violation

Apple faces delay in decision over sales ban of iPhone, iPad

Apple and Samsung both have to wait a couple more months for the U.S. International Trade Commission to decide whether iPhone and iPad sales should be banned due to patent violations.

One of countless legal disputes between the two companies, this particular case kicked off in August 2011.

Samsung had filed a complaint with the ITC accusing Apple's iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch of violating four of its key patents. As such, the Korean phone maker requested that the products be banned from being sold in the United States.

Last September, a judge for the ITC issued a … Read more

Apple's Chinese suppliers still exploiting workers, says report

Apple has so far failed in its responsibility to monitor its Chinese suppliers for worker violations, claims a labor watchdog group.

In a report released yesterday, Student & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) accused three of Apple's Chinese suppliers of inhumane worker conditions. The three suppliers -- Foxlink, Pegatron, and Wintek -- fail to provide for basic human needs and continue to use student workers, according to SACOM.

Over the past few years, Apple has increased its audits of Chinese factories and taken action against those that violate its supplier code of conduct. Regardless, SACOM's report asserts that … Read more

Samsung accused of labor violations by watchdog group

Samsung is up against a slew of labor abuse accusations in China, according to a report from China Labor Watch.

An investigation conducted by the watchdog group in October and November uncovered worker violations at several factories, those owned directly by Samsung as well as by its suppliers.

The report is in contrast to the one that Samsung itself released this week. Samsung's own internal audit of suppliers found no child labor violations, a key concern among watchdog groups and Samsung itself. However, Samsung's own audit did discover other issues at supplier factories in China, including overtime hours … Read more

Congresswoman turns to Reddit for legislative advice

Typically when policy makers brainstorm ideas on new legislation, they'll talk to their colleagues or constituents. But California Rep. Zoe Lofgren is trying something different -- she's turning to Reddit.

Lofgren will be tuning into Reddit tomorrow to ask people for ideas on how to best protect Web sites accused of copyright infringement, according to political news site The Hill. The congresswoman is working on new legislation that would notify Web site owners blamed for copyright violations. The law would also halt the government from shutting down Web sites until the owners were able to defend themselves.

"… Read more

AT&T's FaceTime limits might conflict with FCC rules

Some people have raised red flags regarding AT&T's limits on the use of FaceTime on the upcoming iOS, alleging the restrictions could go against Federal Communications Commission rules.

"Over-the-top communications services like FaceTime are a threat to carriers' revenue, but they should respond by competing with these services and not by engaging in discriminatory behavior," senior staff attorney at Public Knowledge John Bergmayer said in a statement. Public Knowledge is a nonprofit organization that works on Internet law.

The "discriminatory behavior" that Bergmayer is alluding to is AT&T's newly announced … Read more

Apple files yet another patent complaint against HTC

Apple is again asking the U.S. International Trade Commission to crack down on HTC over patent violations.

Filing its third ITC complaint against HTC in the past three years, Apple says the company is still in violation of the same patents that led to a recent import ban of the HTC One X and Evo 4G LTE, says Foss Patents' Florian Mueller.

In response to the ban, HTC said that it worked around Apple's U.S. Patent No. 5,946,647. As a result, the ban was lifted, allowing the two HTC smartphones to pass through U.S. Customs.… Read more

Netflix pays $9 million to settle privacy violation lawsuit

Netflix experienced a bumpy year in 2011. Its shares spiked and plummeted, it lost thousands of subscribers then gained them back, it faced growing competition, and a class action lawsuit was filed against it alleging that the video subscription service violated consumer's privacy.

But things seem to be looking up for Netflix--not only did it do better than expected in the fourth quarter and now has more subscribers than ever, it also settled the lawsuit.

On Friday, Netflix filed an agreement to pay $9 million to settle the class action suit, which was originally submitted in January 2011.

The … Read more

Facebook Ireland accused of creating 'shadow profiles' on users, nonusers

Facebook Ireland is under fire for allegedly creating "shadow profiles" on both users and nonusers alike.

The startling charges against the social-networking giant come from the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (IDC), which, Fox News reports today, is launching a "comprehensive" investigation against Facebook Ireland for extracting data from current users--without their consent or knowledge--and building "extensive profiles" on people who haven't even signed on for the service.

Names, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, work information, and perhaps even more sensitive information such as sexual orientation, political affiliations, and religious beliefs are being collected and … Read more

VirnetX files second lawsuit against Microsoft

After scoring big in one court case against Microsoft this week, VirnetX is hoping for seconds.

VirnetX announced on Thursday that it has launched another lawsuit against Microsoft, this time claiming that the same patent violations found in Windows XP and Vista from the first suit also exist in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

On Tuesday, a Texas jury ruled against Microsoft in a patent infringement case initiated by VirnetX in 2007. VirnetX, which develops software to secure instant messaging and VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) communications, alleged that Microsoft had violated two of its patents concerning virtual … Read more

Joel Tenenbaum admits in court he shared music files

There's no subterfuge with Joel Tenenbaum.

The graduate student accused of copyright violations admitted in court on Thursday that he shared files and knew others were downloading the music he made available on Kazaa, according to a Twitter post from blogger Ben Sheffner.

Sheffner, a copyright lawyer who is covering the story from the courtroom, wrote "(Music industry) attorney getting scores of admissions from Tenenbaum. Joel doesn't resist."

The four major music labels, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, EMI and Sony Music filed the copyright suit against Tenenbaum and in previous statements he denied sharing, … Read more