Iran plans to switch its citizens onto a domestic Internet network in what officials say is a bid to improve cyber security but which many Iranians fear is the latest way to control their access to the web. The announcement, made by a government deputy minister, came as state television announced Google Inc's search engine and its email service would be blocked.
Apple Inc has asked for a court order for a permanent U.S. sales ban on Samsung Electronics products alleged to have violated its patents along with additional damages of $707 million on top of the billion-dollar verdict won by the iPhone maker last month. Samsung has responded by asking for a new trial.
A U.S. appeals court refused to disturb Facebook Inc's $9.5 million class action settlement over allegations that the social networking company's defunct "Beacon" service violated its members' privacy rights. The 2-1 ruling came from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, with the one dissenting judge saying the settlement unfairly benefited Facebook and plaintiff attorneys.
The new look of Apple's clock app on the iPad that came alongside iOS 6 is ruffling some feathers abroad. In a report in Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, the Swiss Federal Railway service, or SBB, has taken offense to the app's design, to which it says it owns the trademark.
Technology giants Microsoft Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co used offshore units to shield billions of dollars from U.S. taxes by taking advantage of loopholes and stretching the limits of the tax code, a Senate panel said. Calling tax avoidance rampant in the technology sector, the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said tech companies used intellectual property, royalties and license fees in overseas tax havens to skirt U.S. taxes.
A German court found that Motorola has infringed upon Microsoft patents, and granted Redmond an injunction against the offending products. Specifically, a Munich court found Motorola guilty of infringing on Microsoft's patent for soft input panel system and method, which Microsoft said "helps mobile phone keyboards communicate with applications."
European Union authorities are still in talks with Google Inc. about alleged antitrust practices in its Internet-search business and have received proposals from the company to address their concerns, said EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia. Should Google's proposals fail to address the issues raised by the EU, authorities will be forced to take some action, Mr. Almunia said in a speech at Fordham University School of Law in New York.
Unwired Panet, the wireless Internet technology company formerly called Openwave, said it has filed patent infringement complaints against both Apple and Google in federal court in Nevada. Openwave asserts that Apple infringes 10 of its patents, and that Google infringes 10 different patents.
A judge denied a request to order YouTube to remove an anti-Muslim film trailer that has ignited protests around the world as well as attacks on U.S. diplomatic posts including one that killed U.S. ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other American diplomats. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Luis Lavin rejected the emergency injunction from Cindy Lee Garcia, an actress who appeared in the low-budget anti-Muslim film, “Innocence of Muslims.”
A financial services industry group warned U.S. banks, brokerages and insurers to be on heightened alert for cyber attacks after Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase experienced unexplained outages on their public websites. The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, which is widely known as FS-ISAC, raised the cyber threat level to "high" from "elevated" in an advisory to members, citing "recent credible intelligence regarding the potential" for cyber attacks as its reason for the move.
A former executive at online poker companies Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars pleaded guilty to criminal charges in a scheme to conceal payments in order to skirt U.S. laws against Internet gambling. Nelson Burtnick, the former director of payment processing at Full Tilt, was one of 11 people charged last year as part of a government crackdown on illegal Internet gambling.
The former first lady of Germany, Bettina Wulff, filed a lawsuit against Google in a Hamburg court afterGoogle’s autocomplete function would helpfully but perhaps slanderously suggest such search phrases as “Bettina Wulff prostitute” and “Bettina Wulff escort.” Her suit signals the latest effort to force the Internet giant to play the role of online referee, following close behind Google’s decision to block an inflammatory anti-Muslim video from YouTube in certain countries.
The European Commission said that it was prepared to drop its investigation into the fixing of e-book prices by Apple and four European publishers after the companies agreed to let online retailers like Amazon sell e-books at a discount for two years. The commission’s proposed settlement agreement, which is now subject to peer review, would end a nine-month-old antitrust inquiry into Apple and the publishers -- Simon & Schuster, a division of CBS Corp.; HarperCollins, a unit of News Corp.; Hachette Livre, owned by the French publisher Lagardère; and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, of Germany.
An estimated 5.6 million Facebook clients -- about 3.5 percent of its U.S. users -- are children who the company says are banned from the site. Facebook and many other web sites bar people under age 13 because the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires web sites to give special treatment to children 12 or younger.
The Federal Trade Commission intends to decide by the end of the year whether to bring legal action against Google for anticompetitive practices, Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the commission, said in Washington. The F.T.C. has been investigating whether Google has thwarted competition in its search and advertising businesses by changing the way it ranks search results and how it determines search-related advertising rates.
The German government urged the public to temporarily stop using Microsoft Corp's Internet Explorer following discovery of a yet-to-be repaired bug in the Web browser that the software maker said makes PCs vulnerable hacker attacks. It issued the warning as a researcher said he found evidence that suggests the hackers who exploited the flaw were seeking to attack defense contractors.
Frustrated by congressional failure to pass a cybersecurity bill, a top lawmaker is sending letters to the chief executives of every Fortune 500 company, asking them to describe their company's handling of computer security. Companies won't be required legally to respond to the letters, but it shows how lawmakers continue to press companies to step up cybersecurity measures.
A new report from a cyber security firm has concluded that Eastern European hackers are launching more sophisticated attacks on U.S. businesses than their Asian counterparts, in part because hackers in Russia and nearby countries work in a more nimble, mercenary fashion. The report from Tokyo-based Trend Micro Inc. compares two of the main sources of global computer attacks -- and finds distinct differences, notably that the Eastern European hackers are more often “hired guns’’ trying to steal money, while East Asian hackers tend to be part of larger organizations intent on swiping corporate or government secrets.
European Union regulators are preparing an antitrust complaint over Microsoft Corp.’s failure to comply with a settlement to give users a choice of web browsers, according to two people familiar with the matter. There’s no set timing for the European Commission to send the statement of objections, said the people who asked not to be identified because the complaint isn’t public.
Microsoft and Research In Motion have signed a licensing agreement allowing RIM to incorporate Microsoft's Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT) technology into certain BlackBerry devices. exFAT is a file system that facilitates large files for use in audiovisual media.
About : Legal Services | Doug Isenberg | Cases & Clients | Firm News
Resources : YouTube Channel | Daily News | Blog | Masterclass | Domain Dispute Digest
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.