lawsuit

Google, Microsoft, Apple sued over preview icons

This post was updated on January 5 and January 7 with corrected and updated information about the plaintiff company, an updated link to an amended filing, and a comment from Google. See bottom of post for correction.

An Arizona-based networking company on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Google, Microsoft, and Apple, alleging that all three tech giants violated a patent it owns on the use of document-preview icons--or thumbnails--in operating systems.

In the suit, Cygnus Systems targets Google's Chrome, Microsoft's Vista and Internet Explorer 8, and Apple's iPhone, Safari, and Mac OS X as patent infringers. Apple … Read more

New York Times sued over Boston.com's linking practice

Updated 12:43 p.m. PST with GateHouse comment in e-mail sent to staff, as well as comment from Chicago Reader Web editor.

A publisher of mostly small, local newspapers has sued the New York Times Co. over its aggregation of news headlines on Boston.com, challenging the practice many sites use of linking to other sources.

In its lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts on Monday, Fairport, N.Y.-based GateHouse Media, which publishes more than 100 papers in Massachusetts, accuses the Times of violating copyright by allowing its Boston Globe online unit to copy verbatim … Read more

RIAA's Cary Sherman says lawsuits were the only option

Cary Sherman offers no apologies and won't for a second concede that filing lawsuits against people who pilfered digital music from artists was ineffective. On the contrary, the president of the Recording Industry Association of America makes a case that chasing file sharers into court was the only option in 2003, one of the darkest periods in the music industry's history.

"If you can go back to that time in your mind and remember that file sharing was growing at logarithmic pace," Sherman said referring to 2003, not long after file-sharing service Napster had triggered a … Read more

Sources: RIAA budget will shrink soon

The budget for the music industry's trade group, the Recording Industry Association of America, will soon shrink as the major labels reduce costs and their dependence on file-sharing lawsuits, industry insiders said Friday.

Friday's startling news that the trade group representing the four largest music labels has declared an end to a long-running legal campaign against file sharing will mean a reduced role for the RIAA, which is coming up on its yearly budget review, according to a source close to the group.

But in a climate where digital music sales are growing, though not fast enough to … Read more

RIAA drops lawsuits; ISPs to battle file sharing

Updated at 9:05 a.m. PST To include quotes from the Electronic Frontier Foundation about questions of whether ISPs could blacklist and to clarify that no ISP has agreed to throttle service. Also, see a copy of the RIAA's new enforcement notice to ISPs here.

The music industry's highly controversial strategy of suing customers for file sharing has mostly ended.

The Recording Industry Association of America said Friday that it no longer plans to wage a legal assault against people who it suspects of pirating digital music files. What the RIAA should have said, though, is that … Read more

Apple sued over Apple TV

A maker of wireless set-top boxes has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple, claiming that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company hired away three employees with knowledge of technology that would be included in Apple TV.

In a six-page complaint filed Tuesday with the Illinois Northern Federal District Court, EZ4Media claims that Apple TV, AirPort Express, and Macintosh computers infringe on patents owned by the set-top box maker. The patents--specifically 7,130,616, 7,142,934, 7,142,935, and 7,167,765--were obtained in March by EZ4Media from Universal Electronics, according to InformationWeek, which first reported the suit.

In … Read more

Psystar shifts course, says Apple abusing copyright

Having run into a roadblock in its attempt to fire back at Apple, Psystar is changing tactics.

Court filings this week (click here for PDF) indicate that Psystar is dropping its argument that Apple is violating antitrust laws--which Judge William Alsup has already rejected--in favor of a new argument that Apple is abusing its copyright on Mac OS X to stifle competition. The Mac clone maker is attempting to stay in business against long legal odds by trying to convince a court that Apple's licensing policies for Mac OS X are unfair and illegal.

From the filing:… Read more

Apple looking for Psystar's backers

Apple has amended its lawsuit against Psystar to allow for the possibility that other parties are backing the company.

When companies file lawsuits, they'll often tack something like "John Does 1-50" onto the list of defendants, in order to allow for the possibility that other parties to the case who have yet to be discovered could be added at a later date. Apple did not do that the first time it filed suit against Mac clone maker Psystar, but has tacked such a paragraph onto an amended copy of its lawsuit against the company, as noted by Groklaw.… Read more

Facebook awarded $873 million in spam case

Facebook has been awarded $873 million in damages against a Canadian man accused of sending spam messages to its members.

The default judgment was issued in federal court in San Jose, Calif., on Friday against Adam Guerbuez, of Montreal, and his company, Atlantis Blue Capital. The ruling also forbids Guerbuez from using Facebook or interacting with its members ever again.

Facebook doesn't expect to necessarily collect the money because "it's unlikely that Geurbez and Atlantis Blue Capital could ever honor the judgment rendered against them," Max Kelly, Facebook's director of security, wrote in a blog posting … Read more