11/06, 9:55am
Raises iPhone privacy issues
A California iPhone developer, Storm8, has been accused of spying on iPhone owners, according to court documents. A lawsuit was recently submitted on behalf of Washington resident Michael Turner, charging Storm8 with several violations including breaches of contract, the California Computer Crime Law and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. On August 26th, says Turner, the company openly admitted that its games had been illicitly collecting phone numbers.
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11/04, 12:25pm
NY claims Intel threatened PC builders
New York state's Attorney General Andrew Cuomo today filed a lawsuit against Intel that accuses the company of antitrust abuse. The Delaware-based complaint maintains that Intel violated both state and federal laws by allegedly threatening companies with retaliation if they used AMD processors and in some cases paying out billions of dollars in financial incentives disguised as rebates. Intel engaged in "bribery and coercion" to keep its control of the market, Cuomo says.
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11/03, 4:40pm
ATT claims Verizon ads misleading
AT&T on Tuesday sued Verizon for allegedly misleading customers with its "there's a map for that" ads. The complaint argues that Verizon is deliberately exaggerating the gaps in AT&T's coverage through its map of 3G networks, making it seem as though some areas have no coverage at all, not just 3G. The campaign has already had to alter maps after some earlier protests from AT&T.
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11/03, 7:30am
Spring lawsuit says Nook reader copies Alex
Spring Design late Monday revealed that it has sued Barnes & Noble for allegedly infringing on the design of its two-screen Alex e-book reader. The company claims to have been working with Barnes & Noble in confidential terms since spring of this year but that the bookstore 'stole' the idea, unveiling its Nook reader without telling Spring Design in advance. The latter also says it has been obtaining patents since 2006, well before development of the Nook would have begun.
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10/30, 12:30pm
Joins assortment of cases already in action
Apple is facing yet another lawsuit over delayed MMS support on American iPhones, court documents show. Although the feature was eventually enabled on September 25th, the case's plaintiff -- Alabama resident Clyde Franklin -- charges both Apple and AT&T of misleading the public on MMS availability, with promises that it would become an option on the iPhone 3G and 3GS with the arrival of the v3.0 firmware. It did not, and Franklin notes that only a small disclaimer on the Apple website made mention that AT&T support would only come in "late summer."
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10/28, 10:15pm
IP related to LCD TV technology
Sony has resolved a dispute with Vizio over the latter company's patents involving technology used in LCD televisions. Rather than fight the battle in court, Sony decided to become a licensee for rights to use the technology from Vizio's patent portfolio.
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10/26, 1:25pm
Analysts dispute possible payments
A Nokia patent lawsuit could cost Apple as much as $1 billion in back payments, argues Strategy Analytics' Neil Mawston. The analyst tells Reuters that because of the over 34 million iPhones Apple has shipped to date, the company could owe anywhere between $200 million and $1 billion, depending on the terms of a settlement. Pund-IT analyst Charles King suggests that a $400 million figure more likely, assuming a 2 percent royalty scheme.
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10/23, 11:15am
Move a preemptive strike?
Following news of Nokia's patent infringement lawsuit against Apple, UBS analyst Maynard Um suggests the possibility of a hidden agenda. The case -- involving Nokia patents on technology ranging from 3G to Wi-Fi and GSM -- could be a preemptive strike in order to avoid possible infringement issues with soon-to-be-released Nokia phones, many of which contain multi-touch capabilities similar to Apple's own.
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10/22, 11:35am
Nokia says iPhone violates GSM, 3G patents
Nokia on Thursday sued Apple in a Delaware court for allegedly infringing on ten wireless patents. The claim argues that all iPhones violate patents held by Nokia for GSM calling, 3G data and Wi-Fi as well as security. The Finnish company contends that its patents are recognized as key to cellphones and that Apple is enjoying a "free ride" by exploiting technology Nokia has supposedly developed.
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10/21, 12:20pm
AT&T sues AU Optronics, more
AT&T has filed a lawsuit in a federal court in San Francisco on Tuesday against Samsung, LG Display, AU Optronics and other LCD makers for allegedly colluding on fixing the price of display panels in the US. According to a Wednesday Bloomberg report, AT&T claimed Samsung and six others have formed an illegal international cartel meant to "restrict competition in the United States in the market for LCD panels." In its complaint, AT&T claims this conspiracy has included communications and meetings during which defendants agreed to eliminate competition and fix the prices of LCD panels that were coming to the US.
