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By Tuvia Peretz • March 19th, 2012

DOJ approves acquisition of Nortel patent portfolio by the Rockstar Bidco Consortium.  Rockstar purchased the patent portfolio last year and the coalition which includes Microsoft, Apple, EMC, RIM, Ericsson and Sony is now free to pursue licensing agreements with companies it believes are using the technology covered by the Nortel patents. Apple claims that Samsung [...]

YAHOO! IS ON THE HUNT DURING RESTRUCTURING: Yahoo! Inc. has threatened to sue popular social networking company Facebook for allegedly infringing on Yahoo’s patent rights. Yahoo has not publicly announced which patents it believes are infringed but are asking for Facebook to either pay licensing fees or risk a lawsuit. This news comes on the [...]

Google’s Privacy Policy Goes Into Effect: Google’s much talked-about new privacy policy went into effect this week, not surprisingly with a measure of controversy. Days before the policy went into effect worldwide, the EU tasked the French government’s privacy agency to ascertain whether Google’s privacy policy violated new EU privacy law. Should the French agency [...]

As the Library of Congress commences its triennial consideration of rulemaking updates to DMCA anti-circumvention provisions, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has filed harsh responses to third-party requests for the express exemption of DVD ripping. The rule allowing for consumer jailbreaking of iPhones, adopted originally in 2010, is also up for reconsideration in [...]

The Federal Circuit refused to privilege a Google email detailing alternatives to using Java in Android and Chrome.  The email, sent from an engineer to Google’s VP of Android and senior counsel, concluded that no better alternative existed, but suggested it stress the viability of Objective C in licensing discussions with Oracle.  The court held [...]

Over the past three years, students in Columbia Law School’s Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic have teamed up with the judges at New York City’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings and the Legal Aid Society to create a website to help people who had their cars confiscated during an arrest get their cars [...]

Online shopping sites celebrated their second annual Cyber Monday, with more than 75% of online retailers offering some sort of discount for making purchases on the Monday after Thanksgiving. This year’s Cyber Monday comes after shoppers set a record for online spending – racking up $816 million — on Black Friday. The next status conference [...]

This week, Aurobindo Pharma became the first major generic drugmaker to join a patent pool designed to increase accessibility of AIDS/HIV treatments to the poor around the world. Lawmakers from across the country have written the Obama Administration in hopes of housing new satellite branches of the Patent and Trademark Office in their respective districts. [...]

Tech visionary Steve Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011. His name was listed on 317 Apple patents, including the Macintosh, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. Sprint is urging the FCC to quickly hold hearings to rule on whether the transfer of spectrum licenses from T-Mobile to AT&T serves the public interest. AT&T’s [...]

Privacy rights advocates filed a letter with the FTC, asking the commission to investigate Facebook’s user tracking after log off and whether Facebook’s new Ticker and Timeline feature constitute unfair or deceptive business practices.   The United States signs the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement this Saturday, an accord targeting intellectual property piracy. Some academics argue, however, that [...]