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Hulavision sues NBC Universal, Hulu stuck in the middle with gloom
Ask Hulavision founder Errol Hula, and he'll tell you Hulu is a stolen idea, from concept to even the similarities in name. He's so confident, in fact, that he and his company have filed a lawsuit against NBC Universal, claiming a series of meetings (all under the umbrella of a nondisclosure agreement) with the media conglomerate and business development exec Raymond Vergel de Dios laid the foundation for its eventual web portal. The suit runs the gamut of brokenhearted business fellows: misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract (both implied and the NDA), breach of a confidential relationship, unfair competition, unjust enrichment, and stolen ice cream on the playground. The suit seeks unspecified damages. Given the nature of these things, we doubt the two will ever get the point of actual courtroom entanglement, but if it does... can we get it streamed?
Dish Network countersues DirecTV over signal reliability claims
Oh, don't act surprised. As is the norm with these things, Dish Network has filed a countersuit against DirecTV. Last month, the latter company filed suit, claiming Dish's "Why Pay More" ads were false and misleading. The countersuit, unsurprisingly, is also false and misleading advertising -- in this instance, the claim "nothing comes close to the reliability and quality of DirecTV." Dish asserts its signal reliability is exactly the same, 99.9 percent. Better strap yourself in, it's gonna be a long and bumpy ride through the court system.
MagicJack sues Boing Boing, gets bounced out of court
The MagicJack is a VoIP dongle that hooks ye olde landline telephone up to the world of tomorrow via a humble computer. By all accounts, it seems to work pretty well and does the job it promises. Sadly, it doesn't seem like we can say the same about its management team. A post on Boing Boing in April 2008 addressed some pretty concerning aspects of the MagicJack EULA: it demands that you cede your right to sue the company and give it permission to "analyze" the numbers you call, but even more worrying was the fact that no links to said EULA were provided either on the website or at the point of sale. That is to say, every purchaser of the product was agreeing to something he or she hadn't (and couldn't have, without tracking the URL down via Google) read. Oh, and apparently the software comes without an uninstaller. The whole thing could've been just a nice warning tale about not getting into contracts without reading the fine print, but MagicJack CEO Dan Borislow, hardly a man who shrinks from controversy, felt so offended by Boing Boing's, erm, statement of factual reality that he took them to court, citing that his company was exposed to "hate, ridicule and obloquy" (we had to look that last one up, it's just another word for ridicule, which makes the whole thing a tautology. Lawyers, eh?). Unsurprisingly, he lost the case, but he did manage to squeeze in one last act of shady behavior prior to his loss by offering to pay for Boing Boing's silence regarding the proceedings and costs. After he was turned down, MagicJack's coffers were still lightened by $54,000 to cover the defendants' legal fees, whereas its reputation can now be found somewhere in the Monster Cable vicinity of pond scum central. Great job, Boing Boing.
Santa Fe WiFi foe strikes again: sues neighbor for using wireless devices, lives in a car
No, this isn't him, because the real Arthur Firstenberg (with or without a cat) would probably need more than an aluminum helmet to cure his "electromagnetic sensitivity," symptoms of which allegedly include stomach pains and memory loss. In fact, this man -- an active member of the anti-wireless group in Sante Fe -- has taken one step further by suing his bewildered neighbor 25 feet away for refusing to switch off her wireless devices, which he claims has forced him to stay at friends' or live in a car. We'd say just chill out, find some place in the middle of an African desert, and then fly out. Oh, wait. [Photo courtesy of Wally Glenn]
Sony and VIZIO ditch the courtroom, clear up licensing issues
VIZIO sure ends up in a whole lot of legal battles, but one way or another, it always seems to find its way out in the long run. Such is the case once again today, as the current LCD TV king has apparently said all the right things to Sony. If you'll recall, Sony (along with a slew of others) filed suit against Vizio awhile back over patent licensing concerns, but now it seems the two have reached a mutual agreement to use each other's technologies without bickering over who owns what. The release on the matter states that Sony "has become a licensee under VIZIO's patent portfolio," and that "VIZIO now is a licensee under Sony's color television patent portfolio." Who knows how much under-the-table cash and shaky promises had to be passed along in order to make everyone happy, but hey, a problem solved is a problem solved. [Image courtesy of TooMuchNick / WireImage] Update: Sony's response to all of this is after the break, courtesy of a company spokesperson who pinged us directly.
