Corporate & legal

Software companies could be held responsible for the security and efficacy of their products, if a new European Commission consumer protection proposal becomes law.

Commissioners Viviane Reding and Meglena Kuneva have proposed that EU consumer protections for physical products be extended to software. The suggested change in the law is part of an EU action agenda put forward by the commissioners after identifying gaps in EU consumer protection rules.

A priority area for possible EU action is "extending the principles of consumer protection rules to cover licensing agreements of products like software downloaded for virus protection, games, or other … Read more

The judge had a conflict of interest--that's one argument that will be used in appealing the Pirate Bay verdict, an attorney of one of the defendants told CNET News on Friday.

Peter Sunde, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Fredrik Neij, and Carl Lundström were all found guilty last month of having assisted in making 33 copyright-protected files accessible for illegal file sharing via the Piratebay.org Web site.The four were sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to pay $3.6 million in damages to copyright holders.

Now all four are appealing the decision in separate cases, … Read more

In the wake of reported discussions involving the Department of Justice and Google over the recent Google Books settlement, now comes word that various state attorneys general are mulling their options.

Reuters reported Friday that several state AGs held a conference call on Tuesday to discuss the settlement, which will allow Google to digitize a vast collection of books that are still under copyright but out of print. There's concern in some parts over the fact that authors have to opt out of the settlement as well as the fact that Google now essentially controls the digital rights to … Read more

Sun Microsystems shareholders have filed three separate class action lawsuits to block a $7.4 billion acquisition by Oracle, the company revealed in a 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The lawsuits allege Sun's board didn't live up to its fiduciary responsibilities to shareholders when it accepted Oracle's acquisition offer, saying "the consideration offered in the proposed transaction is unfair and inadequate."

Personally, I don't think these issues will block the deal. If it really has to, Oracle has the cash to up its offer or settle with the shareholders before it gets nasty (if the suits actually have any merit). And in another wrinkle, Oracle probably already knows that Sun may have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

That's right: Sun also disclosed Friday that it may have violated the act, which bars American companies from bribing or engaging in other unethical activity with foreign officials. This can often be difficult since some foreign governments, to put it charitably, don't have the same hard rules against government bribery. Potential contractors can be put in the no-win situation of either paying off local officials or losing out on a lucrative contract. That's not to say that's the situation Sun is facing. It's not clear what Sun executives believe may have happened, but they have hired outside lawyers to look into it.

But as I already said, I don't think these new revelations are deal-breakers, even if FCP violations can carry potential penalties that include fines, criminal sanctions, and a ban from doing business with the U.S. federal government.

What does this tell us about the Sun/Oracle deal itself?

Oracle execs must believe that they can work out a deal with the dissenting shareholders (or, again, maybe they think their suits have little merit). And Oracle execs probably aren't that worried about any lingering government-related issues. This isn't the first time Oracle's acquisitions have come with legal question marks. The database king successfully fought a government antitrust suit against the eventual takeover of software rival PeopleSoft several years ago. Many pundits thought fighting the suit was folly, but Oracle did it anyway. … Read more

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

Are the days of silly AdSense deals with the likes of MySpace and AOL over for Google? Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay seems to think so. The analyst upped his price target to $600 for Google shares on the theory that the economy is rebounding and the search giant's revenue per click ratio will follow. Meanwhile, Google's profit margins are likely to go higher.

And Google's ability to walk away from high-cost AdSense deals are one reason those margins are headed higher. Lindsay writes in a research note: … Read more

RealNetworks, best known for its RealPlayer software, saw weaker results for the first quarter of 2009, the digital entertainment company said Thursday.

Net loss for the quarter ended March 31 was $12.1 million, or a loss of 10 cents a share, versus net income of $2.4 million, or 2 cents per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2008. Revenue was $140.8 million, down 5 percent from $147.6 million a year ago. Results were below estimates from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who expected a loss of only 6 cents a share.

The Seattle-based company blamed … Read more

Prepaid wireless providers are scooping up subscribers as cash strapped consumers downgrade to lower cost cell phone service.

First quarter earnings reports from MetroPCS Communications and Leap Wireless on Thursday provided further evidence that consumers are flocking toward no-contract, unlimited prepaid services. These carriers, which operate primarily in smaller urban areas, each reported they had nearly doubled their subscription rate compared to a year ago.

MetroPCS said its new subscriber additions increase 51 percent compared to the same quarter a year earlier. In total it added 684,000 new subscribers, bringing its customer base to 6 million. This was the … Read more

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Google shouldn't be surprised to face government scrutiny as it continues to grow.

At least, that's what CEO Eric Schmidt thinks. In a wide-ranging discussion with reporters prior to Google's annual meeting at the company's headquarters, Schmidt deflected questions about reported government inquiries that have surfaced in past weeks by saying "we should expect governments around the world to pay attention to what we do, and hold us to the principles that we've articulated."

The Department of Justice is reportedly looking into Google's settlement with publishers over the rights … Read more

John Roberts on Wednesday resigned from his post as CEO of open-source CRM vendor SugarCRM, leaving board member Larry Augustin to assume the role of interim CEO while the company conducts a formal search for his replacement.

Roberts, whose grounds for leaving the company and future plans remain undisclosed, has made a huge impact on the open-source world, innovating the "Open Core" business model and helping drive open-source applications into the enterprise.

SugarCRM, despite losing Roberts, will be in good hands with Larry Augustin, who, as founder and former CEO of VA Linux, sits on a number of … Read more