The chief executive of Full Tilt Poker, the beleaguered one-time Web poker giant, was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport as the government unveiled new criminal charges against him related to an alleged Ponzi scheme. Ray Bitar, 40 years old, is the most significant person yet to turn himself into the Justice Department's 15-month-long effort to prosecute the three one-time leading online poker companies in the U.S.
A New York start-up claims that a video sharing feature in YouTube and Google+ is based on concepts that it showed to Google when the two companies met to discuss collaboration strategies in 2011. In a lawsuit filed in San Jose, CamUp is accusing the search giant of copyright infringement and trade secret misappropriation over a “watch with your friends” button for videos.
Launched by a large coalition of privacy groups, Web sites, and individuals, the Declaration of Internet Freedom is the start of a process striving to keep the Internet free and open. The organizations and people who kicked off this process are looking for other Internet users to discuss the ideas, share their own thoughts, and sign the declaration.
A judge has ordered Twitter to release three months of data from the account of a user being prosecuted for disorderly conduct related to an Occupy Wall Street protest on the Brooklyn Bridge last October. The district attorney's office in New York City wants Twitter to turn over basic user information from Malcolm Harris' Twitter account (@destructuremal), and his tweets.
Google, facing the prospect of formal charges stemming from an investigation in Europe into its search and advertising business, offered concessions to competition regulators in an effort to settle the case and avoid a lengthy and potentially expensive dispute. The offer came in the form of a letter from Eric E. Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, to Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia, a spokesman for Mr. Almunia said.
Apple has agreed to pay a Chinese company $60 million to settle a dispute over ownership of the iPad name, a court announce, removing a potential obstacle to sales of the popular tablet computer in the key Chinese market. Apple Inc. says it bought the global rights to the iPad name from Shenzhen Proview Technology in 2009 but Chinese authorities say the rights in China were never transferred. A Chinese court ruled in December that Proview still owned the name in China and the company asked Chinese authorities to seize iPads.
Amid whispers of sensational online break-ins resulting in millions of dollars in losses, it remains remarkably difficult to identify corporate victims of cybercrimes. Companies are afraid that going public will damage their reputations, sink stock prices or spark lawsuits.
Italy's competition regulator is threatening Apple Inc with further fines of up to 300,000 euros ($381,000) if it does not offer local customers a free two-year warranty as demanded by Italian law, a source close to the watchdog said. In Italy consumers who buy electronic products and other durable goods have the right to get two years of free assistance, irrespective of other warranties offered by a manufacturer.
Internet search giant Google has reached a deal under legal mediation with French anti-racism groups which objected to the search engine suggesting users add "Jew" to searches for prominent names. Both sides confirmed the deal had been reached for the groups to drop a legal complaint against Google but refused to comment on its specifics.
A U.S. judge granted Apple Inc's request for a pre-trial injunction against the sale of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's Galaxy Nexus phone, handing the iPhone maker its second legal victory against Samsung in a week. Apple and Samsung, the world's largest consumer electronics corporations, are waging legal war in several countries, accusing each other of patent violations as they vie for supremacy in a fast-growing market for mobile devices.
U.S. antitrust regulators are investigating whether Google unit Motorola Mobility is living up to licensing commitments made when its patents were adopted as industry standards, two people familiar with the probe said. The Federal Trade Commission sent civil investigative demands, essentially civil subpoenas, to companies this week asking them about Motorola Mobility's licensing practices, one person said.
The House Judiciary Committee approved legislation that would bar states from taxing digital goods such as a movie download at a higher rate than its physical counterpart such as a DVD. Even though the panel approved the bill by voice vote, several members outlined issues that they say need to be fixed before the bill moves to the House floor, including concerns about the measure's impact on states and local governments.
Apple Inc's suppliers in China have violated local labor laws when they imposed excessive overtime and skimped on insurance, a New York-based labor rights group said. Apple and its suppliers such as Taiwanese tycoon Terry Gou's Foxconn Technology Group have been the target of labor rights groups, which say the world's most valuable technology company are making iPhones and iPads in massive sweat shops.
Delaware's legislature passed a law that could make the state the first to open its population to a full range of legal online gambling, including Internet blackjack, poker and slot games. The bill is expected to be signed by the state's governor and comes in the wake of a Justice Department legal interpretation last year that allowed states to authorize Internet gambling within their borders.
Search warrants used when 70 New Zealand police raided the mansion of the suspected kingpin of an Internet piracy ring were illegal, a New Zealand court ruled, dealing a blow to the FBI's highest profile global copyright theft case. German national Kim Dotcom, also known as Kim Schmitz, was one of four men arrested in January as part of an investigation of his Megaupload.com website led by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Comcast Corp. agreed to pay $800,000 to settle a Federal Communications Commission complaint that it didn't offer stand-alone Internet service to consumers as agreed when it acquired control of NBCUniversal. An FCC investigation found that Comcast service representatives weren't adequately informing consumers that they had an option to purchase only broadband service of at least six megabits per second for $49.95.
Two Democratic lawmakers said Congress should examine whether major wireless carriers and cable companies are stifling the growth of online video services like Netflix Inc and Hulu by limiting the amount of content Internet subscribers can download each month. Online video providers have argued that data caps are keeping more Americans from accessing their programming as they worry bandwidth-heavy shows and movies could interrupt their Internet service.
Amid Silicon Valley's latest tech boom, law firms once again are taking equity stakes in start-ups—but this time they generally aren't waiving their fees and instead are often deferring them or charging special rates. From big law firms such as Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati to one-man shop Bottom Line Law Group, firms have become more creative and less exposed to risk when it comes to snagging new clients.
Samsung Electronics said it is disappointed with a court's ruling that prevents the company from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer in the U.S. while its patent infringement lawsuit with Apple plays out. The South Korean company said in a statement to The Times on Wednesday that it believed the preliminary injunction "will ultimately reduce the availability of superior technological features to consumers in the United States."
Microsoft Corp lost its appeal against an EU decision penalizing it for defying an antitrust ruling, bringing nearer to an end a decade-long battle with the European Commission over the U.S. software group's business practices. Antitrust experts said the verdict by the General Court, Europe's second-highest, may strengthen the Commission's hand in ongoing cases against Google, Samsung Electronics and Motorola Mobility related to their patents.
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