Posted 08/08/08 at 10:33:22 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Microsoft and Havok have further cemented their longstanding association with each other. The two reached an agreement whereby Microsoft Game Studios and its development partners world over will have access to Havok’s Physics, Animation and Behavior products and all future offerings.

Those Microsoft’s internal studios and development partners that license Havok Physics will also get Havok Animation. If this agreement provides easy access to Havok’s innovative products to Microsoft’s game developers, it also guarantees a loyal consumer base to Havok, which will allow it to push its new and lesser known products – other than Physics - far more easily.

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Software, license, animation, microsoft game studios, havok, physics engine, game developers

Posted 07/21/08 at 04:29:49 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

I was a victim of the Symantec triple-license AV software whose timer started ticking with the first installation (March 2008). I called Symantec’s customer service number and complained, and the company fixed it for me by resetting the timer to start with the third installation. This rectified the situation to my satisfaction, and I learned a lesson.

Fast forward a year to a similar three-pack from Computer Associates. Being careful, I installed all three licenses on the same day to make sure there wouldn’t be any issues with the expiration date. As soon as the software ran an update cycle with the home server, it took three weeks off my license! I called CA and the company fixed the problem. The culprit? It seems the clock started ticking when I bought the package (or so I was told). But how did they know when I bought it?

Customer service didn’t say, but I bet it’s from the rebate form I sent in after buying the software. I had purchased the software locally prior to the expiration date of the current antivirus software on the systems I was using and waited a few weeks until the current licenses expired before installing the new copy—a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

This strikes me as an extremely deceptive practice. I wonder if anyone else has been bitten by this?

Answers for Louis (and the rest of us) after the jump.

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Watchdog, license, customer service, symantec

Posted 01/24/08 at 10:36:40 PM by Erin Simon

Last.fm offers free streaming full-length songs on demand with the studios' blessing, while Seeqpod the music search engine gets sued.

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Internet, streaming, music, Licensing, copyright, law, license, infringement, deal, on demand

Posted 10/04/07 at 06:06:18 PM by Erin Simon

After unwittingly licensing his photograph to permit commercial uses, a Flickr user's photo gets remixed into a cellphone ad campaign in Australia. And, of course, sues.

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Licensing, flickr, lawsuit, copyright, law, license, advertising, commercial, creative commons, attribution, virgin mobile, ad, derivative work

Posted 09/20/07 at 09:24:11 PM by Erin Simon

The first ever lawsuit alleging copyright infringement for a violation of the GPL was initiated today. Will courts enforce the GPL? Stay tuned.

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copyright, law, gpl, license, free software, infringemet, general public license, open-source software, BusyBox, Monsoon Multimedia, enforcement

Posted 07/24/07 at 07:46:48 PM by Erin Simon

The latest version of the GPL waffles on the question of user modification of software in consumer products. But what should they have done?

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copyright, law, contract, gpl, license, copyleft, tivo, tivoization, gplv3, fsf, free software