damages

Acting on her promise, Jammie Thomas-Rasset has finally fought her music uploading case all the way to the Supreme Court. Her lawyers announced today that they have filed an official petition asking the Supreme Court to review her long-running case, which has moved up through the courts over the past five years.

In 2007, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) accused Thomas-Rasset of copyright infringement for sharing 1,700 copyrighted songs -- the equivalent of 150 CDs. But the RIAA whittled down the number to 24. A jury heard the evidence against her and rendered a $222,000 verdict.… Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Depending on who you ask, the $1.05 billion in damages awarded to Apple against Samsung was either too much or too little, but both companies today had much to say about some of the details in how that decision was reached.

At the heart of it, there's a disagreement on Samsung's side about how the jury came to decide the damages for the Prevail, one of Samsung's devices that was found to infringe, and made up $57.9 million of the tally. The only problem, Samsung argues, is that the jury was … Read more

When are rights inhuman? When are legal privileges exactly that -- privileges?

These questions might enter heads on learning of a convicted pedophile who believes Facebook should pay him for his alleged feelings of fear and distress.

The unnamed man demanded that Facebook remove a page called "Keeping our Kids Safe from Predators."

This page served to offer information about pedophiles in Northern Ireland.

He succeeded, only for a new and very similar page to emerge shortly afterward.

A British court held that the information on the original page constituted harassment of the man.

As the BBC reports, … Read more

Where exactly do most people accidentally ruin their iPhone?

If you guessed the toilet you'd be wrong, says a new survey.

According to device warranty provider Squaretrade, most people -- 21 percent to be precise -- damaged their device in the kitchen. The runner up, at 18 percent, is the living room, followed by the bathroom at 16 percent.

All in all, 51 percent of iPhone accidents happen inside the house instead of out in the wild, says Squaretrade. To find that out, the company tapped Survey Sampling International and asked 35 questions to 2,004 iPhone owners in … Read more

If you bought Apple's iPhone 5 today and noticed a ding on it, you're not alone.

On message boards and social media, new iPhone 5 owners are complaining of small scratches and nicks on their new smartphones, purportedly located near the antenna markers on the side of the device or near the screen. The issues appear mostly limited to the black version of the iPhone 5. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

We spotted at least three dozen examples of consumers frustrated with small abrasions discovered after unboxing their shiny new iPhone.

… Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The $2.4 billion Apple says Samsung earned on devices with Apple's looks and technology is certainly a hefty sum, but about $1.7 billion off, according to Samsung.

To prove that, the company called on Michael Wagner, a former partner at PriceWaterhouse with 36 years of calculating corporate damages, who said that Apple's own damages expert had left out major parts of Samsung's financial data when making its calculation.

"[Apple's] total calculation of total profits did not include the total cost to figure out the profits," Wagner told the … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- $2.5 billion is a lot of money, and it's the low end of what Apple says Samsung should pay for selling products that look and feel like the iPhone and iPad.

But just how did Apple reach that tally?

To explain, Apple today called on Terry Musika, a certified public accountant who has been involved with more than 200 intellectual property cases, including this one between the two tech giants.

In short, it's complicated.

"The calculation had to be done on a phone by phone, tablet by tablet basis," Musika said. &… Read more

Every iPhone owner should have two things: a protective case, and a warranty that covers accidental damage. You know, the kind inflicted by toddlers, car tires, and sudden bursts of gravity.

Don't believe me? A post I wrote two years ago -- "Shatter your iPhone 4 screen? Here's how to fix it" -- has been viewed more than any other post I've ever written. In other words, iPhone damage happens all...the...time.

You can buy a case, yes, and you can buy accidental damage protection from the likes of Apple or SquareTrade. Or you … Read more

Samsung says that its Galaxy S3 has been exonerated following an earlier report of it burning up.

According to the company, it hired a third-party organization, Fire Investigations U.K., to inspect the damaged device. That investigation found that the trouble occurred in June after an "energy source" was used to heat the device and cause the damage.

"The only way it was possible to produce damage similar to the damage recorded within the owner's damaged device was to place the devices or component parts within a domestic microwave," the investigation found, according to Samsung.… Read more