Tech Law

Research In Motion has been hit with a lawsuit alleging trademark infringement of the name "BBX." This latest thorn in the company's side follows a mortifying days-long global service outage and lackluster performance of its PlayBook tablet, to name just two recent setbacks. BBX is the operating sys...

When consumers in California visit the Dunkin' Donuts website hoping to order a bag of their favorite java, they are met with the following message: "Important Notice: We are temporarily suspending the shipment of orders to California while we work to comply with Proposition 65 ... ." Bloggers, comm...

Novell Gets to Have Its Say

The Novell v. Microsoft antitrust lawsuit entered its trial phase in the Utah U.S. District Court this week, with jury selection taking place on Monday. The case, which Novell originally filed in 2004, has traveled a long and winding road. Novell won the right to go forward with the trial in May 201...

Apple did not violate four HTC patents, an International Trade Commission judge has ruled. HTC filed a complaint with the commission in May 2010, alleging Apple infringed on several mobile patent technologies, including those for power management of mobile devices and phone dialing. It asked the ITC...

Wireless customers just caught a big break on those surprising overage fees. Wireless industry trade group CTIA, the FCC and Consumers Union have entered an agreement that requires wireless providers to let their customers know when they're about to incur extra fees. The "Wireless Consumer Usage Not...

Google appears to be working on an online music store that will compete with the established offerings of Apple and Amazon. How competitive this online store will be is unclear, at least based on what is currently reported about its status. Google reportedly has held talks with Universal Music Group...

TECHNOLOGY LAW CORNER

Shore Up Your Privacy Policy Before Disaster Strikes

Personally Identifiable Information may include many details such as name, address, email address, phone numbers, social security numbers, credit card numbers and the like. From a technology standpoint, every visitor to every website provides some PII about who they are and where they came from. Whe...

TECHNOLOGY LAW CORNER

Are Domain Names 'Personal Property'?

In a recent decision handed down by the Ontario Court of Appeal, the issue centered on whether domain names could be considered "personal property." The view from most international jurisprudence and academic commentary, including the United States, appears to be that domain names are a new type of ...

Samsung plans to file separate motions in Paris and Milan for preliminary injunctions against the sale of Apple's iPhone 4S in France and Italy. This move comes one day after Apple unveiled the new model in the United States. Samsung's requests will cite two patent infringements related to wireless ...

Samsung seems to be stuck in its patent disputes with Apple and thus may choose to cancel the Australian release of its Galaxy Tab 10.1. All depends on whether it wins court approval within the next two weeks to proceed with sales, according to press reports. Samsung is one of Apple's few competit...

Media reform group Free Press has filed a lawsuit against the FCC following the official publication and impending implementation of the commission's Net neutrality rules. Network neutrality is the principle that there should be no restrictions imposed by governments or Internet service providers on...

Microsoft and Samsung have signed an agreement to cross-license their patent portfolios, providing broad coverage for each company's products. Microsoft will receive royalties for Samsung's Android-powered mobile phones, and the companies have agreed to focus on further development and marketing of ...

TECHNOLOGY LAW CORNER

Defamatory Blog Postings: Anonymity and the Law

Is there a reasonable expectation of anonymity when defamatory content is posted on the Internet? Is there a difference if the content posted is in the context of political speech? The answer to these questions is becoming increasingly important as cases surrounding defamatory content are becoming m...

OnStar recently raised hackles in the privacy community with revisions to its privacy policy. Now, members of Congress have taken up the issue. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the new policy on the grounds that it may be an unfair or deceptive trad...

Nearly a year after the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules were approved, the controversial measures were published Friday and are set to go into effect Nov. 20. The heavily debated measures were approved in December of 2010. The rules are intended to protect consumers by ...

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