Technology

Orrick Lawyer Demands Takedown of $100K Blog Bounty Offer for Info on Apple Computer

An attorney for Apple reportedly sent a takedown demand to a tech industry gossip site, contending that Valleywag’s offer of up to $100,000 in bounty for information about his client’s much-anticipated tablet computer amounts to illegal encouragement to steal trade secrets. In a contest announced earlier this week, the Gawker…

Jan 15, 2010 7:43 PM CST

China Cyber-Attack May Have Targeted Law Firm & Other Companies, Too

A Los Angeles law firm representing a software maker in a federal-court piracy case against the Chinese government may have been targeted in an apparent China-based cyber-attack that led Google Inc. to threaten this week to suspend Internet service in the Asian country. Gipson Hoffman & Pancione says in a…

Jan 14, 2010 1:43 AM CST

DOJ Settles Kindle E-Book Reader Complaints With 4 Colleges

Encouraging college students to use Kindle e-book readers might not seem like a highway to high-profile federal litigation. But that’s what led to a just-announced settlement between the U.S. Department of Justice and three well-known institutions of higher learning. Because the Kindle DX electronic reader offered by Amazon as part…

Jan 13, 2010 10:38 PM CST

Surrogate Mom Unrelated to Twins Wins Ruling She Is Legal Parent

A surrogate who is not biologically the mother of the twin girls she bore for her brother and his male partner is nonetheless their legal parent, a New Jersey judge has ruled. In a custody dispute reminiscent of the so-called “Baby M” suit that dominated the headlines two decades ago…

Jan 5, 2010 1:21 AM CST

Report Slams Shoddy Work at State Police Lab, Says Analyst Didn’t Know How to Use Microscope

Oversight was so lacking at a New York state police crime lab that one analyst continued routinely to falsify test results over a 15-year period, compromising one-third of his 322 cases, an inspector general has determined. And a subsequent internal review of the situation ignored systemic problems and simply blamed…

Dec 18, 2009 12:47 AM CST

Womble Carlyle Snags Biotech Patent Team from Pillsbury Winthrop

In a staggered series of moves that began in early November, in order to ease the transfer of clients, a team of four lawyers and two patent agents have departed Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman for Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice. Headed by Thomas Cawley Jr., who joins Womble Carlyle as…

Dec 10, 2009 11:38 PM CST

Over Body-Freezing Co.‘s Objection, Judge OKs Autopsy of Client’s Corpse

Concerning that a client’s corpse is “decomposing by the minute,” a cryogenics company today asked a Florida judge to stop a planned autopsy to determine why a 48-year-old Navy veteran died last week. But Hillsborough Circuit Judge Martha Cook denied the emergency petition by Alcor Life Extension Foundation, saying that…

Dec 10, 2009 9:29 PM CST

Bizarre Beatles Song-Selling Defense: Techies Created—and Can Copyright—New Tunes

The music of the Beatles isn’t legally available on the Internet. However, a little-known company is not only offering the back catalog of the famous 1960s rock ‘n’ roll group online but is trying to copyright it, based on what Ars Technica’s Law & Disorder blog characterizes as a “entertainingly…

Nov 5, 2009 10:19 PM CST

Did Northwest Pilots Who Flew Past Airport Fall Asleep? FAA Investigates

In what could be the second such incident involving a commercial airline flight within two years, two Northwest Airlines lost contact with ground controllers for approximately an hour and overshot their destination airport by 100 miles Wednesday night, sparking speculation that both had fallen asleep in the cockpit. However, the…

Oct 23, 2009 7:42 PM CDT

Nokia Sues Apple Over iPhone Technology, Seeks Unspecified Royalties

Nokia Oyj has sued Apple Inc.over the technology used in the company’s iPhone, contending that it infringes on 10 patents held by the world’s largest phone manufacturer. The suit, which was filed in federal court in Delaware, seeks royalties from Apple dating back to the iPhone’s introduction in 2007 but…

Oct 22, 2009 4:51 PM CDT

Wal-Mart Was Among Major Retailers Targeted in ‘05-‘06 Hack Attacks

Although it appears that no sensitive consumer data may have been stolen, Wal-Mart was among the major companies attacked by computer hackers in 2005 and 2006. Only a fortuitous server crash may have saved the giant retailer from joining the ranks of TJX, Dave & Buster’s and other companies, which…

Oct 13, 2009 4:48 PM CDT

Google Voice Violates Net Neutrality By Blocking Some Calls, AT&T Accuses

In a letter today to the Federal Communications Commission, rival AT&T Inc. complains that Google Voice is violating the agency’s so-called net neutrality rules that apply to telecommunication companies by blocking calls to some rural areas to cut its own expenses. The new aggregation service by the online search giant…

Sep 25, 2009 9:28 PM CDT

Microsoft Wins Emergency Stay of Judge’s Ban on Word Product Sales

A federal appeals court has granted Microsoft’s emergency appeal of a Texas federal judge’s order that would have banned the computer Goliath from continuing to sell some Word software products next month unless they could be reconfigured to avoid infringing on a Canadian company’s patent. In a ruling late yesterday,…

Sep 4, 2009 4:35 PM CDT

Berkeley Profs Team Up to Launch New Cyberlaw Cases Blog

Two academics at the University of California at Berkeley are teaming up to launch a new law blog that will feature what they consider the top 10 pending cases in the United States concerning Internet, software and database issues. Their Cyberlaw Cases blog will be unique says Jason Schultz in…

Sep 3, 2009 10:52 PM CDT

Judge’s Order Could Force Microsoft to Stop Selling Some Word Products

After Microsoft lost two big jury verdicts in patent infringement cases this spring, many observers expressed doubt that the computer goliath would ever have to ante up. However, the potential cost to Microsoft got a lot bigger this week. A federal judge in Texas not only added an additional $90…

Aug 13, 2009 5:45 PM CDT