MS Wants Laws To Block Products Made By Software Pirates 617
kaptink writes with this quote from Groklaw:
"Microsoft seems to be trying to get its own personal unfair competition laws passed state by state, so it can sue US companies who get parts from overseas companies who used pirated Microsoft software anywhere in their business. The laws allow Microsoft to block the US company from selling the finished product in the state and compel them to pay damages for what the overseas supplier did. So if a company overseas uses a pirated version of Excel, let's say, keeping track of how many parts it has shipped or whatever, and then sends some parts to General Motors or any large company to incorporate into the finished product, Microsoft can sue not the overseas supplier but General Motors, for unfair competition. So can the state's Attorney General. I kid you not. For piracy that was done by someone else, overseas. The product could be T shirts. It doesn't matter what it is, so long as it's manufactured with contributions from an overseas supplier, like in China, who didn't pay Microsoft for software that it uses somewhere in the business. It's the US company that has to pay damages, not the overseas supplier."
More complicated than a carbon tax. (Score:5, Interesting)
If Microsoft China employs engineers who wear pirated Nike t-shirts, can Nike sue Microsoft?
Fair enough... (Score:4, Interesting)
...then U.S. companies should also be prohibited from selling goods manufactured or obtained from companies overseas who don't follow all the other U.S. laws, not just copyright laws. This would include all U.S. laws regarding the environment, labor, accounting, etc. Why pick and choose?
What could go wrong?
Good thing they don't sell Windows XP anymore (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm sure Sound Forge authors are just waiting for this law to pass.
Seeing as under this law they could sue Microsoft for big bucks! [techpavan.com]
Re:"An offer you cannot refuse" gamut (Score:5, Interesting)
IANAL, but as I see it basically Microsoft could sue ANYONE. I doubt that there is any business in the United States that doesn't have some part somewhere that was made by a Chinese company that didn't pirate something Microsoft along the way. If the burden is on the company to prove they didn't do anything wrong then you've got a great formula for putting small businesses into bankruptcy.
We don't only have a class war in the U.S., we have a war between big and small businesses.
Re:"An offer you cannot refuse" gamut (Score:5, Interesting)
Nail, head hit.
This proposed law would instantly make Microsoft billions. If done right, companies would have to prove their supplies didn't use pirated products in order to not get sued.
It also will force companies to buy Microsoft products for CYA reasons. This happened with Sarbanes-Oxley and the fact that operating systems on up had to have some sort of compliance (FIPS, Common Criteria) in order for IT departments to show due diligence. This caused wholesale migrations to Windows just for this reasons.
I can see companies not just moving to MS, but demanding their supplies be Microsoft based, so they can show that they are compliant.
Big win for MS, big win for businesses with lots of lawyers, small businesses now are easily destroyed should they show some innovation that can't be bought up easily.
Plus, if one of the copyright lawsuits for an insane amount does go through, a company can easily owe Microsoft trillions, especially with the precedents seen with LimeWire and other cases.
Re:Good for US economy (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Good for US economy (Score:5, Interesting)
there are limits. you have to be selling more than 50 million worth of stuff per year before the law kicks in.
funnily enough it completely exempts software.
If microsoft use pirated software to develop code for windows then they get off completely scot free.
Likewise if they use a pirated copy of photoshop to make their ads for windows then they're also in the clear.
open source violations are also excepted so if a company ignores an open source liscence they and their downstream customers also get off scot free.
isn't that convenient.
Excellent. (Score:5, Interesting)
If this passes, people relying on proprietary software will get a rude awakening.
If your suppliers are using Windows or Photoshop, how can you verify that they're all using licensed copies? Either you call the BSA in to kick their office's doors down and ransack it on your behalf, which is going to get you some "special" customer service once they find out you did it, or someone else will after you've bought from them in which case you'll be screwed when they get caught.
The only way you'll be safe under this regime is to require everyone in the supply chain uses FOSS.
Off the back of a truck (Score:2, Interesting)
This is a perfectly reasonable thing that mimics buying anything from thieves. It's purchasing stolen goods, taken to the next logical level. Microsoft can't possibly sue the overseas company -- different country, different laws, and different access. But more importantly, you should know what your suppliers are doing.
Besides, General Motors (in this example) doesn't have to be liable for the supplier's stolen software, the law just has that as the default. General Motors can easily include an indemnification clause into their contracts with their overseas supplier and simply pass the lawsuit along the chain should it ever arise.
But really, how else are you going to stop the illegal piracy from permeating every country around the world one by one? You need General Motors to insist that their suppliers do things properly. That's already required for electrical safety, and other import laws. Adding software to the list isn't the big deal.
As for the software not being a part of the t-shirt, I call zombie bullshit on that. They designed the logo on the t-shirt in microsoft word, we all know they did.
Look, microsoft isn't going to find the tiny t-shirt shop that used excel once as a calculator. That company can't supply enough to general motors to be worth anything anyway. And if microsoft does find them, that company will simply vanish into thin air.
We're talking about foreign companies in countries that don't prevent piracy, which can be fine for their country, feeding their products and services into our countries and ruining our economies. Why would that foreign company protect microsoft's interests? Microsoft may not have a single employee there. But here, in our countries, Microsoft provides jobs to thousands of employees and millions of jobs to the economy at large. You want to protect that.
Addtionally (Score:4, Interesting)