Tech Law

Qwest founder and billionaire Phil Anschutz testified on behalf of former company CEO Joe Nacchio Thursday, telling jurors that around the time he was accused of selling stock, a distraught Nacchio was considering resigning because of issues within his family. Nacchio told Anschutz on more than one ...

Two of the retail industry's largest trade associations have joined forces with the FBI to develop a network dedicated to fighting organized retail crime. The Law Enforcement Retail Partnership Network, known as LERPnet and due to launch on April 9, is a secure, national database that will allow ret...

Take-Two Interactive Software on Wednesday said regulators have begun a formal probe of its options dating practices, a move that suggests a recent change of leadership at the company may not have put an end to the options questions. The New York-based company disclosed the formal probe by the Secur...

The FBI is reportedly investigating the legal issues associated with virtual casinos in Linden Lab's "Second Life" online world. In "Second Life," millions of registered users can create their own "avatars," or personas, in an online world with its own economy. The virtual world also has its own cur...

A lawsuit brought against Microsoft this week claims the software giant knowingly placed "Windows Vista Capable" labels on a large number of PCs that can run the new operating system only in its most basic form. A consumer who claims to be a victim of "bait-and-switch" sales tactics by Microsoft fil...

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has established rules that prohibit telephone and mobile phone carriers from releasing customer records over the phone without a password. In part, the new privacy rules are designed to protect against pretexting, the practice of impersonating a phone custo...

The WTO said the U.S. ban on Internet gambling is out of line with international trade policy. This ruling gives hope to Web gambling firms that have been battered by U.S. regulatory and law enforcement activity in recent months. The WTO ruled in favor of the Caribbean nations of Antigua and Barbuda...

Dell on Thursday said that an audit into its past bookkeeping practices found errors and evidence of misconduct. Dell said it would seek to push back the filing of its annual report for the fiscal year because the inquiry by its board of directors' audit committee is not complete. "As we move toward...

PC industry leader Hewlett-Packard filed a patent infringement lawsuit Tuesday against up-and-coming rival Acer. HP alleges that its Taiwan-based competitor has violated five patents that HP acquired between 1997 and 2003. The patents deal with technologies for read/write optical drives, notebook's ...

An executive manager and member of the executive board of technology and industrial giant Siemens was ordered to remain in the custody of German law enforcement officials Wednesday after being arrested and charged in connection with an alleged bribery scheme. Johannes Feldmayer had asked to be "temp...

European Union antitrust regulators have given Microsoft more time to prove it is complying with a requirement to fairly license its server software communications protocols. Microsoft now has until April 23 to respond to charges from the European Commission, which has said that Microsoft has yet to...

A 1998 law designed to block children from viewing pornography on the Web was overturned this week by a federal court, setting up a possible showdown between free speech advocates and the U.S government. Judge Lowell Reed of the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia sided with the American Civil Liber...

In a widely expected but potentially devastating development, a federal judge Friday issued a permanent injunction barring VoIP firm Vonage from using technology that a jury last week found was first developed and patented by Verizon Communications. Judge Claude Hilton said he issued the injunction ...

A federal judge has overturned the Child Online Protection Act, or COPA, a 1998 law that was designed to keep children from viewing pornographic materials on the Internet. Although it was signed by President Bill Clinton, it never took effect. In 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a temporary injun...

Microsoft continues to abuse its market position to gain market share, particularly in the business server software space where earlier antitrust penalties were aimed at boosting competition, the European Union's top regulator told the European Parliament Thursday. The market situation is "not accep...