[ Thanks to Don
Marti for this link. ]
Representatives of large corporations walk into a room
and come out with an agreement that excludes small companies from
competing with their technology. It is an illegal conspiracy in
restraint of trade, an information technology standards
organization…or both?That’s what the US Federal Trade Commission wants to find out.
In a speech on November 15, Federal Trade Commission Chairman
Timothy J. Muris announced hearings on “Competition and
Intellectual Property Law and Policy in the Knowledge-Based
Economy”.The agenda and list of speakers for the hearing have not yet
been determined. (Since any patent on Batman’s Batsignal must have
expired by now, Linux Journal technical staff have been assigned
the task of building a “Lessig Signal” to alert Prof. Lawrence
Lessig.)”