05.13.10
Have Microsoft EULAs Just Been Declared Invalid in the United Kingdom?
Summary: Microsoft’s software licences may lack a legal basis and Apple is tickled for breaking the law as a sacred, secret and specially-blessed hypePhone gets out of Apple’s hands again
SEVERAL years ago, an analysis was published in The Register which contended that Microsoft’s EULA is not enforceable in Britain. Microsoft claims no liability [1, 2, 3, 4] and also forbids benchmarks (which Phoronix produces a lot of these days). A reader has just sent us this new article from The Register. It says that the “High Court rules software liability clause not ‘reasonable’” and that “The IT industry feared that the result would make it harder to make claims for software, but the Court said that EDS’s fraudulent misrepresentation was down to the conduct of one employee, not the whole firm. Experts said that this made it less likely that IT suppliers would overhaul the way they sold their systems.”
“This is a very important story,” explained our reader, “and a good tech journalist would investigate all such ‘only your money back’ agreements.” Like its close partner Samsung, Microsoft has a history of using British law (+EULA) as an instrument of abuse.
As side news, Apple’s 4th generation hypePhone has been ‘leaked’ again. [via]
Wow, Apple aren’t being too careful these days, they appear to have lost another 4th gen iPhone – this one is a 16 GB model. These images have appeared on a Vietnamese website Taoviet.vn.
Rumors are that this handset was bought in the US for $4,000 by a Vietnamese businessman, along with an iPad. What do you think? Genuine? Other rumors suggest this iPhone is fitted with the A4 processor, same as the iPad.
Will Apple break the law again (or have the police break the law) by bullying the person in possession of this phone, just as it did to Gizmodo? (details in the links below) █
- Microsoft’s Phone Business as Dead as Zune, But Apple Too Loses Its Mind
- Apple’s Hounding of Bloggers Becomes a PR Disaster
- Apple’s Connection to Abuse of Gizmodo Employee Shown, EFF Fights Back
- Microsoft is Contacting Publications, Asking Them to Add More Anti-Linux Slant
- Does Android’s Chief Compare Steve Jobs to North Korea’s Dead Leader (Kim Il-sung)?
- “Behind the Open Codec FUD Attack, W3C Captured by Microsoft, Apple, Nokia and So On?”
- Firm of Bill Gates’ Father Gets Involved in Gizmodo Raid Case, Gizmodo May Sue
- When Brands Become Cults
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