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An OnlyFans creator is suing a site that hosts paywalled images for free
OnlyFans creators Deniece Waidhofer is suing Thothub for spreading her images without consent.
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."
ACLU sues over NSA's surveillance program, challenging its constitutionality
If you're already overwhelmed by the sheer amount of activity surrounding the ongoing NSA fallout, we're guessing that now would be an excellent time to go on vacation. Predictably, lawsuits are already being filed against the National Security Agency, the second of which is coming from the American Civil Liberties Union. Essentially, it's challenging the constitutionality of the surveillance program in a New York federal court, deeming the initiative "one of the largest surveillance efforts ever launched by a democratic government." The suit claims that the program infringes upon (at least) the First Amendment and the Fourth Amendment of the United States constitution. As The Verge points out, the ACLU's prior NSA lawsuit (in 2008) was dismissed in a 5-4 outcome "on the grounds that it did not have legal standing to sue, since there was no way to prove it had been targeted." Given the leaked documents involved now, however, the outcome could be much different this go 'round. Of course, one has to wonder: if all of this leads to the public shutdown of the program, are we capable of trusting the same government that started it to not actually operate it in secret?
Red sues Sony over patents, wants disputed F-series cameras 'destroyed' (updated)
We reported that Sony was going "Red hunting" with it's new F-series pro camcorders, but it looks like Red has flipped that scenario. It's suing Sony for allegedly violating two of its patents -- asking for an injunction to stop sales plus an award for damages, and even that that the F5, F55 and F65 models in question be "delivered up and destroyed." The Hobbit camera-maker claims the video cams have "resulted in lost sales, reduced the business and profit of Red, and greatly injured the general reputation of Red." The patents involve Red's implementation of RAW video, but no details were given as to how it thinks those processes were infringed. Anyway, you can now add high-end video cameras to the growing playbill of patent follies. Update: Red leader Jim Jannard has issued a statement on Reduser as to why the company felt it needed to sue Sony. We have taken a bit of flak for filing a lawsuit against Sony Electronics. #1. Sony stepped up and finally supported 4K from cameras to displays. That is helping to cement 4K as the real cinema standard. Good. We actually have a Sony 4K 84" display and Sony 4K projector at RSH for reference. But... #2. We are heavily invested in concepts, inventions, designs, development and manufacturing of RED cameras, REDRAY and the RED Projector. Each is unique and has motivated the industry to get better, for the benefit of all. We don't mind others joining the 4K revolution... quite the contrary, we embrace it. What we don't accept is others just borrowing our technology, intentionally or unintentionally. We admire invention and happily pay for and license great technology from other companies when it is useful to our program. #3. We have created many jobs in the US leveraging our vision and technology and we will aggressively protect our employees. Every single job matters. It is a magic trick to build a camera in the US, especially at the highest level. This cannot be done if others are allowed to just take what we have done and use our work as their own. #4. Our customers have invested in our technology. They need to be protected and their investment needs to be protected. We have an obligation to our customers so they will not have their investment diluted by a proliferation of the proprietary technology they invested in. We don't mean to be heavy handed. We saw 4K as the future standard in 2005. We have endured comments that "RED was a scam". "1080P was good enough." "What does a sunglass guy know about cameras?"... as well as others I would never publish. Patents are here for a reason. They protect IP. Receiving a patent now means that you have an obligation to protect it... or they have absolutely no value whatsoever. We are anxious to resolve this and have everyone move along. But in the end... our ideas, employees and customers matter. We will tenaciously protect all of them. [Thanks, Andrea!]
Sega sues Level-5, charges patent infringement in Inazuma Eleven
Level-5, perhaps best known in the western world as the publisher of the Professor Layton games, has a popular soccer series in Japan called Inazuma Eleven, and Sega doesn't like it. Sega is suing Level-5, alleging patent infringement on a mechanic in Nintendo DS versions of Inazuma Eleven that allows players to move characters with their fingers or a stylus, Kotaku reports.Sega's endgame is to halt the sale of all eight Inazuma Eleven games and to get ¥900 million ($11 million) in damages from Level-5. The case heard opening statements on December 7, and Level-5 plans to fight the charges."We are preparing our rebuttal and do not have any comments to make at this time," Level-5 says.
Sony, Kevin Butler actor in lawsuit over breach of contract
Sony filed a lawsuit implicating Jerry Lambert, the actor who plays Kevin Butler, Sony's high-energy, aggressive spokesman and fake VP of whatever happens to be relevant. Sony's claims are based on violations of the Lanham Act, misappropriation, breach of contract and tortious interference with a contractual relationship, senior director of corporate communications Dan Race writes in a statement to VentureBeat.Early in September, images and video of Lambert in Bridgestone Tires' "Game On" promotion gained traction online, wherein Lambert is playing a Wii and over-acting in a style similar to his Kevin Butler character. Lambert appeared in Bridgestone commercials as early as February. On September 11, Sony filed a lawsuit against Bridgestone Tires and Wildcat Creek, an advertising agency for which Lambert is actually president.Since the filing, Lambert has been removed from the most recent Bridgestone ads. The Game On promotion ended on September 30."We invested significant resources in bringing the Kevin Butler character to life and he's become an iconic personality directly associated with PlayStation products over the years," Sony's statement says. "Use of the Kevin Butler character to sell products other than those from PlayStation misappropriates Sony's intellectual property, creates confusion in the market, and causes damage to Sony."Lambert and Sony reached an agreement on September 26, and Sony has until October 12 to officially withdraw the suit or announce it will continue forward. NeoGAF member Takao has a detailed breakdown of the entire lawsuit.Below find a few of Lambert's most memorable Sony advertisements.
