Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, the Indian brothers who came up with the Scrabble-style word game for Facebook called Scrabulous, told fans that their country's courts ruled that their game did not violate Mattel Inc.'s copyrights. It did, however, consider the name Scrabulous a trademark violation and ordered the Agarwallas to stop using the word, the brothers said.
Online Profiles Reshape Jury Duty Selection Process
In the age of MySpace, Facebook, cyberspace sales pitches and blogging, the Internet is proving a treasure trove of insight into the thinking and values of those called for jury duty. And it has transformed the way many jury consultants do their jobs.
House Approves Webcaster Settlement Act
The House of Representatives has unanimously passed a bill that Web radio stations have painted as life or death for their services. The Webcaster Settlement Act, which would allow Internet radio stations to negotiate with the music industry for a royalty rate lower than what Congress mandated last year, passed the House by a voice vote.
Adobe Flaw Allows Free Access to Online Video
A security hole in Adobe Systems software, used to distribute movies and TV shows over the Internet, is giving users free access to record and copy from Amazon.com's video streaming service. The problem exposes online video content to the rampant piracy that plagued the music industry during the Napster era and is undermining efforts by retailers, movie studios and television networks to cash in on a huge Web audience.
Senate Passes Protect Our Children Act
The Protect Our Children Act, introduced by Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., made it through the Senate. Separate bills authored by Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton were folded into the legislation, which authorizes more than $320 million for the Justice Department over the next five years for, among other things, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
RIAA Seeks Sanctions Against File-Sharing Lawyer
A lawyer who is known for defending individuals accused of peer-to-peer sharing of copyrighted works over the Internet is now on the hot seat himself. The Recording Industry Association of America is seeking sanctions against attorney Ray Beckerman in a federal court case in New York, claiming that he has engaged in "obstructionist tactics" and provided "misinformation."
ISPs Promise They'll Get Users' Permission Before Tracking
Three of the four largest ISPs in the U.S. said that they will adopt policies that require them to get meaningful permission from customers before tracking online activities. Representatives of AT&T, Time Warner Cable and Verizon told a U.S. Senate committee that they currently do not engage in behavioral advertising that uses subscribers' Web activities to deliver contextual ads.
Appeals Court Rules for Microsoft in Alcatel-Lucent Case
Microsoft Corp. convinced a federal appeals court that it shouldn't have to pay $1.5 billion in damages to Alcatel-Lucent SA, after a lower court threw out the jury's record verdict over the MP3 digital-music standard. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the lower court's decision that one of the two patents wasn't infringed and that Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, had a valid license for the second one.
Regulators Cite Microsoft Progress But Want More
Microsoft has made some progress developing a set of documents required as part of its antitrust consent decree, but the work could be accomplished much more quickly if the company took on a less grudging attitude, state and federal antitrust regulators said. The comments were made during a status conference meeting held to asses Microsoft's compliance with the consent decree.
Aerosmith Musician Sues Blogger for Impersonation
Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler sued unknown bloggers who the singer said impersonated him on the Web, writing about the death of his mother and other "intimate details" from his life. In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles, Tyler, 60, said he didn't know the real names of those who have impersonated him and girlfriend Erin Brady on the Web, but he believes the same group was responsible for similar postings in 2007.
New Trial Scheduled for Woman in File-Sharing Case
A federal judge has granted a new trial for Jammie Thomas who was convicted of copyright infringement last year as part of the Recording Industry Association of America's campaign against illegal file sharing. The Minnesota federal judge Michael Davis threw out the verdict against Thomas.
Bush Administration Opposes Copyright Bill
The Bush administration has announced its strong opposition to a bill backed by the recording industry that would let federal prosecutors file civil lawsuits against peer-to-peer pirates. In a letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee that amounts to a veto threat, the administration said it was "deeply concerned" that the proposal would divert resources from criminal prosecution to civil enforcement, and create "unnecessary bureaucracy."
Interet Radio Left Out of Music Copyright Agreement
In an agreement hailed as a "breakthrough that will facilitate new ways to offer music to consumers online," groups representing songwriters, music publishers, record labels and digital music websites ended a seven-year dispute over two types of music royalties. Unfortunately, neither of those is the controversial performance royalty for Internet radio.
Court Rules for Broadcom in Patent Spat with Qualcomm
Chipmaker Broadcom has won the latest battle in a long patent war with Qualcomm. A federal appeals court affirmed that Qualcomm is infringing on two cell phone patents. It also upheld an injunction against Qualcomm selling products with technology that infringes the two patents.
Hackers Expose Passwords for Bill O'Reilly's Website
Days after Fox News political pundit Bill O’Reilly condemned the cracking of Sarah Palin’s Yahoo e-mail account, his own Web site fell victim to political hacktivism. Over 205 plain text passwords belonging to BillOreilly.com site members spread across the Internet.
Antitrust Group Wants Limits on Google-Yahoo Deal
Google and Yahoo's deal to let Google place some ads on Yahoo's search pages, which the Justice Department is reviewing, should be allowed with limits, the American Antitrust Institute said. Because the search advertising market is already extremely concentrated with Google by far the dominant firm, the institute argued that consumers would be best served if No. 2 Yahoo remained independent.
Second Hacker Pleads Guilty in TJX Case
A second suspected hacker in the TJX breach case has pleaded guilty. Christopher Scott, 25 and of Miami, Florida, has admitted his role in hacking into weakly secured wireless networks at retail outlets, a key component in a much more ambitious attack that harvested an estimated 45.7 million card records at TJX alone last year.
Grand Jury Issues No Indictments in Palin Hacking
A grand jury in Chattanooga, Tenn., investigating who hacked Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's Yahoo e-mail ended its meeting without indicting a Tennessee lawmaker's son. Speculation on the Internet has centered on 20-year-old David Kernell, a University of Tennessee student.
NBC Says It Has "Template" for Protecting Video Online
Executives at NBC Universal say they have found a "template" for protecting videos from online piracy. The company is seeing unprecedented success at removing unauthorized videos posted to the Web and cited last month's Olympic Games and the recent SNL skit with actress Tina Fey as proof.
Kuwait Orders ISPs to Block YouTube, Citing Disrespect
Kuwait has ordered local Internet service providers to block online video-sharing website YouTube over clips that could offend Muslims.
