Tech Law

A former Hewlett-Packard employee facing charges that he stole company secrets from HP has claimed in court papers that HP management tried to obtain trade secrets from rival Dell. Karl Kamb Jr., previously vice president of business development and strategy at HP, was sued by his former employer af...

Social networking site MySpace is suing a high-profile e-mail marketer, claiming that he violated the site's rules and state and federal laws by deluging members with spam. MySpace said Tuesday it had filed a suit alleging that Scott Richter had violated the federal CAN-SPAM Act and California's ant...

Shares of major overseas Internet gambling companies took a heavy hit Monday after news broke that U.S. investigators had launch a fresh probe into Web-based gambling. The U.S. government has reportedly sent subpoenas to as many as 15 investment banks across Europe and the U.S., seeking information ...

For better or worse, 2006 is going to be remembered as the year the U.S. court system should have set up a special turnstile for patent cases; litigation in this usually less-than-sexy body of law seemed to continually challenge once-established points of law. The result? Major case law was establis...

A Colorado-based private investigator has become the first person convicted in the Hewlett-Packard boardroom leak and spying scandal. Bryan Wagner, 29, pled guilty to identity theft and conspiracy charges in San Jose federal court, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California f...

Three months after being sued by Transmeta for patent infringement, Intel fired back at the smaller chipmaker this week, filing a countersuit that claims Transmeta is using up to seven of Intel's patented technologies without permission. Transmeta sued Intel in October, filing an action in U.S. Dist...

In the latest development in the Hewlett-Packard boardroom spying scandal, U.S. Attorney Kevin V. Ryan on Wednesday filed criminal charges in San Jose, Calif., federal court against a private investigator accused of illegally accessing a reporter's private phone records. Bryan Wagner was charged wit...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday handed down a decision that affects the value of licenses for patents. In particular, the decision was a repudiation of an established doctrine set forth by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which held that a patent licensee in good standing cannot generally ...

One of the last cases to go before the Supreme Court, KSR v. Teleflex, was also one of the most significant, at least to patent attorneys, as the basic standards used to grant a patent are now under review. It was a fitting end to 2006, during which a number of high profile patent disputes made thei...

An online movie distributor on Friday filed suit against Apple, Google and Napster for alleged patent infringement. The plaintiff, Intertainer, claims the companies are treading on its intellectual property by infringing on a patented method for distributing digital entertainment over the Internet.

A U.S. foundation that helps companies commercialize technology has filed a patent lawsuit against some of the largest wireless device makers in the world, claiming they are using infringing Bluetooth microprocessors made by a UK firm. The suit filed by the Seattle-based Washington Research Foundati...

Nortel Networks will pay US$2.45 billion to settle shareholder lawsuits stemming from accounting fraud at the telecom gear maker between 2000 and 2005; U.S. judges gave the settlement their final blessing on Tuesday. Though Canadian courts have yet to clear the settlement of suits brought there, the...

A law firm has filed a class action suit against Nintendo on behalf of owners of the new Wii gaming console for selling remotes with inadequate wrist straps. San Francisco-based Green Welling filed the lawsuit against Nintendo of America in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washing...

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted Thursday to make it easier and faster for telephone companies to enter markets with television services, clearing the way for a showdown with cable companies for the right to deliver bundles of products into consumers' homes. By a 3-2 margin, the FCC...

What is shaping up to be a landmark technology patent lawsuit, KSR v. Teleflex, is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court right now. At its most basic, the decision could redefine the standard of "obviousness" that is used when deciding whether a patent should be granted for a particular invention or...