LA Times: Support for Software Law Eroding

Nov 20, 2000, 22:09 (7 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Joseph Menn)

"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."

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