Google to pay $7M settlement for Street View privacy violations

14.03.2013, 8:24

You may have forgotten back in 2010 Google’s Street View cars caused a bit of a kerfuffle when it was discovered the mobile mappers were accidentally collecting data from unprotected WiFi signals across the U.S.

In 2012, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fined Google $25,000 (UK£16,751, AU$24,288) based on its findings, and because Google didn’t turn over emails pertaining to the violations.

However, that instance didn’t impact the ongoing case for privacy infringement brought against Google by 38 U.S. states including Arizona, California, New York, Texas, and the District of Columbia.

On Wednesday, Google reached a settlement with all the states who took umbrage with the data collection, resulting in what could be construed as nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

As part of the settlement, Google will pay a $7 million (UK£4.69M, AU$6.8M) fine to the various entities involved in the suit.

“We work hard to get privacy right at Google. But in this case we didn’t, which is why we quickly tightened up our systems to address the issue,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

Additionally, Google has agreed to begin a nationwide educational program detailing the importance of privacy protection on WiFi signals.

The company has also conceded to a 10-year program for its employees wherein Google will train its employees on privacy issues.

When the privacy violations first came to light, Google claimed ignorance, and pointed the finger at a rogue engineer.

However, the FCC discovered more than a few Google employees actually knew the WiFi data mining was happening, and did nothing to stop the issue.

Advocacy groups like Consumer Watchdog are less than impressed with the penalties levied against Google in this case, and claim the latest settlement does “virtually nothing to thwart the Internet giant’s repeated privacy violations.”

Considering the Mountain View company recorded $50 billion (UK£33.5B, AU$48.5B) in revenue during 2012, the $7M fine could be seen as inconsequential, but recent financial issues with Motorola may make this judgment more damaging than it initially appears.

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Jobs threatened Palm with a patent suit over employee poaching

24.01.2013, 12:29

A new patent lawsuit against Palm and threatened by Steve Jobs in 2007 has come to light thanks to U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh’s decision to make secret documents part of the public record.

Judge Koh’s decision came about due to a new case where five technology workers have filed a complaint against Apple, Intel, Google, and other companies, alleging the defendants conspired to eliminate competition and drive down potential employee wages.

According to the newly released documents, Steve Jobs proposed a deal with former Palm CEO Edward Colligan to eliminate competition for employees between the two companies.

“Mr. Jobs also suggested that if Palm did not agree to such an arrangement, Palm could face lawsuits alleging infringement of Apple’s many patents,” Colligan said in the sworn statement.

Judge Koh is deliberating how best to proceed with the case, and whether or not the civil suit can proceed as a class action suit, which could potentially lead to a larger settlement.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs estimated such damages could reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Even though Judge Koh claimed the plaintiffs had some “holes” in their analysis, she did cite key emails from executives as evidence in the case.

In 2010, several companies (including Google, Apple, and Pixar) reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, which prevents them from instituting anti-poaching policies.

With this case, filings made on Tuesday revealed just how Google has handled its no-hire agreements with its competitors.

According to the paperwork, Google’s former chief executive and current executive chairman Eric Schmidt was quoted as saying he would rather share the company’s policies with competitors “verbally, since I don’t want to create a paper trail over which we can be sued later.”

Schmidt is due to appear for questioning by the plaintiffs lawyers in February.

While the lack of competition may have proved beneficial for the companies allegedly involved in these practices, there are sure to be countless employees who feel otherwise.

This suit could have major ramifications for the tech industry should it continue, and work out in the favor of the plaintiffs.

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Pinterest sued over allegations it ‘stole the ideas, concepts and technology’

31.12.2012, 9:27

Popular social network Pinterest has been hit with a lawsuit by a man who claims he came up with the ideas that underpin the site.

Theodore F. Schroeder has filed suit claiming that ideas, such as the ‘boards’ and ‘infinite scrolling’, which eventually comprised Pinterest were stolen by former business partner Barry Cohen.

He alleges the aforementioned ideas, plus the female-friendly design and colour scheme, were ‘linchpin’ concepts for a start-up social network called Rendezvoo

Cohen and Shroeder had worked together on the site in 2007/2008. The plaintiff claims that Cohen took those ideas and concepts to Pinterest when he became an early investor in the project.

Attourney Richard Scheff, representing Schroeder’s told AllThingsD: “The bottom line is that it’s illegal to steal an idea for your own benefit without regard to the originator of that idea.

