Lawsuits

Skype and Joltid settle

eBay's Skype has reached a settlement with Joltid over a breach of license that will now see the sale of the VoIP firm go through without litigation hassles.

Joltid Ltd, a Swedish firm owned by Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, had claimed peer-to-peer...

BlueBeat claims it owns copyright in Beatles tracks

Hank Risen, the owner of BlueBeat.com, which was found last week to be selling MP3s of the Beatles' catalogue for as little as 15p per track, has defiantly stated that he owns the copyrights in the songs that he's selling.

EMI filed a lawsuit against the company,...

AT&T sues Verizon over "there's a map for that" ads

It seems Verizon's "there's a map for that" AT&T bashing campaign has not gone down well with the latter's legal department.

AT&T is suing Verizon and has filed a motion to get the adverts pulled as it considers them "misleading".

As those who've...

Spring Design sues Barnes & Noble over Nook ebook

Spring Design, the maker of the Alex dual-screen ebook reader is suing Barnes & Noble over claims that the bookseller copied ideas and features in releasing its own ebook, the Nook.

"We showed the Alex e-book design to Barnes & Noble in good faith with the intention...

Facebook awarded $711 million from spammer

It's been revealed how much money Facebook has been awarded in damages over a recent anti-spam case against internet "marketer" Sanford - or as he's known Spamford - Wallace.

Facebook filed the anti-spamming case in February after Wallace accessed people's...

Nokia sues Apple over alleged iPhone patent infringements

Nokia has announced that it has filed a complaint against Apple with the Federal District Court in Delaware, alleging that Apple's iPhone infringes Nokia patents for GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN standards.
 
Nokia is naming ten patents in the suit that relate...

Apple loses Mighty Mouse trademark battle

We brought you the news of the lawsuit, way back in spring 2008, and can now reveal the verdict. Apple has lost the right to call its own-brand Mac mouse the "Mighty Mouse".

Man & Machine, American medical hardware specialist suppliers, has now been granted...

Amazon settles for $150,000 over Kindle deletion

Amazon's decision to remotely delete digital copies of George Orwell's 1984 from customer's Kindles has cost it $150,000.

The figure - a settlement amount reached between Amazon and a high school student - is in addition to the $30 compensation it offered each...

Skype founders sue for billions in damages

The founders of Skype are suing the investment company that is buying the internet telephony service from current owner eBay, demanding billions in compensation for copyright infringement.

In a move that's highly likely to disrupt the $1.9 billion buy-out,...

Apple sued over iPhone's missing MMS

An American consumer is suing Apple and iPhone operator AT&T for the failure as yet to deliver the promised MMS messaging on the iPhone 3GS.

Deborah Carr has filed a lawsuit in Ohio that charges Apple and AT&T for "violating laws against deceptive trade practices...

Twitter loses battle to trademark the word "tweet"

Twitter has lost a legal battle to try and trademark the word "tweet", despite it being the official word that describes the short messages issued via its micro-blogging service.

A direct result of the company's open API policy, something that has helped the...

Texas judge bans Microsoft Word sales

A judge in the Eastern District of Texas has ruled that Microsoft must stop selling its Word product in the United States within 60 days, due to patent infringement.

Judge Leonard Davis has issued an injunction that "prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing...

Twitter sued for patent infringement

Twitter is facing a patent infringement lawsuit in the States as a Texas-based company, TechRadium, is claiming the micro-blogging site has pinched tech from its patents.

TechRadium offers "mass notification and emergency alerting systems" to government, commercial...

Peter Sunde resigns from Pirate Bay

Peter Sunde, Pirate Bay founder and site spokesperson has quit his post in advance of the site's sale to Swedish company "Global Gaming Factory X".

He posted on his personal blog, Copy me happy, "I have decided to not be the spokes person for The Pirate Bay...

McKinnon extradition appeal denied

UFOlogist and hacker Gary McKinnon has failed in his attempts to avoid being extradited to the USA to face charges of hacking into Pentagon computers, which carries a potential sentence of 60 years.

McKinnon's appeal asked Keir Starmer, the director of public...

Student sues Amazon over Kindle deletion

A 17-year-old high school student in the States is suing Amazon over its recent ill-advised remote deletion of two George Orwell titles from consumer's Kindles.

Amazon sold consumers the books - 1984 and Animal Farm - but later pulled them when it realised there...

Tweet leads to $50,000 lawsuit

One tweet could potentially cost an American woman $50,000 as it has led to a damages lawsuit in the States.

Acting as a warning to watch what you tweet, the 16-word message on the micro-blogging site has landed the woman, Amanda Bobben, in legal hot water....

Pirate Bay sale heading for choppy waters?

The closing of the multi-million-dollar Pirate Bay buyout is due within a week, but there are signs that the deal may be on the rocks following the walkout of Wayne Rosso - the man responsible for making it happen.

Rosso joined Global Gaming Factory X in mid-July,...

Sites could face legal action over Twitter leak

Twitter has moved to quell reports that its micro-blogging service was hacked again, issuing a statement about a hacker offering internal documents to various industry publications.

"It's important to note that the stolen documents which where downloaded and...

Wikipedia in trouble with National Portrait Gallery

The latest mini-scandal to hit Wikipedia is that the National Portrait Gallery is beginning legal proceedings against the online encyclopaedia.

The gallery says 3000 images from its website have been uploaded unofficially to Wikipedia by a member of the public...

Psystar back from bankruptcy with new Mac clone

Mac clone maker Psystar, currently involved in a legal battle with Apple, has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy to offer new Mac-esque hardware.

The company, that makes unauthorised PCs running Apple's operating system, is offering a new high-end Open(7) based...

Pirate Bay acquired by Swedish Software Company for £4.7m

In shock news, Swedish software company Global Gaming X has agreed to buy infamous Bittorrent tracker The Pirate Bay in a deal worth 60 million Swedish Kronor - about £4.7 million at current exchange rates.

Global Gaming Factory X has also agreed to buy the...

Pirate Bay vows to take fight to European Court Of Human Rights

"The Pirate Bay will now file charges against Sweden for violation for Human Rights", defiantly stated Pirate Bay defendant Peter Sunde on Twitter over the weekend.

He made the comment following the news that the appeals court has cleared the judge in the original...

Bing Travel under fire for Kayak copy

The travel off-shoot of Microsoft's new search engine Bing, is coming under fire for being a little too similar to established airfare and travel site Kayak.

The similarities of certain areas of Bing to Kayak's look, feel and functionality is so much so that...

Sharp LCDs face US ban

Some Sharp Aquos televisions and LCD monitors may be banned in the US as they infringe a Samsung patent, a recent ruling states.

Samsung has won a US International Trade Commission ruling over a patent dispute between the two companies, although with only one...