Sprint proves money can solve problems, buys iPCS to settle litigation
Considering Sprint's financial position and the overall credit market, we're not exactly sure where the carrier managed to pick up $831 million, which it promptly used to acquire affiliate iPCS and take on $405 million of net debt. If you'll recall, the aforesaid youngin' was worrying papa way back in May of 2008, and it seems that Sprint has finally had enough of this whole "litigation" thing. The acquisition puts all of the court battling to rest (or at least it's expected to), enabling the operator to stop divesting its iDEN network in select iPCS markets. Money may not buy happiness, but it sure buys a good muzzle.[Via Reuters]
Microsoft's $358 million damage award overturned, Alcatel-Lucent likely perturbed
We won't go so far as to compare this to the epic multi-year Broadcom vs. Qualcomm saga, but this is certainly shaping up to be the case that never ends, part II. Microsoft and Alcatel-Lucent have been at each other's throats over various things since August of 2007, and while we've seen damages awarded and overturned a few times since, the latest ruling to be handed down by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has A-L waiting a wee bit longer to get its (maybe) due. This past Friday, the court decided that while a $358 million damages award against Microsoft for "violating patents relating to technology that allows users to enter dates into calendars in its Outlook e-mail program" was somewhat legitimate, the damages were "unjustified." The result? The whole thing has to be retried, giving the contracted law firms for both companies immense joy.
Gamer sticks Bungie, Microsoft with Halo 3 lawsuit
Randy Nunez is quite upset with Microsoft and Bungie, as TG Daily reports he's leading the charge on a lawsuit against both companies over bugs and glitches he (and others) found in Halo 3. Forget that the game is enjoyed relatively complaint-free by close to a million people every day, Nunez and company say "Halo 3 consistently causes the Xbox 360 to 'crash,' 'freeze' or 'lock up' while the game is being played." The filing even states that "repeated and mounting consumer complaints and inquiries concerning this operational flaw in Halo 3" have been reported, with Microsoft and Bungie allegedly taking no steps to correct the issue or recall the game. Our biggest issue with the game, of course, is that it never lets us win online. Do we need to start spamming the lawyer weapon?
Kaleidescape gets in line behind RealDVD for rough treatment
When it rains it pours -- right on the heels of the punishing blow dealt to RealDVD, the money-laden Kaleidescape crowd suffered its own setback at the hands of the law. You just know that the DVD CCA (Copy Control Association) appealed the 2007 ruling that allowed Kaleidescape owners to rip DVDs to their media servers, and yesterday a California Appeals Court overturned that ruling. Next stop -- the Santa Clara Superior Court, which could place an injunction on Kaleidescape if the appeal is upheld. It's not over yet, but we're prepping the soundboard with ominous music, boos and noisy hand-wringing. Whatever (and whenever) the outcome, we can only hope that Blu-ray's Managed Copy comes to the scene sooner rather than later and settles this issue for our beloved HD content
Court injunction puts sales of RealDVD on ice, hopes and dreams in purgatory
Something tells us Kaleidescape has a man (or woman, to be fair) on the inside, else United States District Court Judge Marilyn Patel is just downright trifilin'. In every visible way, RealNetworks' proposed RealDVD player was exactly what Kaleidescape was, but for people with annual salaries far less than $9,854,392,220. Regardless of our opinion, a preliminary injunction has just been passed down from The Almighty in the robe, which blocks the sale of the RealDVD software here in the US. The six major movie studies filed the suit last September, alleging that it "illegally violated their right to restrict the use of their movies in digital form." Evidently those that matter agree. A RealNetworks spokesperson took the time to vent their feelings on the whole ordeal, and since we know you're curious, we've pasted it below for your convenience.We are disappointed that a preliminary injunction has been placed on the sale of RealDVD. We have just received the Judge's detailed ruling and are reviewing it. After we have done so fully, we'll determine our course of action and will have more to say at that time.[Via Electronista]