“Here, Mr. Cohen joined an existing enterprise in which Mr Schroeder had a majority interest, and then took without permission or right Mr. Schroeder’s ideas, concepts, web application and technology.”

A spokesperson for Pinterest called the lawsuit “baseless” and vowed to fight the allegations.

This isn’t the first (and probably won’t be the last) time we’ve heard such a case.

The infamous Winklevoss twins ended up rich men over their long campaign to assert that Mark Zuckerberg stole their ideas for Facebook.

As AllThingsD’s Liz Gannes points out, you’re not anyone in the world of social networking until someone has accused you of pinching the idea, so perhaps Pinterest should be flattered?

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Google, FTC unlikely to settle antitrust dispute this year

20.12.2012, 8:16

For nearly two years, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been investigating possible antitrust violations by Google.

It was believed the FTC would come to its conclusion by the end of 2012, but new reports have surfaced indicating a settlement with Google won’t be reached by year’s end.

Multiple anonymous sources have told both the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg the FTC will take more time to deliberate any potential deals with Google, and isn’t expected to reach a decision until 2013.

The FTC was originally supposed to deliver its findings this week, and rule on whether or not Google was guilty of unfair practices regarding its search algorithms.

Google had come under fire by both the FTC and the European Commission for the allegations, and earlier this month it was reported officials from both the FTC and EC would meet to discuss their findings.

Following a meeting with Google Chairman Eric Schmidt and EC competition chief Joaquin Almunia, the EC issued a statement claiming Google would submit a “detailed commitment text” in January.

Almunia released a statement claiming the EC had “substantially reduced [its] differences” with Google, and he believed Google’s text would provide a “possible decision with binding commitments.”

The FTC is believed to be postponing its decision based on the deal between the EC and Google, as the FTC was not getting as strong a commitment from Google.

Though unconfirmed, the FTC’s proposed deal would have been non-binding, not available for a public comment period, and most of all, would not have dealt with the crucial and most criticized search engine bias.

While the extension the FTC gave itself will likely allow it to better answer criticisms of its purported original deal, the timetable is clearly running out.

Current FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz is expected to leave his position soon, and FTC commissioner nominee Joshua Wright has already recused himself from any Google cases due to receiving research funds from the company indirectly.

What’s more, sources told AllThingsD U.S. state attorneys general weren’t happy they were not involved in the current proceedings, though it’s unclear if they will be made party to further deliberations concerning the FTC’s decision.

This case has dragged on for twenty months already, so whatever settlement agreement the FTC and Google reach, it will likely be decided sooner rather than later.

TechRadar has reached out to Google, and will update this story if and when they respond.

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Samsung no longer asking for European injunction against Apple

19.12.2012, 9:13

One day after Judge Lucy Koh ruled Samsung’s phones wouldn’t be banned in the U.S., the South Korean manufacturer has decided to stop seeking a sales ban on Apple products in Europe.

On Tuesday, Samsung announced it would cease injunction attempts against Apple in the U.K., Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

“[We] strongly believe it is better when companies compete fairly in the marketplace, rather than in court,” Samsung said in a statement released to The Verge, echoing a criticism it’s brought up about Apple’s litigation habits before.

“In this spirit, Samsung has decided to withdraw our injunction requests against Apple on the basis of our standard essential patents pending in European courts, in the interest of protecting consumer choice.”

However, even though Samsung won’t be trying to convince the European courts to ban sales of Apple’s products, the company will still continue seeking damages for patent infringements.

The ongoing legal drama between Samsung and Apple seems destined to continue, as until this point, neither party has budged without some motivation from the court system.

Though Samsung is dropping its injunctions against Apple based on the standard essential patents, it’s still under investigation by the European Commission for potentially breaking anti-trust laws related to those same patents.

Apple was awarded $1 billion in damages from the U.S. ITC, but is still seeking even more, with the hope to gain more than an additional $700 million from Samsung.

These proceedings continue to happen, despite Samsung and Apple actually being partners in manufacturing the iPhone.

Both parties claim that the working relationship shared by the companies won’t be affected by the trial, however there are rumblings Apple is looking elsewhere for aid in future phone development.

More progress is expected to be made in both Apple’s case against Samsung and Samsung’s case against Apple in the new year…and hopefully there will be an end to this endless courtroom drama.

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Google found guilty of libel for listing results

28.11.2012, 9:19

Google has been found guilty of libel in a case brought against it in 2009 by music promoter Milorad Trkulja.

Trkulja filed his suit against Google when the internet search giant refused to take down links to website articles promoting libelous claims Trkulja was connected to organized crime in Melbourne.

