law posts

Filed under: Apple Corporate, Hardware, Apple Financial

Psystar gets countersuit dismissed, case heats up

by Cory Bohon (RSS feed) on Nov 19th, 2008

Yesterday brought about a bit of disappointing news for Mac-clone maker Psystar. Ars Technica is reporting that Psystar's countersuit, which alleged that Apple violated an anti-trust act by tying their operating system to hardware, was thrown out of court. US District Judge William Alsup made the decision, stating that Apple did not, in fact, violate the Sherman Antitrust Act, Clayton Act, or Cartwright Act.

AppleInsider notes that crucial to Psystar's claim was the definition of the "Mac OS Market." Judge Alsup agreed with Apple's right to sell their OS to their customers with the understanding that it may only be used with their hardware.

Last month, Apple and Psystar were ordered to undergo "private arbitration and mediation" by the court. As far as we know, Apple still has a case against Psystar for violating the shrink wrap license and trademarks. Apple has also alleged copyright infringement.

It would appear that Apple has the upper hand at the present time, but it looks like we'll have to wait a bit longer to find out the final verdict.

[via Ars Technica]

Tags: Apple, breakingnews, copyright infringement, CopyrightInfringement, law, lawsuit, Psystar, suit

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple, Macbook Pro, MacBook

Apple settles out MacBook class action lawsuit

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Mar 26th, 2008

Almost a year after those two photogs first tried to bring a class-action suit against Apple for supposedly underperforming colors on MacBook and MacBook Pro LCD screens, our own Mike Rose has been proven right -- Apple has "quietly settled" the suit, and presumably Apple didn't have to pay much: the plaintiffs apparently had trouble finding other people who had purchased the laptops solely for the "millions of colors" claim.

Which makes sense -- why would you need any more than a few hundred thousand colors on a single screen? Of course, the drawback here is that we'll never find out if you really can get millions of colors on a MacBook screen, as the photographers wanted. For all we know, they might actually be technically correct -- widely recognized as the very best kind of correct.

[Via Engadget]

Tags: apple, class-action, colors, futurama-reference, law, lawsuit, macbook, rainbow-brite, settlement

Filed under: Apple, iPhone

Engadget begins iPhone litigation crash course series: part 1 - trademarks

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Feb 9th, 2007

The litigation biz is a messy and complex one, which is why I'm thankful Engadget has rounded up law student members from the Columbia Science & Technology Law Review for a primer series covering the ins and outs of the potentially ensuing Apple/Cisco litigation. This first part covers trademarks - what they're for, how to maintain them and the available courses of action when your trademark gets the rip-off treatment.

Of particular interest to me is the fact that the owner of a trademark must be vigilant about maintaining control over it and defending their turf. If a company starts lying down and letting their 'mark run rampant, they can lose the reigns entirely. This series should be a great read for anyone interested in a quickie IP law education without all the student loans and all-nighters.

Tags: apple, cisco, iphone, law, litigation, primer, series, trademark

Filed under: iPod Family

Welcome to Brooklyn -- now turn off that iPod

by Michael Rose (RSS feed) on Feb 7th, 2007

If a state senator from my home borough has his way, New York City and Buffalo police officers might soon be telling iPod users "Fuggeddaboutit!" if they try to cross the street while listening to music. Sen. Carl Kruger of Brooklyn, in response to two recent pedestrian deaths, has proposed legislation that would make iPod-crossing a minor offense comparable to jaywalking.

I'm a native New Yorker -- when I was a kid, we lived right across the street from a police station -- and I have never, ever seen anybody ticketed for jaywalking, so I'm thinking that even if this proposal were to become law the day-to-day impact would be unnoticeable. Of course, we do have an iPod Zombie problem in the Big Apple, but it's generalized to all sorts of portable devices. I once grabbed a guy who was about to walk in front of a delivery truck while he was focused, head down, on dialing his RAZR; he actually thanked me, another NYC rarity.

Perhaps, instead of criminalizing stupidity (which rarely works), a targeted PR campaign on the subways could remind iPod users to "turn down & tune in" while they navigate the mean streets. Anyone want to design the poster? Link it in the comments or post on Flickr, give it a Creative Commons license and tag it 'turndowntunein' -- if there are a few that stand out, I'll try to get them noticed by NYC officials.

Thanks Mitch!