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10/17, 12:30am
ITC finds Nokia not violating 3G patents
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) tonight exonerated Nokia by ending an investigation into claims by InterDigital that Nokia had violated its patents. The government agency has confirmed an initial decision by an Administrative Law Judge that said Nokia's use of UMTS-based 3G doesn't violate four InterDigital technology patents. Additionally, the ITC has rejected the portion of the judge's ruling that had originally found the patents valid and has denied InterDigital a chance to claim further patent violations.
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10/09, 1:25pm
Apple accusation involves iTunes
Apple and several news organizations have been named as defendants in a new patent infringement lawsuit, brought by a California business called Online News Link. The company accuses the other parties in the suit of violating US patent 7,508,789, awarded in March of this year, which describes a system for the fast search and retrieval of broadcast information over the Internet. "The amount of information delivered is preferably sufficient to satisfy the needs of a large number of subscribers so they do not have to obtain additional information using the bi-directional channel," the patent reads, adding that "the broadcast information is stored on fast storage media located at subscriber sites."
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10/06, 10:50am
Case involves embedded web apps
Research and development company Eolas Technologies has filed a lawsuit against over a dozen companies, including major technology businesses such as Apple, Adobe, Amazon, Google, eBay and Sun. Eolas accuses the companies of violating two US patents, 5,838,906 and 7,599,985; the broadest of these is the first, which allegedly covers all "fully-interactive" embedded web applications. The second is an extension, specifically covering embedded apps using plug-in and AJAX (asynchronous JavaScript and XML) code.
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10/02, 6:40pm
Psystar attorney leaves Apple team
Psystar shuffled its defense this week as one of the attorneys defending the Mac clone builder left its team. A filing has revealed that lawfirm Welker and Rosario's co-founder, David Welker, exited the team for unknown reasons but said he only played a small role in defending against Apple's copyright accusations. The defense member was responsible for filing some of Psystar's more recent filings, including those demanding Apple executives re-appear as witnesses, but said he neither worked with Psystar first-hand nor received pay for his efforts.
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09/28, 11:05am
Blame directed at Apple, AT&T marketing
A lawsuit filed in a US District Court in Minneapolis has once again accused Apple and AT&T of failing to warn about MMS limitations, according to the Pioneer Press. Plaintiff Kyle Irving charges that both companies have breached contract, avoiding a duty to inform the public that MMS services would not be available in the summer. In particular Irving explains that on buying an iPhone in June, he was promised that the device would have MMS capabilities.
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09/24, 9:45pm
Proceedings delayed indefinitely
The proposed settlement between Google and various publishing groups has been delayed while both sides attempt to renegotiate new terms, according to the New York Times. The settlement hearing was originally scheduled for October 7th, but US District Court Judge Denny Chin delayed the proceedings indefinitely.
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09/24, 6:55pm
Separate case now headed to Florida court
US District Court Judge William Alsup has denied Apple's motion to include Snow Leopard in its case against Psystar. Apple initially argued to keep the updated operating system out of the case by "relentlessly objecting to discovery on Snow Leopard," Alsup writes. The company was successful at keeping the issue separate, as the update was released after the discovery period had come to a close.
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09/22, 10:25pm
USPTO rejects Apple's claims, moves to trial
Apple is currently involved in a legal dispute with an entrepreneur, Daniel Kokin, over the use of the term "Pod," according to Wired. The iPod maker has threatened legal action against a variety of other individuals and companies that choose product names it considers too close to the popular media players. Most submit to Apple and follow the cease-and-desist commands, but Kokin has decided to fight back.
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09/18, 3:15pm
Company claims large-scale patent violations
Apple and eBay are among many online retailers named in a new patent infringement lawsuit, reports say. Filed by TQP Development, the suit alleges that the defendants are violating a 14-year-old patent, titled Encrypted Data Transmission System Employing Means for Randomly Altering the Encryption Keys. The company uses the specific example of Apple's online store, noting that the website generates an assortment of pseudo-random keys for secure packet transmission.
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09/15, 11:50am
Intel criticizes EU fine
Intel in European Union court files today fought against the recently imposed $1.45 billion fine for its alleged antitrust violations. The American processor designer believed the European Commission didn't provide enough evidence that Intel practices hurt AMD's European PC business in an "immediate, substantial" way. It instead claimed that AMD was actually gaining share for some of the five-year period covered by the fine and that AMD's struggles were linked more to specific PC builders and regions.
