suite

Apple sues Samsung in the U.K. over Android

Apple has sued Samsung in the U.K. courts, further expanding the myriad countries in which it has taken legal action against the Korean manufacturer over its Android products.

The suit was filed on Monday, Samsung told ZDNet UK, explaining that it was a countersuit against action Samsung filed with the High Court in June. Details of both suits remain sketchy, as the patents in question have not been identified in these cases.

Apple's U.K. action against Samsung takes to at least 20 the total number of patent suits between the two companies that are currently under way. … Read more

Long overdue ESET update lands on tough turf

The last time we saw a wholly new version of ESET's NOD32 and Smart Security, ransomware didn't exist, Anonymous had just started its campaign against the Church of Scientology, and the first Stuxnet attack hadn't even been launched. The latest versions from ESET bring its suites up to speed with the competition, but except for an innovative education tool, ESET doesn't surpass what's already out there. The basic antivirus suite NOD32 version 5 (download) and the more feature-rich Smart Security version 5 (download) are available exclusively today from CNET Download.com.

ESET is known for … Read more

Amazon, Apple, others sued by Droplets for Web tech

A lawsuit filed last week by software company Droplets takes aim at Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and YouTube for infringing on its patented Web technology.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, the Droplets suit alleges that the group of tech giants infringe on one or more of two patents it holds "for developing and delivering highly functional and scalable applications over the Internet." The company seeks damages as well as future royalties on the use of those patents.

The two patents in question are United States Patent No. … Read more

AVG Free 2012 turns to performance tuning

While AVG has made some important security improvements in its latest major release, including important protection against fake antivirus and ransomware, how the suite impacts your PC is the focus of AVG 2012. Available at no cost as AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012 (download), or as a paid upgrade to AVG Anti-Virus 2012 (download) or AVG Internet Security 2012 (download), AVG's 2012 offerings hang their hats on major performance gains.

Specifically, the company says that it has reduced by 40 percent the size on your hard drive of the virus signature database. That database is a major component of how … Read more

Five freeware gems for Windows

Wow. You people know your freeware! A few weeks ago, when I asked you to name your freeware favorites, I never dreamed I'd get more than 400 responses--some of which listed programs and utilities that were new to me. (And here I thought I knew them all.)

I'm still sifting through those replies, looking for recurring favorites and investigating some of the suggestions. In the meantime, I thought I'd share a handful of freeware goodies that I know and love--and that I neglected to mention the first time around.

Fences: Best. Program. Ever. This fantastic utility corrals … Read more

A Motorola lawsuit primer (infographic)

Google's surprise buy of handset maker Motorola Mobility yesterday gives the search giant a fully packed war chest of patents, but it also means Google is inheriting a sizable amount of intellectual property litigation.

As noted by my colleague Marguerite Reardon, Google's Motorola buy boosts its patent portfolio with more than 17,000 patents, along with another 7,500 patent applications that have been filed and are pending approval. That's a giant step up for Google, which investment banking firm MDB Capital Group estimated to have just 317 mobile device patents granted within the United States at … Read more

Personal Audio's second suit against Apple denied

Personal Audio, the company that was awarded $8 million in damages from Apple in patent infringement ruling last month, has had its attempt at additional damages denied by a U.S. District judge.

In a judgment filed over the weekend, and picked up by the Courthouse News Service today, U.S. District Judge Ron Clark said there will not be a second trial to cover patent infringement issues with the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad since the previous case judgment covered both past and future use of Personal Audio's technology.

"In light of the history of this case, … Read more

Befuddling business suite

Computers have revolutionized the way that we do business, making record-keeping, banking, invoicing, customer relations, and many other business functions easier than ever. Compass Business Management Suite aims to combine several of these important tasks into one program that lets users access their data from anywhere. Although we think it's a great idea, in practice we weren't too impressed.

Upon first launching the program, you are required to register and set up a username and password. Compass Business Management Suite saves your information on a remote server, meaning that you can log in and access it from any … Read more

Adobe sued by RPost over EchoSign technology

The day after acquiring EchoSign for its electronic signature technology, Adobe Systems and EchoSign are being sued by a company that claims EchoSign's technology infringes on five of its patents.

Los Angeles-based RPost this morning filed a lawsuit against Adobe and EchoSign in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, claiming EchoSign is infringing on RPost's patented technology with its services.

RPost is asking the court for a permanent injunction against services from both companies, as well as damages on infringing products. Adobe yesterday said that it plans to integrate EchoSign's … Read more