Mac clone maker Psystar plans to file its answer to Apple's copyright infringement lawsuit as well as a countersuit of its own, alleging that Apple engages in anticompetitive business practices. Miami-based Psystar, owned by Rudy Pedraza, will sue Apple under two federal laws designed to discourage monopolies and cartels, the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act, saying Apple's tying of the Mac OS to Apple-labeled hardware is "an anticompetitive restrain of trade," according to attorney Colby Springer of antitrust specialists Carr & Ferrell.
Inventor Sues Google, Verizon Over Voicemail Patent
Emboldened by settlements with Apple and AT&T, inventor Judah Klausner filed a new voicemail patent lawsuit against Google, Verizon Communications and others. The inventor's company, Klausner Technologies Inc, also named as defendants LG Electronics, Comverse Technology, Citrix Systems, Embarq in a patent infringement complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Tyler, Texas, according to a court filing.
Facebook Drops Scrabulous in New Copyright Dispute
Already blocked from Facebook users in the United States and Canada, Scrabulous -- the online imitation of the popular Scrabble board game -- has been yanked by Facebook in all other countries except India in response to a copyright tussle over the game. Facebook said it decided to block access to Scrabulous throughout most of the world in response to a formal request to do so from Mattel, which owns the rights to Scrabble outside North American.
Software Developer Pulls Tetris-Like Game from iPhone
A young software developer has decided to pull his iPhone game from Apple's App Store because it was too similar to the classic arcade game Tetris. Noah Witherspoon, a college student in Atlanta, created a free game called Tris for Apple's handset platform.
Newegg Stops Collecting New York Sales Taxes
Online electronics retailer Newegg has stopped charging sales tax to its New York customers, according to a posting on the Consumerist.com. The move by Newegg reverses action the online retailer took in June, in which it began to charge applicable sales tax for all shipments to New York, following passage of a new state law that required certain companies to charge sales tax on shipments to New York state.
Apple Limits Developers Talk on iPhone Applications
The software development kit that Apple Inc. distributed to programmers bound them to not discuss the process of creating programs for the iPhone. Companies typically waive such legal restrictions once the product in question launches, but Apple didn't. And it won't say why.
Private-Street Residents Complain About Google Service
Google's Street View service apparently thinks your "no trespassing" and "private road" signs are just for decoration. Residents in California's Humboldt County are complaining that the drivers who are hired to collect the images are disregarding private property signs and driving up private roads.
Woman Sues City for Ordering Her to Delete Hyperlink
A Wisconsin woman says the Sheboygan city attorney ordered her to remove from her Web site a link to the city's police department, in what she believes was retaliation for her support of recalling Mayor Juan Perez, according to the suit. The city's actions torpedoed Jennifer Reisinger's Web site marketing business and led to death threats against her, according to the lawsuit.
Biden Has Mixed Record on Technology Issues
By choosing Joe Biden as their vice presidential candidate, the Democrats have selected a politician with a mixed record on technology who has spent most of his Senate career allied with the FBI and copyright holders, who ranks toward the bottom of CNET's Technology Voters' Guide, and whose anti-privacy legislation was actually responsible for the creation of PGP.
White House Missing 225 Days of E-mail Messages
The White House is missing as many as 225 days of e-mail dating back to 2003 and there is little if any likelihood a recovery effort will be completed by the time the Bush administration leaves office, according to an internal White House draft document obtained by the Associated Press. The nine-page outline of the White House's e-mail problems invites companies to bid on a project to recover the missing electronic messages.
More ISPs Setting Limits on Customers' Traffic
Phone company Frontier Communications Corp. is one of several Internet service providers that are moving to curb the growth of traffic on their networks, or at least make the subscribers who download the most pay more. This could have consequences not just for consumers -- who would have to learn to watch how much data their Internet use entails -- but also for companies that hope to make the Internet a conduit for movies and other content that comes in huge files.
Spam Malware Campaign Purports to Come from FedEx
More than 21 million spam e-mails claiming to be notification of non-delivery from FedEx have hit the Web, managed e-mail security vendor MX Logic's vice president of information security Sam Masiello said. This accounted for about 80 percent of all the e-mail borne malware over the 24-hour period, Masiello said.
Former TV News Anchor Admits to E-mail Hacking
A former Philadelphia CBS anchor Larry Mendte pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to hacking into the personal e-mail of onetime colleague Alycia Lane. He was fired in June, three and a half weeks after FBI agents seized his home computer during an investigation.
Man Charged with Botnet Affecting 100,000 PCs
A Brazilian man has been charged in connection with operating a botnet composed of more than 100,000 computers infected with malicious software allegedly designed to send spam, the U.S. Department of Justice said. A federal grand jury in New Orleans handed down an indictment charging Leni de Abreu Neto, a 35-year-old from Taubate, Brazil, with one count of conspiracy to cause damage to computers worldwide.
Calif. Bill Would Limit Texting While Driving
California could outlaw text-messaging while driving under a bill that's headed for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk. The state already requires adult drivers to use handsfree devices for cell phones. It bars 16- and 17-year-olds from using any device to talk or text while driving.
Ruling Supports "Fair Use" in DMCA Notices
A federal judge gave more weight to the concept of "fair use" when he threw a lifeline to a Pennsylvania mother's lawsuit against Universal Music. The judge refused to dismiss Stephanie Lenz's suit claiming that Universal abused the Digital Millennium Copyright Act when it issued a takedown notice to YouTube over a 30-second video of Lenz's baby dancing to a Prince song.
Chinese iTunes Users Reporting Problems Downloading
The downloading of music for iPod players has hit a mysterious glitch in China, stumping scores of users and raising fears the government has blocked Apple's iTunes site over pro-Tibet lyrics, analysts said. More than 60 people have posted messages in an Apple discussion forum complaining that they could not download songs for use on Apple's iPods.
Woman Sues Apple for iPhone's Perfomance Woes
With all the griping going on by a subset of iPhone 3G users, it was inevitable that someone would seek redress through the law. The first someone was Jessica Alena Smith, a Birmingham resident who filed her complaint in U.S. District Court in Alabama.
FCC Requires Comcast to Disclose Practices
The Federal Communications Commission finally released the text of its 3-2 ruling saying Comcast violated the law when throttling BitTorrent transfers, marking the first time any broadband provider has been found to violate Net neutrality rules. Comcast will be required to take these steps in the next 30 days: disclose "the precise contours" of its current and future network management practices, and submit a "nondiscriminatory network management" compliance plan so government regulators can decide whether they approve.
British Firm Vows to Pursue Thousands of File-Sharers
Thousands of people suspected of sharing music, films and games over the Internet will be pursued through the courts for damages, lawyers for entertainment companies said. London-based law firm Davenport Lyons said it would apply to the High Court to force Internet service providers to release the names and addresses of 7,000 suspected file-sharers.
