According to Yahoo!Tech, “

[d]igital video recorder maker TiVo Inc and EchoStar Corp [returned] to a Texas court [today]in the latest round of a longstanding fight over a television recording technology patent.  The legal dispute dates back to 2004, when TiVo charged that satellite TV provider EchoStar Communications Corp's Dish network system violated TiVo's patent for ‘Time Warp’ software, which allows users to record one TV program while watching another.”  ACT has commented on the TiVo vs. EchoStar case before, writing that the TiVo litigation serves as an example of why patents are important for smaller innovators to protect their ability to continue to innovate.

Internetnews.com reports on the new virtualization interoperability deal between Microsoft and Red Hat, writing that “[t]he arrangement marks a new level of cooperation between Windows and Linux-based systems.  The pact will enable Microsoft Windows Servers 2008 and 2003 to run as a supported, guest virtualized operating system on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. On the other side Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 will now be a supported guest virtualized operating system on Windows Server 2008.”

The Seattle Times writes that “[t]he blogosphere was abuzz Monday after a popular consumer-affairs blog pointed out changes to Facebook's terms of use that the social-networking Web site quietly made earlier this month. The issue of who controls the data posted to the site is a massive gray area that continues to evolve.  Under both the old and new rules, members grant Facebook a license to use content ‘on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.’  But the revised agreement eliminates language saying this license would ‘automatically expire’ if content were removed from the site.” 

CNetNews.com reveals that “[o]n the first day of the long-awaited criminal trial involving The Pirate Bay file-sharing site, Swedish prosecutors unexpectedly dropped half of the charges against the site's operators.  Prosecutors previously accused the defendants, who have insisted that their Web site is legal under Swedish law, of assisting in the distribution of copyrighted material. The amended charges focus on the act of making the material available.”

NPR reports that “[i]n an effort to curb New York's nearly $15 billion budget deficit, Gov. David Paterson is suggesting a tax on Internet downloads.  His so-called ‘iPod tax’ would levy a 4 percent fee on all music and video downloads — including pornography.”