CeaseAndDesist
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The real Pinkertons aren't happy with 'Red Dead Redemption 2'
The Pinkertons loom large as virtual adversaries in Red Dead Redemption 2, but now they're involved in a very real legal tussle over the game. Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations has sent Rockstar Games a cease and desist notice claiming that RDR2 used the company's trademarks, including the Pinkerton's National Detective Agency badge, without permission. It also alleges that the game will "tarnish the reputation" of the trademarks by portraying the 19th century detectives as foes, according to court documents obtained by The Blast.
Detroit begins enforcing its new Airbnb ban (updated)
Detroit authorities are turning up the heat on Airbnb hosts, now that the city's new zoning rules are in effect. According to Detroit Metro Times, the local government has begun sending cease and desist letters to owners, particularly those renting out units in the R1 and R2 (single- and double-family properties) residential zones. Detroit approved an update to the city's zoning code in November, which makes it illegal to rent out homes and rooms in those residential zones, unless it's a secondary property.
Portland sues Uber over its 'illegal' ridesharing service
Uber has a long, long history of flouting laws that limit its ridesharing business, but Portland isn't taking this disobedience lying down. The Oregon city just sued Uber for allegedly violating its hired transportation rules, and has issued a cease-and-desist order that takes Uber's "illegal" operation off the road until it both gets driver permits and meets requirements for consumer protections and safety. Commissioner Steve Novick wants company staff to "make their case" for looser regulations at Portland's city council rather than drive first and ask questions later.
Los Angeles puts ridesharing companies on notice, demands local permits
Someone didn't get the memo, apparently. Despite California's Public Utilities Commission giving ridesharing services the all clear on a statewide level, Los Angeles' Department of Transportation has sent cease-and-desist warnings to Lyft, Sidecar and Uber, claiming that all three are breaking local laws by operating without city permits. Drivers could face arrests and lose their cars if they keep serving customers, according to the notices. Not surprisingly, the ridesharing firms have a very different opinion. Uber tells Engadget that it's operating a limousine-like service which only needs PUC permission to operate, and Lyft says it's talking with the Mayor's office to resolve what it believes is a "state issue." For now, we're at an impasse -- let's just hope that Los Angeles follows in New York's footsteps and tries to reach a happy medium.
Bluetooth dock adapter Pear disappears from Kickstarter, founders promise return under new name
You might remember Pear, a recent Insert Coin debutant that connects your favorite iDevice dock to (almost) any Bluetooth-connected smartphone. However, you probably didn't notice its swift disappearance from Kickstarter just before the weekend. The people behind the project have contacted us, explaining that the crowdfunding site was hit with a cease and desist order for the dock converter, centering around a "trademark infringement issue." With its funding page down, Pear says it had no way to tell its supporters that product development would continue, albeit under a new name. Anyone that funded the project is advised to register at the source link below to keep up-to-date. The founders aim to return to Kickstarter in around 3-6 weeks, with several as-yet unannounced enhancements coming alongside a new logo and moniker -- something that it's going to task its backers with deciding.
Apple shuts down iPod-themed baby clothes shop
Apple has sent a shut down notice to an online retailer that sold iPod-themed baby clothes. Website ipopmybaby has been selling onesies and other baby clothes adorned with Apple's signature iPod click wheel or the iPhone home screen for the past several years. The clothes are adorable and reasonably priced which has made them a hit for parents of future fanboys (and girls). According to a notice on ipopmybaby's website, Apple has asked them to stop selling the clothes. The website will shut down on December 11 and is selling its remaining inventory at a discounted price. Everything is available on a first come, first serve basis for US$12. Apple fiercely defends its products and isn't afraid of sending cease and desist letters to those who infringe on its trademarks and patents. It pursued Amazon and GetJar over the use of the word App Store and is in a high-profile legal battle with Samsung over its Galaxy devices. [Via PC Advisor]
GetJar responds to Apple's cease and desist over App Store term
It's come out this week that Apple sent a letter last month to mobile application database GetJar asking them to cease and desist using the term "App Store" to describe their mobile app offerings. Apple's been trying to keep the term "App Store" for itself, with varying degrees of success, and this is another push by the Cupertino company to keep other mobile app platforms from confusing the iOS app delivery service with anything else. But GetJar's not budging -- a post on the service's developer blog says Apple can stuff it, more or less. To be fair, the company says it's not really competing with Apple, instead both directing customers to the iOS store, and serving lots of users from other systems and devices. But GetJar also says it's been running since 2005, before the iPhone's release, and it's been using the term "App Store" since 2009, even though Apple has issued the C&D only now. Apple's been unsuccessful in securing a trademark on the "App Store" term, it's lost injunctions against Amazon and Microsoft in the past regarding the term, and GetJar basically says that it won't kowtow to what it calls "bullying" by Apple. GetJar has also started a Facebook group called "The Open and Free App Movement," to better organize developers and application vendors who are "fed up with this crap." Interesting. We'll have to see what response Apple has to all of this. This might not be the fight it wanted to pick.
