Tenth Circuit Affirms Liability for Seller of Private Telephone Records By Tyler Lacey – Edited by Anthony Kammer Federal Trade Commission v. Accusearch Inc., June 29, 2009, No. 08-8003 Slip Opinion On June 29, 2009, the Tenth Circuit affirmed the Wyoming District Court, holding that Accursearch’s sale of private telephone records on its Abika.com website constituted an unfair practice in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) and granted summary judgment for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Dan Gooden ... Read More...
California District Court Strikes at “Patent Trolling” By Tyler Lacey – Edited by Amanda Rice Diagnostic Systems Corp. v. Symantec Corp., June 5, 2009, No. SACV 06-1211 DOC (ANx) consolidated with No. SACV 07-960 DOC (ANx). Opinion The United States District Court for the Central District of California granted in part defendant MicroStrategy’s motion requesting a more detailed statement of how its software products infringe on plaintiff Diagnostic Systems Corporation’s (“DSC”) patents, denying only MicroStrategy’s request for monetary sanctions. The ... Read More...
By Tyler Lacey Federal Prosecutors Launch New Attack Against Online Gamblers in the United States On June 9, the New York Times reported that federal prosecutors asked four American banks to freeze accounts containing money believed to be used for distributing winnings to online poker players. Wells Fargo, one of the contacted banks, received a court order requiring that the funds be frozen. Professor I. Nelson Rose of Whittier Law School described the move as “surprising” and as a “gamble” ... 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...
