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Apple sues Amazon for App Store trademark infringement
You had to know this was coming. Apple, which is already engaged in a heated battle with Microsoft to prove that it deserves the sole rights over its "App Store" trademark claim, has filed suit against Amazon for "improper use" of the same. Amazon's Android Appstore seems to have been intentionally contracted to a single word to differentiate its name, but that difference isn't enough for Apple, which has asked a California court to grant a ruling preventing Amazon's use of the moniker and asking for unspecified damages. Apple claims it reached out to Amazon on three separate occasions asking it to rename its software download offering, but when faced with the lack of a "substantive response," it decided to take things to court. Its big task remains unchanged -- proving that the term App Store is something more than a generic descriptor -- and this was a somewhat inevitable move given Amazon's choice of name. The legal maneuvering, as always, continues.
iPad cutting board chopped down by Apple
Apple has pulled the plug on a cutting board designed to look like the iPad, according to the board's creator on his blog. Dean Kaplan had a lot of success with his iPhone and iPad stencils, and thought it would be clever to make a cutting board shaped like Apple's magical and revolutionary device. Unfortunately, Apple's lawyers came down on him a few months back, claiming that the wooden board's "likeness" to a certain electronic tablet was a problem. He thinks the whole thing's a little silly (and he's right -- no one's going to confuse a cutting board for an actual iPad), but he's not willing to test the waters with Apple's law sharks swimming around. Apple has a history of shutting down products like this -- they also shut down the charming little eiPott, an iPod-shaped egg dish from Germany. There's probably more room for products like this than the creators allow Apple to claim, but then again, there's certainly a market for fake Apple devices. After the trouble they've had so far, Apple is probably being overly careful about just where its designs and "likenesses" are used. [Hat tip to @JessicaGottlieb for spotting this]
iPad trademark now lives at 1 Infinite Loop
No more sleepless nights for Apple's lawyers, at least not until the Nokia and HTC suits begin to heat up. The company is now the proud owner of a slightly used trademark: iPad™, as of March 17, is no longer a Fujitsu mark and has been assigned to Apple. Much speculation had surrounded the trademark process for iPad, as Fujitsu's mark was being challenged by Apple as early as September 2009, but it looks like the two companies have come to some sort of agreement. Despite Fujitsu's original 2003 application to use iPad as a trademark for its line of retail handheld terminals, the name's true master has never really been clear; as Engadget noted in January, there was already a company using "IPAD" as a product name in the payment space, and Fujitsu's application went stale in April 2009 before the company tried to reactivate it. That's when Apple's team started getting into the mix. Terms of the arrangement have not been disclosed, but unfounded speculation and an absence of real data leads us to believe that the process involved a suitcase full of gold bullion and a promise to deliver several engraved iPads to Fujitsu corporate headquarters. [Note: not really.] [via Engadget]
Google responds to Apple lawsuit against HTC
There's one more player in the ongoing the Apple/HTC lawsuit announced the other day. It's Google, which yesterday admitted that it wasn't a party to the lawsuit, but that it would "stand behind our Android operating system and the partners who have helped us to develop it." Lots of analysts and pundits have pegged the lawsuit as a direct shot across the bow from Apple at the Android OS (and the breakdown of patent claims that our colleagues at Engadget did seems to confirm that, with both old-school and wide-reaching patents matched up with brand new narrow UI claims), and it looks like Google will be coming to the rescue for its OS, if it has to. What form that rescue might take, we don't know -- it's possible that Google could provide money, advice, or even lawyers to HTC if it feels that any part of its operating system might be threatened legally. But of course, that all depends on where the case goes -- we're still a long way away from the point where these companies would have to go before a judge and make their case. It certainly seems like Apple is in this one for the long haul, but if it all comes down to a check, Google may end up signing it as well.
