Tech Legal Week: Apple Multi-Touch Patent, Microsoft Trade Secrets, More
Apple gets multi-touch patent — It sure as heck is an innovative interface, and now Apple has received a 358-page patent on multi-touch. Smell that strange odor? It’s the aroma of lawsuits brewing. [Source: AppleInsider]
Microsoft and trade secret suit — Microsoft has sued a former employee for allegedly stealing trade secrets. [Source: CNET]
EU to Intel – “No way” — and Intel to insurer – “You pay” — Intel had asked for a delay in an antitrust action, but the European Union has rejected the request. And in related news, Intel has filed a $50 million breach of contract suit against American Guarantee and Liability Insurance for not paying antitrust legal defense costs. [Source: CNET on the EU denial and the lawsuit]
IBM, Apple settle over Papermaster — IBMand Apple have settled their dispute over Mark Papermaster joining the latter after leaving the former, which set off a Big Blue lawsuit. [Source: CNET]
Another class action targets Apple, iPhone — This is becoming one of those stories that you could seemingly repeat every few months and barely have to change a line. A California resident has filed a lawsuit claiming that the iPhone has a defect preventing the high speed connections that Apple and AT&T tout, and the person is trying to make it a class action. [Source: AppleInsider]
China announces intentions on copyright and trademark protection — After getting smacked about by the World Trade Organization for “deficiencies” in protecting intellectual property, China says it will strengthen protections. [Source: Reuters]
RIAA sues woman who claims not to have had a computer — Although the RIAA has claimed that it is stopping its campaign of suing consumers it claims infringe the copyright of member recording labels, the organization is going ahead with some suits already started. That includes one involving a woman who said that she didn’t even own a computer on the dates the suit mentions. [Source: TechDirt]
Say click — Proving that no issue is too small for attention, Congressman Peter King of New York has filed a bill to require digital cameras to make a sound when taking a picture so people can’t surreptitiously take pictures, using cell phones, of kids and adolescents in dressing rooms. Yes, most teenagers find that strangers accompany them into dressing rooms without their permission and take photos. [Source: Ars Technica]
Erik Sherman is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in Newsweek, the New York Times Magazine, Technology Review, the Financial Times, Chief Executive, and other publications. Follow him on Twitter.
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