CNN: Last week Sony changed the terms-of-service document for its PlayStation Network, asking U.S. customers to forfeit their rights to file class-action lawsuits against the company and its partners. Customers can opt out by sending the company a letter in … Continued
Legal
∞ Study shows $500 billion lost to patent trolls since 1990
Ars Technica: …Three Boston University researchers have produced a rigorous empirical estimate of the cost of patent trolling. And the number is breath-taking: patent trolls (“non-practicing entity” is the clinical term) have cost publicly traded defendants $500 billion since 1990. … Continued
∞ Seizing a copyright troll's bank account
Nate Anderson for Ars Technica: Wayne Hoehn beat Righthaven so badly that the Las Vegas-based copyright troll lost its copyright infringement case on fair use grounds—and had to pay Hoehn’s lawyers at the Randazza Legal Group $34,045.50 in attorney’s fees. … Continued
∞ PlayStation Network terms updated to prevent lawsuits
Examiner.com: Sony is updating the user agreement for the Playstation Network starting on September 15 and one of the changes included in the update seeks to stop class action lawsuits against the company. Sony was the target of a hacker … Continued
∞ Apple settles lawsuit over trademark products with Queens stores
Reuters: Two stores in Queens, New York, accused of peddling unauthorized Apple Inc accessories have agreed to hand over all products in their inventories bearing the word “Apple” or any of the company’s ubiquitous trademarks.
∞ Apple sued for using copyrighted photo in TV ad
New York-based photographer Taea Thale is suing Apple for using one of her copyrighted photos in an iPhone television ad.
∞ The motivation behind lawsuits against Android
Ben Bajarin: That being said what I feel the real issue behind the lawsuits is that Android is free. It’s obviously one thing to infringe on a companies inventions or innovations and then sell them but its another entirely to … Continued
∞ HTC wants Apple to compete instead of suing competitors
Mobile handset-maker HTC on Tuesday responded to Apple’s new patent complaint, saying it should compete in the market instead of suing rivals.
∞ Apple files another ITC complaint against HTC
I take it that Apple is skeptical of the outcome of that ongoing ITC investigation and, therefore, wants a second try with potentially stronger patents. In April, the ITC staff (the Office of Unfair Import Investigations, which participates in most … Continued
∞ Apple files lawsuit against Samsung in South Korea
Apple, which was Samsung’s second-biggest client after Japan’s Sony Corp last year, became the South Korean firm’s biggest customer in the first quarter, mainly by purchasing semiconductors, according to Samsung’s quarterly report. Earlier this week Apple’s lawyers said executives from … Continued
∞ Lodsys refiles motion, asks for one month extension
Earlier today I published and blogged about Lodsys’s motion for an extension of time to answer Apple’s motion to intervene. Lodsys’s motion, as entered yesterday, requested time until including August 27, 2011 — two more months. But Lodsys has now … Continued
∞ Lodsys asks court for two month delay to answer Apple's motion to intervene
The week before last, Apple filed a motion to intervene in Lodsys’s lawsuit against seven app developers. I was hoping for Apple’s intervention to be allowed very soon, but we may all have to wait. Lodsys would have had to … Continued
∞ Apple under investigation in India for anticompetitive behavior
The issues are manyfold: Firstly, customers can only buy iPhones from its authorized resellers and from carriers Aircel and Bharti airtel. Relating to this, while customer can buy unlocked iPhones from these same outlets, the price of a locked phone … Continued
∞ Apple, Samsung executives in talks to end patent lawsuits
Lawyers for Apple and Samsung are in talks to end lawsuits from both companies claiming patent infringement by the other.
∞ Oracle says Google owes $1.4-$6.1 billion in damages
Nobody really knew the scale of Oracle’s patent lawsuit against Google, but this week the numbers came out, and they are huge. According to Oracle, damages it suffered due to the patent infringement by Google range between $1.4 billion to … Continued
∞ Lawyer says Apple may settle iCloud lawsuit
After announcing its iCloud service last week at WWDC, Apple was slapped with a lawsuit from Arizona-based iCloud Communications. Apple bought iCloud.com from Xcerion and has 11 applications registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Apple also owns the … Continued
∞ Apple to pay Nokia in patent lawsuit settlement
Apple and Nokia ended their back and forth patent lawsuits on Tuesday with Nokia coming out the victor.
In a press release issued by Nokia, the company said Apple would make a one time payment, presumably for the time Apple has been infringing on the patents, as well as ongoing royalties. Specific terms were not released.
∞ PayPal sues Google for stealing trade secrets
Yesterday morning, Google announced Google Wallet. By the afternoon, PayPal launched a lawsuit against the company, claiming it stole the technology.