At the time, Google advised Trkulja to contact the sites on which the offensive materials were posted, as those webmasters controlled the content, and Google merely posted search results based on its analytics.

However, the Supreme Court of Victoria found Google was responsible for removing the damaging links the moment Trkulja asked it to remove the content.

As a result of the jury’s decision in the case, Google will have to pay $200,000 in damages to Trkulja.

According to the judgment, the jury had little else to do but find Google guilty of the charges presented as a result of its own search engine.

“The jury were entitled to conclude that Google Inc. intended to publish the material that its automated systems produced, because that was what they were designed to do upon a search request being typed into one of Google Inc.’s search products.”

In that sense, Google Inc. is like the newsagent that sells a newspaper containing a defamatory article. While there might be no specific intention to publish defamatory material, there is a relevant intention by the newsagent to publish the newspaper for the purposes of the law of defamation.”

Google plans to appeal the ruling, but if that motion is denied, the ramifications for the internet (at least in Australia) could be massive.

If Google is seen as the responsible party for search results it publishes, it could face similar take-down claims from others in the future.

Google’s stance has been upheld in other courtrooms across the globe, so it’s worth watching to see how this appeal plays out, and whether or not it impacts future rulings involving Google.

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Apple gets what it always wanted: patent for round-edge rectangle

08.11.2012, 8:25

Start the slow clap for Apple: it finally has its patent for a rectangle with rounded edges.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) awarded patent D670,286, a design patent pertaining to the iPad’s “ornamental” design, on Tuesday.

By all appearances, the patent essentially covers a “Portable display device” that’s a rounded rectangle, ostensibly covering Apple’s claims to innovating such a design.

Although Apple is probably very pleased with finally getting a government body to back its claim, whether the patent is worth the paper it’s printed on is another question.

Apple has a number of enemies, though the one with hackles up highest is a certain South Korean juggernaut.

When the legal tussle between Apple and Samsung started heating up earlier this year, Apple successfully argued that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 should be banned as it infringed on Apple’s D504,889 design patent.

That patent looks to cover an early iPad prototype, and U.S. District judge Lucy Koh, who presided over a four-week trial between the two, imposed a sales ban on the Tab 10.1 based on probable ’889 infringement.

Then, in August, a jury ruled that the Tab 10.1 didn’t infringe on that particular patent, though its members did find Samsung smartphones and tablets did infringe on others.

At the time, Samsung remarked that it was “unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners.”

The Tab 10.1 ban was lifted post-trial, while meanwhile Apple has worked to secure the ’286 patent.

The ’286 patent as filed shows a number of parts, such as speakers, belonging to the original iPad.

However, Apple noted that the only image within the patent Apple claims ’286 covers the outline of a flat, front-facing, rounded rectangular device.

The sticking point for Apple is that the new patent seems to be the patent it always and erroneously claimed the ’889 patent to be, one that failed to ban another device.

“This design patent gives Apple no new advantage because no one is out there trying to market an iPad lookalike,” Lea Shaver, an associate professor at Indiana University’s McKinney School of Law, reportedly told Wired.

While the ’286 patent includes numerous examples of prior art, such as early HP tablet PCs and a Knight Ridder tablet concept, including many that Samsung cited as prior art references to the ’889 patent, it still passed the USPTO’s examiner.

What can be said is now that Apple has apparently patented the concept of a rectangle with rounded edges, it’s going to flaunt it.

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Apple loses iPhone trademark in Mexico, can still sell iPhones

05.11.2012, 11:32

In 2009, Apple filed a suit against Mexican communications company iFone for the rights to the similar sounding iPhone trademark.

iFone had been granted the trademark to its name in 2003, a full four years before Apple attempted to gain the iPhone trademark in Mexico ahead of the first iPhone’s launch.

Last week, a Mexican court denied Apple’s appeal, granting iFone a small victory which resulted in the communications company filing a countersuit for damages.

While it first appeared as if the ruling would result in the ban of all sales for iPhone-branded products, a deeper investigation into the matters proved otherwise.

Though Apple and iFone are still in the middle of court proceedings, the launch of the the iPhone 5 in Mexico will apparently go off without a hitch Saturday.

Trademarks are filed in classes, meaning multiple companies can have the same word trademarked as long as the specifications are different.

As The Verge reported, Apple holds iPhone trademarks in Mexico under Class 9 and Class 28, which covers electronic gaming devices.

iFone, however, has its trademark under Class 38, which covers telecommunication services.

