The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has sued Oracle today, claiming that the software giant overcharged the federal government by tens of millions of dollars after not disclosing discounts given to other corporate customers.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the DOJ says Oracle did not provide a discount that is normally given to “most favored customers.” The government should have that discount through a deal with the General Services Administration (GSA).
GSA’s “multiple award schedule” lets the government negotiate contracts with companies so that government employees can make purchases at a discounted price.
Due to regulations, the GSA must obtain the best price a contractor provides, and the contractor must disclose that price.
The new suit says Oracle, starting in 2007, did not disclose their lowest prices to the GSA.
Result for: software products
Accused Microsoft product key counterfeiter Adonis Gladney has been convicted this week of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and is now the first person to ever be convicted under the DMCA for violations relating to the circumvention of security protections on software.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian, Gladney sold tens of thousands of the counterfeited keys, which are used to activate legitimate software products such as Microsoft Office.
“The defendant couldn’t have executed his scheme without counterfeit access keys,” Missakian noted. “(The keys) allowed purchasers to load software on multiple computers.”
Missakian admitted that even the US Marine Corp. had been duped into buying the phony keys, among thousands of other clients.
With his conviction, it looks like Gladney will likely face 3-7 years in prison, depending on “the amount of monetary damage he caused.”
CNet adds that Gladney, a Los Angeles native “would advertise software licenses in large volume on his Web sites, abovegroundsolutions.com or agsolutionsspc.com. Customers paid their money and received licenses, which prosecutors say Gladney claimed legally covered between 25 and 750 users. Gladney would then ship them a CD loaded with software that authorities say was not designated as a retail product for sale to the general public, such as software that typically comes bundled in PCs.”
“By repeatedly using and distributing the same key codes on multiple products,” added an FBI cyber crimes’ spokesperson, “Gladney is circumventing one of Microsoft’s primary security features
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Result for: software products
Speaking in an interview at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, RealNetworks Inc. Chief Executive Rob Glaser revealed he is confident that the company will emerge victorious from a lawsuit brought against it by the major Hollywood studios. The target of the lawsuit is a software title developed by the company called RealDVD, which allows a user to copy a DVD movie, which can then be watched on up to five computers.
Hollywood’s position on the software is predictable; it enables piracy and so should be illegal and not sold by RealNetworks. A San Francisco judge halted sales of RealDVD back in October 2008. Glaser said the company is willing to make small changes to the software if it has to, but does not expect that to be the outcome.
RealNetworks claims that RealDVD does not remove the CSS (Content Scrambling System) copy protection mechanism at all. He said Friday he expects an injunction hearing will be held in San Francisco in March. Other products in the past have been successfully taken from the market by Hollywood, including the once-infamous DVDXCopy software products.
