"After more than a year of conflict, a campaign by America
Online, Microsoft and other powerful software companies to pass
legislation dramatically limiting the rights of software buyers
appears to have stalled in the face of growing opposition."
"Half a dozen states this year have considered the controversial
legislation, which would allow software companies to ban the sale
of used software, avoid fixing software bugs and even block the
publication of critical reviews of their products."
"Some software sellers are already trying to insert clauses
in contracts saying that Maryland UCITA rules will govern any
disputes."
"But word of the strategy has spread among information
technology managers who buy software."
"Arne Larsen, director of information systems at Horizon Blue
Cross in Newark, N.J., said his company's software buyers have
already rejected one contract clause that would have invoked UCITA
and will keep on fighting it when it reappears."