Student sues Amazon after Kindle eats his homework
It seems we have yet another reason to volley complaints in Amazon's directions. 17-year old high school student Justin Gawronski had apparently been taking electronic notes and annotations on his Kindle for a summer assignment on George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. Yeah, you can probably guess where this is going -- after the retailer remotely pulled the plug on that particular version of the book, Gawronski's notes were lost in the ethers, rendered useless. The suit, which is seeking class action status, asks that Amazon be legally blocked from improperly accessing users' Kindles in the future and punitive damages for those affected by the deletion -- and if he asks nice, we're pretty sure Jeff would write his teacher a note. [Warning: read link is a PDF] [Via Trading Markets]
Tsera thinks it owns the touchpad, sues pretty much everyone to prove it
Do you have any idea where you head when you'd like to sue everyone on the face of the planet, make yourself look like a Class-A fool and get a mention right here? The Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) District court, that's where. The freshest meshuggeneh to head on down there and start trouble is Tsera, who's claiming that Apple, Microsoft, LG, Philips, Bang & Olufsen, iriver, Coby, Cowon and even Meizu are violating a patent that it owns. Said patent is titled "Methods and apparatus for controlling a portable electronic device using a touchpad," and evidently each of the aforesaid outfits have failed to pay Tsera for using its technology. Before you get all bent out of shape, you should realize that this case -- in all likelihood -- will simply be tossed out or settled away from the courtroom, but you can bet your bottom dollar that Tsera's never gonna be satisfied. Or taken seriously.[Via The Register]
U.S. Customs sees it VIZIO's way, TVs to keep flowing in
It looks like at least one round of the battle between Funai and VIZIO is drawing to a close, and it's a big win for VIZIO. U.S. Customs has ruled that all current VIZIO TVs do not infringe on Funai's Patent 6,115,074 -- which was rejected by the Patent Office a few months ago. With the USPTO and US Customs now on the same page, all the bureaucratic checkmarks are in place and VIZIO TVs can freely enter the US on their immigrant-inspired journey to homes all across this fair land. Next up is VIZIO's countersuit against Funai -- with drama like this unfolding between TV manufacturers, who needs an actual TV for entertainment?
Broadcom and Qualcomm agree to stop suing one another, but not to stop hating
Truthfully, we're having a hard time coming to grips with this. For as long as we wished that these two would stop bickering, it's actually tough to swallow the fact that we'll never again be able to write about "yet another lawsuit" between Qualcomm and Broadcom (in theory, anyway). After nearly three full years of fighting with pencils, papers and soulless words, the courtroom throwdowns are finally ceasing. In a shocking development, the two rivals have entered into a settlement and multi-year patent agreement that will "result in the dismissal with prejudice of all litigation between the companies, including all patent infringement claims in the International Trade Commission and US District Court in Santa Ana, as well as the withdrawal by Broadcom of its complaints to the European Commission and the Korea Fair Trade Commission." The exact terms of the deal are posted after the break, though you should know that Qualcomm will have to shell out $891 million in cash (ouch!) over the next four years. The lawyers may be out of work, but you can rest assured that there's no shortage of abhorrence between these frenemies.