The dispute came about when Apple attempted to go after iFone’s Class 38 trademark, which the Cupertino company’s lawyers believed iFone was not actively using.

Since Apple wants to protect the iPhone brand, it made sense for the company to try to wrangle as many possible trademarks for the name as possible.

However, the Mexican court saw things in iFone’s favor, and opened the door for the communications company to countersue.

Apple is no stranger to trademark infringement suits involving the iPhone name.

In 2007, Cisco Systems and Apple became embroiled in a court battle over the iPhone brand, as Cisco had been selling internet phones dubbed iPhone since 2006.

Both companies eventually came to a settlement, which may be where the new case between Apple and iFone is headed.

iFone is apparently seeking upwards of 40 percent of all iPhone sales in Mexico, and could attempt to block all sales of the iPhone 5 entirely.

While it’s unlikely Apple would let such a thing happen, particularly on the eve of the phone’s launch, TechRadar will monitor further developments in this case closely.

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FaceTime and Messages suit falls into Apple’s lap

01.11.2012, 13:01

Apple’s had some peaks and valleys over the last few months, including the success of iPhone 5, confoundment over the iPad mini’s price, record earnings and the departure of some of its top execs.

Now the Cupertino firm has a lawsuit breathing down its neck.

Intercarrier Communications (ICC) a Texas-based firm, has filed a suit in U.S. District Court that says Apple’s FaceTime and Message apps infringe upon one of its patents.

The contested patent is called “Inter-Carrier messaging service providing phone number only experience,” and essentially covers a method to send messages between users on different carriers using nothing but a phone number.
Trolling

ICC’s filing claimed it “has been harmed by [Apple's] infringing activities.”

The firm requested a jury trial and an unspecified amount in damages for past infringement and any continuing or future infringement, including interest, costs, expenses and other fees such as attorneys’ fees.

Apple isn’t ICC’s only target: Patently Apple reported that in the past five days, it has filed suits against a score of other companies, including MobiWeb, Iris Wireless and Broadsoft.

In each suit, ICC has cited the same patent.

While ICC’s claims may be warranted, there is a distinct possibility the firm is a “patent troll,” a patent holder that aggressively or opportunistically persecutes accused violators without the intention to manufacture or market anything based off of the patent.

Apple is no stranger to lawsuits, and depending on the damages, should be able to flush some funds out of its recent $1.05 billion (around UK£664 million, AUD$1.01 billion) payday from Samsung.

TechRadar has reached out to Apple and will update this story if and when they company responds.

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US trade agency to investigate Apple devices

19.09.2012, 12:30

A new development in an ongoing patent quarrel between Apple and Motorola Mobility broke Tuesday, with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) deciding it will take a magnified look at some of Apple’s signature products.

Those include “certain Apple iPhones, iPods, iPads, and Apple personal computers,” according to an ITC press release.

The investigation was prompted by a complaint filed by Motorola against Apple on Aug. 17, 2012.

“The complaint alleges violations of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 in the importation into the United States and sale of certain wireless communication devices, portable music and data processing devices, computers, and components thereof that infringe patents asserted by the complainants,” the release reads.

Motorola is requesting the ITC issue an exclusion order and a cease and desist order.

Although an investigation has been launched, the ITC was quick to point out that it hasn’t made a decision on the merits of the case.

A multi-step process must occur before any ban is instated.

The next move is for the organization’s chief administrative law judge to assign the case to one of the ITC’s six administrative law judges (ALJ). It falls on that judge to schedule and hold an evidentiary hearing.

Following the hearing, the ALJ will make an determination as to whether this is a violation of section 337. That ruling is then subject to review by the ITC.

Before any action is taken, the ITC will make a final determination as to whether Apple is guilty of patent infringement or not.

The ITC has 45 days from the institution of the investigation to set a target end date, according to the release.

Any remedial order issued in this case is effective “when issued and become final 60 days after issuance unless disapproved for policy reasons by the U.S. Trade Representative within that 60-day period.”

This is just the latest in a disagreement spanning international boundaries.

A German court ruled last week that Apple could pursue a ban of Motorola products that violate its patents in that country.

The ITC also issued a ruling Aug. 24 that Apple didn’t violate three Motorola patents covering 3G wireless technology.

According to CNET, this latest contest could take over a year to complete, and even then the judgement will need to be reviewed by the ITC.

Meanwhile, Apple has a pending Dec. 6 court date with Samsung to wrap up loose ends in the firm’s $1.05 billion win against the South Korean company.

Stay tuned to TechRadar for all the latest in this developing patent war.

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