I’ve seen very few lawsuits with the twists and turns that this one has and I’m sure it will only get better. It not only involves stealing technology, but trade secrets and even employees.
∞ Apple sues white iPhone conversion kit company for trademark infringement
Apple on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against a company that makes iPhone version kits. The kits basically turn your black iPhone into a white iPhone.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the lawsuit claims that Fei Lik Lam a/k/a Phillip Lam and whiteiphone4now.com, are “infringing and diluting Apple’s famous trademarks, in willful violation ofthe Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1051 et seq.) and for engaging in deceptive practices and unfair competition in willful violation ofNew York state Jaw.”
∞ Apple says developers are licensed for Lodsys patents
In a letter sent to Lodsys on Monday, Apple asked that the company withdraw letters sent to app developers demanding they license the technology.
∞ Lawsuit claims AT&T overcharges iPhone data users up to 300%
A new lawsuit alleges AT&T is regularly overcharging iPhone and iPad customers for data usage, in some cases up to 300% more.
Lawyers for the lawsuit said they spent $80,000 testing devices in preparation for their day in court. In one instance, lawyers purchased a brand new iPhone and turned off everything that could affect data usage. When the bill came in from AT&T, there were 35 transactions for data usage, according to MSNBC.
∞ iPhone developer threatened with lawsuit for using in-app purchasing
James Thomson, the owner of TLA Systems, makers of DragThing and PCalc for Mac, and PCalc for iOS, was served with a letter this morning threatening to sue for his use of Apple’s in-app purchasing system.
Thomson didn’t say who the company was that sent the letter, but on Twitter this morning he said, “They seem to be effectively claiming the rights to in-app purchase, but going after me, not Apple.”
∞ Apple faces another data location lawsuit
Apple is being sued again over the controversial data location file on its iPhone and iPad devices.
Filed in the United States District Court for the District Of Puerto Rico, Lymaris M. Rivera Diaz is suing Apple, The Weather Channel and Pandora Media for intentionally intercepting personally identifying information.
The lawsuit also names Does 1-10, leaving room to name other defendants at a later date.
∞ Amazon responds to Apple's App Store lawsuit
Amazon on Tuesday responded to Apple’s trademark lawsuit filed last month.
Amazon called the lawsuit baseless and said “App Store” was a generic term, reports Mac Rumors. Not surprisingly, Amazon has asked the court to throw out the lawsuit, which would allow them to use the App Store term.
∞ Apple sued for tracking user location on iPhone and iPad
It was only a matter of time before it happened and here it is — two Apple users have filed a lawsuit against the company for tracking user location.
According to Bloomberg, one of the people uses an iPhone and lives in Florida, and the other uses an iPad and lives in New York.
“We take issue specifically with the notion that Apple is now basically tracking people everywhere they go,” Aaron Mayer, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said today in a telephone interview with Bloomberg. “If you are a federal marshal you have to have a warrant to do this kind of thing, and Apple is doing it without one.”
∞ Apple sues Samsung for copying iPhone and iPad
Apple on Monday filed a lawsuit against Samsung claiming the electronics company copied its iPhone and iPad products.
Specifically named in the lawsuit are the “Galaxy S 4G,” “Epic 4G,” “Nexus S” and the “Galaxy Tab,” Samsung’s iPad competitor, according to the Wall Street Journal.
∞ Apple sued for sharing iPhone information with advertisers
Apple is being sued by two iPhone users who accuse the company of sharing identifying information from their iPhones with third-party advertisers.
Filed in the District of Puerto Rico by Natasha Acosta and Dolma Acevedo-Crespo, the lawsuit claims that Apple and a number of app developers capture the iPhone’s Unique Device ID (“UDID”) — the unique identifying number that Apple assigns to each of its iPhones and iPads — and transmits that information along with the device’s location data to third-party advertisers.
∞ Apple wins $625 million patent lawsuit appeal
A federal judge overturned an earlier ruling that would have cost Apple $625 million.
Apple filed the appeal in October 2010 after losing the patent case to Mirror Worlds. The jury found that Apple infringed on three patents and awarded over $200 million per patent, but the judge didn’t agree, according to a Bloomberg report.
“Mirror Worlds may have painted an appealing picture for the jury, but it failed to lay a solid foundation sufficient to support important elements it was required to establish under the law,” wrote U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis.
∞ Apple, 31 other companies sued for patent infringement
H-W Technology on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Apple, Nokia, Motorola, RIM and 28 other companies for infringing on one of its patents.
∞ Apple, Microsoft hire linguists to battle 'App Store' trademark
The battle over Apple’s App Store trademark application is getting down to the nitty gritty as the two companies hire linguists to help them in the fight.