lawsuit

Apple accused an activist hedge fund manager of attempting to hold investors "hostage" in his effort to get the electronics giant to share more of its massive cash reserves with investors.

The charge came today in Apple's response to a lawsuit filed last week by Greenlight Capital, which asserts that the company needed to distribute preferred stock to current shareholders and that Apple had balked at the idea when it was first discussed. The filing comes a day after Apple CEO Tim Cook called the lawsuit a "silly sideshow."

"Shareholders should not be held … Read more

Looks like there's a second act for Apple's "silly sideshow."

Another Apple shareholder is suing Apple, Reuters reported today. This time, it's over Apple's executive compensation policy, in addition to the company's intent to eliminate preferred stock for investors.

Pennsylvania resident Brian Gralnick has filed suit against Apple in an attempt to stop Apple from holding a shareholder vote on the two matters. The vote is scheduled for February 27. Gralnick has been a shareholder since 2007, but it's unclear how much of a stake in Apple he owns.

We've contacted … Read more

Despite losing its infringement battle with Google, Oracle is still willing to wage a war over an earlier ruling in the matter.

The company earlier this week filed an appeals brief with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, saying that Google's use of Java in Android was "decidedly unfair," according to Reuters, which obtained a copy of the filing. Oracle said that copyright is designed to protect all kinds of works, including "a short poem or even a Chinese menu," but what it created in Java was "vastly more original, creative, and labor-intensive.&… Read more

As Apple's patent infringement lawsuits against Samsung drag on, it appears that not everyone in Apple brass was in favor of suing the South Korean electronics giant.

Tim Cook, who succeeded Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as chief executive after seven years as chief operating officer, was opposed to suing Samsung, mostly because of the company's role as a key supplier of components for the iPhone and iPad, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The Cupertino-based company was Samsung's biggest customer in 2011, reportedly buying some $8 billion worth of screens and chips.

After signing a … Read more

Samsung Display and LG Display have decided to settle their patent disputes through dialogue and not court proceedings, a new report out of Korea claims.

Yonhap News reported today that Samsung and LG executives met at a hotel in Seoul to discuss their lawsuits. After leaving that meeting, Samsung Display CEO Kim Ki-nam told Yonhap that the companies will "resolve the issue one by one." LG Display CEO Han Sang-beom said the executives will continue to hold discussions.

LG Display sued Samsung Display in September, alleging that one of its chief competitors is violating seven patents it holds … Read more

Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee is breathing a sigh of relief today after a Korean court ruled that he won't need to hand over assets to family members.

Lee's siblings sued him over their contention that he hid from them billions of dollars in shareholdings he inherited from his father, Samsung's founder. However, Lee argues that the shares he was given are his and that he can do what he wants with them. The court agreed.

For Lee's family, it's a major loss. According to Reuters, which was first to report on the ruling, Lee's … Read more

Apple is asking a U.S. District Court judge to force Google to comply with a subpoena on data the iPhone maker says will aid its case against Motorola.

Apple earlier this week filed a "motion to compel compliance with a subpoena" in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division. Patently Apple was first to discover the filing and reported on it today.

Google was slapped with a subpoena in August, requiring the company to hand over pertinent information for the discovery phase of a case that Apple is building against Motorola. … Read more

Riding on the heels of the recent U.S. lawsuit against Google for Safari tracking, Apple users in the U.K. have now launched their own similar case against the Web giant.

Peeved that their online privacy was violated, roughly a dozen people are suing Google in a class action suit, according to The Guardian. The case alleges that Google secretly tracked their Internet habits via cookies in the Safari Web browser. The lawsuit revolves around the way Google may have sidestepped Apple's security settings on the iPhone, iPad, and desktop versions of Safari.

"This is the first … Read more

The surprise departure of Square chief operating officer Keith Rabois is now less of mystery after the mobile-payment-processing company confirmed the high-profile executive is currently facing accusations of sexual harassment from a Square employee.

Rabois, who joined Square in August 2010, is being accused of engaging in a nonconsensual sexual relationship with a male colleague he had helped to get a job at the startup.

Rabois and Square first learned of a pending lawsuit when a New York attorney contacted Square earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal first reported Friday afternoon.

"The first we heard of any of … Read more