Britannica, the producers of the popular Encyclopedia Britannica reference texts, disclosed Thursday it had sued three companies over the infringement of patents owned regarding computerized mapping. Filed May 21 in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Wisconsin, it names TomTom, Magellan Navigation, and American TV & Application as defendants in the case.

The company is asking for injunctive relief and damages. None of the companies involved had comment on the matter, although TomTom said that it had no knowledge of the suit and was looking into Britannica's claims and suit against it.

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If anyone still believed that Novell would be compelled by law to reveal the shape, size, and caliber of the gun held to its head when it made its still-controversial patent covenant agreement with Microsoft, he was disappointed by the details in Novell's annual 10-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission last Friday. Novell's description of the deal matches almost verbatim a similar description from its last 10-Q filing in February.

In other words, there was no "Ah-ha!" moment, so reporters scavenged the filing to locate a juicy tidbit.

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In a move whose repercussions could seriously impact the future development of the AACS content protection system, and even endanger the production plans of high-definition disc console manufacturers worldwide, cryptography software provider Certicom this morning filed suit in Marshall, Texas, against Sony Corporation.

Its claim is that Sony's use of Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) in two of its implemented technologies - AACS and Digital Transmission Content Protection - conceptually violate Certicom's patents for that cryptographic method.

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Three companies are teaming up to promote the use of NAND Flash memory in PCs, forming a consortium to push forward the technology's use in a variety of applications.

The Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface Working Group will be chaired by Intel, with additional support from both Dell and Microsoft. The organization is aiming to provide a standard programming interface for non-volatile memory systems.

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Aimed as a 'companion' for its smartphones but essentially a computer on its own, Palm introduced the Foleo, a Linux-powered laptop-like device.

The Foleo is connected to the smartphone and allows the user to read and edit documents and e-mail, and has web browsing capabilities. The device also features built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and can use the phone's radio to access the Internet.

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CBS said Wednesday it had acquired Last.fm in a $280 million cash transaction, continuing its effort to move into the online entertainment industry.

For some, the acquisition was unexpected. "CBS as a buyer though is surprising and is a sure sign that the media giant is getting serious about Web 2.0," TechCrunch's Michael Arrington.

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This morning's announcement by Microsoft of a new specification for table-top touch-sensitive computers - highlighted by a demonstration package produced for NBC's "Today" program - came as no surprise to BetaNews readers who read about an early demonstration of what's now being called "Microsoft Surface" technology, at the company's WinHEC conference in Los Angeles two weeks ago. But judging by its reception, the early demo may have gone off less splendidly than the NBC package.

The concept has been in Microsoft's labs for quite some time, and it's certainly not the only company that has ever worked on this idea: multi-point touch-sensitive horizontal displays that enable information to appear on a table, and that let users "grab" it as though it were objects movable beneath a transparent surface.

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Apple made good on its promise to offer DRM-free tracks on Wednesday, launching iTunes Plus with AAC tracks from label EMI.

The tracks are encoded at 256kbps, which the Cupertino company claims is "virtually indistinguishable" from the original recording. The tracks cost $1.29, and those already owning the tracks can upgrade for 30 cents per song or $3.00 per album.

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Research In Motion said Wednesday that it had launched its smallest and lightest BlackBerry yet through US carrier AT&T, which begins carrying the device on Thursday. The BlackBerry Curve features a full QWERTY keyboard and will be usable on AT&T's EDGE network. Other features include a 2-megapixel camera, microSD slot, and trackball navigation.

AT&T customers will also be able to use the carrier's Push to Talk functionality through the device, as well as access the company's music and navigation services. The Curve will be available for $199.99 after mail-in rebates and a two-year contract term. Data plans start at $29.99 per month, AT&T said.

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Just as it appeared the warring factions in the long-running Qualcomm v. Broadcom battle may have been winding down their disagreements to a precious few, a jury in Santa Ana ruled this afternoon that among the few remaining items of dispute between them, Qualcomm did indeed willfully infringe upon three of four.

But the "willfulness" portion of the jury's ruling was important, because it enables a federal judge under current US patent law to impose treble damages: up to three times the ascertained value of the infringing technology's impact on the market, which is the $19.64 million number. Thus US District Judge James Selna is within his rights to triple the damages to just under $59 million.

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5:00 pm ET May 29, 2007 - Microsoft now says the San Francisco Chronicle misquoted Robbie Bach, and explains that while it is still on track to sell one million Zunes by the end of June, it hasn't done so just yet.

Cesar Menendez, a product manager for Zune, announced the mistake on the Zune Insider blog Tuesday. However, he does note that, "we've achieved our goal of being the number 2 player in the hard-drive category."

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Although it normally touts its numerous acquisitions on the company blog, Google has yet to officially announce that it has purchased security firm Green Border, which offers software to protect Web users that takes a fairly unique approach.

Green Border, which happens to be located in Google's hometown of Mountain View, Calif., was founded in 2001, but has failed to make major headway in the marketplace. Its software has been offered as a free download, with a Pro version cosing $49.95 USD.

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TiVo will begin offering service to consumers in Australia and New Zealand in 2008 thanks to a partnership with media company Seven Media Group.

The DVR maker's technology will be used to support a free-to-air digital television offering in the country. Popular features such as SeasonPass and WishList functionality, as well as broadband content, will be available to consumers.

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Now that the pairing of online advertising industry giants DoubleClick and Google is receiving extra regulatory attention, both in the US and abroad, the question arises once again: Does a merger of two giants lead to the creation of a single behemoth that can carve out a lion's share of the Web audience for itself? One of DoubleClick's long-time competitors - Burst Media CEO Jarvis Coffin - believes it won't.

In an interview for BetaNews a few weeks ago, Coffin espoused the merger, as well as the Yahoo + Right Media deal reached later, as smart and sensible, creating new efficiencies rather than lumping together databases or audiences.

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Hoping to avoid a "Hot Coffee" type incident, Microsoft said Friday that it is delaying the Vista release of Halo 2 to the first week of June, approximately two weeks behind schedule. At issue is the discovery of partial nudity in one of the scenes within the game, the company says. The issue is not easily found during game play, and has since been fixed.

The rating on the game will not change as the first run of discs are the only ones to include the content. A warning label will be placed on those discs, and a patch made available to remove the offending content. Subsequent shipments would have the patch pre-applied at the factory.

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