Apple to sue Tiger sharing developers
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Apple has filed a suit against three developers that it claims released an early version of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger onto the Web. The company filed the lawsuit on Monday, alleging that the developers
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By Duncan Martell SAN FRANCISCO  - An unhappy iTunes online musicstore customer is suing Apple Computer Inc. , allegingthe company broke antitrust laws by only allowing iTunes towork with its own music player, the iPod, freezing outcompetitors, court filings showed.
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InfoWorld - Hackers who unlock Apple&#39;s iPhone from the AT&amp;T network and share the method with 10 million of their closest Internet friends are inviting a lawsuit from the two companies, several intellectual property (IP)&#160;lawyers said Monday.
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(InfoWorld) - Hackers who unlock Apple's iPhone from the AT&T network and share the method with 10 million of their closest Internet friends are inviting a lawsuit from the two companies, several intellectual property (IP)Â lawyers said Monday. Apple and AT&T may have a legal case against unlockers under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), especially if they try to sell software code or devices that unlock the iPhone, the lawyers said. But the legal landscape gets a bit complicated -- there's a legal exception to the DMCA's anticircumvention provisions that allows individual mobile phone users to unlock their devices for use on other networks. So figuring out how to unlock the iPhone yourself is not likely to be a DMCA violation, most of the IP lawyers said. But posting instructions or code online, even for free, may earn you a cease-and-desist letter from an unfriendly lawyer, and selling software or a device that unlocks the phone is inviting trouble, most of the lawyers said. But there's plenty of disagreement among IP lawyers about the interpretation of the DMCA. "It's an extremely grey [area], because I don't think the exemption was altogether clear," said Bart Showalter, an intellectual property lawyer in Dallas with the Baker Botts LLP law firm. "The idea of trying to use copyright to, in a sense, establish exclusivity in a service contract ... is going to be an interesting thing to watch." John McLaughlin, founder of Uniquephones, based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, had planned to release software Saturday that wouldÂ allow users to unlock their iPhone. But early Saturday morning, McLaughlin said he received a phone call from a man saying he was from a law firm representing AT&T. The caller saidÂ McLaughlin could be sued for copyright infringement. Two other groups have claimed to have unlocked the iPhone. Representatives of both AT&T and Apple declined to comment Monday on possible legal actions against unlockers. Showalter suggested that unlocking the iPhone and posting code or instructions for free would likely fall under the exception to the DMCA's anticircumvention provisions, thus protecting the unlocker from legal action. The exception allows circumvention of device controls "for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network," according to language from the U.S. registrar of copyrights. So if a hacker unlocks the iPhone, then posts the unlocking code for free, he's engaging in a legal activity and enabling others to engage in the same legal activity, said Michael Lewis, an IP lawyer with Fox Rothschild LLP. If that hacker is sued, he could probably argue that posting of the unlocking code is protected by free speech provisions in U.S. law, according to Lewis. Other IP lawyers disagreed. Movie studios have successfully sued Web site operators for distributing the DeCSS DVD-copying code, noted Carole Handler, an IP lawyer with Foley and Lardner LLP. The unlocker of the iPhone who posts code online could be held liable for secondary copyright infringement, she said. "I don't see that [Apple and AT&T] have a choice," Handler said. "They have to do something. If you don't protect your intellectual property, it's gone." Lewis' colleague, Gerry Norton, agreed, saying the unlocking exception was narrowly written. "The exception was just for the end-user," he said. Most of the lawyers agreed that selling software to unlock the iPhone, as McLaughlin was planning to do, would invite a lawsuit under the DMCA. "The courts seem to have less sympathy for people who are doing things to make a buck," Lewis said. But there wasn't even unanimous agreement on the legal liability of selling unlocking software. If the software being distributed targeted only the network lock on the iPhone, the developer could have a defense, Showalter said. "It does seem a little unusual to me that they say somebody can unlock their phone, but if someone tells them how to do it, that's a violation of the DMCA," he said. "If the software that's being sold is only doing the minimum amount that's necessary to allow it to interoperate with other services, you may have some support in the DMCA exception." Beyond the legal questions about unlocking the iPhone, Apple and AT&T could face their own legal challenges, Handler said. The exclusive contract between the two companies could lead to an antitrust lawsuit if a competitor or customer could successfully argue there's no other device like the iPhone available on the market, she said. "Consumers want new technology," she said. "This is the era of the consumer controlling the media. When the consumer is told he or she can't do something, they get pretty upset, and they start claiming conspiracy, antitrust, and the whole bit."
