Tech Law

Qualcomm said Monday it had asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to investigate what the wireless phone and technology maker says is widespread patent infringement by rival Nokia. The move is just the latest legal maneuver between the two wireless rivals, which are locked in a battle over p...

Regulators from the New York Stock Exchange are investigating whether short selling helped fuel the decline of Vonage stock in the wake of the Internet calling company's disappointing initial public offering. The NYSE reportedly sent letters of inquiry to investment bankers and others in an attempt ...

As lawmakers gear up to debate the notion of passing legislation to ensure so-called net neutrality, an alternative approach to create a two-tiered Internet -- something many Web companies say will put them at a disadvantage -- appears to be gaining momentum. The House of Representatives was expecte...

Is momentum for worldwide regulation of the Internet mounting? Unfortunately, the answer to that horrid question is "yes." Last November, a worldwide political pact calling for "increased international involvement" in the creation of Internet governance policies -- and inter-government cooperation ...

For the second time in a month, Apple Computer has filed a lawsuit accusing Singapore-based computer and consumer device maker Creative Technology of infringing on its patents, including those behind the market-dominant iPod portable music player. The suit from Apple comes after Creative, which is t...

With its initial public offering stumbling badly out of the gate, VoIP provider Vonage has been hit with a suit from a law firm representing shareholders, many of whom were customers who bought shares at a price higher than the stock is now trading. The law firm of Motley Rice LLC said Friday it fil...

Microsoft could soon face another private antitrust suit after talks with Adobe broke down over the level of support Microsoft would include for portable document format (PDF) in its upcoming Office 2007 suite. Reports say Microsoft expects Adobe to file suit, most likely in Europe, where regulators...

To many telecommunications customers, the Universal Service Fund, or USF, is one of several hidden costs of making long-distance phone calls. It is one of a handful of government fees that appear on each month's phone bill. Currently, customers pay a monthly USF charge based on how much they spend ...

Europe's highest court ruled Tuesday that an agreement calling for wholesale transfer of personal data on airline passengers to the United States is illegal, a ruling that emphasizes the shifting legal and moral framework for storing and sharing personal information. The European Court of Justice, w...

Europe's longest-running show moved to the Court of First Instance in Brussels last month. The Court heard Microsoft's appeal of the EC's antitrust judgment against it. The questioning from judges raised serious doubts about the legitimacy of Europe's order to artificially separate out the Explore...

Hollywood's movie studios and major television networks filed a lawsuit this week claiming copyright violations from Cablevision's planned remote-storage digital video recorder service, demanding an injunction to ban the service. Cablevision's plans, announced in March, are to store content aired on...

The U.S. Treasury said Thursday it will stop collecting a 108-year-old telecommunications tax assessed to support the brief Spanish-American War and offer tax refunds for the past three years. The 3 percent federal excise tax applied to all long-distance calls since 1898, when it was put in place at...

A Congressional committee has backed a plan that would bar major telcos and cable companies from charging Web services companies to accept their traffic, giving the so-called Net neutrality campaign a welcome boost. The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted 20-13 to recommend a ver...

The two most prominent leaders of Enron, the energy company whose dramatic rise and fall become emblematic for one of the darkest chapters in U.S. corporate history, face life in prison after a jury issued numerous guilty verdicts Thursday. Enron Chairman and founder Ken Lay was found guilty on all ...

The company that makes the Morpheus peer-to-peer software has filed a $4 billion suit against eBay and its Skype online phone calling unit, saying others are benefiting from technology that belongs to it. StreamCast Network filed a suit that names eBay as one of 21 defendants, including the founder...