NTP reaches agreement with 13 patent defendants including Apple, Microsoft and Google
One of the original "non-manufacturing IP firms," NTP, has just signed an agreement with 13 of the companies it sued for infringing its email patents. The tech industry whales paying for licenses include Google, Microsoft and Yahoo on the software side; wireless operators Verizon, AT&T, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile; and handset companies Apple, HTC, Motorola, Palm, LG and Samsung. If all the litigation is blurring together in your head, we remind you that NTP is one of the founding patent under-bridge dwellers who made lawyers' eyes everywhere light up with a $612 million payout from RIM back in 2006. That seemingly gave them the courage -- and bankroll, presumably -- to attack the above companies in 2010 for infringement of its eight wireless email patents, including push technology. The terms of the settlement weren't disclosed, but considering the dollars paid out by RIM, "we can imagine quite a bit," to quote Han Solo. [Image credit: Shutterstock]
US DOJ sues AT&T for improper IP Relay billing, alleges millions in false claims to FCC
AT&T has violated the United States False Claims Act to the tune of "millions of dollars," according to a Department of Justice lawsuit filed this week. The DOJ alleges that the carrier intentionally neglected to authenticate users of the IP Relay service -- a tool utilized by hearing-impaired persons to type messages that communications assistants then read to callers. The service is also abused by individuals overseas to defraud U.S. businesses (think infamous Nigerian scams), which prompted the FCC to establish a law requiring telecom providers, including AT&T, to confirm the identity of registered users, which it apparently failed to do. This resulted in thousands of fraudulent users, representing some 95 percent of all calls, which AT&T received FCC payments for to the tune of $1.30 per minute. An AT&T spokesman was somewhat dismissive when speaking to the Associated Press, saying "as the FCC is aware, it is always possible for an individual to misuse IP Relay services, just as someone can misuse the postal system or an email account, but FCC rules require that we complete all calls by customers who identify themselves as disabled." But if the allegations are proven, there could be some pretty serious repercussions for Big Blue. DOJ PR is just past the break.
Samsung countersues Apple in Australia, claims iPhone / iPad 2 violate its patents
Man. Exciting stuff, here. Stuff like lawyers yelling at each other in varied continents because "your stuff looks too much like my theoretical stuff." The long, winding and increasingly mind-numbing battle between Samsung and Apple has taken yet another turn in Australia, with the former slapping the latter with a bold countersuit. According to The Wall Street Journal, Sammy feels that the iPhone and iPad 2 both "violate a number of wireless technology patents held by Samsung." Spokesman Nam Ki-yung stated the following: "To defend our intellectual property, Samsung filed a cross claim for Apple's violation of Samsung's wireless technology patents." The suit is being filed just days / weeks before a ruling will decide on whether the Galaxy Tab 10.1 can be legally sold Down Under, and in related news, Samsung is also appealing a recent ruling back in Germany. If ever the world needed an out-of-court settlement...
Nokia files second complaint against Apple
After yesterday's decision by the International Trade Commission that Apple isn't violating five key Nokia patents, Nokia today has hit back by claiming that they invented, well, just about everything Apple has ever made. AppleInsider is reporting that Nokia has today launched a second complaint with the ITC saying that Apple's iPhone, iPod, iPad and Mac computers violate seven of their patents covering multi-tasking, data synchronization, positioning, call quality and the use of Bluetooth accessories. Nokia has issued a press release in which they also say they disagree with the ITC's judgement yesterday, and "is waiting to see the full details of the ruling before deciding on the next steps in that case." "Our latest ITC filing means we now have 46 Nokia patents in suit against Apple, many filed more than 10 years before Apple made its first iPhone," said Paul Melin, Vice President, Intellectual Property at Nokia. Nokia is also suing Apple in patent courts in Delaware in the USA, Mannheim, Dusseldorf and the Federal Patent Court in Germany, the UK High Court in London and the District Court of the Hague in the Netherlands. It appears that about the only Apple product not first developed by Nokia is the Apple HiFi -- although, as it ran on electricity and has at least one speaker, even that could be theirs.
There's more to starting a cable company than just pirating DirecTV
Blame it on the economy, lack of common sense, or lowered aspirations, but it seems like an awful lot of you guys think it's a good idea to re-sell DirecTV "on the sly," as they say in the business. Hell, this morning alone no less than two items have come across our desk to this effect -- and you know as well as we do that if both John Metzler, the owner and operator of Phoenix Communications and Pine River Cable in Michigan, is reselling premium digital channels, and if four unnamed Haysi, Virginia residents have also thought if it, then it's a growing concern. Our advice? Just don't do it. You don't want to be like OJ, do you? Didn't think so.Read - DirecTV Sues Virginia Residents for Unauthorized Distribution of DIRECTV ProgrammingRead - DirecTV sues Michigan man for redistributing its content
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]
Patent granted on smartphones, everyone sued
What would you do if the US patent office gave you the go-ahead on a far-reaching, non-specific application filed for a "mobile entertainment and communication device"? If your answer was that you would immediately draw up lawsuits against almost every major electronics manufacturer that even looked at a smartphone funny, you get a cookie. Yes folks, as impossible as it is to believe, the holders of the aforementioned patent have just sued Apple, Nokia, RIM, Sprint, AT&T, HP, Motorola, Helio, HTC, Sony Ericsson, UTStarcomm, and Samsung... amongst others. So eager was this company to sue, in fact, that legal papers were filed a day before the patent was granted, and subsequently had to re-submitted. The real sucker-punch here is that the patent simply combines a list of prior technologies jumbled into one product, a practice which has recently been ruled against by the Supreme Court. Still, we doubt it will stop the holders from trying to nab a few dollars in settlements, staying the work of real innovators, and generally making a mockery of our patent system. Bravo![Via Slashdot]
