Tech Law

In a move that could lead to a dramatic drop in online cigarette sales, Philip Morris said it reached an agreement with 37 state attorneys general to limit the availability of online tobacco products by shutting off distributors believed to have illegally sold the products in the past. The agreement...

Since the revelation last week that the Justice Department has subpoenaed Google for search term data, Internet users have been awakened to its profound ramifications. At some date in the future, many fear, they may be confronted with questions by the government or from law enforcement agencies abo...

Microsoft received both good and bad news on the antitrust front. The European Commission has agreed to give the software maker extra time to answer criticisms that it has not opened up its Windows source code as required before facing stiff daily fines. On the other hand, the Department of Justice ...

For the second time in less than a year, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal by Research In Motion, which was hoping to overturn a lower court ruling that could lead to the shutdown of its BlackBerry mobile e-mail service in the U.S. The failure to win a reprieve from the high court...

The accounting scandal that rocked the Japanese stock market last week escalated Monday with the arrests of the high-profile CEO and other executives of Internet company Livedoor. Prosecutors charged Takafumi Horie, the 33-year-old founder of the company, and his colleagues with violating securities...

Nearly nine out of 10 businesses and other organizations faced some type of computer security incident, a fifth of them were attacked 20 times or more and some US$67 billion was lost as a result of the incursions, according to the 2005 FBI Computer Crime survey. The report, released Thursday by the ...

The offices of Japanese Web services firm Livedoor Co. were raided by investigators Monday night, sending the company's shares into a nosedive and prompting a reassuring message from company leadership, while potentially casting a negative new light on Internet companies elsewhere. Livedoor issued a...

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched a formal investigation into how tech giant IBM reported earnings and stock compensation expenses in a quarterly report nearly a year ago. The SEC had launched an informal inquiry in June of 2005, which IBM said it had been cooperating with. O...

Computer security software firm McAfee has agreed to pay a US$50 million fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in order to settle charges that it pumped up revenue and earnings during the dot-com craze. The fine will help McAfee settle charges that it exaggerated both sales and earnin...

Google is the target of yet another lawsuit. The search giant has been charged with patent infringement allegations related to Google Talk, its Instant Message and Internet phone feature. Rates Technology Inc. (RTI) filed suit against Google in New York federal court in October. The company alleges ...

A new teleommunications reform bill which would create a market-oriented regulatory system -- treating Internet telephony the same as conventional phone service -- is moving through Congress, experts tell the E-Commerce Times. The bill is sponsored by Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). According to a stat...

Microsoft and Google have agreed to end a bitter five-month legal feud over Google's hiring of a former Microsoft executive. The two companies did not detail the terms of the settlement, which ends two separate suits. However, it is widely believed that Kai-Fu Lee, who had overseen Microsoft sales e...

Citing free speech issues, a federal judge has blocked a California law outlawing sales of violent video games to minors that was scheduled to go into effect next week. The ruling hands the gaming industry a victory that may be short-lived, however, as similar legislation looms. The court order, wh...

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott yesterday bolstered his pending November lawsuit against Sony BMG Music Entertainment, adding a number of new allegations that reflect harm to consumers who purchased certain CDs. The original suit alleged the company surreptitiously installed spyware using so-call...

Suggesting the patents at the heart of an adverse court ruling that could force it to shut down or alter its BlackBerry e-mail service are without merit, Research In Motion said it would continue to battle NTP in the courts and at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The defiant tone sounded by RIM...