Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled

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• Licensing the Office 2007 UI - what is Microsoft's IP strategy?

  Jensen Harris announced that the Office 2007 Ribbon UI can be licensed . For the last year or so, one of the questions I've been asked again and again has been: "Can I use the new Office user interface in my own product?" I have to be honest - I'm a bit baffled at this whole thing. Note, they are not providing any common controls for the Ribbon. Rather, they are "licensing ... intellectual property rights in the UI (which cover both design and functionality) and offering a comprehensive Design Guidelines document that is a roadmap for developers implementing the UI." The license is free as long as you follow the guidelines, and is intended "[f]or those that want to build their own UI that takes advantage of our design guidelines." The reason, as Jensen describes, is that "the new Office user interface was a huge investment by Microsoft and the resulting intellectual property belongs to Microsoft." The next question, of course, are what rights does Microsoft actually have with the Ribbon... Posted Nov 27 2006, 07:24 AM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Software Development, Things that bother me, Things that amuse me, Copyright, Patent, Microsoft

• Gartner sends a cease and desist to remove a link

  Scoble passes along that James Governor, an analyst for RedMonk, received a C&D from Gartner for a link . Wow. I obviously haven't seen the letter, but I'm trying to imagine what possible legal recourse they have to linking to a publicly visible URL. Obviously there's no copyright infringement and there are standards you have to adhere to protect something as a trade secret. (Hint: putting something on a publicly visible server is not enough). Oh, and someone should tell Gartner that you can "redact" all the links you want but the Internet is forever . Here's the link - maybe I'll get my first C&D too. This is even worse than C&D'ing someone who is trying to help you . Tags: Gartner , RedMonk , CeaseAndDesist , Stupidity Posted Jul 11 2006, 01:15 PM by Tim with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Rants, Things that bother me, Things that amuse me, Copyright, Business

• Do the record companies WANT to go out of business?

  Furd brings us the latest incredibly stupid move by a record company. EMI targets the ‘mix-tape’ with ’secure CD’ : UK record label EMI announced yesterday it plans to introduce anti-piracy technology to its CDs that will restrict consumers’ ability to burn tracks to blank CDs. The technology, from DRM solutions firm Macrovision, will allow CD owners to copy only three full copies of a CD’s songs, and the burned discs themselves cannot be copied. […] The technology also prevents CDs from being transferred to an iPod. (Emphasis my own). I really, really don't get it. It's obvious they don't either. I'll say it again : People are willing to PAY for your music, even if it's of questionable legality , but they want to feel like they're getting value. Perhaps most importantly, they want the right to choose how to consume it. Putting DRM that prevents them from putting it on their iPod, which in many cases is why they bought the CD in the first place, will lead to a few possible results, none... Posted Jun 16 2005, 06:54 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Things that bother me, Music, Copyright