Macworld 2010: Adam Savage re-enacts the EFF's history
We visited a lot of parties last night (and the TUAW bloggers are nursing hangovers because of it), but the best was undoubtedly the Electronics Frontier Foundation's 20th anniversary bash at the DNA Lounge. It wasn't strictly Mac-related, but Mythbuster Adam Savage was in the house, and he led a hilarious re-enactment of some of the major moments in the EFF's history, assisted by various objects and people "found around the club". Of course, since there were quite a few luminaries in the house (including the founders of the EFF, the crew from Steve Jackson Games, and other tech who's whos), the re-enactment actually ended up being re-enacted by most of the actual participants. We captured video of the event, and it's both informational and hilarious -- you can catch it in two segments after the break below. Stay tuned for more from Macworld 2010 all this week -- the floor opens today, and we'll have live streaming video right here on the site, as well as hands-on, interviews, and news from the show in San Francisco all week long. For the iPhone-friendly YouTube video, click here.
Forum drama leads to legal threats
Thanks to tipster Rick for sending us a bit of strange forum drama that deserves some attention. A user over on the Anvilmar-US server, Demetreus, was accused of stealing from the guild bank and gquitting (along with his friend Morph). Zaknafaine, a member of his former guild HaVoK, said in a post "its just a game...its not like one of us are going to show up at your doorstep and throw you a beatin." [sic]Demetreus took this as a threat, and claims to have contacted his lawyer. Of course, his lawyer agrees with him, and he's now posted as much as he tries to defend himself. Who knows who is right and who is wrong with regards to the bank stealing, that's not what's interesting here per se. What I find out of the ordinary here is that Demetreus took what someone said as a threat and felt it necessary to call an attorney. In my opinion, it wasn't. The alleged threat was actually just the opposite – a statement that none of this mattered – that it was just a game.
Sony not amused by Uncharted replica gun
Sony Computer Entertainment has declared its intention to take "the most appropriate action" against an online retailer making its Beretta and butter from a replica air gun. The weapon, based on one wielded by the goofy, treasure-hunting protagonist of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, is currently listed for $169.88 on the King of Swords website. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, a Sony representative noted that the "PS3 Uncharted Drake's Fortune Full Metal M92 Airsoft Gun" was in no way an officially endorsed or condoned product, despite its use of the game's artwork in advertisement. This isn't the first time a publisher has rushed to arms over the sale of replica weapons. In February of this year, Square Enix took stern legal action against those hoping to sell real things based on fake things.
Lawyers representing gold farmers threaten Lum the Mad
Late last month Scott "Lum the Mad" Jennings put up a post on his well-known MMOG blog site about an ongoing legal battle. It involves former IGE (yeah, the gold farmers) CEO Brock Pierce and co-founder of the company Alan Debonneville. Lum's excellent post, which quotes heavily from the lawsuit documents unearthed by the site Virtually Blind, does little more than sum up the case in one location. Not only have we been following the case along with the VB site, but numerous others have as well.And yet, in a post on the Broken Toys site today, Lum notes that somehow he's the one that has received legal threats from Brock Pierce's legal team. They've basically asked him to take down the post by the close of business today (February 15th). Mr. Jennings, being a practical person and with no interest in going toe-to-toe with lawyers, is planning to do just that. He does get off a nice shot back at them in his response, saying "I welcome your client's renewed dedication to legal documentation and remind him that there are several outstanding end user licensing agreements attached to games I have assisted in operating in the past, regarding the explicitly forbidden trade of virtual items and characters in said games that he and his company have performed and expedited, that would benefit from his and his company's attention."Of course, their harshly worded note has prompted responses from other MMOGbloggers, such as these posts from Ryan Shwayder and Matt Mihaly. Perhaps Pierce's team should have considered the impact before they asked Lum to take down his post about the lawsuit. This one, over here on his site. His post concerning Brock Pierce and Alan Debonneville. This post right here.
