Viacom, Time Warner Agree to Delay iPad Lawsuit

Viacom Inc. and Time Warner Cable Inc. have put their legal fight over beaming live TV channels to Apple Inc. iPads on pause, amid a broader battle between media companies and cable operators over the rights to distribute TV shows and movies on the Internet and on mobile devices. The détente in litigation comes as the two sides attempt to negotiate a resolution in their dispute over whether Time Warner Cable has the right to put Viacom channels, including MTV and Comedy Central, on new devices.

FTC Ready to Serve Subpoenas on Google

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is poised to serve Google Inc. with civil subpoenas, according to people familiar with the matter, signaling the start of a wide-ranging, formal antitrust investigation into whether the search giant has abused its dominance on the Web. The five-member panel is preparing within days to send Google the formal demands for information, the people said.

Apple Faces Hearing Hurdle Over 'App Store' Trademark

Apple Inc. may face hurdles in stopping online retailer Amazon.com Inc from using Apple's App Store name through a trademark lawsuit, a U.S. judge indicated at a hearing. Apple, the maker of best-selling iPhones and iPad tablets, filed a lawsuit saying that Amazon has improperly used Apple's App Store name to solicit software developers throughout the United States.

Police in Eight Countries Target "Scareware" Schemes

Police in the United States and seven other countries seized computers and servers used to run a "scareware" scheme that has netted more than $72 million from victims tricked into buying fake anti-virus software. Twenty-two computers and servers were seized in the United States and 25 others in France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.

Netherlands Adopts Net Neutrality Measure

The Netherlands became the first country in Europe, and only the second in the world, to enshrine the concept of network neutrality into national law by banning its mobile telephone operators from blocking or charging consumers extra for using Internet-based communications services like Skype or WhatsApp, a free text service. The measure, which was adopted with a broad majority in the lower house of the Dutch Parliament, the Tweede Kamer, will prevent KPN, the Dutch telecommunications market leader, and the Dutch units of Vodafone and T-Mobile, from blocking or charging for Internet services.

Judge Denies Samsung's Request to See Apple Products

A U.S. judge rejected Samsung's request for a peek at Apple's unreleased iPhone and iPad, which was brought in the course of high-stakes patent litigation between the two companies. Apple sued Samsung in April, claiming Samsung's Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets infringe several patents and trademarks. Samsung counter-sued, asserting its own patents against Apple.

Brands Face Challenges with Expansion of Domain System

When it comes to branding on the Internet, 2012 may be the dawn of a chaotic new era with companies and other groups expected to battle over suffixes like .cancer, .chocolate and just about .anything. The decision by the body that governs Internet domain names to stop restricting them to suffixes like .com and .gov will change the way companies interact with consumers and how much they'll be paying to do so.

Court Says Website Didn't Engage in 'Hot News'

On its face, a ruling by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Barclays v. Theflyonthewall.com seems like a win for the folks who republish the news. The Second Circuit, in an 88-page ruling, found that a financial news website called Theflyonthewall.com had not engaged in "hot news" misappropriation when it ran headlines about stock recommendations by Barclays, Bank of America's Merrill Lynch unit, and Morgan Stanley.

European Study Finds Faults with Minors' Privacy Online

The European Commission, which is still finding its way in regulating the Internet, published a study on how social networking sites treat minors. The most compelling result it found: Only Bebo and Myspace (which is owned by News Corp., publisher of this blog) “have default settings to make minors’ profiles accessible only to their approved list of contacts.”

British Police Arrest Suspected LulzSec Hacker

British police arrested a 19-year-old man who may be linked to the online hacker group LulzSec, the latest development in a global law-enforcement scramble to contain an outbreak of cyber attacks aimed at companies, governments and other entities. The arrest came as the U.K.'s Office for National Statistics Tuesday said it is investigating whether computer hackers have stolen data from the 2011 Census.

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The GigaLaw Firm helps companies of all sizes protect their brands online, using domain name dispute policies – such as the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) – and other legal tools available to copyright and trademark owners on the Internet.