Legal - SlashGear

‘legal’ Stories

Pantech next to pay Microsoft over Android patents

Rue Liu, Jan 16th 2012 Discuss [6]

Microsoft has successfully sought royalty payments from a number of Android device makers and the next company that will likely pay up is Pantech, South Korea's third largest handset manufacturer. According to Yonhap News, Pantech is currently in talks with Microsoft regarding the patent usage in its Android smartphones but the details have not been finalized yet. Read The Full Story

Wikipedia joining Wednesday’s anti-SOPA blackout

Rue Liu, Jan 16th 2012 Discuss [5]

Wikipedia has decided to join the protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act by shutting down its English site for 24 hours on Wednesday, January 18. It will be joining companies like Reddit, which had announced last week that it would go offline for 12 hours on Wednesday. Both sites will temporarily shutdown and display only a message urging against the SOPA and PIPA legislation. Read The Full Story

Apple loses Motorola patent strike in preliminary ruling

Chris Davies, Jan 14th 2012 Discuss [5]

Apple's patent violation claims against Motorola Mobility have been rejected in a preliminary ruling, with the US ITC suggesting that none of the infringements alleged by the Cupertino company hold water. Although still relatively early in the process - with a final decision yet to be settled upon by the US International Trade Commission - the preliminary ITC ruling [pdf link] indicates that Motorola hasn't overstepped the mark with regards to three patented technologies Apple claims have been infringed by the DROID line of devices. Read The Full Story

Microsoft goads Google over Android patent deals

Chris Davies, Jan 12th 2012 Discuss [46]

Microsoft isn't content to pick up a few dollars on each and every Android handset sold by Samsung, HTC and now LG; it wants Google to eat its words about "dubious" patents being a "tax" on innovation. Shortly after announcing its patent licensing deal with LG earlier today, some of Microsoft's senior execs took to Twitter to needle Google about the so called "patents-as-weapons meme." Read The Full Story

LG signs patent deal: Microsoft collecting fees from 70% of Android OEMs

Chris Davies, Jan 12th 2012 Discuss [2]

LG has become the latest Android device manufacturer to ink a deal with Microsoft of patent licensing, as the software giant continues to leverage its IP portfolio to squeeze cash out of those using Google's platform. The agreement covers all of LG's tablets, phones and "other consumer devices" which run either Android or Chrome OS. LG is the eleventh Android and/or Chrome OS device manufacturer to concede to Microsoft's licensing terms, something the company is quick to crow about. Read The Full Story

Anonymous joins anti-SOPA blackout as Wikipedia mulls support

Chris Davies, Jan 12th 2012 Discuss [15]

Loosely-gathered hack collective Anonymous has announced it too will be joining reddit's anti-SOPA blackout on January 18, with Wikipedia apparently considering to participate in the online protest as well. "On Jan 18th you will see no tweets from this account between 8a and 8p EST in support of #SOPAblackout!" the group's AnonymousIRC account tweeted, referring to the user-curated site's decision to go offline to raise awareness of the pending act. Meanwhile, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said he was "all in favor" of the blackout, and that it would be great if [Wikipedia] could act quickly to coordinate with Reddit." Read The Full Story

Kodak sues Apple, HTC over digital imaging patents

Rue Liu, Jan 10th 2012 Discuss [1]

Kodak has announced that it's suing Apple and HTC for infringing on four of its digital imaging patents. It also claims HTC to be infringing on a fifth image preview patent, which is already at the center of an ongoing case that Kodak has lodged against Apple and RIM. This latest suit was filed today with the US International Trade Commission and in a New York district court. Read The Full Story

Reddit anti-SOPA blackout on January 18

Chris Davies, Jan 10th 2012 Discuss [4]

Reddit has announced that it will be staging a twelve hour blackout in protest of SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, with visitors to the crowd-curated site on January 18 presented with a call to arms against the proposed legislation. From 8am to 8pm EST next wednesday, Reddit will be showing a message pointing out how the site could be affected should SOPA be passed into law, along with links to resources and possible ways to take action. Read The Full Story

Apple faces $1.88m Chinese illegal ebook lawsuit

Chris Davies, Jan 8th 2012 Discuss [5]

Apple faces a $1.88m lawsuit over purportedly illegal ebook downloads for its iOS devices, with nine well-known Chinese writers filing a case in Beijing over unofficial copies of their works uploaded to Apple's store. The 11.91 million yuan suit describes the situation as "total theft", the People's Daily reports, with the authors' ire raised by Apple's 30-percent cut on paid downloads that means the Cupertino firm is actually profiting from the unofficial versions. Read The Full Story

NASA says no indication of Lovell having right to sell famed Apollo 13 checklist

Shane McGlaun, Jan 6th 2012 Discuss [13]

About a month ago in early December, I mentioned that Apollo 13 mission commander James Lovell had offered the checklist that he used to calculate required figures to return the stricken Apollo 13 spacecraft and crew to earth after an explosion. That checklist was offered up for auction via Heritage Auctions and ultimately the checklist brought $388,000. Read The Full Story

Microsoft sues retailer Comet over fake Windows CDs [Updated]

Chris Davies, Jan 4th 2012 Discuss [4]

Microsoft has sued UK big-box retailer Comet over allegedly producing and distributing fake Windows recovery CDs, claiming the store manufactured over 94,000 sets of discs that it passed off as legitimate to customers. The CDs - providing recovery and reinstallation tools for Windows XP and Vista - were sold to "unsuspecting" PC and laptop buyers in the company's stores, Microsoft says. Read The Full Story

Sony and Nintendo drop SOPA support amid Anonymous threats

Chris Davies, Jan 3rd 2012 Discuss [15]

Sony and Nintendo have dropped support for the controversial SOPA bill, backtracking on what has been accused as a pro-censorship push by legislators amid threats of internet attack from groups like Anonymous. Both companies are now absent from the official list of supporters [pdf link] of the Stop Online Piracy Act, along with games publisher Electronic Arts, though it’s unclear how much of the decision – by Sony Computer Entertainment, at least – was swayed by Anonymous’ threats to target first the PlayStation Network and then individual executives at the firm.