Dutch Company Files Patent Suit Against RIM

Research In Motion Ltd. can add a willful patent infringement claim to its long list of troubles after a Dutch semiconductor company said it had filed suit against the BlackBerry maker, sending its shares tumbling. An affiliate of NXP Semiconductors NV alleges that versions of RIM's BlackBerry phone and the PlayBook tablet infringed on patents issued to the Dutch company between 1997 and 2008.

EU Opens Two Antitrust Cases Against Motorola

The European Union’s competition office opened two antitrust cases against Motorola Mobility for possible patent abuses following complaints by two rivals, Microsoft and Apple. The European Commission opened two cases in order to look at separate allegations by Microsoft, which is concerned about access to video and wireless patents for its products including the Xbox, and by Apple, which is concerned about access to separate wireless patents for the iPhone and iPad.

U.S. Reports More Efforts to Protect Intellectual Property

Federal efforts to crack down on intellectual property infringement increased across the board last year, according to a new report by the White House. "Protecting what we invent, create and produce is always important, but at this time, when every job matters, it is especially important that we stop theft that harms our businesses and threatens jobs here at home," U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel wrote in her second annual report to Congress.

Microsoft Moves Office from Germany in Patent Spat

Microsoft Corp. is moving its European logistics operations, run by an outsourcing service provider, from Germany to the Netherlands due to its legal dispute with Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., a spokesman said. The moves make Microsoft the first major technology player to shift a business arm out of Germany over fears potential court rulings on patents could harm business.

Law Enforcement Probes Website Terror Messages

U.S. law enforcement and counterterrorism officials are trying to figure out the significance of recent occurrences on websites believed to have close links to al Qaeda, including a graphic some fear could be an attack threat directed at New York City. The graphic contained a picture of the Manhattan skyline superimposed with a Hollywood-style caption that says: "ALQAEDA - coming soon again in New York."

Judge Dismisses Huffington Post Bloggers' Lawsuit

AOL Inc. won dismissal of a suit by unpaid bloggers seeking $105 million for their work on the Huffington Post. U.S. District Judge John Koeltl threw out the suit, filed last April by writers seeking a share in AOL’s $315 million purchase of the news and opinion website run by Arianna Huffington. Koeltl said the bloggers submitted pieces to the Huffington Post for the exposure, knowing they wouldn’t be paid.

Movie, Music Studios Planning "Copyright Center"

The major film studios and music companies will soon unveil plans for a "copyright center," an organization designed to oversee the implementation of the controversial graduated-response program, CNET has learned. Last July, when some of the country's top Internet service providers, including AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon, agreed to begin implementing a series of measures designed to discourage illegal file-sharing, the ISPs said they and the entertainment companies would establish a Center for Copyright Information (CCI) to "assist in the effort to combat online infringement."

U.K. Gov't Planning Electronic Surveillance Network

The U.K. government is preparing proposals for a nationwide electronic surveillance network that could potentially keep track of every message sent by any Brit to anyone at any time, an industry official briefed on the government’s moves said. Plans for a massive government database of the country’s phone and email traffic were abandoned in 2008 following a public outcry.

preparing proposals for a nationwide

China Closes Websites for Circulating Political Rumors

China is closing a dozen websites, penalizing two popular social media sites and detaining six people for circulating rumors of a coup that rattled Beijing in the midst of its worst high-level political crisis in years. The extensive clampdown, announced by state media, underscores the authoritarian government's anxieties over a public that is wired to the Internet and eager to discuss political events despite censorship and threats of punishment.

EU Investigating Google After Complaint by Expedia

Online travel agency Expedia accused Google of breaching EU rules with a formal complaint to EU antitrust regulators as it joined a dozen other firms that have taken their case to the European Commission in the last two years. The EU watchdog is now investigating the world's most popular search engine after rivals, including Microsoft, accused Google of abusing its dominant position in the market for Web search engines.

Microsoft Seeks Patent Order Against Motorola

Microsoft Corp. has asked a U.S. court for a restraining order to prevent Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.  from taking action based on a ruling expected from a German court next month, ramping up a year-and-a-half old Transatlantic dispute. The motion filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, is aimed at preserving Microsoft's ability to sell in Germany its Windows and Xbox 360 and other products that rely on the video patents at issue in the battle with Motorola.

'Anonymous' Attack on Internet Called 'Anticlimactic'

A threat to attack a crucial part of the Internet by members of the mercurial, leaderless hacker collective called Anonymous appears to have had no discernible impact so far. Some Anonymous hackers had threatened six weeks ago to attack that system, which converts domain names like google.com into numeric addresses that computers use. It led to a quiet global multimillion-dollar effort to strengthen the Domain Name System in recent weeks.

Chinese Student Blamed for Japanese, Indian Hacking

A breach of computers belonging to companies in Japan and India and to Tibetan activists has been linked to a former graduate student at a Chinese university -- putting a face on the persistent espionage by Chinese hackers against foreign companies and groups. The attacks were connected to an online alias, according to a report by Trend Micro, a computer security firm with headquarters in Tokyo.

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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.