Legal

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

Apple is under federal investigation for allegedly colluding to fix e-book prices with book publishers.

Amazon is delighted...with the prospect of being enabled to once again lower prices.

"[The settlement] is a big win for Kindle owners," Amazon said in a statement. "We look forward to being allowed to lower prices on more Kindle books."

The U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust suit against Apple and several book publishers. The DOJ alleges that Apple and the publishers colluded in 2010 to fix e-book prices. Apple denies the allegations and has chosen to defend … Read more

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Apple and several book publishers this morning, claiming that they worked together to artificially prop up prices for e-books.

The publishers sued were Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster. The suit (posted below) was filed in a district court in New York.

"Apple facilitated the publisher defendants' collective effort to end retail price competition by coordinating their transition to an agency model across all retailers," according to the complaint.

Apple and Macmillan haven't engaged in settlement talks with the Justice Department, Bloomberg reported. The companies … Read more

The U.S. Department of Justice may file an antitrust lawsuit against Apple for alleged e-book price fixing as early as tomorrow, according to Reuters.

Apple had reportedly been in talks with federal regulators but had failed to come to an agreement to settle their concerns. Along with Apple, five book publishers are also reportedly under investigation for alleged price fixing: HarperCollins Publishers, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Group, and Simon & Schuster. (CBS owns Simon & Schuster and CBS Interactive, which publishes CNET News.)

Apple representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Justice Department … Read more

New York sex offenders hoping to hide behind an online video game avatar are now out of luck. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced today that New York has partnered with several tech companies to purge thousands of registered sex offenders from online gaming networks in what he dubbed "Operation: Game Over."

"We must ensure online video game systems do not become a digital playground for dangerous predators," Schneiderman said in a statement today. "That means doing everything possible to block sex offenders from using gaming networks as a vehicle to prey on underage victims.&… Read more

Apple is reportedly willing to offer refunds to iPad buyers in Australia who feel they were misled to believe the new tablet is capable of connecting to the 4G/LTE network Down Under.

Apple senior counsel Paul Anastassiou told the Federal Court in Melbourne today that the company was prepared to offer refunds even though it had -- he said -- never claimed the new tablet would work fully on the 4G network in Australia operated by Telstra, according to various published reports. Apple also proposed publishing a clarification regarding incompatibility issues on its Web site and at its stores. … Read more

Apple and Samsung are locked in a slide-to-unlock dispute in a Mannheim court, but neither side should expect a decision anytime soon.

Mannheim regional judge Andreas Voss today said that the court would wait until the German Patent and Trademark Office hears Apple's case before it continues. According to FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller, which first reported on the news, the patent office proceeding could lead to "the revocation, in whole or in part, of Apple's slide-to-unlock utility model."

As Mueller points out, Apple is staking its claims against Samsung on that utility model, which is not … Read more

In its most detailed statement yet regarding its battle over the ownership of the iPad trademark in China, Apple said Proview International was deliberately "misleading" Chinese courts.

Proview tricked Apple into signing a carefully crafted agreement in 2009 that has raised questions over the trademark's rightful owner in China, Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu said in a statement cited by The Wall Street Journal. She went on to say that the troubled company was trying to exploit that situation to extract more money from Apple.

"Proview clearly made that arrangement so they wouldn't have to give … Read more

Apple's been a little overzealous in the way it's advertised Siri, the voice assistant feature found on the company's latest iPhone, a new lawsuit claims.

iPhone 4S buyer Frank Fazio says the software feature simply didn't work like it did in Apple's television advertising. And now he's suing Apple in the Northern District of California.

"Promptly after the purchase of his iPhone 4S, [Fazio] realized that Siri was not performing as advertised," Fazio's complaint states. "For instance, when [Fazio] asked Siri for directions to a certain place, or to locate … Read more