India Seeks Access to Google, Skype for Security

India has asked Google Inc., internet telephone company Skype Ltd. and other such companies to allow the country's security agencies to monitor their user services to guard against terrorism and other crimes, a minister said. In a clear sign that India isn't relaxing its push for access to encrypted communication services, junior Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Sachin Pilot said that "there are a whole list of companies that have been asked to give [access]... provide solutions."

EU Court Says eBay Could Face Trademark Liability

EBay may be held liable for trademark breaches on its auction site if it has knowledge of the infringing data, the European Union’s highest court said in a dispute involving the cosmetics maker L’Oréal. The Court of Justice  ruled that, as an operator of an online platform, eBay is liable if it “played an active role” that would “give it knowledge of or control over the data relating to the offers for sale.”

Apple's Lead Patent Attorney May Leave Company

Apple Inc's chief patent counsel will soon leave the company, at a time when the iPhone maker is fighting numerous legal battles around the world, according to sources familiar with the situation. Richard "Chip" Lutton Jr., who manages Apple's patent portfolio, recently hit his 10-year mark at the company and decided it was time to try something else, according to a source familiar with Lutton's thinking.

Samsung Says Apple's Lawyers Have Conflict of Interest

The legal fracas between gadget makers Apple and Samsung has reached a new level, with Samsung now vying to get some of Apple's legal team members kicked off the case. A 20-page motion filed by Samsung with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleges that some lawyers have a conflict of interest under the California Rule of Professional Conduct for having previously worked on Samsung's behalf in other legal matters.

Imported Tech Components Contain Malware, DHS Says

A Homeland Security official confirmed that tech components imported from overseas, many of which end up in some of the most popular American gadgets, are often infected with malicious software. "This is one of the most complicated and difficult challenges that we have," Greg Schaffer, acting deputy undersecretary at DHS' National Protection and Programs Directorate, said during a hearing.

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Hackers Publish Files with Military E-mail Addresses

A group of hackers published online files that it says contains a list of roughly 90,000 military email addresses and passwords belonging to a prominent defense and homeland security consultant for the U.S. government, Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. AntiSec –- a band of hackers reportedly made up of members from groups named Anonymous and the disbanded LulzSec –- posted the information to the website PirateBay.org.

Apple Files Another Patent Complaint Against HTC

Apple Inc. filed a second patent-infringement complaint against HTC Corp. at the U.S. International Trade Commission, seeking to block imports of "personal electronic devices" by the Taiwanese phonemaker. The complaint is the second lodged by Apple against HTC in the past 16 months and comes a week after the filing of a patent case against Samsung Electronics Co.

U.S., Canadian Judges Approve Sale of Nortel Patents

Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Research in Motion Ltd and three other leading tech companies received court approval to buy wireless patents from the bankrupt Nortel Networks Corp for $4.5 billion. Judges in the United States and Canada approved the sale of 6,000 patents and applications, which fetched three times what some analysts expected from the four-day auction in June.

Hackers Get to Network of FBI Contractor

Hackers who have claimed responsibility for a spate of recent break-ins said that they had infiltrated the network of IRC Federal, an engineering contractor that works for federal agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and stole internal documents from its database and e-mail system. The group, which is a part of the hacktivist collective Anonymous and includes members of the defunct group Lulz Security, also said it had defaced IRC Federal’s Web site.

Google's Schmidt to Testify at Antitrust Hearing

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt will testify before a U.S. Senate hearing on antitrust that could be held as soon as this month. The agreement, which Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Google confirmed, caps a few weeks of public wrangling over who the company would provide to be grilled at a public event that's unlikely to be sympathetic to the Mountain View, Calif.-based company.

Schmidt Says Google to Cooperate with Antitrust Probe

Google Inc will cooperate fully with U.S. antitrust regulators but will not let the formal probe launched last month distract or disrupt its strategy, executive chairman Eric Schmidt said. Schmidt, who vacated his CEO seat to co-founder Larry Page in April and now oversees government affairs, also said Google executives -- though not he himself -- had discussed the recent hacking of email accounts with Chinese officials.

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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.