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Man wins right to sell second-hand software
A Seattle judge ruled in favor of a man arguing that he has the right to sell secondhand software, in a case that had some people worried about an end to used-book and CD stores. The suit was initially filed by Timothy Vernor after eBay, responding to requests by Autodesk, removed the Autocad software that Vernor was trying to sell on the auction site. EBay later banned Vernor from the site, based on Autodesk’s complaints. Vernor argued that since he was selling legitimate versions of the software — not illegal copies — he hadn’t violated any laws. Autodesk contends that it doesn’t “sell” its software, but instead licenses it and therefore prohibits buyers from reselling it.
Cisco buys videconferencing vendor for $3 billion
Cisco Systems has signed an agreement to buy videoconferencing vendor Tandberg for about US$3.0 billion in cash, it said on Thursday. Tandberg’s video endpoints and network infrastructure products will be integrated into Cisco’s collaboration products, according to Cisco. When the deal is done Tandberg’s CEO Fredrik Halvorsen will lead a new TelePresence Technology Group at Cisco. Cisco has high hopes for what the combination of the two companies will be able to accomplish in terms of expanding the whole videoconferencing market, according to Cisco CEO John Chambers, who spoke to investors and reporters on a conference call.
Pirate Bay owners call off P2P deal
The deal between Global Gaming Factory X and Peerialism, whose P-to-P technology was supposed to be a key component of the new Pirate Bay’s infrastructure, has been called off, according to Peerialism’s CEO Johan Ljungberg. The deal’s Wednesday deadline passed without GGF coming up with the required 100 million Swedish kronor (or US$14.3 million). The deal’s demise did not surprise Ljungberg because of GGF’s financial issues. Peerialism has been working under the assumption that it would not happen since GGF’s offer became public in June. GGF did not reply to calls for a comment.
Nortel’s dismantling continues with GSM
Nortel Networks is preparing to auction off its division that makes equipment for GSM early next month, continuing the unloading of its businesses under bankruptcy reorganization. The sale may not generate as much interest as the auction for Nortel’s larger CDMA division earlier this year. On Nortel’s 2008 financial results, a line for “GSM and UMTS solutions” showed revenue of about US$1.6 billion, compared with nearly $2.2 billion in CDMA revenue. More importantly, Nortel sold off the UMTS portion of this business to Alcatel-Lucent on Dec. 31, 2006, eliminating a key upgrade path from its GSM offerings.