The Register: 2004 in Review: Intellectual Property

“Patents have been big news in 2004, with Microsoft appealing
against the ruling that it owes Eolas hundreds of millions in
licence fees, a move which has found it some unlikely allies.
Meanwhile, the EU did its level best to pass a directive
‘clarifying’ the legality of patenting software in Europe.

“But in all the patent-related excitement, let us not forget
SCO, and its (entirely self-inflicted) copyright dispute with IBM.
As the year began, the legal to-ing and fro-ing over ownership of
sections of Unix source code had been rumbling on for the better
part of nine months already. By March 2004, we wondered aloud
whether the end might be in sight. It was nowhere near…”

Complete
Story