Penguin, one of the five named publishers in the Apple e-book price fixing suit, has reached a comprehensive agreement with the United States State Attorneys General and private class plaintiffs to pay a cool $75 million in consumer damages, in addition to costs and fees related to resolving all antitrust claims relating to the e-book price fixing suit… Read More
Things are really starting to heat up between Apple and the US Department of Justice over this e-book price fixing scandal. The DoJ filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple last year for allegedly conspiring with major book publishers to raise e-book prices.
And with the trial set to kick off in a few weeks, there’s beginning to be a lot of activity between the two. Yesterday, a DoJ filing popped up that called Apple out for facilitating the price fixing. And today, a potentially damning email from Steve Jobs has surfaced… Read More
In a class action lawsuit filed in San Jose, California last week, Florida resident Debra Hilton claims that Apple was aware of a flaw in the flex cable that controls the power button on the iPhone 4, but chose to stay quiet about it to sell more handsets.
Hilton is seeking more than $5 million in damages from the Cupertino company on behalf of thousands of iPhone 4 owners she believes bought devices with defective power buttons. Allegedly, Apple knew about the issue, but did nothing to fix it… Read More
While Apple has been praised for its security efforts in iOS, it does not get the same applause for its privacy policies. The company is currently involved in a US-based lawsuit over its information-sharing practices, and today, a German court ruled against it.
This morning, the Berlin Regional Court in Germany ruled that Apple’s sharing of customer data violates its privacy laws. It said that Apple cannot request “global consent” for use of a customer’s data without telling them where and how the data will be used… Read More
It seems like it’s been a while since we’ve heard any news on the Apple/Samsung lawsuit front, which is not necessarily a bad thing. But today, the silence was broken as Judge Lucy Koh issued a new case management order to the two sides.
According to the order, the two will be battling it out over damages from their August trial this fall, with the next hearing scheduled for November 12. Here, Apple will get a chance to get back some of the $500M Koh cut from its settlement earlier this year… Read More
Ah, who could forget the infamous iPhone 4 ‘Antennagate‘ debacle? It had barely been a month since Apple had introduced its newly-redesigned handset, when users began to complain of severe signal attenuation when holding the device a certain way.
Steve Jobs and company held a press conference to defend their product, but it wasn’t enough to keep the lawsuits at bay. Apple was forced to offer free bumpers, or $15 in cash, to iPhone 4 owners. And now, 3 years later, the checks are finally on their way… Read More
In a decision issued on March 26, but kept classified until earlier this week, an International Trade Commission judge found Samsung to be infringing on Apple’s US RE41,922 patent that covers things like text selection and translucent buttons.
It’s only a preliminary decision, and the judge only found Samsung guilty of infringement on one of two patents listed in the complaint. But if the decision gets upheld, Samsung could once again be looking at a major product ban in the US… Read More
While it’s legal in the US to purchase a physical CD or DVD and then resell it to someone else, that’s not the case with digital media. The unauthorized transfer of digital music is considered to be illegal under the Copyright Act of 1976.
And that sentiment was reaffirmed this weekend by US District Court Judge Richard Sullivan, as he ruled in favor of Universal Music Group’s Capitol Records in its lawsuit against digital music reseller ReDigi for copyright violation… Read More
While she may not have time for bronchitis, it appears that Kimberly ‘Sweet Brown’ Wilkins has plenty of time for lawsuits. The viral video star has reportedly filed a copyright infringement suit against Apple for selling a track on iTunes that featured her voice.
The song was called ”I got bronchitis,” and it used several samples of Wilkins’ catchphrases from an early 2012 interview that turned her into an internet sensation. She is suing Apple, along with the producers of the track, for some $15 million in damages… Read More
Apple and Samsung are still battling it out in post-trial hearings left over from last fall’s high-profile infringement trial. And they have another one coming up this year that involves a whole new range of devices.
But there’s alway room for another case in the world of patent lawsuits. And Judge Lucy Koh just gave Apple permission to move forward on a third lawsuit with Samsung here in the States involving its Siri patent… Read More
Since Apple won its monumental case against Samsung in California last fall, things haven’t really been going its way. Its billion dollar settlement has been nearly cut in half, and its request to ban Samsung’s infringing products has been denied.
