The government of the Netherlands has become the first European country to pass a net neutrality law. The legal precedent prevents internet service providers from traffic management except in the cases of congestion and network security, and also includes restrictions on ISPs performing deep packet inspection and other similar wiretapping techniques.
Saying he still believed "that we have not overstepped any legal boundaries," Tandy Cheung of In Icon announced that it wills top the offer, production and sale of the eerily photogenic Steve Jobs action figure it had offered earlier this month, reports PC World. In Icon had come under "immense pressure" from lawyer representing both Apple and Jobs' family and had originally said he would defy Apple's wishes and produce the figure anyway.
Apple's patent infringement suit against iDevice accessory maker eForCity Corporation and six other related companies may proceed, a federal district judge has ruled. Apple is charging the parent company with producing iOS accessories that illegally used patented parts, and made products of "inferior quality and reliability, raising significant concerns over compatibility with and damage to Apple’s products," as well as claiming to be a participant in the company's "Made for iPod" program when they were not, reports Bloomberg.
The legal battle between IBM and its former executive Mark Papermaster has heated up as the two parties prepare for action next week, according to InternetNews. Because an injunction has prevented Papermaster from starting his new job at Apple, the two sides will negotiate a bond that will allow monetary compensation to be sought if the injunction is found to be unjust. If the court determines that Papermaster should not have been blocked from his career move, IBM could end up paying for the blunder.
Amazon has filed for legal action against the State of New York because of a bill that recently passed, requiring online resellers to collect sales tax to New York residents. The New York Times writes that the online commerce giant is suing not out of desire to see taxes abolished from goods bought over the internet, rather that it does not wish to be held liable for collecting taxes, the company feels is the job of state officials.
Apple recently announced it has filled a position it has been lacking for years, as newly appointed general counsel Daniel Cooperman hired Charles Charnas, HP's lawyer of 18 years. According to AppleInsider, Charnas oversaw both the $4.5 billion acquisition of Mercury Interactive, as well as the purchase of Compaq for $25 billion. The hiring comes eight years after former attorney Michael Wyatt left Apple in 2000.
Nuvio today announced that is has filed a trademark infringement suit against Garmin International in the U.S. District Court of Kansas. Nuvio claims that Garmin's recently announced Nuvifone infringes upon a prior Nuvio tradmark that the company uses on phones as well as its own telephony services. Nuvio attempted to reach a "mutually satisfactory resolution" with Garmin, but no resolution was reached. That led to Nuvio filing a legal complaint against Garmin to protect its rights.
Apple's planned release of the iPhone in Australia could turn out to be an illegal affair under current trade laws, according to one group of law researchers. iPhone launches are expected tot ake place in Asia as well as Australia some time during 2008, but an exclusive deal with one mobile carrier could restrict customer choice in technology markets, according to law researcher Dale Clapperton as cited by theage.com.au. Both France and Germany have both enacted measures to ensure iPhone customers in those countries can choose a carrier other than Apple's chosen partner, to protect consumer choice as well as competition.
The Italian parliament may be on the verge of legalizing peer-to-peer music sharing, local paper La Repubblica reports. Already approved by both houses of the legislature, a new law allows open sharing of any images and music on the Internet, so long as the material is degraded and used solely in non-profit scientific or educational contexts. The problem, says Italian lawyer Andrea Monti, is that "degraded" has specific connotations which could include any form of MP3, given that the format is by definition affected by compression, even if listeners cannot tell.
Typhoon Touch Technologies is suing both Dell and Motion Computing for infringing on a number of the company's patents. Typhoon seeks both damages and an injunction barring either Dell or Motion from manufacturing or selling technology based on US patent numbers 5,379,057 and 5,675,362. The lawsuit will prevent the companies from distributing tablet PCs, slate PCs, PDAs, ultra mobile PCs, smartphones, or any other product that uses either of the offending technologies.
Apple has been cracking down on retailers selling illegally unlocked iPhones – the company's Danish branch last week threatened wireless retailer Telekæden about the same issue – and is currently targeting wireless distributors in Singapore. After sending emails that implied legal action would be taken against shops that did not comply, retailers began pulling the units from shelves. Reuters reports that Apple would charge the stores approximately $700 USD per unit sold illegally.
Apple is threatening Danish wireless distributor Telekæden with legal action, after the chain has been selling unlocked iPhones without the company's permission. Politeken.dk reports that Telekæden is selling the units for almost 6,000 kr (~$1200 US) through its website, unlocked so that they may be used with any GSM-based carrier, which counters Apple's current business model for the device. Apple intends to release the iPhone in Denmark under the same business model – providing a locked version to a preferred GSM carrier – despite running into numerous legal hitches in both France and Germany.
