that Google and Oracle may have paid off writers during their lawsuit, and now he’s going to find out if they did. He’s ordered Google and Oracle to disclose a list of journalists and bloggers the companies hired to write about their high-profile lawsuit. Alsup says that even though the case is mostly over, the court is “concerned” that Google and Oracle may have paid news writers to publish stories – either in print or on the Internet – that commented on the case.
So, because of this concern, both companies now have until noon on August 17th to disclose any payments they or their counsel made to authors, journalists, bloggers, or commentators. This could result in some bad PR for Google or Oracle if either one of them comes back with a long list of writers who were paid to cover the lawsuit, and indeed, both Google and Oracle are keeping silent on Alsup’s order.
Naturally, it isn’t good to have companies paying writers to report one-sided items, and it may be that Alsup is looking to call attention to the problem with this order. It’s true that it doesn’t much matter with this case in particular now, as Oracle was unsuccessful in its attempt to sue Google, but by making both companies hand over lists of any writers who received payment during the suit, Alsup is making a statement that it isn’t going to be tolerated. That could send a message to any writers looking to make a few extra bucks on the side in the future (at least that’s the hope).
With both companies required to disclose their payments in just about a week-and-a-half, it won’t be much longer before we find out what, exactly, was going on behind the scenes. It may not be the most desirable situation for Google and Oracle, but we’re sure that many people will be happy to see Judge Alsup taking a hard stance on this. Stay tuned – well have more details on this as they develop.
[via paidContent]
Google and Oracle must call out paid journalists, Judge commands is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Cloud-based software company Oracle is apparently serious about hitting the social media scene hard, announcing today that it has purchased Involver, a company that specializes in the development of customized social media campaigns. This marks Oracle’s third social media acquisition in the past two months, so Oracle will soon be ready to offer its customers a range of social media services alongside the cloud-based software services it already provides. The price Oracle paid to acquire Involver is still unknown.
The purchase of Involver takes place shortly after last month’s acquisition of Collective Intellect and May’s buyout of Virtue. Collective Intellect assists companies in monitoring the amount of buzz they’re generating in the social media world, while Virtue’s services help make the management of all of those different social media sites easier. When combined with Involver’s efforts, Oracle has now become something of a social media powerhouse that will be hard to ignore for companies craving a slice of that social media pie.
For its part, Oracle is confident that the deal with Involver will work out for the best. “The combination of Involver with Oracle is expected to create the most advanced and comprehensive cloud-based social platform across marketing, sales and service touchpoints,” it said today after the buyout was announced. It’s unclear whether Oracle will continue this buying frenzy, but with the company obviously itching to become the go-to source for social media marketing, it’s doubtful that we’ve heard the last of Oracle’s acquisition spree.
[via MercuryNews]
Oracle continues social media binge with Involver buyout is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
When you sue someone and you lose, it’s a pretty big disappointment. All that time and money you invested in going after someone, with the hopes that you’d end up reaping some sort of reward, goes down the drain. But that’s just the beginning. You also have to pay the person or company that you sued. And that’s a problem if said company is Google.
Thus begins the next chapter in the legal saga between the search giant and Oracle. The massive patent infringement suit that Oracle brought upon Google ended up being dismissed, and now Google wants all the money it spent for the ordeal. “Google prevailed on a substantial part of the litigation. [Oracle] recovered none of the relief it sought in this litigation. Accordingly, Google is the prevailing party and is entitled to recover costs,” Google wrote in a legal brief.
The company is asking for no less than $4 million in compensation. Wanna know the craziest part? Of that huge sum of money, $2.9 million in expenses came from copying and organizing documents. Yeah, there were some 97 million documents that Google had to pull during the case. It is the same judge who ruled that Google didn’t need to pay Oracle anything on its patent allegations, Judge William Alsup, who will determine how much Oracle now needs to pay Google.
[via Wired]
Google asks Oracle for $4 million in legal fees is written by Mark Raby & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
One advantage American technology fans can celebrate is the right to resell software. After the initial purchase, they’re usually cleared to pass along any apps or games as long as the technology itself allows. Europeans haven’t had that (legal) option to date, but the EU’s Court of Justice has just ruled in a case against Oracle that they will going forward: no matter what the license says, those in EU countries can resell their downloaded apps as long as they don’t try to keep a working copy for themselves. The new owner doesn’t even have to shuffle over a local example and can go straight to the source. We can’t imagine that Oracle and other companies averse to used software are jumping for joy, although copy protection and a lack of digital resale mechanisms might help them simmer down and let us treat our apps like we do our gadgets.
[Image credit: Maciej Bliziński, Flickr]
EU clears resales of used software, shoots down Oracle’s new-sales-only dreams originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 14:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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German company UberSoft found itself in some hot water after Oracle tried to block the company’s resale of used software licenses. Now the European Court of Justice has ruled in the case, deeming that used software licenses can be resold. The court said that once a copy of the software had been sold the company waives its “exclusive right of distribution.”
The court also said that when the software is sold, the company enters into an implied contract, with the customers allowed to use the software for an unlimited period of time. The key ruling is that other companies and customers are allowed to resell the software, so UberSoft looks to be in the clear. Having said that, the court also mentioned that once the software is resold, all copies have to be removed from the original customer’s computer.
It’s a problem that others have faced in the past as well. Developers and publishers get no income from a second hand sale, prompting the industry to move towards tighter DRM, online only software, and licenses locked to a single user. Blizzard’s games are a good example, with its latest release, Diablo III, requiring an active internet connection even for single-player in order to avoid piracy issues.
[via Boing Boing]
EU Court: Used software sales are a-ok is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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