legalization

Google has lost a defamation lawsuit in Australia.

An Australian court today ordered Google to pay 200,000 Australian dollars ($208,760) to Milorad Trkulja for showing search results that might have caused users to link him to mobsters. The AFP was first to report on the judgment.

Trkulja, an entertainment promoter, was shot in the back in 2004. After that shooting, Google search results related to his name referenced organized crime. Trkulja's attorney requested the links be removed from Google's search in 2009, saying that they were "grossly defamatory."

In court, a jury agreed with … Read more

Apple's patent-licensing settlement with HTC might actually net the company some more cash.

Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said in a note to researchers today that he has spoken with industry sources who told him that Apple will generate about $6 to $8 in licensing fees for each smartphone HTC ships in 2013. Based on his estimate of 30 million to 35 million shipments, Wu believes that Apple will generate $180 million to $280 million in licensing fees.

Apple and HTC announced yesterday that they had inked a 10-year licensing deal to settle patent disputes. The companies said that … Read more

Apple has reissued and updated its Samsung "apology" statement on its British Web site after a U.K. Court of Appeal found it to be "untrue" and "incorrect."

It comes off weeks of back and forth from the U.K. courts after Samsung scored a rare legal win over Apple, after the iPhone and iPad maker lost an iPad design patent suit it brought to the British court against rival tablet maker Samsung.

On October 18, U.K. High Court Judge Colin Birss originally ruled that Apple must run notices on its U.K. … Read more

The father of a Foxconn employee who was severely injured at one of the company's factories took the manufacturer to court today, according to a report.

Zhang Guangde, father of the injured Zhang Tingzhen, today argued in a Chinese court that his son should not be moved to another facility and that Foxconn should be required to continue to pay his hospital bills. Reuters was first to report on the case.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Zhang Tingzhen was trying to fix a spotlight on a wall in Foxconn's Shenzhen factory, when he was hit with a … Read more

A week after Apple lost an appeal at the U.K. High Court, the iPhone and iPad maker has followed the court's requirement to publish a notice its U.K. home page stating the court's finding that Samsung didn't infringe its patents.

But not in a way that shows any contrition. Instead, Apple used the notice as a new opportunity to make its case against its tablet rival.

On October 18, a U.K. High Court appeals judge ruled that Samsung did not infringe Apple's design patents in the U.K., after an earlier ruling by … Read more

Apple has revealed that Samsung is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The company announced the investigation in a filing with the U.S. International Trade Commission on Monday, saying that the "Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the manner in which Samsung has used -- or misused -- its declared-essential patents."

The Justice Department has not confirmed that and has stayed tight-lipped on the matter, but Dow Jones Newswires is reporting today, citing a source, that the investigation has been going on for months.

FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller was first to report on the investigation.… Read more

Here we go again.

A Dutch court ruled today that Samsung does not violate a patent Apple holds on the so-called pinch-to-zoom feature in mobile software. The feature, which allows users to employ their two fingers to zoom in or out, is a central component in mobile operating systems today.

Today's ruling comes down just months after Apple lost similar battles in Dutch and British courts to enforce the pinch-to-zoom patent against competitors HTC and Google-owned Motorola Mobility. Apple had hoped in each case to ban products that it believed infringe its patents banned from sale.

So far, neither … Read more

Apple might have some trouble on its hands.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) yesterday ruled that all twenty claims included in Apple's so-called "rubber-banding" patent are invalid, according to Foss Patents' Florian Mueller, who first discovered the rejection. Following that ruling, Samsung quickly filed a motion with Judge Lucy Koh, informing her of the USPTO's decision.

The rubber-banding patent, known on the USPTO site as "List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display," is broad in its scope. The patent describes a "rubber band" effect … Read more

Foxconn has admitted to hiring interns that are under China's legal working age.

The company has issued a statement saying that it performed an internal investigation at its Yantai facility in the Shandong Province, and found that some of the interns working there ranged in age from 14 to 16 years old. China's legal working age is 16.

"This is not only a violation of China's labor law, it is also a violation of Foxconn policy and immediate steps have been taken to return the interns in question to their educational institutions," the company said … Read more