But it appears that Nokia, of all companies, has been watching the case closely. And according to a new report, it has filed a brief with the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on behalf of Apple, claiming that Judge Koh got it all wrong… Read More
Last November, a federal jury ordered Apple to pay patent holding firm VirnetX $368 million in a patent lawsuit. The court found the iPad-maker guilty of infringing on its networking patents with its FaceTime video chat feature.
Today, Judge Leonard Davis upheld the ruling, denying Apple’s request for a new trial. This means that it’s about to have to dole out one of the largest court-mandated settlements in its history to, what is essentially, a patent troll… Read More
Apple today has agreed to settle a nearly two year-old lawsuit with a group of parents over unauthorized in-app purchases made by their kids. The parents complained that the process’ lack of password requirement led to massive iTunes bills.
As part of the preliminary deal, which has yet to be finalized by a judge, Apple will pay eligible class members with a $5 iTunes gift card or the same amount in cash. And for those users who spent more than $30, it’s offering a full refund… Read More
Samsung has taken another hit in its patent war with Apple today.A Mannheim Regional Court in Germany ordered a stay of its infringement suit against the Cupertino company, pending a validity challenge on the patent-in-suit.
On the surface, this case looks just like any other Apple-Samsung court battle. But it’s grabbing a significant amount of attention this morning due to Samsung’s patent in question, as it’s used in the iPhone’s VoiceOver feature… Read More
There’s an interesting report out this morning that takes an in-depth look at the so-called “frenemy” relationship between Apple and Samsung. The connections between the two are certainly odd, as they are competitors, supply chain partners and suing each other around the world.
Their latter association is perhaps the most known in recent years. The two companies’ high profile court battles over who copied who have been very public, especially the most recent one in northern California. And according to Reuters, the whole thing started over the Galaxy Tab… Read More
Last August, a California jury found Samsung guilty of infringing on several Apple patents in a high-profile trial. The initial damages awarded to Apple totaled $1.05 billion, but since Samsung was found to have ‘willfully’ infringed, that amount was expected to multiply.
Not so fast. The two companies have been attending post-trial hearings with Judge Lucy Koh over the past few months to plead their cases for appeals and other motions. And tonight, Judge Koh has issued a ruling overturning the jury’s willful infringement finding… Read More
By now, you’ve probably heard of the anti-poaching civil suit that’s been brought against Apple, Google, Intel and others. Former employees are suing the companies for allegedly conspiring to keep each other from recruiting out of each other’s firms, which is definitely illegal.
The evidence in the case before hand was already pretty damning. But looking at these court documents that were just made public yesterday, it might now be open-and-shut. The filing features emails, between executives, openly discussing an anti-poaching agreement… Read More
Back in 2011 a group of 29 people took action against Apple, claiming that the iPhone-maker was illegally enabling location-based features without their consent (you remember locationgate, don’t you?). Today, however, they’ve backed down after failing to provide sufficient evidence.
The group had been seeking 800,000 won (or $757 USD) per person, but will now turn their attention to a separate class-action privacy suit filed with a regional court, which involves claims from roughly 27,000 iPhone owners in the country and could be worth up to $25 million… Read More
I don’t know what it is with Apple and European railways, but another one has taken up a beef with the Cupertino company. Today, Russian Railways announced that it has issued a trademark infringement suit against Apple.
The reason behind the lawsuit is still not entirely clear, but it looks like it has something to do with third-party apps in the App Store that use RZD’s (that’s the abbreviation for Russian Railways) logo without permission… Read More
With all of the reports we hear every week regarding Apple’s new and ongoing lawsuits, it’s nice to hear about one coming to an end. After a year of battling, the Cupertino company has settled a lawsuit regarding the alleged misuse of an eyeball image during one of its keynotes.
Apple used the photo, which was taken by Swiss photographer Sabine Liewald, to promote its new MacBook Pro with Retina display during its WWDC keynote last summer, as well as on its website, without the proper licensing. And thus, Liewald filed an infringement suit… Read More
