Content by Vera Ranieri Google Sued for Use of Trademarked Terms in Adwords Program A class action was filed against Google on May 11, 2009 in federal court in Texas challenging its use of trademarked terms in its adwords program. The New York Times covered the case and surrounding issues. Ars Technica analyzes Google’s new AdWords policy. ACLU Challenges Constitutionality of Gene Patents The ACLU filed suit in the Southern District of New York challenging the patenting of genes and genetic tests as ... Read More...

By Tyler Lacey Wiki Operator Seeks Right to Host Discussions About Circumvention of iPhone’s DRM System Wired reports that on April 27, BluWiki operator OdioWorks filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit against Apple in order to “clarify the rights of the parties.” Last November, Apple threatened OdioWorks with legal action over a thread discussing how to use unapproved software on both the iPod and iPhone. Apple claimed that the content was “designed to circumvent Apple’s FairPlay digital rights management system” in ... Read More...

By Tyler Lacey Founders of The Pirate Bay Internet Piracy Site Convicted, Sentenced to Prison The New York Times reports that on April 17, a Swedish court convicted four men, including the three founders of The Pirate Bay website, on charges of promoting copyright infringement. The men were sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay the equivalent of $3.6 million in damages to the holders of the infringed copyrights. The Pirate Bay continues to provide links that ... Read More...

By Caity Ross British Web Tracking Tool Violates European Union Privacy Laws This Tuesday, the European Union issued a legal warning against Britain for not applying EU data privacy rules to Phorm, a new advertising technology that tracks the Web movements of internet users. BT, Britain’s largest service provider, used Phorm without its customers’ consent during 2006 and 2007. As reported in the New York Times, the European telecommunications commissioner stated that the “European privacy rules are crystal clear: a ... Read More...

By Evan Kubota The JOLT Digest is proud to reintroduce the Flash Digest! Flash Digest posts will provide brief summaries of recent news and developments in law and technology, along with links to more in-depth discussions. Flash Digest will allow us to expand our coverage to legal issues that have not yet reached the courts or passed through Congress, but that will likely be of interest to our readers. We have posted Flash Digests in the past, but we hope ... Read More...