Matthew Broersma

A group of 61 members of the European Parliament, or MEPs, has initiated a plan to scrap the European Unions current legislative process around IT patents, citing changes caused by recent European elections, EU expansion and growing concerns around software patents. The move comes just as IBM has said it will donate 500 patents for […]

Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday said it will take immediate steps to provide secret server communications protocols to competitors and to provide a version of Windows without an integrated media player, in compliance with the decision of the European Competition Commission, upheld by the European Unions Court of First Instance. Nevertheless, the company is keeping its […]

To win its appeal for a stay on the antitrust penalties imposed earlier this year by the European Competition Commission, Microsoft Corp. had to prove to the European Unions Court of First Instance that it had a prima facie case, that the Commissions remedies would cause irreparable harm and that the balance of interests favored […]

A European Union judge has denied Microsoft Corp. a reprieve from the antitrust penalties imposed by the European Commission in March—a serious blow to Microsofts case. Microsoft said it would begin complying with the order immediately. In a 91-page decision issued on Wednesday morning, Judge Bo Vesterdorf, the president of the EUs Court of First […]

Voting on the European Unions controversial IT patenting proposal has been unexpectedly delayed, in the latest twist in the draft laws tortuous history. The proposed Directive on the Patentability of Computer Implemented Inventions, which addresses the issue of software patents, faced a vote on Tuesday afternoon at a meeting of the EUs Council on Agriculture […]

A European Union judge will hand down his decision on a key Microsoft Corp. appeal on Wednesday afternoon, the registrar of the EUs Court of First Instance said on Monday. The court will confirm the date in a statement issued later on Monday, according to the registrar. The CFI will make publicly available Judge Bo […]

Security researchers have uncovered a spoofing flaw in Internet Explorer that could turn out to be the perfect holiday gift for scammers. The bug, which has been confirmed on a fully patched Windows XP system with IE 6.0 and Service Pack 2, could allow a scammer to display a fake Web site with all the […]

The EUs controversial proposal on patenting “computer-implemented inventions” has unexpectedly cleared a major hurdle, with the Council of the European Union set to give its approval early next week, officials have confirmed. In a technical fluke, it will fall to a meeting of either the Environment or the Agriculture and Fisheries councils—the only meetings left […]

Adobe Systems Inc. has warned of two serious security flaws affecting Windows, Mac OS X and Unix versions of its Acrobat software. The bugs could allow an attacker to execute malicious code on a users system via a PDF file distributed via e-mail, according to security researchers. The first flaw affects Version 6.0.2 of Acrobat […]

SAP AG has benefited from the market uncertainty created by the long battle between Oracle Corp. and Peoplesoft Inc. Now that the battle is over, the dominant business applications maker doesnt see the good times ending. /zimages/6/28571.gifClick here for the details on the Oracle-PeopleSoft merger agreement. “The era of uncertainty is far from over,” said […]

IBM has formed a joint venture with Great Wall Computer Shenzhen Co Ltd. to manufacture servers for the Asia-Pacific region, settling uncertainty over how last weeks sale of IBMs PC division would affect the areas server operations. The new venture, International Systems Technology Company, will take over from a 10-year-old alliance between the two companies—called […]

Security firm Secunia has warned that most Web browsers are vulnerable to a simple “phishing” technique that could make fraudulent content appear genuine. The Copenhagen, Denmark, company on Wednesday published five advisories on the issue, covering fully patched, standard versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Konqueror and Safari. Secunia also published a demonstration allowing users […]