The Pirate Bay founders sentenced to prison, website soldiers on
In what's being described as a landmark verdict, four men responsible for assisting throngs of dubious internet users to download all sorts of copyrighted material are being ushered off to prison cells for twelve whole months. The Stockholm district court in Sweden found the defendants guilty not of hosting materially illegally, but of "providing a website with sophisticated search functions, simple download and storage capabilities, and a tracker linked to the website [that helped users commit copyright violations]." As expected, the foursome seems unaffected by the ruling, with Peter Sunde (shown) tweeting that "it used to be only movies, now even verdicts are out before the official release." After jail, the crew will be forced by pay 30 million kronor ($3.56 million) to a number of entertainment companies, which is far less than those firms were hoping for. Curiously, we're told that the verdict didn't include an order to shut down The Pirate Bay website, and you can pretty much bank on an appeal being filed in record time.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Funai wins order blocking Vizio imports, Vizio maintains business as usual
Just when it looked like the long-running patent dispute was tipping Vizio's way, the U.S. International Trade Commission has ruled in favor of Funai, issuing an order to block imports of Vizio HDTVs. According to Bloomberg the ban is still eligible to be reviewed by President Obama while the patent case itself is still being reviewed by an appeals court, but if Vizio wants to keep its shipments flowing it will have to post a bond of $2.50 per television. We've put a call in to Vizio to find out what this means for its immediate future -- and that sweet LED backlit display from CES -- and confirmed that while this order goes into effect immediately, you should still be able to find sets on shelves and they will continue to do business as usual during the presidential review period, but feel free to read its press release in response after the break for more details.
Samsung declares victory over Sharp in LCD patent dispute
Samsung and Sharp, like any good pair of competitors, have been slapping each other around for years now. Specifically, Sharp tagged Samsung with an LCD patent infringement lawsuit back in the latter half of 2007, and at long last the courts have made a decision. In short, Samsung wins. The Wall Street Journal has an exceptionally brief writeup noting that Sammy has declared victory in the case as a Tokyo court "upheld a Samsung Electronics' countersuit filed last June that claimed that Sharp LCD TV products infringed on Samsung's patents." There's no word on what affect this will have on either firm, but feel free to cheer / cry at the office today in order to truly show your fanboy colors at work.
New Jersey sues Verizon over deceptive FiOS practices
Verizon Communications has just been slapped with a lawsuit from New Jersey's Attorney General, who alleges that the company engaged in "deceptive and misleading" sales, billing and customer service practices related to its FiOS services. Mind you, this is far from the first time we've heard outrage over poor FiOS service, but Verizon New Jersey president Dennis Bone asserts that the majority of the issues raised by the attorney general are "related primarily to the start-up of the FiOS business nearly two years ago in New Jersey and have been largely addressed." Of course, just because things are sailing smoothly now doesn't mean that justice shouldn't be served, but we will concur that we've heard far less grumbling of late compared to years ago. Who knew offering up free TVs to get folks to sign up would lead to this much turmoil?
USPTO issues final rejection of Funai's patent, VIZIO celebrates
One has to wonder: is this cat fight finally nearing the end? Shortly after VIZIO hit Funai with an antitrust and unfair lawsuit (not to mention pleading with the FCC to expedite the hand slapping), said outfit has just announced the "final rejection" of all claims in Funai's controversial patent. As the story goes, the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) has "issued a second rejection of all claims in Funai Electric Co.'s United States Patent No. 6,115,074," leading Rob L. Brinkman, VIZIO's VP Operations and Administration, to say the following: "Based on this final rejection by the USPTO, we believe that Funai's '074 patent will ultimately be deemed invalid." We've seen no reaction from Funai thus far, but it seems like sneaking away to the nearest corner may actually be best considering the circumstances.
Toshiba forced to pay up in class action DLP lawsuit
Just what Toshiba needed, right? As if the economy wasn't hammering the company's bottom line badly enough, United States Magistrate Judge Steven M. Gold of the Eastern District of New York has just entered a decision that'll force it to pay up over $1 million in order to settle a class action lawsuit it just lost. Originally filed in 2007, the suit alleged "that the lamps of certain Toshiba DLP televisions were susceptible to premature failure causing purchasers to repeatedly expend hundreds of dollars for replacement bulbs, which allegedly suffered from the same defect." After a thorough investigation, it was found that Tosh would be responsible for reimbursing those who purchased a bulb replacement that failed prematurely, and the warranty on replacement bulbs has been pushed from six months to a full year. Naturally, the law firm representing the 265,000 or so affected individuals was quite stoked with the outcome, as should you be if you're in that mix.
