legal

Court drops class-action status of Google digital book suit

A federal appeals court has decided that the lawsuit against Google's digital scanning of books shouldn't be classified as class-action suit just yet.

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals said in New York on Monday that Circuit Judge Denny Chin should not have certified a class-action suit against Google, Reuters is reporting. By classifying the case as class action, the judge effectively allowed hundreds of thousands of authors to possibly net some cash in the ongoing lawsuit against the search giant.

Google and the Authors Guild have been embroiled in a lawsuit for nearly a decade. The Authors … Read more

Apple loses bid to include Galaxy S4 in Samsung suit

U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal has turned down Apple's recent request to include the Galaxy S4 in an ongoing lawsuit against Samsung.

In a ruling dated Wednesday, Grewal wrote that Apple's argument for including the Galaxy S4 in its lawsuit against Samsung is not persuasive enough and creates "undue prejudice" for Samsung as it defends itself against Apple's legal jabs.

According to Grewal:

Throughout the hearing, Apple warned that excluding the Galaxy S4 would result in yet another case with more claims of infringement and would require Apple to continue to play, in … Read more

Twisted Sister's legal threats over coffee shop's URL

Are they going to take it? Are they going to take it? Are they going to take it anymore?

These are the fundamental questions surrounding a legal threat presented by a lawyer for Twister Sister's founder, John Jay French, to a tiny coffee shop in Mission, Kan.

The coffee shop is called Twister Sisters. It is run by two sisters. They are twisted. Actually, as The Prairie Village Post reports, Sandi Russell and her sister Nancy Hansen were first called "twisted" by their brother in the 1960s.

The 1960s came before 1973, the year when the band … Read more

How to prepare for your last log-off

Technology doesn't just complicate our lives, it also does a number on our deaths.

Imagine the challenge of accounting for all of your digital assets once you've shuffled off to Buffalo. Even if you consider your e-mail, text messages, and social-media posts disposable, you've probably stored photos, videos, and very personal documents on one or more Web services. You probably want to bequeath some or all of these items to family and friends.

If you run an online business, ensuring a smooth transition in the event of your demise becomes even more important. To ease the burden … Read more

Google loses autocomplete defamation suit in Japan

A Japanese court has ordered Google to modify its autocomplete function so that it does not suggest a connection to crimes when a Japanese man's name is entered, adding that the Web giant must pay 300,000 yen ($3,100) to the plaintiff.

The ruling by the Tokyo District Court comes after its injunction last year backing the plaintiff, a Tokyo man who has not been identified. Google did not follow the injunction.

The man claimed that when Google users begin typing his name, the search engine would automatically suggest criminal acts he did not commit. The links would produce articles slandering him, he said. … Read more

Russian government selectively blocks site access

The Russian government has turned to censorship on the Web.

According to the New York Times, the government is utilizing a new law, which the Russian parliament approved in July and which took effect in November, that allows the government to selectively censor Web pages within its borders because of content that it believes is illegal or harmful to children. The law's supporters have said that it protects against child pornography and other harmful content, but detractors say that it's giving the government too much power to block whatever it deems unfit for its citizens.

Although smaller sites … Read more

Cyberfight puts a drag on the Internet

A cyberwar is under way between two companies over a recent move made by one.

Spam-fighting organization, Spamhaus, which works with e-mail providers around the globe to block spam from entering in-boxes, has been in a battle over the last week that has seen distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks exceed by several times the typical attacks inflicted on organizations.

Spamhaus hosts a blacklist made up of servers that, it believes, are designed to send spam around the world. Recently, the organization added a Dutch Web hosting company named Cyberbunker to its blacklist. Cyberbunker, which gets its name from its … Read more

Chromebook Pixel legal warnings show sense of humor

Easter eggs can add a little amusement to software and Web sites. But Google tucked the idea into an otherwise mind-numbing place: a pamphlet full of legal warnings.

In this case, it's the pamphlet for Google's Chromebook Pixel, the company's high-end laptop for running Chrome OS. It's nothing that'll make you guffaw out loud, but it's a refreshing break from the ordinary and worth a couple chuckles.

Among the quips:

If your Chromebook Pixel behaves abnormally (e.g. becomes discolored, heats up excessively, emits a foul odor, starts requesting fancy tropical vacations), stop using … Read more

U.S. government to fight for warrantless GPS tracking

The Obama Administration is headed to court today to argue that warrantless GPS tracking is just fine.

The administration will present its arguments before a federal appeals court today, despite the U.S. Supreme Court last year ruling that a warrant was needed to attach a GPS device to a suspected criminal's vehicle. According to Wired, which first reported on the story, the government believes that the high court's ruling does not account for all scenarios, and wants to see where its ruling should and shouldn't be held up.

The Supreme Court's ruling last year was … Read more