No comment: Steve Jobs in Carbonite
Did you ever wonder what happens when the reality distortion field meets Star Wars? You get these cool/cheesy/ready-for-cease-and-desist Steve Jobs in Carbonite iPhone skins and cases from Society6. Until the Apple lawyers get ahold of this and breathily note "I am altering our agreement. Pray I don't alter it further," you can order an iPhone skin for just US$15, a stretched canvas art print (which is apparently free if you believe the pricing on the site), or a full iPhone case for $35. Act now and get one of these collectibles before the lawyers strike back! And remember, when you tell Steve that you love him, he's only going to reply "I know."
iHub 2 cease and desist notice issued: We called it
Well, color me unsurprised. Remember the TUAW post from Tuesday about M.I.C Gadget's iHub 2, which is a small 4-port USB hub that features a cool glowing Apple logo? In that post, M.I.C Gadget's iHub 2 looks like Apple lawsuit bait, I conjectured that it wouldn't take too long for Apple's legal team to mail out the cease and desist notice. This morning, we received a number of emails from people who had ordered the iHub 2. The manufacturer has contacted them with the news that Apple has "warned" M.I.C Gadget to stop selling the device: Shocking! Astounding! Completely predictable! My feeling is that "working hard to rectify this" means that "we're trying to send out everything we've sold while making promises to Apple that we'll never make Apple-logoed products again to avoid getting sued." After making the iHub 2 and the Steve Jobs action figure, M.I.C Gadget will probably be the focus of the Eye of Sauron Apple Legal for a long, long time. By the way, the video that accompanied the iHub post has been pulled as well. Thanks to all of the iHub buyers who sent us this tip.
M.I.C Gadget's iHub 2 looks like Apple lawsuit bait
M.I.C Gadget, the same website that brought the world the Steve Jobs action figure that was quickly given a cease and desist notice, is back for more potential legal fun. This time, they've come up with a very cool 4-port USB 2.0 hub. It doesn't matter how many USB ports you have on your Mac -- it always seems like you can use a few more. So the M.I.C Gadget guys decided that a small black or white 4-port hub that features a glowing white Apple logo would be a popular product. They're calling it the iHub 2 (US$9.90), which of course sounds suspiciously close to any number of Apple products. Yep, they're probably right about the iHub being a potentially popular product. Heck, if I could get one before the next cease and desist notice is delivered to M.I.C Gadget, I'd probably buy one. However, Apple's lawyers have probably already downloaded the legal boilerplate for their C&D notice and are feverishly filling it out at this point. Considering that the Apple logo is one of the most recognizable trademarks in the world, and the company protects its trademarks with the same enthusiasm as a mother grizzly bear protecting her cubs, the iHub will be shut down faster than the Steve Jobs action figure was. This product supersedes the previous iHub, which apparently didn't catch Apple's attention. That was most likely before they made the Steve Jobs mini-me. M.I.C Gadget has even made a nice promo video, which you can watch on the next page. Enjoy it while it lasts. [via 9to5Mac]
Apple spanks adult "app store" MiKandi with a cease-and-desist
This appears to be Apple's month to legally pursue anyone using the term "app store" to describe a virtual marketplace that sells ... apps. Amazon was the most visible target to receive the wrath of the Cupertino lawyers when it was the recipient of a complaint from Apple about using the trademarked term "App Store" in its new Amazon Appstore. Now Apple has aimed a bit lower, hitting Seattle-based MiKandi.com with a cease-and-desist order. Until this month, the site billed itself as "the world's first adult app store." After being pinged by Apple's lawyers, the site is now described as "the world's first adult app market." That's not much of a change, but hopefully enough to keep Apple appeased until all is sorted out. Microsoft and Apple have also been tussling over Apple's claim to the trademarked term "app store," which the company applied for in 2008. MiKandi is a rather small player in comparison to Amazon and Microsoft, selling adult apps that are turned down by the Apple and Android app markets. The controversial iBoobs app, for example, was banned by both Apple and Google, but is now available from MiKandi. Apple is doing what it should to stake its claim to the trademark for "app store" by aggressively pursuing anyone who uses the term publicly. For MiKandi, an innocent use of the term has turned into a publicity gold mine. GeekWire has a full interview with MiKandi founders Jen McEwen and Jesse Adams discussing the Apple C&D and their plans for the adult app playground. [via Gizmodo]
Motorola clamps down on Droid X's leaked Android 2.2 upgrade with cease and desist scare
Hoping to spoon-feed your Droid X some Froyo before the official OTA rollout? You'd better do it now -- Motorola's sending out cease and desist emails in an attempt to shut the leaked ROM down. We can't say whether it's just red tape or to protect customers from a EVO 4G-like non-final build, but for whatever reason Motorola's director of information security is asking sites like MyDroidWorld to remove the files ASAP. Given the company's recent history with the mod community, however, we imagine there's some sort of walled-garden reason behind it. [Thanks, Dustin D.]
