Tech Law

Continuing its legal war against piracy of its popular software titles, Microsoft said it filed 10 more lawsuits against companies accused of selling illegal copies of its products, with some of the software giant's own partners and re-sellers named in the suits. Seven lawsuits filed against nine in...

Mobile software maker Visto Corp. has filed suit against Microsoft, claiming that the push e-mail built into the new version of its Windows Mobile software violates patents the firm has held for nearly a decade. Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Visto is seeking a permanent injunction against Microsoft t...

Research by the consultancy A.T. Kearney's telecom practice indicates that the Federal Communications Commission's proposal for "a la carte" pricing of cable TV programming may have an adverse impact on the development of Internet TV and Internet Telephony. Sweeping changes in telecom regulation cou...

Two domain name registration trade groups are suing the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and VeriSign, alleging that a recently reached settlement between the two parties violate anti-trust laws. The legal action is just the latest example of dissent within the domain regi...

Research in Motion is facing added pressure to strike a new settlement agreement to end a patent infringement lawsuit that could lead to the suspension of the firm's popular BlackBerry mobile e-mail service in the United States. A judge yesterday refused to enforce an earlier agreement between RIM a...

A survey of certified fraud examiners says that the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) law -- passed in the wake of scandals at technology companies like MCI/Worldcom -- is an effective tool in fraud identification, though few believe it is actually changing the culture of business. The survey, conducted by Overs...

Disputes over the regulation of online real estate businesses that have surfaced in the last few years have caused the courts to recognize the importance of the Internet to the real estate industry. A recent case challenged the use of computer technology in relation to the method by which brokers pr...

Continuing its settlement spree, Microsoft put to rest another anti-trust lawsuit by striking a US$30 million deal with in South Korean Web portal owner Daum Communications. The portal and ISP had filed a complaint in 2001 with South Korea's Fair Trade Commission alleging that Microsoft had violated...

Despite favorable rulings from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in its long patent battle with NTP, BlackBerry handheld maker Research In Motion (RIM) will not be able to wait on further decisions from the Office, as a federal court moves forward on its settlement dispute with NTP. Embroiled in ...

Grokster, the peer-to-peer network that was heir apparent to the original Napster, has gone the way of its infamous predecessor, agreeing to shut down the distribution of its software and pay US$50 million to settle copyright infringement claims brought by record and movie studios. The surprising de...

Jeanson Ancheta, 20, installed pop-up adware on the commandeered computers and rented his "botnet" -- or network of computers compromised by Trojan horses that allow remote control of the infected machine -- to other hackers for profit, prosecutors say. Ancheta is charged with 17 federal counts incl...

A fruitless prosecution against a teenager in English court highlights the inadequacy of that nation's cyberlaws to cope with denial of service attacks. The youth was accused of sending 5 million e-mails to a former employer, thereby shutting down the company's servers. The case did not fail because...

Lawmakers have revived legislation that could provide a huge boost to efforts by music and movie studios to curb online piracy by letting federal agencies write rules that outlaw tactics used to copy programs when they are broadcast. Two bills on Capitol Hill dealing with so-called broadcast flags a...

Government -- and industry -- executives are moving forward with plans to increase the use of authentication technologies, and prevent fraud online. The Direct Marketing Association, based in Chicago, two weeks ago issued a set of rules for its members, and the federal government, a few days earlier...

A group of communications technology firms has filed complaints with the European Commission (EC), asking that agency to investigate whether Qualcomm engaged in anti-competitive practices in the licensing of its technology for so-called 3G mobile networks and handsets. The companies that filed compl...