I not a lawyer either. I’ve read the licensing agreement by going to the Help Menu in my IE and selecting about and then clicking on the Microsoft Copyright logo. There seem to be a very fine point in the wording on the webpage. If I am a competitor ran
a comparison of my product against a Microsoft Product and publish the results of the test, then I'm breaking an agreement because Microsoft hasn't given me permission to run their software in that manor. If I'm an independent consultant or reporter and are
comparing products from different companies than I have the right to publish the results of my comparisons by thew right of Free Speech. A company doesn't have the right to “reverse-engineer” a product to learn a proprietary information and then use he proprietary
information. That is definitely a copyright infringement. The Microsoft agreement also says some countries there are exceptions to certain items being copyright protected. I would think that testing a product in its "normal manner" and publishing the results
of the test would be hard to contest in a court of law. In the USA, Verizon and ATT for years have been advertising that there products have less dropped calls then their competitors. Both companies have been slapped on the wrist by the Federal Government
for False advertisement. What Microsoft can threaten is to take a company to court for "False Advertisement" and have a chance of winning, but won’t win for a copyright infringement.
jdweng
jdweng