Unofficial Lemmings for iPhone gets C&D
Developer Aaron Ardiri pulled off the crazy feat last week of porting the classic Lemmings game from Palm OS not only to the iPhone, but also to Windows and the Mac ... in just 36 hours. That's 36 hours straight -- he liveblogged the whole process, and did actually pull it off, sending the iPhone app, which you can see above, into the App Store for approval. There's just one hitch -- Ardiri doesn't actually own the Lemmings property. Sony does, and as soon as the company heard about his port, it dropped a cease and desist letter on him, commanding him to remove all ports he's hosted and not to port any other Sony games. So there's no way, as of now, that we'll see this app in the App Store. Of course, if Sony knows what's good for them, the company could pay Ardiri to release the port for them, and we could all play the old version of Lemmings on the iPhone (and pay for the privilege). Ardiri says he'll "open communication" for such a deal, so we'll have to wait and see.
Conflipper says Shipped Roms is 'here to stay,' will cooperate with HTC
It looks like those worried that firmware site Shipped Roms would disappear after being hit with a cease and desist letter from HTC can now rest a bit easier -- Conflipper, the man behind the site, says that it is "here to stay." That news comes after the site was apparently able to work out a deal of sorts with HTC, in which it has agreed to no longer host so-called test or carrier files (HTC is said to be providing it with a complete list of files it doesn't want hosted). Conflipper also says that he's asked HTC about becoming a license partner, which HTC seemed to at least be open to. Of course, those test and carrier files are one of the big draws for the site, so we'll just have to wait and see exactly what's left when everything shakes out. [Thanks, Brian W.]
HTC slaps phone firmware site with cease and desist letter
You might be familiar with firmware impresario Conflipper by now, a man who's earned a reputation tearing apart ROMs -- often for unreleased devices -- and pulling out the juicy bits for everyone to see. Turns out the dude runs a site called Shipped ROMs with... yes, you guessed it, a bunch of shipped ROMs for a wide variety of phones on it, and it seems HTC's legal cats in Taiwan have taken issue, saying they've got "very strong reasons to believe that the HTC Intellectual Property was illegally obtained by fraudulent means" in a strongly-worded cease and desist letter sent to him earlier today. We reached out to HTC's US branch for comment and got back the following: "While HTC tries to take a hands off [approach] about the modder / ROM chef community, this site's sole purpose [is] to make HTC's content available for download from a source other than HTC. That content is not just the open source parts and kernels of Android but all of the software that HTC itself has developed. This is a clear violation of our copyrights and HTC needs to defend itself in these cases." In other words, these guys are just really against hosting official ROMs on unofficial servers. Anyone can dump a ROM from a phone and flesh it out, so we can't imagine there's any competitive concern -- and no first-party site makes so many firmware builds available for so many devices in such a concise, well-organized way as Shipped ROMs is doing. Ultimately, it's HTC's property -- it seems like they're probably in the legal right here -- but the unsavory PR effect with some of the company's staunchest enthusiasts makes the endeavor more trouble than it's worth, we'd argue. Tread carefully, HTC.
