Copyrights

[Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- jci -dot- com]

This is something that will bear watching as the thread unfolds, but those
of you in companies using MS products and who may soon be headed into the
.NET stuff presented in Hailstorm may be interested in this link:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/18002.html

It's a commentary on Passport's terms of service. Passport, you may
remember, is the center of the Hailstorm/.NET vision Microsoft has been
talking about.

According to the article, the Terms of Service grant MS an unconditional "r
ight to exploit any proprietary rights in such communication, including but
not limited to rights under copyright, trademark, service mark or patent
laws under any relevant jurisdiction. No compensation will be paid with
respect to Microsoft's use of the materials contained within such
communication." (and yes, I double-checked the date of the article)

The preamble to this states: "By posting messages, uploading files,
inputting data, submitting any feedback or suggestions, or engaging in any
other form of communication with or through the Passport Web Site, you
warrant and represent that you own or otherwise control the rights
necessary to do so and you are granting Microsoft and its affiliated
companies permission to:" et cetera.

Everyone who uses Hailstorm will be engaging in a form of communication
with Passport, at least according to the Microsoft documents I've seen, so
this could affect your company's copyrights, as well as any patent
discussions you hold via Passport/Hailstorm/.NET.

Heads up, people.

Passport TOS: http://www.passport.com/Consumer/TermsOfUse.asp

Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224

Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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In God we trust; all others must provide data.
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Opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.
If JCI had an opinion on this, they'd hire someone else to deliver it.



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