Lawsuits, We've Got Lawsuits: Microsoft, AMD, Intel

Microsoft sues the unknown hacker who keeps breaking its DRM.  The company is miffed over successive variations of a program called FairUse4VM that pops up on the Internet every time a patch is issued to defeat it. Microsoft designed their DRM so patches could be applied to the system rather than individual files.  That functionality keeps the system in step with the hacker, if not a step ahead of him or her, who uses the name Viodentia online.  Microsoft's suit states that Viodentia, who remains anonymously at large, has somehow gained access to copyrighted source code for the hacks.  Not so says Viodentia in response.  He or she used the same materials in the DRM software development kit available to media developers.

That's one way to make sure that PlaysForSure works.

Stories are in ZDNET, the Register, MacWorld, and see the interview with Viodentia in Engadget.

And Intel has managed to get some of the claims lodged against it by AMD dismissed.  AMD is seeking redress from allegedly anti-competitive business practices by Intel in a number of jurisdictions.  The judge agreed with Intel that foreign forums are a better place to resolve  foreign claims.

See stories in Techworld, the San Jose Mercury News, BetaNews, and Forbes.