AT&T apologizes to customer warned off emailing the CEO: 'This is not the way we want to treat customers'
AT&T's Executive Response Team certainly caused a little controversy yesterday after it warned reader Giorgio Galante that sending another email to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson would result in a cease and desist letter, but apparently it was all just a mistake -- Giorgio tells us that he's received a sincere apology from an AT&T senior VP, who took responsibility for the mixup. Apparently the cease and desist warning came about due to bad reading of AT&T internal policy -- Giorgio was told the rep who made the call is "not having the best of days today" -- and AT&T tells us it's reviewing its procedures to make sure it doesn't happen again. As for Giorgio, he says AT&T's rep sincerely listened to his concerns about the new data plan pricing schemes and that he's accepted the company's apology, but ultimately he's decided to switch over to Sprint and the EVO 4G anyway. That's to be expected, we suppose -- and we'd say next time Randall might do well to use up a few bytes of his 2GB limit and write back to a dissatisfied customer. Here's AT&T's official statement on the matter: We are apologizing to our customer. We're working with him today to address his questions and concerns. This is not the way we want to treat customers. From Facebook to significant customer service channels, AT&T strives to provide our customers with easy ways to have their questions addressed. Because of this incident, we are reviewing our entire process to ensure a situation like this does not happen again.
AT&T warns customer that emailing the CEO will result in a cease and desist letter
Sure, Steve Jobs might be a one-man email PR machine, but his pal Randall Stephenson at AT&T doesn't appear to be quite as gregarious -- as reader Giorgio Galante found out today, sending AT&T's CEO two emails in two weeks results in a phone call from AT&T's Executive Response Team and a warning that further emails will result in a cease and desist letter. What did Giorgio's emails say? The first was a request to bump up his iPhone eligibility date and a request for a tethering option, and today's outlined his displeasure with AT&T's new data rates and ultimate decision to switch to Sprint and the EVO 4G. That prompted "Brent" to call Giorgio back and thank him for the feedback, but also politely warn him that further emails would be met with legal action. Ouch. As you'd expect, AT&T just lost itself a customer. We've followed up with Ma Bell to find out exactly why they went the lawyer route instead of oh, say, filtering Randall's email -- we'll let you know what they say. P.S.- Amusingly, Giorgio says he emailed both Randall Stephenson and Steve Jobs last year about offering tethering and actually got a response from Steve -- maybe these two CEOs need to talk about more than data rates and service quality the next time they meet up.
Google hits Android ROM modder with a cease-and-desist letter
So this is interesting: apparently Google's hit the developer of the Cyanogen modded Android ROM with a cease-and-desist letter, asking him to stop distributing the closed-source Google apps like Gmail, Maps, and YouTube. What's a little strange is that Cyanogen is targeted at "Google Experience" devices like the G1 and myTouch, so it's not like Google is really protecting anything here -- leading us to wonder if they're just using the copyright argument to shut down a popular mod that's tempted over 30,000 users into rooting their phones. That's just speculation on our part, though -- the dev says he's trying to open a dialogue with Google, so perhaps we'll find out some more answers soon.[Via Android and Me]
Palm lays the smack down on Pre theme for Android
Android's supposed to be all about peace, love, and openness, but that apparently doesn't exempt it from copyright law and trigger-happy general counsels (who knew?). In a move that should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone, Palm has sicced its legal team on the makers of the aptly-named "Palm Pre Android Theme" that borrows icons, wallpapers, and mojo (not to be confused with Mojo) directly from webOS. The concerns center around the usual suspects -- graphics copyrights and trademark infringement -- and the company is demanding that they cease use of the Pre's interface, name, and all that good stuff by some date that's been redacted from the leaked letter (we're assuming it's soon). To be fair, Palm comes out and says that it "appreciates that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery," but at the end of the day, they're concerned about the potential for consumer confusion. Interestingly, to the best of our knowledge, they haven't given the iPhone-based theme the same treatment -- but hey, maybe it's easier to confuse a Hero with a Pre than it is an iPhone... or something. [Thanks, Justin]
Slim PS3 update: mysterious Chinese firm issues a cease and desist... to Engadget
You know, one of these days, someone at one of these big companies is going to get this right. If you send a cease and desist about "leaked" photos of a supposed device, you're basically saying, "Hey guys, those pictures are real." Now, we can't tell you with 100 percent assurance that that's the case when it comes to those factory pics of rubber-gloved hands all over an apparently-new PS3 hardware design, but it doesn't help anyone's case when a Chinese company sends your Japanese wing a takedown notice. Keep in mind, since this thing isn't from Sony, we can't really be sure that it's the real deal, but we'll be honest -- things are starting to look mighty suspicious. Text of one of the charming messages after the break. We'll pause for comment now.
