Rambunctious RIM wags given the boot for mid-flight misdemeanors managed to chew through plastic restraints in order to resume their hunt for liquor, court documents have revealed, forcing the pilot into an unscheduled landing. The two execs, George Campbell and Paul Alexander Wilson, have since been fired by the BlackBerry manufacturer, as well as being fined almost $72,000, receiving suspended sentences and being placed on parole for twelve months, CBC reports. Passengers have accused Air Canada of mishandling the situation, however.
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‘legal’ Stories
Drunk RIM execs escaped cuffs on in-flight fight
AT&T, T-Mobile merger lawsuit to be postponed or withdrawn by DOJ
According to the Wall Street Journal, the antitrust lawsuit against AT&T's T-Mobile merger may be either postponed or withdrawn by the Department of Justice sometime next week. DOJ lawyer Joseph Wayland explained that the expedited court proceedings were no longer needed since AT&T had withdrawn its merger application from the FCC. But this isn't necessarily good news for AT&T.
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Motorola scores Apple iPhone/iPad injunction in Germany [Updated]
Motorola Mobility has won a wireless patent case against Apple in Germany this morning, meaning – unless Apple can secure a stay until an appeal can be heard – the iPhone and iPad could be blocked from sale in the country. A Germany court ruled that Apple’s cellularly-enabled devices infringe European Patent 1010336, detailing a “method for performing a countdown function during a mobile-originated transfer for a packet radio system” FOSS Patents reports, and deemed an essential component of the GPRS data standard. Motorola will have to cough up a €100m bond if it wants to chase a sales injunction, however.
Australian court denies Apple appeal, Samsung Galaxy Tab sales ban lifted
Samsung, you win this battle against Apple down under. The Australian court has just officially denied the appeal filed by Apple on their propose sales ban on Samsung's Galaxy Tab. As of now, Samsung is finally cleared to put the Galaxy Tab 10.1 back on the Australian market late next week, just in time for Australian shoppers to check off the tablet on their holiday list during the busy Christmas shopping season (and for Samsung, a naturally higher position on the sales chart, although probably not high enough to stave off Apple).
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Samsung iPhone 4S French ban attempt rejected
Samsung has been given an embarrassing legal spanking by the French courts, which refused to grant a sales ban against the iPhone 4S and demanded that it pay Apple €100,000 ($134k) in legal fees. Although the sum is likely far less than Apple has actually paid its legal team in France, the decision is a blow to Samsung which had been enjoying a limited run of success against its Cupertino rival in Australia and the US.
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BBX renamed BlackBerry 10 as RIM loses trademark case
RIM has been forced to rethink branding for its next-gen smartphone and tablet OS, changing the name to BlackBerry 10 after a trademark suit saw it blocked from using "BBX" as planned. The QNX-based platform had been announced in October, with RIM hoping to pull together the OS already in use on the little-loved BlackBerry PlayBook tablet with its 2012 smartphone refresh. However, software company Basis International had already registered BBX, and secured a temporary restraining order against the Canadian company blocking it from using the name at DevCon this week.
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Apple and ebook publishers in EU price fix investigation
Apple and a group of international publishers are the subject of a European Commission investigation into potential ebook antitrust behavior, it has been announced today, amid suggestions that they may have restricted competition in the EU. Hachette Livre, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin and Macmillan are all under the microscope over “whether these publishing groups and Apple have engaged in illegal agreements or practices that would have the object or the effect of restricting competition in the EU or in the EEA.”
Apple research admits Samsung no threat leaks redacted ruling
A poorly redacted copy of the Apple/Samsung US preliminary injunction ruling has revealed that Apple’s own market research shows buyers of iPhone, iPad and its other devices are unlikely to jump ship to a rival manufacturer, and in fact Samsung’s rise comes primarily at the cost of other Android devices. Filed after Apple’s request to have Samsung’s phones and tablets blocked from sale in the US was denied, the original document – since yanked and replaced, but not before Reuters grabbed a copy- masked rather than deleted aspects of the ruling Justice Koh had sought to hide from public review.
Carrier IQ, Apple, Samsung, HTC, and more hit with class-action lawsuit
The Carrier IQ scandal continues to spiral and now a new class-action lawsuit has been lodged against the company. The lawsuit, filed by three local law firms led by Sianni & Straite in the Federal Court in Wilmington, Delaware, also lists several other defendants, targeting handset manufacturers Apple, Samsung, HTC, and Motorola as well as US carriers AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile.
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Samsung readies anti-Apple “hard-line stance” and $200m legal fund
Samsung may have been reasonably magnanimous in its defeat of Apple's US preliminary injunction attempts, but the Korean company's execs haven't lost their fighting spirit even if it's generally only wheeled out when off the record. "If we win in Paris as well, that’s truly a big blow to Apple ... We are ready to aggressively sell the Tabs" a Samsung exec told the Korea Times on condition on anonymity, while CEO Choi Gee-sung has confirmed a $200m legal fund has been put aside to field Apple's courtroom attacks in 2012.
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Carrier IQ: Blame operators, not us
Carrier IQ has come out fighting amid the ongoing controversy around alleged cellphone tracking and covert customer data collection, claiming information gathered from users amounts to little more than crash logs. While security researchers originally claimed Carrier IQ was gathering text messages as well as location data, in fact “the content of the SMS is never stored and never transmitted” company marketing VP Andrew Coward told the Register. Instead, it’s claimed only certain keypresses are tracked to spot errors in a carrier’s network. Responsibility for what data is collected and stored rather than passing straight through Carrier IQ’s systems – and indeed loading the Carrier IQ software onto the phone you might be using – lies with your operator.
Apple licensed iOS patent to Nokia but Samsung deal collapsed
Assumptions that Apple uses its patent portfolio to strongarm rivals into costly, time-wasting revisions of hardware and software, rather than as a way to milk them of cash, may have to be reconsidered with the news that the Cupertino company has licensed out at least one of its UI elements. In fact, Apple apparently licensed an iOS "scrollback" feature to both Nokia and IBM, according to heavily-redacted legal documentation shared with The Verge, and indeed even offered a similar deal to Samsung back in November 2010.
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