lawsuits

Search ads trigger trademark lawsuit from rival

In a case that spotlights the growing importance of search engines to commerce, NameSafe has sued a competitor, LifeLock, for trademark infringement involving ads placed next to search results.

NameSafe, which like LifeLock sells services designed to protect customers against identity theft, alleged its rival used NameSafe's name in deceptive search ads on Google, Yahoo, and other search engines.

"The ads created by defendant deceptively contain the words 'NameSafe' and 'NameSafe.com' and those marks are often displayed as hyperlinks. Consumers following the hyperlinks are wrongfully and deceptively directed to the defendant's Web site," the suit … Read more

Suit accuses Google of trade secret theft

LimitNone, a small software development company, is seeking nearly $1 billion in damages in a lawsuit that accuses Google of reneging on a partnership with the small company and misappropriating its trade secrets for its Google Apps online service.

Specifically, the suit concerns LimitNone software called gMove designed to let people move e-mail, contacts, and calendar information stored in Microsoft Outlook to Google's online service. Google initially helped LimitNone develop, promote, and sell the product, assuring LimitNone it wouldn't offer a competing product, but then reversed course by giving away its own tool, Google E-mail Uploader, to premier-level … Read more

Closed Facebook-ConnectU hearing ends with no ruling

Updated 1:12 p.m. PDT to reflect that the hearing session has ended.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--A hearing in a dispute between Facebook and ConnectU wrapped up early Monday afternoon with no ruling, after the federal judge overseeing the matter had closed the proceedings to the public and the press.

U.S. District Judge James Ware plans to issue a ruling before too much time has elapsed, attorneys involved in the matter said as they left the courthouse here following the hearing, which lasted somewhat less than two hours.

Reporters from CNET News.com, the San Jose Mercury News, … Read more

Puzo to Paramount: 'Don't mess with the family'

Electronic Arts' yet to be determined release of The Godfather II--for the PS3, XBox 360, Nintendo Wii, and PC--may still be undetermined with the recent news of a lawsuit filed by Mario Puzo's (author of The Godfather series) son. That is, if Paramount doesn't make him an offer he can't refuse.

On Wednesday, June 18, documents were filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court by Anthony Puzo, who is suing Paramount Pictures for breach of contract for which he is claiming at least $1 million in damages. The document stated Paramount had failed to hand over any … Read more

Red Hat demonstrates the open-source way to quash patent lawsuits

Software vendors of the world, take note: Red Hat has just demonstrated a truly open-source friendly way to tackle patent lawsuits. In settling a patent lawsuit with DataTern and Amphion Innovations PLC, Red Hat protected its short-term interests in the JBoss software. But it also went much further.

Unlike other patent deals (Read: Every single one that Microsoft has signed), which try to create a walled garden of protection for the signing parties, Red Hat opted to go much broader:

"Typically when a company settles a patent lawsuit, it focuses on getting safety for itself," said Rob Tiller, … Read more

Another city considers suing Time Warner Cable over service

The city of Los Angeles' lawsuit against Time Warner Cable has prompted a neighboring community to look at suing the cable provider.

Now the city of Costa Mesa, Calif., is also considering suing Time Warner, claiming that its residents have gotten poor service, too. Complaints had gotten so out of hand, that earlier this year the city council called a public hearing to question a Time Warner representative about the issue.

Even though service has improved over the past few months, the city's attorney said that residents have experienced similar issues as those outlined in the Los Angeles complaint, … Read more

ConnectU: We're not through with Zuckerberg

Scandal fans, rejoice--the crimson-hued nastiness between ConnectU and Facebook ain't over yet!

Court documents filed on Wednesday reveal that the founders of ConnectU, who claim that Facebook czar Mark Zuckerberg pilfered their business plan and code, are touting new "smoking-gun" evidence against the 24-year-old billionaire.

Facebook settled ConnectU v. Facebook in April, but ConnectU founders Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra say a search for related documents has produced some results.

Forensic expert Jeff Parmet was commissioned by ConnectU to trawl through Facebook hard drives after a court order opened them up for discovery in … Read more

Report: Belgian publishers demand up to $77 million from Google

Editor's note: Updated on Wednesday at 5:58 a.m. PDT to add information from Copiepresse.

A group representing Belgian newspaper publishers is demanding that Google pay it up to $49 million euros--some $77 million--in damages related to a lawsuit alleging the search giant linked to and cached their news stories in violation of copyright law.

According to an Associated Press report Tuesday, the group, called Copiepresse, said it has sent a legal summons to Google asking that the company appear in court in September to decide whether it should be forced to pay Copiepresse between 32.8 million … Read more

Click fraud lawsuit targets IAC's Citysearch

A Los Angeles-based law firm with a history of targeting online media companies for click fraud filed suit Tuesday against Citysearch, the directory site owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp, as well as Ticketmaster, the ticketing site that IAC is attempting to spin out into a separate publicly traded company.

"Citysearch.com is defrauding its advertising customers of millions of dollars by not only turning a blind eye to click fraud, but in fact encouraging it as well," a statement from the firm Kabateck Brown Kellner read. The class action suit encompasses anyone in the U.S. who paid for … Read more

LendingTree sued over data breach

One month after suing three lending firms, LendingTree has now been sued by a Bronx man who claims a security breach with the mortgage site has harmed his credit score, led to higher credit card interest rates, and resulted in him getting rejected for at least one loan.

The lawsuit against LendingTree, filed late last week in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, seeks class action status. Filed on behalf of Marvin Garcia, it alleges that LendingTree was negligent in failing to keep customer personal information secure and failing to notify customers of the security breach in a timely manner.… Read more