intellectual property

TorrentFreak pegs top pirating universities in U.S.

Restricting access to Web sites such as The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents has been a long-standing practice for universities in both the U.S. and United Kingdom.

Suffering under the strain of heavy traffic due to students streaming films and downloading gigabytes of data via torrents, academic institutions have attempted -- often in vain -- to curb the trend.

But when the next episode of "Game of Thrones" isn't out for another week and has been broadcast already in another country, the temptation is no doubt difficult to resist.

Universities are not unaware of this and have … Read more

AT&T set to start six-strike anti-piracy campaign?

Alleged documents obtained by TorrentFreak assert that Internet provider AT&T has begun internally training its personnel in a new anti-piracy campaign.

Warning notices will begin to be sent out on November 28, according to the documents. If subscribers are caught downloading content protected by intellectual copyright -- including videos, games and music -- they can expect to have access to frequently visited Web sites blocked.

So, can a subscriber expect a court summons to arrive in the mail? Perhaps not, at least, for now. Instead, you'll have to complete an "online copyright course," according to … Read more

Appeals court nixes a Galaxy Nexus ban requested by Apple

Samsung got a much-needed break from the courts today, as an appellate court overturned a sales ban on its Galaxy Nexus phone.

Today's ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that the district court in California "abused its discretion" in imposing a preliminary injunction on Galaxy Nexus sales.

The appeals court decision means that the case will go back to the court in California to be reheard, according to Reuters.

The appeals court found several flaws in Apple's arguments for a Nexus ban.

In one example, Apple claimed that the … Read more

Patent trolling nearly doubled in five years, study finds

It's no secret patent lawsuits are on the rise, and it turns out the same can be said for the ones filed by what have affectionately been called "patent trolls."

According to a new study published today by University of California Hastings College of the Law, lawsuits filed by patent trolls -- or as they are re-categorized "patent monetizers" -- saw a dramatic increase between 2007 to 2011.

As part of a research project put on by the Government Accounting Office, the law school teamed up with legal tracking and analytics tool Lex Machina to … Read more

Tech giants to talk patent reform at the U.N.

Apple, Google, Microsoft and other tech giants are meeting in Switzerland today to discuss patent litigation reform, seeking to find ways to protect their intellectual property without hurting innovation.

The roundtable, hosted by the U.N.'s International Telecommunication Union in its Geneva headquarters, will cover topics such as "potential improvements to existing policy frameworks, entitlement to injunctive reliefs, and definitions of what constitutes a royalty base."

The group hopes to find out how standard essential patents can be enforced without hindering competition and how to make sure licenses can be offered at reasonable terms.

"We are … Read more

Motorola devices sparse in Germany amid patent wars

Motorola Mobility's market in Germany may be shrinking even further.

The company continues to offer few devices via its German Web site as it battles Microsoft over patent issues, according to Foss Patents' Florian Mueller. Mueller has been employed as a paid consultant by Microsoft and Oracle.

A check of Motorola's German Web pages by blog site Areamobile found only three smartphones currently up for sale -- the Razr, the Razr i, and the Gleam HD +.

A search by Mueller turned up the same results, with no other phones or tablets available online for German customers. A link … Read more

Apple hit by patent suit over Passbook

Apple is in the middle of another lawsuit, this one over charges that its Passbook app violates several patents of software developer Ameranth.

In the court document, Ameranth, which sells software and services to the hospitality and gaming industry, claims that Passbook violates four of its U.S. patents -- No. 6,384,850, No. 6,871,325, No. 6,982,733, and No. 8,146,077.

All four patents deal with "Information management and synchronous communications system." As such, they cover the ability to synchronize data among wired, wireless, and Web-based systems for electronic menus and reservations … Read more

Samsung hit by OLED patent lawsuit from LG Display

Already reeling from legal battles with Apple, Samsung is the target of yet another patent lawsuit.

LG Display said today that it has filed a patent infringement suit against the handset maker, alleging that Samsung violated seven of its OLED (organic light-emitting diode) patents.

The lawsuit specifically claims that Samsung infringed on the design of LG's OLED panels, driver circuitry and device design, reported the Wall Street Journal. LG is looking for an unspecified amount in damages and a permanent injunction of five infringing products, including the Galaxy S3 phone, the Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet, and the Galaxy … Read more

Microsoft reportedly asks China to stop state-run software pirates

Microsoft wants China to curtail the use of pirated software at four of the country's state-run companies, according to a story out today from Bloomberg.

Microsoft has reportedly already issued complaints against China National Petroleum (CNPC), China Post Group, China Railway Construction, and TravelSky Technology, all of which are run by the Chinese government.

Redmond believes that more than 40 percent of Office and Windows Server client software used by CNPC is pirated, Bloomberg reported, citing information from "three people familiar with the situation."

A spokesman for CNPC declined to comment to Bloomberg on the allegation. A … Read more