States are rewriting their laws to make it more difficult for so-called "patent trolls" to pursue small businesses over questionable patent claims. At issue are patent claims made by companies that don't produce any goods or services, but instead purchase patents and then seek profit from them.
The group representing the U.S. casino industry has dropped its support for legalizing online gambling in the U.S., citing a nasty split among the major casino operators over the issue. The disagreement among casinos has made online gambling "an issue that the association cannot lead on," so it has withdrawn from the fight, American Gaming Association Chief Executive Geoff Freeman said in an interview.
EBay Inc. said that a cyber attack carried out three months ago has compromised customer data, and the company urged 145 million users of its online commerce platform to change their passwords. The company said unknown hackers stole email addresses, encrypted passwords, birth dates, mailing addresses and other information in an attack carried out between late February and early March.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) shelved a patent reform bill that had been a top priority of the tech industry and the Obama administration. Leahy said he is taking the legislation off of his committee’s agenda following weeks of negotiations that failed to produce a compromise with wide support.
A lawsuit filed against Google accuses the tech titan of engaging in widespread fraud by canceling AdSense accounts just before they were due to pay out. The suit relies in part on recent anonymous accusations that Google developed an AdSense fraud scheme in 2009 to prevent publishers from collecting money that Google owed them.
The European Union’s antitrust chief said that he might yet take a tougher stance toward Google in a long-running case that he and the company have been in talks to settle for more than a year. The announcement, by Joaquín Almunia, is a potential blow for Google, which reached a tentative deal with Mr. Almunia in February by agreeing to display rivals’ links more prominently in its search results.
A sophisticated hacking group recently attacked a U.S. public utility and compromised its control system network, but there was no evidence that the utility's operations were affected, according to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS did not identify the utility in a report that was issued this week by the agency's Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team, or ICS-CERT.
California’s attorney general, Kamala D. Harris, wants every site to tell you — in clear language — if and how it is respecting your privacy preferences. The guidelines are intended to help companies comply with a new state privacy law that went into effect on Jan. 1.
The FCC will look into issues raised recently by Netflix and other companies about Internet traffic delivery, chairman Tom Wheeler said at a hearing, as he faced a bipartisan chorus of complaints about his recent net neutrality proposal. Most lawmakers on the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee focused on the FCC’s net neutrality proposal, which would open the door to allowing Internet providers to offer fast-lane service.
Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. blamed each other for blocking progress toward a settlement of their patent disputes in a report to the judge who has presided over their two U.S. trials. While both companies vowed to continue pursuing an accord to end their three-year legal fight over smartphone technology, each said its adversary has taken positions that make out-of-court resolution more difficult, according to a filing in federal court in San Jose, California.
U.S. authorities have opened a new front in their investigation into bitcoin exchanges and other businesses that deal in the online currency, examining possible ties between the firms and the online drug bazaar Silk Road, according to people familiar with the matter. The new focus of the investigation is the latest indication of how the shuttered online drug market has become linked to bitcoin, tainting the currency with associations of shady activity as its advocates stress to regulators its legitimacy.
Italy's competition watchdog is looking into TripAdvisor to see if the influential holiday review website takes appropriate measures to avoid publishing fake opinions. The antitrust authority has also opened an investigation into online booking websites Expedia and Booking.com, saying their agreements with hotels may prevent consumers from getting a better deal.
China summoned the U.S. ambassador after the United States accused five Chinese military officers of hacking into American companies to steal trade secrets, warning Washington it could take further action, the foreign ministry said. The U.S. Ambassador to China, Max Baucus, met with Zheng Zeguang, assistant foreign minister, shortly after the United States charged the five Chinese, accusing them of hacking into American nuclear, metal and solar companies to steal trade secrets.
The federal government would need a warrant from a judge if it wants the cooperation of California officials in searching residents' cellphone and computer records, under a bill making its way through the state legislature. The bill, which passed the state Senate with just one opposing vote, was introduced in the wake of information leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden showing massive internal surveillance of U.S. citizens by the NSA.
Acting on an FBI tipoff, police worldwide have arrested 97 people in 16 countries suspected of developing, distributing or using malicious software called BlackShades that allows criminals to gain surreptitious control of personal computers, European law enforcement officials announced. The malware allows hackers to steal personal information, intercept keystrokes and hijack webcams to make secret recordings of their users.
The Justice Department charged members of the Chinese military with conducting economic cyber-espionage against American companies, marking the first time that the United States has leveled such criminal charges against a foreign country. Industries targeted by the alleged cyberspying ranged from nuclear to steel to solar energy, officials said.
A former iPhone user sued Apple Inc. claiming the company’s messaging system interfered with delivery of texts after she switched to an Android-based smartphone. Apple’s iMessage retains text messages sent from other users of Apple devices and won’t deliver them to her Samsung Electronics Co. phone running on Google Inc.’s Android operating system, Adrienne Moore said in the complaint filed in San Jose, California.
An adult film company has become the biggest filer of copyright-infringement lawsuits in the nation. In the past year, Malibu Media LLC has filed more than 1,300 copyright-infringement lawsuits -- more of these cases than anyone else, accounting for a third of all U.S. copyright litigation during that time, according to the federal-litigation database Pacer -- against people that they accuse of stealing their films on the Internet.
A task force of U.S. state regulators is working on the first bitcoin rule-book, the head of the group said, hoping to protect users of virtual currency from fraud without smothering the fledgling technology. "We may be looking at some type of model definitions, or model laws or regulations, and very likely recommendations to either our federal colleagues or to Congress," David Cotney, Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks, told Reuters on the sidelines of a public hearing into the issue.
Google Inc., Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. are being investigated by an Italian regulator to determine whether the Internet giants mislead people to make purchases in mobile phone apps that are initially free to download. The move by Italy's Antitrust and Competition Authority comes after the European Union earlier this year called on companies to reform their use of the "freemium" model in which apps are free to download, but then later require payments that often get charged to credit cards by default.
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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.