Neowin.net

A fight over an obscure content-protection patent could wind up alleviating one of Microsoft's biggest legal headaches, according to digital rights management company Macrovision, a newcomer to the tussle.

Macrovision is sparring with rival InterTrust Technologies over patents each holds on similar digital rights management technologies--similar enough that the United States Patent and Trademark Office agreed several weeks ago to decide whether the two companies' patents actually refer to the same thing, and whether just one company should hold the rights. The Patent Office scrutiny, called an "interference proceeding," was requested years ago by InterTrust, which is also suing Microsoft for patent infringement. InterTrust contends that virtually all of Microsoft's key software, ranging from the Windows operating system to its Media Player, trespasses on its content protection patents.

But now Macrovision claims it could inherit a large portion of InterTrust's intellectual property if it wins rights to the single contested patent. And if that happens, it isn't nearly as interested in pursuing lawsuits against Microsoft, said Brian Dunn, executive vice president at Macrovision. "We have a friendly relationship with Microsoft," Dunn said. "Our goal is to get everyone to come to an agreement on patent licensing, in order to move the market forwards." The claims and counterclaims flying between the two digital rights companies are extreme even by the normally contentious nature of the digital rights management business. And their descriptions of the possible outcomes of the proceeding are so varied that they seem to be talking about different issues.

News source: C|Net News.com

But the firm added that "significant barriers exist" which may prevent reliable exploitation outside controlled lab conditions.

ISS said that Microsoft has not yet released a patch for the vulnerability, and urged network administrators to assess external exposure to vulnerabilities associated with Microsoft services running on ports 135, 137, 138, 139, 445 and 593 on both the network perimeter and VPN connections.

Speaking at Microsoft's Partner Summit in New Orleans last week, chief executive Steve Ballmer criticised security researchers and their methods of disclosing vulnerabilities early.

"These are people who discover vulnerabilities, and it's part of their job to go public with them," he said.

"What we have done over the last six months is intersect with them to make sure disclosure is done in a more responsible way. I wish these people would just be quiet, but that's not going to happen."

ISS countered that it had speeded up disclosure of the vulnerability because tools are in circulation to demonstrate the DoS condition.