Vonage loses appeal, now owes Verizon $117.5 million
A follow-up to our earlier story regarding Verizon's patent lawsuit against Vonage: the latter company has lost its appeal against the former, and is now looking at having to pay the full $117.5 million settlement, plus $2.5 million to charity. It's been a bad few days for Vonage indeed, with the company's shares dropping 87 percent since IPO, and a tenth of its workforce out of a job. When you've hit rock bottom, the only way is up, right?[Via Slashdot]
Qualcomm's legal quarrels continue... against its own lawyers
If you had an inkling that Qualcomm's legal altercations were finally concluding, you'd be badly mistaken. Reportedly, the chip maker is now feuding with 19 of its own attorneys (or should we say, prior attorneys) over "who should shoulder the blame for what a judge called 'gross misconduct on a massive scale' at a past trial." Apparently, 21 crucial e-mails and some 200,000 pages of documents owned by Qualcomm were withheld until after Broadcom trials, which was unsurprisingly seen as a "carefully orchestrated plan and deadly determination to hold hostage the entire industry." Now, US Magistrate Judge Barbara Major is "considering sanctions" against the lawyers in question, which has placed their careers in danger and is "prolonging a damaging episode for Qualcomm." We're tempted to ask what could possibly happen next, but quite frankly, we're terrified of the answer.
Netflix sued for antitrust violations over patenting activities
Here in lawsuit-crazy America there's only one thing to do if you don't like a lawsuit: file another suit, claiming that the basis for the original claim was illegitimate. That's the case with a recent filed class action lawsuit against Netflix, which argues that the company's lawsuit against Blockbuster violates antitrust law because the company fraudulently concealed prior art related to patents used to sue Blockbuster. Techdirt points out that this new lawsuit highlights prior art that Netflix knew about, but failed to include in its original patent applications, something it was required to do. Yeah, that's right, the whole affair hinges around the ineffective patenting system, which is the background for dozens of other technology related lawsuits. If this class action is successful, then Netflix will be left regretting ever filing against Blockbuster; if it's not, then the company's still got a whole lot of paperwork to do in its case against Blockbuster. As always, there's one group left lovin' the whole situation: the lawyers.
Mark Rein apologizes for Epic's lawyers attacking artist
While Mark Rein was away, the lawyers did play. During last week's GDC a cease and desist order was sent to Emilio Lopez over a very well done one-time piece of Gears of War art. Lopez had created the Munny doll for his cousin. The lawyers requested all Gears of War trademarks be removed -- even though the assets used to create the doll were taken from a fansite pack Epic released. Epic's VP Mark Rein apparently got back to the office after hearing about this and typed out a statement of apology and clarification.Rein says on the Epic website, "Ugh. Our lawyers are trying to do their job and protect our trademarks but I guess they didn't realize this wasn't a commercial project and they fired off a standard form letter ... What we need to do is come up with some sort of permission letter for things like these so that we're properly protecting our future commercial rights but not stopping people from doing cool fan art like this. On behalf of Epic I apologize to Emilio and anyone who was offended by this."[Thanks Frost]
Phoenix Wrong 4
We don't know how we missed this one, folks. After we presented the original trilogy of Phoenix Wrong flash skits back in September, we promised ourselves we'd check every nineteen minutes for the impending fourth installment. Well, despite our best intentions, PW4 simply slipped by our drooping eyelids on November 22nd. Damn!We'll make it up to you. Here's the link! Watch and be merry, o' future lawyers of America!
ESA apologizes to Kotaku and BBPS
The Electronic Software Association (ESA), the video game industry lobbying group that runs the ESRB and E3, has apologized for a cease-and-desist order against blogs Bits, Bytes, Pixels & Sprites and Kotaku for merely posting the image from a T-shirt being sold on another site (image at right). Looks like somebody at the ESA councils office was bucking for more billable hours and skipped the day in law school about that silly First Amendment in the United States Constitution. Neither the one-man-band running BBPS or the Gawker network's Kotaku were paid for marketing the T-shirt, they merely thought it was a funny piece of paraphernalia and posted where gamers could buy the shirt. Of course the story doesn't end here. Now the question is: How did this happen? There are plenty of worthy questions to be asked about the root of this blatant disregard of the First Amendment, most of them involving a lawyer or two being completely asleep at the wheel. It could very well be that the lawyers truly had no idea what function BBPS and Kotaku serve in the industry. We gamers have a term for people like that: n00b!
