UCITA opponents slow software licensing law's progress

Computerworld - Opponents of the controversial UCITA software licensing law appear to have succeeded in stalling the bill in states where it's being considered this year, robbing the vendor-backed measure of the early momentum it gained last year following relatively quick adoptions in Maryland and Virginia.
But both sides in the battle, which pits technology vendors against some of their corporate customers, say they're now preparing for a long, multiyear campaign over the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA).
"Is the fight over? No," said Gordon Pence, an attorney at Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar Inc., which is opposing passage of UCITA by state legislatures. "We did really well this year, stopping it in all the states where it was introduced. But I don't think the pro-UCITA contingency is going to give up."
UCITA has been introduced this year in Arizona, Illinois, Texas, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon and New Jersey, plus the District of Columbia. Opponents are particularly pleased about stopping UCITA in Texas, which was seen as a key battleground state because of its size and the concentration of big companies there on both the user and vendor sides (see story).
The opposition in Texas "just came from everywhere. ... It was basically high-tech against everyone else," said Celeste May, general counsel to Republican state Sen. John Corona, who sponsored the Texas version of UCITA.
About two-thirds of the state legislatures have completed their work for the year, making UCITA's passage in any state this year unlikely, said Carol Ashworth, who is heading an anti-UCITA effort at the American Library Association's office in Washington. But Washington Mayor Anthony Williams has backed UCITA, and the outcome there remains to be seen.
John Palafoutas, a senior vice president at AEA, a technology industry trade group that was formerly known as the American Electronics Association, said the legislative showing this year "proves the old adage that it's easier to stop something than to pass something." Washington-based AEA is a proponent of UCITA.
Palafoutas attributed the hesitancy of states to quickly adopt UCITA to its length and complexity, although he added that he was surprised by the intensity of the opposition. "I didn't expect it to be this impassioned," he said. "I think in the long term, we're going to do OK on it. It's complex, and I think it's going to take us some time."
"I think we're just beginning" agreed Randy Roth, director of corporate purchasing at The Principal Financial Group, a UCITA opponent in Des Moines, Iowa. "This was the first year where each