intellectual property
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Take-Two’s lawyers think Remedy’s new R logo is too similar to Rockstar’s R logo
Take-Two Interactive is opposing Remedy Entertainment’s newest logo. Take-Two’s legal team believes the symbol infringes on Rockstar Games’ logo despite the two having little in common besides the letter “R” representing a video game publisher.
Quibi will transfer its video tech to another company to settle lawsuit
The Turnstyle feature let users stream short-form videos in either portrait or landscape mode.
Amazon ditches policy claiming ownership of employees’ personal games
The 'draconian' rules about personal games had been in place for over a decade.
Tesla settles with ex-employee over Autopilot code theft accusations
Tesla has settled with a former employee that it sued for downloading data related to its Autopilot feature.
Amazon and the US government team up to thwart online counterfeits
Amazon and the US government's IPR Center have launched Operation Fulfilled Action in a bid to stop counterfeits from going on sale.
Nintendo agrees to $2 million settlement in Switch hacking lawsuit
Nintendo has agreed to a $2 million settlement in its intellectual property lawsuit against a site called UberChips, according to court documents obtained by Torrent Freak. After Nintendo filed the lawsuit in May, UberChips went offline -- but Nintendo still pursued the lawsuit.
Nintendo takes legal action against US Switch hack sellers
Nintendo has filed new lawsuits against Switch hackers in the US.
FBI accuses China of attempting to steal US COVID-19 research
The FBI warns that China-backed hackers are attempting to steal COVID-19 research from organizations in the US.
‘Dreams’ player forced to remove his fan-made Mario assets
Sony's long-awaited Dreams arrived earlier this year, a LittleBigPlanet-esque wonderland in which players can build almost any kind of world they can imagine -- but only if it doesn't infringe on copyright, apparently. According to Dreams content creator @Piece_of_Craft, "a big video game company" has come after him for his use of Nintendo's Super Mario character on the platform.
Huawei accuses US Justice Department of 'political persecution'
One day after the US Justice Department announced 16 new charges against Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer has responded. In a lengthy statement, the company defends its track record, and accuses the US government of "using the strength of an entire nation to come after a private company."
Justice Department charges Huawei with stealing trade secrets, again
The US Justice Department has charged Huawei and two US subsidiaries with racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to steal trade secrets. A 16-count superseding indictment, filed yesterday in Brooklyn, New York, adds to previous US charges filed against Huawei last January. The indictment names several defendants, including Huawei's Chief Financial Officer Wanzhou Meng, who is already facing fraud accusations and could serve years in prison.
Nintendo wins legal battle against one of Tokyo's real-life 'Mario Kart' tours
Mario Kart-themed go-karts may soon disappear from the streets of Tokyo following a decisive legal win by Nintendo. On Wednesday, the gaming giant announced that Japan's Intellectual Property High Court had ordered Mari Mobility, one of the more popular go-kart operators in Tokyo, to pay a 50 million yen (approximately $458,000) fine for infringing on its IP rights
TiVo announces plans to merge with entertainment tech firm Xperi
TiVo is scrapping plans to split its product and licensing divisions. Instead, it's merging with the entertainment tech firm Xperi. The new, $3 billion company will take on the Xperi name, but it will continue to sell TiVo-branded products.
Uber may have to pay Waymo or redesign its self-driving software
In 2017, Waymo accused Uber of stealing its autonomous driving trade secrets. You may have thought the Uber-Waymo legal battle was over when, in 2018, the companies reached a settlement and Uber agreed to pay around $245 million. But as part of the settlement, the parties brought in an independent software expert to review Uber's software and make sure it didn't misappropriate Waymo's intellectual property. Now, the review is complete, and Uber admits that the findings are not good.
Trump administration may blacklist Chinese firms that routinely copy tech
The US trade war is meant in part to punish China for allowing intellectual property theft, but the Trump administration might not be convinced it goes far enough. Washington Post sources claim that White House advisor Peter Navarro is exploring a presidential executive order that would put Chinese companies on the Commerce Department's entity list if they frequently violate American copyrights and patents. A Chinese firm that routinely copies device designs or software features could find itself blacklisted in the US even if it didn't pose a national security threat.
House passes controversial copyright bill that could be abused by trolls
Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted in favor (410-6) of a controversial copyright bill known as the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2019, or CASE Act. The bill is meant to give independent creators an affordable and accessible way to defend their intellectual property. But critics question whether it is constitutional and argue that it could be abused by trolls, potentially bankrupting the creators it's meant to benefit.
Judge recommends bitcoin ‘creator’ turn over earnings in lawsuit
The self-proclaimed creator of bitcoin, Craig Wright, has been ordered to hand over half of his bitcoin earnings and intellectual property (IP) -- earned before 2014. They'll go to the estate of David Kleiman, who may or may not have co-created the cryptocurrency. The ruling, reported by CoinDesk, is the latest development in a $10 billion lawsuit. In 2018, Kleiman's brother accused Wright of fraudulently claiming that Kleiman signed over ownership and control of W&K, a company Kleiman ran. Wright was allegedly after Kleiman's Bitcoin earnings.
UC Santa Barbara sues Amazon and IKEA over LED lighting
UC Santa Barbara has had enough of retailers selling its patented LED light bulb technology without authorization. This week, the university filed a lawsuit charging Amazon, IKEA, Walmart, Target and Bed Bath & Beyond with infringing its patents. According to Nixon Peabody, the law firm representing UC Santa Barbara, this is the "first-of-its-kind direct patent enforcement campaign against an entire industry."
AMD will share its graphics technology with Samsung
AMD stole the spotlight at Computex 2019, where it shared details on its third generation Ryzen CPUs and first Navi GPUs. But that's not the only big news AMD has in store. Today, the company announced a multi-year partnership with Samsung, in which AMD will license its Radeon graphics IP for use in Samsung smartphones and other mobile applications.
Google knows you stink and wants to help
It takes a special patent to pique our interest these days, but Google has just been issued actual intellectual property for a device that would help others evade your stank. The "odor removing device" (below) is designed to "emit a fragrance in response to detected parameters," but that's not the half of it. It would also detect your body temperature, heartrate and other factors to determine if you're extra rank from working out. Not only will it then dispense perfume to cover it, it'll even track the location of your friends and find you a route home to avoid them.