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09/11, 3:30pm
Alcatel's $358m MS damages seen excessive
Microsoft today claimed a partial victory in its ongoing patent disputes with Alcatel-Lucent. Judges for the US Federal Court of Appeals overturned a $358 million award given to Alcatel for Microsoft's alleged infringing of a patent through a calendar grid feature in Windows Mobile, Money and Outlook. The officials maintained that Microsoft had still violated the patent but that the monetary damages didn't relate to the actual damage to Alcatel's business and that Alcatel hadn't provided the necessary proof.
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09/08, 9:15pm
Unauthorized Snow Leopard clones already on market
Psystar has already circumvented Apple's latest copyright-protection methods utilized in the Snow Leopard update. The clone maker is currently shipping its Open Computer systems with the new operating system, despite the ongoing legal battle between both companies.
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09/08, 10:10am
Charged with sharing secret case details
Psystar's chief lawyer, K.A.D. Camera of the firm Camera and Shipley, is protesting allegations that he broke an order against sharing details of the company's legal battle with Apple. He is said to have leaked information to Charles Nesson, a Harvard Law School professor and the founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. "The accusation that I have somehow violated the protective order is nothing more than an attempt to distract this Court from what is at issue in this round of supplemental briefing -- namely, Apple's complete failure to provide testimony from a corporate representative on damages," claims Camera in a recent court filing.
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09/04, 4:00pm
TiVo wins $200m from DISH
TiVo on Friday won $200 million in extra damages from satellite TV provider DISH and its sibling EchoStar. The award comes after TiVo successfully argued that DISH and EchoStar were in contempt of an injuction that prevented the two from selling DVRs that allegedly infringed on TiVo's patents for its Time Warp feature.
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09/04, 11:35am
Microsoft sued over WGA
Microsoft this week was sued in a Washington district court for allegedly violating privacy laws through Windows XP's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) copy protection scheme. Similar to cases filed in 2006, the new class action case accuses Microsoft of falsely representing what information WGA would send to verify the authenticity of Windows and that it would send back information that could be traced back to individual users. Although the company has claimed no personal information is sent, the authentication system is said to provide daily information on the user's IP address and other details that could be used to trace information back to an individual home.
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09/03, 11:10pm
Court says MS can sell Word until appeal is done
The US federal Court of Appeals today granted Microsoft a temporary stay on an injunction that would have banned sales of Word until the conclusion of an appeal against the successful lawsuit filed by Canadian firm i4i. Originally, the developer would have had to stop sales on October 10th and would have forced Microsoft to shut down sales of virtually all copies of Office unless it could plead its case.
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09/01, 11:15am
Psystar tackles S. Leopard
Mac cloner Psystar has filed a second lawsuit against Apple, this time contesting policies surrounding Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Psystar should have the right to buy Snow Leopard and install it on third-party computers for sale, the filing says. The suit moreover accuses Apple of illegally linking Snow Leopard to Apple hardware, creating monopolies in the trade of "premium" computers, and/or systems running Mac OS X as a platform. "Apple's share of revenue in the market for premium computers -- computers priced at over $1,000 -- is currently 91 per cent," Psystar attorneys note.
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08/27, 5:10pm
Dell, HP join Word fight
PC makers Dell and HP have joined Microsoft in its fight against i4i, a Canadian software developer that was responsible for an injunction of sales of the Microsoft Word. Dell and HP are among Microsoft's biggest customers, and are helping Microsoft to overturn the injunction in front of an Eastern District Court of Texas judge. In a brief that was joined by HP, Dell asked the judge to reconsider its order or at least delay the injunction by 120 days. The injunction is scheduled to take place in mid-October.
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08/21, 3:55pm
Poor Schiller testimony
Apple's VP of worldwide product marketing, Phil Schiller, was "wholly unprepared and unwilling to testify" during a deposition last week, say attorneys for Psystar. The company recently called a string of Apple executives to testify in its battle over installing Mac OS X on third-party computers. In a filed complaint, Schiller is alleged to have been uncooperative, unable to provide any information on the damages Apple claims to have suffered as a result of Mac cloning.
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08/20, 5:35pm
Apple, MS court ruling
Apple, Cisco and Microsoft have won an appeals court ruling, limiting potential patent damages for products shipped outside the US, says Bloomberg. The court has stated that for specific types of patents, federal law does not allow patent owners to collect damages from infringers on overseas sales. American infringement cases are sometimes based on foreign sales, and the court notes that laws do still apply when it comes to patents for machines, manufacturing and the composition of matter.
