Piracy was on the rise in 2015. The movies and TV shows that were most illicitly downloaded this year aren’t too much of a surprise — they’re some of the most popular genre titles among the demographic that stereotypically can be found on torrent sites. But the number of downloads was up — way up.
A New York state appeals court threw out Facebook Inc.'s unusual malicious prosecution lawsuit against DLA Piper and two other law firms that have represented a fugitive who claimed a 50 percent stake in the social media company. Reversing a lower court ruling, the Appellate Division in Manhattan rejected "conclusory" allegations by Facebook and its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, that the firms knew or should have known that their client Paul Ceglia's case was fraudulent and based on a forged contract.
Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker frontman David Lowery, retaining the law firm of Michelman & Robinson, LLP, has filed a class action lawsuit seeking at least $150 million in damages against Spotify, alleging it knowingly, willingly, and unlawfully reproduces and distributes copyrighted compositions without obtaining mechanical licenses. The lawsuit comes amidst ongoing settlement negotiations between Spotify and the National Music Publishers Assn. over the alleged use of allowing users to play music that hasn’t been properly licensed, and also without making mechanical royalty payments to music publishers and songwriters.
Twitter has had something of a rocky history with dealing with abuse and harassment on its platform, but recently the company has been making some moves to mitigate that. Its latest action comes today in the form of an update to the official Twitter rules, laying out clearer language to emphasize the company “will not tolerate behavior intended to harass, intimidate, or use fear to silence another user’s voice.”
Facebook Inc. Chairman Mark Zuckerberg made a personal appeal in one of India’s leading newspapers for the country to allow a free Internet service that has stirred controversy and invited questions from regulators. The backlash in India centers on net neutrality, the principle that all Internet websites should be equally accessible.
A U.S. appeals court cleared Cisco Systems Inc. of infringing another company's wifi technology, reversing a near $64-million judgment against the networking equipment maker in the long-running patent dispute. After eight years of litigation that also included a trip to the U.S. Supreme Court, the decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Cisco was not liable for directly infringing or inducing others to infringe a patent held by Commil USA LLC on a way to help spread wireless signals over a large area, where multiple access points are needed.
Security bloggers and researchers claim to have uncovered a publicly available database exposing the personal information of 191 million voters on the Internet. The information contains voters’ names, home addresses, voter IDs, phone numbers and date of birth, as well as political affiliations and a detailed voting history since 2000.
Turkish banks reported sporadic disruption to credit card transactions as hackers stepped up a two-week barrage of cyberattacks, believed to be the worst the country has seen. Local media have suggested that the bombardment of public and financial websites could be coming from Russia, after a sharp worsening of tensions between Moscow and Ankara, or staged by hacking group Anonymous.
In response to the Islamic State’s success in grooming jihadists over the Internet, some legal scholars are asking whether it is time to reconsider the constitutional line on freedom of speech. A few legal scholars are questioning what does clear and present danger mean when terrorists are provoking violence over the Internet? Should not the government have a way, they ask, to block messages that facilitate terrorist acts?
The number of attacks by cybercriminals against businesses doubled in 2015, research by Kaspersky Lab has revealed. The research found that, in 2015, some 58% of corporate PCs were hit with at least one attempted malware infection, which represents an increase of three percentage points on 2014.
China's parliament passed a controversial new anti-terrorism law that requires technology firms to hand over sensitive information such as encryption keys to the government and allows the military to venture overseas on counter-terror operations. Chinese officials say their country faces a growing threat from militants and separatists, especially in its unruly Western region of Xinjiang, where hundreds have died in violence in the past few years.
While plenty of cyberattacks are still conducted by the stereotypical "hacker in a basement," state-sponsored hacking is also on the rise -- prompting Yahoo to become the latest tech company to offer warnings of such attacks. In a blog post, chief information security officer Bob Lord said Yahoo will offer specific security suggestions to users who appear to be the targets of state-sponsored attacks.
Just over a week after Samsung paid Apple more than $548 million for infringing the patents and designs of the iPhone, Apple has asked a U.S. court to force its biggest smartphone rival to cough up even more. In court papers, Apple Inc. said Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. owes nearly $180 million in supplemental damages and interest.
YouTube said T-Mobile US Inc. is interfering with its video traffic, raising a new issue as federal regulators examine the wireless carrier’s streaming-video strategy. T-Mobile recently began offering a program that delivers video at lower quality in exchange for waiving related data fees. YouTube and its allies say T-Mobile also is lowering the quality of video that isn’t part of the program, including YouTube clips.
Technology companies have nothing to fear from China's new anti-terrorism law which aims to prevent and probe terror activities and does not affect their copyright, China's Foreign Ministry said, rebuffing U.S. criticism as unwarranted. The draft anti-terrorism law has caused concern in Western capitals as it could require technology firms to install "back doors" in products or to hand over sensitive information such as encryption keys to the government.
A New Zealand judge ruled that Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom is eligible to be extradited to the United States to face multiple charges that include copyright infringement and money laundering. Lawyers for the German-born entrepreneur, 39, who now lives in Auckland, New Zealand, said an appeal has been filed.
A U.S. trade judge said Nvidia Corp. infringed Samsung Electronics Co. patents, offering another win for the Korean gear-maker in a running legal battle between the electronics companies. The findings against chip-maker Nvidia by a judge at the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington are subject to review by the full agency, which can block products from entering U.S. markets.
Apple has won a complete victory in a lawsuit that claimed the company wiretaps Android users by intercepting, and then failing to deliver, texts sent from iPhones to Android phones. A federal judge ruled to dismiss the case with a single-sentence order.
Facebook’s plan to provide limited Internet services for free in India has run into a roadblock, with the country’s top Internet regulatory body requesting its local partner to temporarily suspend the program. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) asked Reliance Communications to cease providing Facebook’s Free Basics program to its customers until further notice, the Times of India reported.
Hyatt Hotels announced it has discovered malware on computers used for payment processing at its hotels. The company did not specify when the attack occurred, but said an investigation is ongoing.
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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.