Tags: ipod, law, politics

Filed under: Audio, iTS

French 'DRM interoperability' law reverses stance, no longer forces Apple to open iTMS

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Aug 2nd, 2006

Portions of France's copyright law that initially were going to force Apple to open the iTMS + iPod economy for interoperability have now been ruled as unconstitutional. In fact, these provisions have taken almost a complete 180, and they now provide for fining anyone who is caught reverse-engineering DRM in the name of interoperability. Going even further, small fines of 150 euros ($191) for uploading music and 38 euros ($48.50) for downloading it have been replace by steep criminal charges and multiple years of prison time, as well as fines of 500,000 euros ($638,200) - at least that's better than the 'up to $150,000/song' that we have here in the U.S.

Whether you consider this a win or a loss for the digital music industry, let's try to keep any resulting discussion civilized boys and girls.

[via CNET]

Tags: change, DRM, France, French, interoperability, law, provisions, removed

Filed under: Hardware, iPod Family, Apple

iPod factory admits to violating Chinese labor laws

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Jun 27th, 2006

Sounds like things might not be so squeaky clean in the "iPod City" after all, as Engadget has dug up some dirt on the Foxconn factory's admission of breaching Chinese labor laws. Specifically, Foxconn has admitted their employees work about 80 extra hours each month - which is a tad above and beyond the 36 extra hours that Chinese law allows for. To make matters worse though, Apple launched an investigation into the factory once this issue broke, "but has found no problem with Foxconn", to quote a factory spokeswoman from the ChinaCSR.com report. Here's hoping Apple is delving a bit deeper into the matter beyond what is likely a preemptive quote from a spokesperson eager for the issue to simply go away.

Tags: China, factory, foxconn, ipod, labor, law, laws, work, worker, workers

Filed under: Audio, iTS, Video, Apple

Norway takes iTMS ToS gripes to court

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Jun 7th, 2006

A consumer advocacy group in Norway is apparently not too happy with the iTMS ToS (Terms of Service) and has won a preliminary ruling in an attempt to force Apple to make some edits. Specifically, the Norwegian group is attacking Apple's liability for any security breaches their software might allow (think: "Sony rootkits"), as well as the company's 'we can edit these ToS anytime we want' policy that is outlined in said ToS. Also on the table, yet again, is the use of DRM and whether it violates fundamental consumer rights in Norway, and the proposition of a 'cooling off' period for iTMS purchases.

First France, now Norway. The iTMS and its practices are taking quite the beating lately. We should take bets as to how long it will take Norwegian pro-music industry lobbyists to get these rulings fixed this time around.

[via MacNN]

Tags: court, courts, iTMS, iTunes, law, Norway, policies, ruling, tos

Filed under: iPod Family, iTS, Software, iTunes, Apple

Patent infringement lawsuit hits Apple

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Apr 18th, 2006

In a move that screams 'I was waiting for the right time to mention it,' Burst.com yesterday filed a patent counterclaims lawsuit against Apple Computer, claiming that their iTunes, iTMS, iPod and QuickTime Streaming infringe on four of their patents.

It appears that this time around Apple actually fired first. Earlier this year, Apple asked the courts to render Burst's patents invalid, which sparked this counterclaim they filed yesterday. Burst has stated that they had hoped to avoid the courts and negotiate a "reasonable license fee," but it seems that a court is exactly where these two companies will need to settle the dispute.

Check out Macworld's article if you're interested in more details surrounding the case.

Tags: Apple, Burst, Burst.com, counterclaims, courts, iPod, iTMS, iTunes, iTunes Music Store, ItunesMusicStore, law, legal, litigation, patents, QuickTime, Streaming

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Open Source

Newly proposed French law does not penalize Apple

by Fabienne Serriere (RSS feed) on Mar 17th, 2006

First off, I would like to note that this post is an opinion piece, and though it contains facts, the opinions contained therein are definitely biased towards open source, open standards, the freedom of software programmers, and technological innovation.

France's Assemblé Nationale voted in yesterday evening the DADVSI, a rather hideous proposal which will most likely become law when France's Sénat deems it constitutional and President Chirac signs it. Both of the latter are likely as the president is of the same majority right party (UMP) as the Assemblé Nationale. The New York Times (and Slashdot) have noted incorrectly that the law will contain clauses for interoperability required of iTunes and iPods, but those amendments did not make it into the final proposal voted on Thursday night. Read on for a breakdown of the law as it currently awaits, almost certain, approval.

Continue reading “Newly proposed French law does not penalize Apple”

Tags: copyright, france, french, ipod, itunes, law

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