Tech Law

EU regulators are seeking feedback from Google's rivals and other third parties on the company's latest attempt to settle antitrust allegations against it in Europe. If the company can come to a settlement, it will avoid the expense of a messy trial as well as a possible $5 billion fine. To settle t...

Imagine preparing for a major test based on two assigned essay questions. You read and analyze both, perhaps hire a tutor for a few thousand dollars, pay a large exam fee, and confidently take the test. The instructor says that your answers were outstanding, but instead of passing the test, you fail...

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday unanimously voted to propose new rules that would allow entrepreneurs to sell securities through crowdfunding portals such as Kickstarter. The new rules, which are part of Title III of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, are now up for comment...

Aereo, the upstart TV streaming company that's giving the broadcasting industry dyspepsia, has won yet another court case against broadcasters. Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton of the U.S. District Court for the district of Massachusetts ruled this week denying the motion of Hearst Stations, doing business...

The Obama administration has upheld a ban won by Apple earlier this year that requires Samsung Electronics to stop importing certain smartphones and tablets into the U.S. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman made the announcement on Tuesday morning. "After carefully weighing policy consideration...

U.S. law enforcement officials have shut down Silk Road, the online marketplace that allegedly facilitated the anonymous sale of illegal drugs as well as illicit services such as murder for hire. FBI officials also on Tuesday arrested the site's alleged founder, 29-year-old Ross Ulbricht, at a publi...

No one expects a free lunch. So when people use a free webmail service, many assume they will be bombarded with advertising. Why? Obviously, because the webmail services make money by commercializing the content of the webmail! Actually when you sign up for free webmail, and click "I Accept," or som...

After three years of wrangling with Google over its alleged anticompetitive business practices, the EU has suggested there may be some light at the end of the tunnel. "We have reached a key moment in this case," EC Vice President Joaquin Almunia, who is responsible for competition policy, said at a ...

In AMC's Breaking Bad, high school chemistry teacher Walter White, although starting out as a protagonist, descends into depravity and ruin. Clearly, not all high school chemistry teachers are Walter Whites. Similarly, not all scientists, innovators and patent owners are evil. Yet Congress, at the u...

Google may have breached federal and California wiretapping laws by machine-scanning Gmail messages in order to deliver targeted advertising, U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh ruled on Thursday. As a result of the ruling, a class-action suit against Google over the issue can now proceed. The suit, whi...

LinkedIn has responded to claims in a class action lawsuit filed against it, maintaining that it does not break into users' email accounts and insisting that it asks for permission before using information from anyone's email accounts. Four LinkedIn users filed the suit, claiming it had appropriated...

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration this week petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to require wireless carriers to unlock mobile phones, tablets and other devices upon request of the customer. This rule change would benefit the public in several ways, argued th...

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Facebook's latest overhaul of its privacy policies. "We're monitoring compliance" with an FTC order issued previously against Facebook, said FTC spokesperson Peter Kaplan. Part of that "involves interacting with Facebook," Kaplan added. That order was pa...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg did not pull any punches Wednesday in describing the U.S. government's communications approach to revelations that the National Security Agency has been accessing digital conversations around the world -- and using tech companies such as Facebook in the process. "Frankly...

The United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Court this week heard oral arguments in Verizon's battle with the Federal Communications Commission over Net neutrality. Verizon, which has always opposed Net neutrality, raises three questions in its filing: Whether the FCC's open Internet Order...