lawsuit

Apple takes down Samsung patent 'apology' notice

It was only a week ago that Apple lost its appeal to a U.K. High Court, where it was seeking to overturn a previous ruling that resulted in the iPad and iPhone maker being forced to publish a notice on its U.K. Web site stating that rival Samsung did not copy its products.

The notice has now been taken down, after Apple was ordered to replace it following objections from Samsung to its content.

The lengthy legal battle between Apple and Samsung, which has been fought in several countries and courts worldwide, revolves around both tech giants stating … Read more

Illegal file-sharer gets slapped with $1.5 million in damages

The damages award against illegal file-sharer Kywan Fisher will most likely send him to the poor house. Illinois federal court Judge John Lee ordered Fisher to fork out $1.5 million to adult entertainment company Flava Works this week, according to TorrentFreak.

Flava Works sued Fisher for sharing 10 movies he'd previously paid for via BitTorrent. The damages award amount was reached by fining Fisher $150,000 per movie. This is the largest damages award ever ordered in a BitTorrent case.

Flava Works caught Fisher sharing its movies by tracing the illegal copies he was accused of sharing back … Read more

Microsoft sued over Windows Live Tiles

Microsoft is already facing lawsuits related to the just-launched Windows, with an operating system technology designer accusing Microsoft of ripping of its patent for "tiles."

SurfCast, in a complaint filed yesterday in a U.S. District Court in Maine, said Microsoft infringes one of its four patents -- No. 6,724,403 -- by "making, using, selling, and offering to sell devices and software products" covered by SurfCast's patent. That includes mobile devices using the Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8 operating systems as well as PCs using Windows 8/RT.

The company also … Read more

Facebook sued over social-gaming currency

Kickflip has sued Facebook, claiming the social-networking giant broke antitrust laws in the social gaming currency market, according to a report.

The company, operating as virtual currency and payment-processing provider Gambit, said Facebook's decision in 2009 to offer its own similar services to developers killed a "vibrant and competitive market," according to federal court papers examined by Bloomberg.

Such a service allows gaming providers to issue currency to players in exchange for real money or advertising offers.

Kickflip's complaint says that Facebook marginalized its competitors by "blacklisting" Gambit and forcing developers to use only … Read more

Feds arrest Paul Ceglia for alleged multibillion-dollar fraud against Facebook

The feds have arrested and charged Paul Ceglia, the man who claims he owns half of Facebook, with mail and wire fraud for allegedly doctoring a contract and creating fake emails in an attempt to cheat Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg out of billions of dollars, a U.S. district attorney revealed today.

He faces up to 40 years in prison for the two charges, which relate to Ceglia using the U.S. Postal Service and email to transmit the materials, according to the complaint (see below).

Federal agents arrested Ceglia at his home in Wellsville, N.Y., this morning … Read more

Patent holder sues Apple over Quick Look file viewer

WhitServe, which owns intellectual property but doesn't make any real products, is suing Apple over allegations that versions of the Mac OS X operating system infringe on a file viewer patent it holds.

The complaint, filed today in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, claims that Apple's Quick Look violates Patent No. 7,921,139, a system for "sequentially opening and displaying files in a directory."

Introduced in 2007 with Mac OS X Leopard, Apple's Quick Look allows users a convenient way to preview the contents of a document before opening it fully in an … Read more

Judge steps down in patent lawsuit filed over Apple's Siri

A recently filed lawsuit over Apple's Siri has already run into a wrinkle -- the judge assigned to the case has stepped down because of his "interest" in Apple.

District Court Judge Gary Sharpe recused himself from the case yesterday, citing a law that says, "Any conduct that would lead a reasonable [person] knowing all the circumstances to the conclusion that the judge's 'impartiality might reasonably be questioned' is a basis for the judge's disqualification."

It's not clear what Sharpe's "interest" in Apple was, but most likely it was … Read more

Sony PSN hacking lawsuit dismissed by judge

A California district judge has dismissed a handful of charges that plaintiffs brought against Sony, including negligence, restitution, and unjust enrichment in its handling of a PlayStation Network data breach last year.

Several lawsuits were filed against Sony PlayStation Network in the wake of a major security breach of the personal data of more than 75 million customers in April 2011.

On Friday, Judge Anthony Battaglia of the U.S. District Court in Southern California ruled that one of those class action suits is invalid, according to Courthouse News.

When the attack happened in 2011, more than 75 million customer … Read more

AMC programming returns to Dish with lawsuit settlement

Dish Network subscribers will get their AMC programming back tonight thanks to the settling of a lawsuit between the two companies.

Satellite TV provider Dish has agreed to pay $700 million in cash to AMC Networks, and in turn will receive licenses for wireless multichannel video distribution and data service in 45 markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia. Under a separate multiyear agreement, Dish will resume broadcasting the AMC channel tonight on channel 131. Programming on Sundance Channel, WE tv, and IFC will resume on November 1.

"We are glad to have settled the … Read more