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08/20, 3:15pm
Apple photo rights lawsuit
Apple is once more being sued over the misuse of the same photo, says Dow Jones. Louis Psihoyos, a National Geographic photographer, specifically alleges that Apple has again infringed on the rights to an image called The Information Revolution, 500 Monitors (seen below), depicting a man surrounded by a curved wall of displays. The new incident is attributable to a third-party iPhone app, i.TV, which is claimed to use 500 Monitors without permission.
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08/17, 12:05pm
Psystar destroying proof?
Mac cloner Psystar is guilty of destroying important evidence needed to proceed in an ongoing lawsuit, Apple alleges in recent court documents. The case revolves around the end-user license for Mac OS X Leopard, which expressly forbids installing the software on systems not branded by Apple. Psystar sells PCs with Leopard pre-installed, which Apple suggests is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act due to the need to modify code in the operating system.
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08/14, 3:50pm
Second iPhone MMS lawsuit
A second class action lawsuit has been filed over Apple and AT&T's lack of MMS messaging support, documents show. Submitted in a US district court for southern Illinois, on behalf of Tim Meeker and other unnamed plaintiffs, the suit accuses Apple and AT&T of having "misrepresented and/or concealed, suppressed, or omitted material facts as to the iPhone having MMS functionality." Representing Meeker's party is the lawfirm of Rosenblum, Schwartz, Rogers, Glass, P.C..
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08/14, 9:55am
Psystar grills Apple execs
A group of Apple executives has begun to answer deposition in the company's ongoing legal dispute with Psystar, the latter party has revealed. People who have already addressed questions relating to Psystar's defense include John Wright, a senior software manager for Mac OS X, and Kevin van Vechten, a software engineering manager. Thursday saw questions directed towards Phil Schiller, Apple's senior VP for worldwide product marketing, and one of the company's most prominent public faces.
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08/13, 3:55pm
iPhone MMS lawsuit
A new class action lawsuit has accused Apple and AT&T of misrepresenting MMS availability on the iPhone, reports say. Filed in a Louisiana district court, the suit observes that Apple has heavily promoted MMS -- the standard means of sharing cellphone photos and video -- using print, TV, radio and the web. AT&T is said to be involved in similar campaigns.
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08/12, 3:55pm
Wi-Fi suit targets Apple
A business based in Austin, Texas has filed a new lawsuit through a US District Court, targeting Apple, Sony and Nintendo. Bandspeed accuses the three other companies of violating its Wi-Fi patents, specifically a pair related to choosing a Wi-Fi channel according to signal strength. These are titled Approach for selecting communications channels based on performance, and Approach for managing communications channels based on performance.
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08/10, 11:50am
ATT Bans Class Action
Readers have rediscovered that AT&T's contract terms prevent customers from filing class action lawsuits. Carrier spokesman Seth Bloom notes the terms aren't new, but the clauses continue to force any customer with an outstanding dispute over service to enter binding arbitration as an individual, preventing both class action lawsuits as well as group arbitration.
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07/22, 10:20pm
Apple backs down on threat
Apple has withdrawn a number of legal threats against the public wiki site Bluwiki, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The threats were initially sent to the site publisher late last year, after anonymous users authored pages relating to enabling content sync with iPods and iPhones without going through Apple's iTunes software.
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07/15, 2:55pm
Kindles cracking, $5m suit
A lawsuit was filed on Wednesday against Amazon by Matthew Geise, an executive director for a property management firm in Seattle. Geise bought Amazon's $359 Kindle 2 e-book reader and a $30 protective screen cover and noticed, some three months later, that the Kindle began cracking around the points where the official cover attached to the device with metal clips. These cracks grew to the point where the device stopped working, and now, Amazon is facing a class action lawsuit larger than $5 million.
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07/14, 3:15pm
TiVo seeks $1 billion
Despite recently being awarded some $190 million in the long-standing legal battle against DISH Network and EchoStar over patents in DVRs, TiVo is seeking nearly $1 billion in contempt sanctions, according to a filing disclosed by TiVo with a US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. While EchoStar was ordered by the federal judge in Texas to disable the functions on the majority of its recorders in subscribers' hands, EchoStar instead claims it built a "design-around" that avoids the patents in question.
