Legal

Apple remains intent on fighting the U.S. Justice Department's e-book antitrust lawsuit in court.

In a preliminary hearing before U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan, an attorney for Apple reportedly reiterated the company's claim that it did nothing wrong.

"Our basic view is that we would like the case to be decided on the merits," Apple lawyer Daniel Floyd said, according to Reuters. "We believe that this is not an appropriate case against us and we would like to validate that."

The Justice Department's lawsuit, filed at the same time … Read more

An end to what has become an ugly, complicated, and costly court battle between Apple and Samsung could be in sight.

The two companies plan to meet out of court to discuss a possible settlement to their legal fracas, which has centered on intellectual property.

In a court order issued today -- relayed by intellectual-property blog FOSS Patents -- U.S. District Court judge Lucy Koh referred the two companies to a magistrate judge settlement conference that will take place within the next 90 days.

According to the referral, both Samsung's and Apple's CEOs will be at the … Read more

In the summer of 2005, one of the biggest scandals in the history of video games broke: Hot Coffee. If you don't recall the brouhaha over some very sexual content that was found to be hidden on the disc for Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, then you probably weren't reading much news that summer.

The scandal embroiled one of the most popular game franchises in the industry's history, and it wasn't because the game allowed players to shoot cops or run over hookers. Grand Theft Auto, which emerged from Scotland, took the world by … Read more

Apple and Australia are still at odds over the branding of a 4G iPad that doesn't support Australia's 4G networks.

Mediation between Apple and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ended today without an agreement on one sticking point -- the actual name used to sell the iPad. The two parties have been trying to hammer out a compromise since late last month when Australia's consumer commission filed a legal action against Apple over the use of the term 4G.

In its grievance, the ACCC has contended that labeling the tablet "iPad Wi-Fi + 4G" in … Read more

Most companies finding themselves staring at the business end of a government cannon might consider it time to talk compromise. Apple is not most companies.

One day after the Department of Justice sued Apple and several book publishers for allegedly colluding to fix e-book prices, Apple publicly dismissed the government's claims as empty and false. Instead, Apple stayed with the script and described the 2010 launch of the iBookstore as a force for "innovation and competition," one that also helped break what it called "Amazon's monopolistic grip on the publishing industry."

"Since then … Read more

An earlier German court ruling banning iCloud and MobileMe push e-mail service in that country has been upheld.

The Mannheim Regional Court today ordered the ban to continue, claiming that the push e-mail service found in Apple's iCloud and MobileMe violates patents Motorola Mobility holds. In addition, Dow Jones, which first reported on the story, says the court ordered Apple to pay Motorola damages, but did not specify how much.

A German court back in February sided with Motorola Mobility in the case, arguing that Apple's push e-mail services in iCloud and MobileMe should be banned from use … Read more

Nearly a year after filing a request to intervene in a controversial case involving app developers being sued for using in-app purchase features, Apple has been given the go-ahead by a district court judge to step into the fray.

Intellectual property tracking blog Foss Patents reports that Texas judge James Rodney Gilstrap today granted Apple's original request, saying it could become a part of the proceedings as long as the company's role was "limited to the issues of license and patent exhaustion."

The case Apple's getting into is one kicked off by Lodsys, a Texas-based … Read more

news analysis The U.S. Justice Department's legal pursuit of Apple for alleged e-book price fixing stretches the boundaries of antitrust law and is likely to end in defeat.

That's what happened in 1982, when an embarrassed Justice Department admitted its antitrust lawsuit against IBM was "without merit" and abandoned the case. And in 2001, a federal appeals court nixed the Justice Department's ambitious attempt to rewrite antitrust law by carving Microsoft into two separate companies.

"It's a harder case against Apple than the publishers," says Geoffrey Manne, who teaches antitrust law … Read more

Amazon's latest addition to its Appstore could very well ignite the ire of a litigious patent holder, and cause a new legal and monetary headache for app makers.

Amazon yesterday announced its in-app purchase service, offering developers a way to let users spend money inside of apps. While not a new feature among mobile apps, it adds new ways for developers to make revenue after an app has been downloaded, whether it was paid or free.

That particular mechanism, which has been available for app makers on Google's Android and Apple's iOS platforms for some time now, … Read more