Tech Law

The Federal Communications Commission approved a proposal from the Dish Network that would allow it to convert spectrum currently allocated for satellite service into airwaves that could support a land-based wireless network. Dish did not lay out specific plans for its next step with the spectrum, s...

The fact that the Internet has no boundaries of time or geography has changed the way businesses operate forever. One feature of the Internet is that it has allowed creative businesses to avoid, or at least minimize their tax liabilities. In particular, Google's business success means that it has to...

The Federal Trade Commission leaves no doubt about its view of the mobile app industry's efforts to protect children online with its latest report: "Mobile Apps for Kids -- Disclosures Still Not Making the Grade." The report reveals the results of a follow-up survey to a February report that found d...

Judge Lucy Koh on Thursday heard another round of quibbling between Apple and Samsung lawyers. Calling for some sort of "global peace," she reportedly asked both sides if there was any endpoint coming in their slugfest over patent issues. Koh presided earlier this year over the high-profile, often b...

A U.S. district judge has given preliminary approval to Facebook's attempt to settle a class action lawsuit alleging the company violated members' privacy rights by using their images in Facebook's Sponsored Stories ad format. The settlement would give $10 each to those who objected to their images ...

Nokia has filed lawsuits against Research In Motion in the U.S., the UK and Canada seeking to enforce an arbitration ruling it won in Sweden. The dispute began when Nokia accused RIM of breaching a cross-licensing agreement that allowed RIM to use Nokia's standard-essential cellular patents. RIM had...

There's apparently little inclination to wait for the legal system to establish who wronged whom with respect to the allegations that Autonomy committed accounting sleight of hand prior to being acquired by HP. Both HP and the erstwhile head of Autonomy are making their claims and counterclaims publ...

A Microsoft lawsuit against Motorola Mobility went to trial on Tuesday in Judge James Robart's U.S. District Court of Western Washington's courtroom. The case is focused on allegations made two years ago by Microsoft that Motorola Mobility demanded unreasonable royalty rates for its patented wireles...

Do you really believe your Web-based email is private? Let's start with Terms of Service or Privacy Policies, which few people actually read. In 1986, the Stored Communications Act was initially designed to protect telephone records, not Internet activity. There was not much Web activity then, since...

AT&T on Wednesday announced that it will boost capital spending by as much as 16 percent to $22 billion a year for the next three years to upgrade its wireless and wireline networks. The increase is necessary to compete with Verizon Communications, which is currently upgrading its own network. T...

AT&T on Wednesday announced that it will boost capital spending by as much as 16 percent to $22 billion a year for the next three years to upgrade its wireless and wireline networks. The increase is necessary to compete with Verizon Communications, which is currently upgrading its own network. T...

A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed an Apple lawsuit alleging that Motorola Mobility abused its standard-essential patents by charging rates that exceeded FRAND terms. Apple's position was that 2.25 percent for each iPhone sold -- the rate Motorola Mobility apparently wanted to charge -- was e...

Google and Rosetta Stone reached a settlement in a trademark infringement case this week, ending a three year legal battle with a promise to work together to fight the misuse of trade names. In a 2009 lawsuit, Rosetta Stone claimed that Google allowed rival language software companies to use Rosetta...

U.S. Federal Trade Commission staff have recommended that Google should be sued for antitrust violations, and a majority of the agency's five commissioners appear inclined to do so, according to a report citing anonymous sources. The staff recommendations were made last month; however, they are not ...

The Windows 8 Live Tiles user interface already is the subject of a lawsuit, less than a week after Microsoft officially launched the OS. SurfCast, a small company that has no products of its own, filed suit in the Federal District Court of Maine alleging that Microsoft is infringing one of its pate...