Tech Law

In a closely watched case with potentially far-ranging implications about Internet governance, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that the U.S. can set certain limits on Web gambling sites located in offshore locations. The decision was seen as a partial reversal of last November's ruling agai...

An tech industry organization advocating interoperability has asked a European court to allow it to join the European Commission (EC) in defense of its antitrust decision against Microsoft. The five-member group, made up of IBM, Nokia, Oracle, RealNetworks and Red Hat, goes by the name European Comm...

In sharp contrast to the harmless pranks that will be played on this April Fools' Day, deceptive phishing schemes are no laughing matter. To strike a blow against criminals who prey on Internet users, Microsoft yesterday filed 117 lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washi...

EBay has moved closer to scoring a major victory in a long-running legal case after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a finding that patents the auction giant has been found guilty of violating should be revoked. The Patent Office issued a preliminary finding suggesting that patents previo...

The entertainment industry's aggressive legal campaign against illegal file swappers has dramatically reduced the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks but might also be pushing the development of alternative "privatized" approaches to sharing music and video. The Pew Internet & American Life Proje...

The Canadian government has proposed several copyright amendments that would serve to crack down on file sharing, preventing Internet users from freely swapping music, books and movies online. "This is terrific news," said Canadian Recording Industry Association President Graham Henderson. "Canada i...

In the latest development in an ongoing software soap opera, the European Union today rejected Microsoft's selection of a trustee whose duty would have been to make sure the company complies with EU antitrust laws. "We have officially informed Microsoft that their proposal on the monitoring trustee ...

Time Warner has reached a deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to pay US$300 million in fines to settle a long-simmering investigation into America Online's accounting practices during the height of the dot-com boom. The company said the SEC has formally approved a settlement that ...

Officials at the European Commission (EC) say Microsoft is falling short of its pledge to cooperate fully with sanctions against it meant to boost competition among software makers in Europe, raising the prospect of additional penalties being levied. In addition to paying the equivalent of US$600 mi...

The Federal Trade Commission has barred an operation that offered bogus spyware detection scans. The free scanner "detected" spyware whether it was present on the user's computer or not in an underhanded attempt to peddle its non-working anti-spyware software, according to the government agency. The...

Hoping to put another episode of dot-com era accounting fraud to rest, Homestore said it has finalized a class action lawsuit filed by investors in the e-commerce company over accounting fraud in the wake of the dot-com collapse. The Westlake Village, California-based company said the settlement in ...

Moving quickly to protect the rights of emerging voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) providers, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has fined a North Carolina-based telecommunications carrier for refusing to accept traffic from Vonage. The action from the FCC came less than a month after Von...

State regulation of e-commerce is currently seeking new territory in the online dating industry. Online dating services are a lucrative and rapidly growing industry that continues to draw concerns about the manner in which its members conduct themselves. An increasing number of U.S. states have resp...

TiVo announced today it has been awarded eight new patents in the U.S. and abroad, with five awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that, the company said, cover important aspects of DVD software and hardware design. TiVo also received three grants from the Chinese and Japanese pat...

Britain has the dubious honor of being named the world's largest market for downloading pirated TV, according to Internet monitoring company Envisional. According to the firm, increased bandwidth, technological advances and a growing demand for early access to popular American TV shows is driving th...