Judge Issues TRO Against Facebook in Ownership Case

A New York judge has issued a temporary restraining order restricting the transfer of Facebook Inc.'s assets, following a suit by a New York man who claims to own an 84% stake in the social-networking company. Paul D. Ceglia filed a suit in the Supreme Court of New York's Allegany County on June 30, claiming that a 2003 contract he signed with Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg entitles him to ownership of the company and monetary damages.

European Court Says Keywords Don't Infringe

Europe's highest court confirmed an earlier ruling that companies using the names of their competitors as Internet advertising keywords are not infringing European trademark laws. The case involved temporary cabin maker Portakabin, which accused its competitor Primakabin of infringing its rights as trademark owner of the Portakabin name by using it as an ad keyword.

Judge Cuts File-Sharing Damages 90%

In a major setback for the recording industry, a Boston judge slashed by 90 percent a $675,000 damages award that a Boston University graduate student had been ordered to pay to four record labels for illegally downloading 30 songs and sharing them online. U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Gertner ruled that the amount a federal jury ordered Joel Tenenbaum to pay last July was "unconstitutionally excessive" in light of what she described as the modest harm caused to the record labels.

Phishing, Not Hacking, Blamed for Exposed iTunes Accounts

It's unlikely that consumers' iTunes accounts were hacked by a Vietnamese iPhone developer, a security researcher said. Instead, it's more probable that users' credit cards were obtained through standard phishing tactics or keyloggers that were secretly installed on people's machines, or that iTunes accounts were accessed because of poor password practices.

Law Firm Working on Class-Action Facebook Privacy Case

A Toronto-based law firm with a history of targeting litigation at corporations as varied as chocolate companies and silicone breast implant manufacturers has a new company in the crosshairs: Facebook. Merchant Law Group, which has offices in 10 Canadian cities, launched litigation seeking class action status against the massive social-networking site, alleging the mishandling of sensitive user data -- the latest development in a resurgence of action against the social network's privacy policies, after it looked for a while as if all the fuss had calmed down.

Europe Studying Competition Among Search Engines

The European Commission's top antitrust official said that he is closely examining allegations of anticompetitive behavior related to Internet search services. In a speech at an e-commerce antitrust conference in London, Joaquin Almunia, the commission's vice president for competition policy, did not specifically name Google, but the Internet search and advertising firm was the subject of antitrust complaints filed in February by three Internet competitors.

Electronics Companies Worried About Driving Laws

The Obama administration's push to curb distracted driving is raising concerns in the electronics industry about how far the government will go to restrict the use of electronic gadgets in cars. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who has called for a federal ban on texting-while-driving, said that his campaign against distracted driving is focused on cell phones, and that the administration hasn't developed a policy on hands-free phones and other devices found in vehicles.

Army Analyst Charged for Giving Video to WikiLeaks

An Army intelligence analyst serving in Iraq has been charged with leaking classified information, including a controversial video shown on the website WikiLeaks of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack that killed 12 civilians in Baghdad. Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, 22, was charged with improperly downloading the video, 150,000 State Department cables and a classified PowerPoint presentation to his personal computer between November and May, according to a charge sheet released by the Army in Baghdad.