EFF Files Lawsuit Against Sony BMG
Not long after Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced he had sued Sony BMG over its invasive copy-protection scheme, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said it filed a class action lawsuit against the record label in Los Angeles. The EFF's suit goes beyond the rootkit and includes SunnComm DRM used by Sony as well.
While acknowledging that Sony has taken steps to recall CDs affected by First 4 Internet's rootkit DRM, known as XCP, the EFF says "these measures still fall short of what the company needs to do to fix the problems caused to customers."
Lawsuit Fights Back Against Sony DRM
Sony BMG's CD anti-piracy technology that sparked an outcry for its rootkit-like tactics has now entered the court system. A class-action lawsuit was filed on November 1 in California by consumers who say their computers were harmed by the hidden software, and a second suit was to be filed this week in New York.
The groups claim that Sony's digital rights management, which attempts to stop computer users from copying a CD's audio tracks to a hard drive, is invasive and damaging to computer systems. Sony employed technology from First 4 Internet that uses low-level Windows commands to hide the DRM and prevent its removal.
iPod Nano Lawsuit Goes International
Apple's headaches over early issues with its popular iPod Nano player went international last week after lawsuits were filed on behalf of owners in the United Kingdom and Mexico, according to court documents made public on Monday.
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, LLP, of Seattle, will represent the plantiffs in both cases. This same law firm is also pursuing a class action lawsuit against Intel, claiming the processor maker has coerced customers into not dealing with competitor AMD, and is involved in assembling a class action suit against DRAM manufacturers over artificially inflated memory prices.
Netflix Settles Class Action Lawsuit
Netflix has settled class action lawsuit brought against the company last year for allegedly duping potential customers by advertising "unlimited" DVD rentals and "one day delivery." Current and former Netflix customers will receive a one-month perk, but the real winners of the settlement are the lawyers.
While not admitting any wrongdoing, Netflix will provide customers with a one-month service level upgrade free of charge. This means that Netflix users subscribed to the 3 DVDs at-a-time program will be upgraded to 4 DVDs at-a-time for one month. After the free month, customers must remember to downgrade their service manually or face higher fees.
Intel Blasts AMD in Lawsuit Filing
Intel fired back at AMD in a filing with the U.S. District Court in Delaware, refuting AMD's claims that its business practices stifle competition and saying that it has broken no laws.
AMD sued Intel on June 28, accusing its rival of using illegal scare tactics and coercion to keep computer manufacturers from buying AMD processors. It also said that rebates Intel gave computer manufacturers for using its chips exclusively were unlawful since Intel has a monopoly on the processor market.
Microsoft Settles Nebraska Lawsuit
Microsoft announced Thursday it has settled a class action lawsuit that alleged the software company violated Nebraska's unfair competition and antitrust laws. Members of the class will receive vouchers to be used for software and hardware, with the total settlement amounting to $22.6 million.
Nebraska residents who purchased Microsoft operating systems or Office between February 28, 1997 and December 31, 2002 are eligible to receive the vouchers. Those who submit claims for up to five licenses will not be required to show proof of their purchases.
Microsoft Settles Streaming Lawsuit
Microsoft has settled with multimedia company Burst over allegations that Redmond used trade information obtained from several meetings with Burst to develop its own version of software to stream audio and video over the Internet.
In a statement on its Web site, Burst said that an agreement had been reached with Microsoft and both parties hoped to finalize it by the end of next week. Also, a court hearing on the matter that was scheduled to take place Thursday in Baltimore had been cancelled.
Think Secret: Dismiss Apple Lawsuit
Mac enthusiast Web site Think Secret has filed a special motion to dismiss Apple's lawsuit against it on First Amendment grounds. The motion cites a California law called the Anti-SLAPP Statute, which is a legal safety net against lawsuits that are frivolous attempts to suppress free speech.
Last week, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg issued a preliminary ruling in a separate case stating that journalistic protections do not cover Web sites against three Mac enthusiast sites including the dePlume Organization LLC, which operates Think Secret.
RIAA: P2P Lawsuits 'Educational Tool'
The Recording Industry Association of America has initiated a new round of litigation in its ongoing quest to stamp out music piracy. A total of 761 file sharers -- primarily college students -- have been served with copyright infringement lawsuits.
Most of the individuals targeted in the suits were using "unauthorized" peer-to-peer applications such as eDonkey, LimeWire and Kazaa.
Leading ISPs File Six Lawsuits Against Spammers
Armed with the CAN-SPAM act, leading Internet service providers have banded together to collaborate and coordinate their anti-spam efforts. The first step in this approach was announced today by senior executives of America Online, EarthLink, Microsoft, and Yahoo!, who collectively sued hundreds of the United States' most prolific spammers.
The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act outlaws tactics favored by spammers to flood inboxes with unsolicited mail, while also providing new enforcement mechanisms for law enforcement. The law went into affect January 1, 2004.
One Less Lawsuit for Napster
Independent label TVT Records has reportedly dropped its lawsuit against Napster. Reuters is reporting that the company also plans to make its music available for download via the service in the future. TVT Records reportedly dropped the lawsuit in lieu of Napster's efforts with Bartelsmann AG to create a membership-based service. TVT music will be available when this system is fully implemented. Napster seems to be slowly clearing its legal troubles with recent efforts to create said membership-based pay service. Look for a fully implemented version sometime in the future.
Microsoft To Pay Sun $20 Million To Settle Java Lawsuit
Microsoft Corp. will pay rival Sun
Microsystems Inc. $20 million as part of a settlement
to Sun's three-year-old lawsuit over Java technology, the companies
announced today.
The settlement grants Microsoft limited use of Java technology
for seven years, bars the software giant from displaying the Java
compatible trademark and cancels a 1996 licensing agreement.
Microsoft said in a statement that it has not used the trademark
since 1998.
EMusic.com Takes On MP3.com In Copyright Lawsuit
At issue in the lawsuit, EMusic.com said, is the same online music
locker service that got San Diego, Calif.-based MP3.com in trouble
with the five major recording companies earlier this year. The
record companies successfully extracted multi-million-dollar
settlements from MP3.com after they complained the company
illegally copied their CDs to stock the music library of its
My.MP3.com service.
While four of the record companies settled out of court in pacts
that included licensing agreements thought to be valued in the
neighborhood of $20 million each, Universal Music stuck with its
case in a New York federal court and was awarded damages of more
than $53 million.
MP3.com Scoffs at Lawsuit
According to reports, sometime in the next few weeks, MP3.com plans to reactivate its service it is currently battling in court over. The RIAA is suing the company for providing an online bank of music for users to access from anywhere so long as they verify they own the CD by scanning it with software provided by MP3.com. Despite being in the courtroom, the service will soon be available again. Just yesterday a judge ruled that MP3.com must pay $250 million for settlement in the case. Keep checking back as the story develops.
Lawsuit-Fighting Scour Lays Off 52 Staffers
Multimedia file search company Scour Inc., which is currently fighting a lawsuit launched by movie studios and record companies, says its legal troubles have forced it to lay off most of its workforce. In a brief press release issued late on Friday, the company said it has trimmed its staff by 52 workers because the high-profile legal case has frightened away potential investors.
The Beverly Hills, Calif., company, which counts Hollywood agent and former Disney executive Michael Ovitz as its largest shareholder, was targeted by the movie business and the record industry for its role in connecting Internet users who swap digital music and videos through its Napster-like Scour Exchange service.
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