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07/09, 10:20am
VIZIO Clears Patent Woes
VIZIO this morning earned a reprieve from US Customs that cleared its current TV line of possible patent infringements that might have blocked their sale in the US. The government agency made the ruling four months after the US Patent and Trademark Office rejected a patent from Japanese company Funai, which had hoped to use the patent to block US-based VIZIO's sets from reaching stores. Funai is expected to appeal, though VIZIO equally expects to win.
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07/06, 11:50pm
Thomas fights RIAA damages
Following an unsuccessful legal battle against the RIAA, Jammie Thomas-Rasset has asked a federal court for a new trial or a reduction of the $1.92 million in damages she was recently ordered to pay, according to CNET News. The defense lawyers have argued that the recent judgment is disproportionate to the crime, with approximately $80,000 placed on each of the 24 copyrighted songs she is accused of illegally sharing.
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07/02, 6:25pm
RIAA defendant to appeal
Jammie Thomas-Rasset plans to appeal the recent court decision ordering her to pay $1.92 million in a case involving the RIAA. The legal battle has followed several twists, with the initial filing only leading to damages totaling $222,000 before the decision was thrown out. The federal jury present for the retrial, however, tacked on another $1.7 million.
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07/01, 10:55pm
Psytar ships new clone
Despite a recent Chapter 11 filing and the continuing legal battle, Psystar has introduced a new Nehalem-based clone. The company distributed an e-mail introducing its "fastest and most quiet computing configuration available," while reminding customers that the bankruptcy proceedings will not put an end to its continuing operations, according to ChannelWeb.
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06/26, 12:40pm
iTunes gift card lawsuit
Apple has been deceptive with regards to iTunes gift cards, knowingly or not, a new lawsuit alleges. Filed in an Illinois district court by Barbara and Daniel Owens, the suit charges that even as Apple transitioned to variable iTunes song pricing on April 7th, the company continued to sell cards describing every song as costing only 99 cents. Such advertising is potentially misleading, the Owens say, suggesting that people can get more songs per card than may realistically be possible.
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06/24, 3:00pm
RIAA Forced Settle
RIAA member Universal Music Group this past weekend was forced to settle a music file sharing lawsuit it had filed against New Hampshire resident Mavis Roy. The label dropped its case after evidence provided by anti-piracy snooping firm MediaSentry was successfully challenged by the defense's expert witness Dr. Sergey Bratus. Among other key problems with the data, the defense pointed out that Roy didn't own a computer at all at the time of the supposed infringement and that it wasn't until a letter appeared that she was aware of any possible action.
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06/23, 11:45am
Psystar lawsuit resumes
The judge overseeing Psystar's bankruptcy proceedings has granted an Apple motion calling for the resumption of a copyright infringement lawsuit, reports say. By entering bankruptcy, Psystar gained a temporary reprieve from charges of illegally distributing PCs running Mac OS X Leopard. The lawsuit is now likely to resume immediately, at least if Psystar chooses not to appeal, an attorney familiar with similar cases claims.
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06/12, 9:30am
Psystar owes Apple
Psystar already owes Apple $75,000, documents from the former's bankruptcy proceedings indicate. Psystar recently submitted a filing mentioning Schedule F debts, those to creditors with "unsecured nonpriority claims." Though Apple is on the F list, it is unknown what the money may be owed for. The only other explicit information from the filing is the phrase "litigation pending" under the section citing Psystar's consideration for the claim.
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06/05, 3:10pm
QuickBooks 2006 lawsuit
The Garden City Group has filed a Notice of Class Action Settlement, based on a case alleging that Intuit's QuickBooks 2006 software can cause the loss or damage of important data. As a result of Create-A-Card v. Intuit Inc., affected QuickBooks users may thus be eligible to claim an award. The settlement proposes reimbursement of both monetary recovery as well as a free upgrade to QuickBooks Pro 2007.
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06/04, 9:50am
Psystar bankruptcy cause
Legal costs account for the bulk of Psystar's outside debts, court bankruptcy documents reveal. Having filed for Chapter 11 protection late last month, the company has been forced to disclose what it owes and to whom. While the greatest amount of debt is situated in a $120,000 loan from the company's founder, Rudy Pedraza, another $88,000 is due to Carr & Ferrell, the lawfirm that has represented Psystar in its battles with Apple over Mac cloning. The firm has intellectual property experience and has successfully dueled with Apple in the past.
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