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By Associated Press  SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Apple Inc. has a few more days to respond to Cisco Systems Inc.'s trademark infringement lawsuit that threatens to keep Apple from using the name "iPhone" on its much-hyped cell phone-music player.
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A lawsuit filed against Apple alleges the company unfairly uses restrictions with its iPod line and iTunes Music Store to beat out competitors.
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Apple Computer Inc. is set to sue several anonymous people who leaked details about new products by posting information on the Internet, it has been claimed.
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Apple Computer Inc. filed suit Dec. 13 in the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, California, alleging that an unknown person has released confidential information pertaining to an upcoming Apple product.
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Company sues Mac enthusiast site and others, lending credibility to hot rumors surrounding product plans.
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Apple Inc  Chief Executive  Steve Jobs was asked by U.S. securities regulators to give a  deposition in a lawsuit against the company's former general  counsel involving stock options backdating, a person familiar  with the matter said on Thursday.
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(InfoWorld) - Third-party software developers can create Web 2.0 applications to run on Apple's forthcoming iPhone, company CEO Steve Jobs said Monday. [ For the latest from the show, readÂ Tom Yager's Enterprise Mac blog. ] Jobs told an enthusiastic audience at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference 2007 in San Francisco that developers could write applications that work and look like iPhone applications from Apple, including those for making calls, sending e-mail, and other functions. The iPhone, a combination cell phone, Web browser, and video and music player, goes on sale June 29. Developers will be able to create applications for the iPhone by using Web 2.0 programming toolsÂ such asÂ AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) and taking advantage of the full version of Apple's Safari Web browser incorporated into the devices. A separate, special software developer kit is not needed, Jobs said. The software development announcement was the last item in a 90-minute keynote address devoted mostly to the new OS X version 10.5 operating system, code-named Leopard and scheduled for release in October. Jobs highlighted 10 of what he said were 300 new features for Leopard, an upgrade from the present Tiger OS. Leopard will sell for $129. Also, Apple's updated Web browser, Safari 3.0, will be available to run on Windows Vista and Windows XP, Jobs said. Apple is releasing a public beta of Safari 3 for Mac OS X and Windows Monday, said Jobs. Jobs said the company took a cue from its experience enabling the iTunes Web music and video store to run on Windows. Safari has only 5 percent of the market for Web browsers, compared to 78 percent for Windows and 15 percent for the Firefox browser. Jobs said running on Windows could increase Safari's market share. Some in the audience of an estimated 5,000 literally oohed and ahhed as Jobs demonstrated new features of Leopard, including a feature called Stacks. In order to reduce clutter on computer desktops, Stacks can hide application icons behind the main icons on the application dock at the bottom of the screen. Click one of those icons, and others behind it shoot up toward the top of the screen in a stack. Leopard will also run 32- and 64-bit applications side by side, Jobs said. He also demonstrated a new Leopard feature called Core Flow in which images of files flip quickly across the screen from side to side, allowing users to find the image they want, click it, and see that file open up full screen. "This is an amazing way to find things, and it's incredibly useful," Jobs said. Apple said in April that it would delay Leopard's launch until October because it was devoting time and energy to bringing the iPhone to market. Apple is gaining attention because of TV commercials featuring a character called "Mac" and another called "PC." In a video prior to Jobs' keynote, John Hodgman, the comedian who plays the dim-witted Windows PC user in the commercials, appeared onscreen wearing Jobs' trademark black turtleneck and blue jeans, trying to pass himself off as Jobs. "I'm quitting," he declared, saying that he was closing down Apple because the Windows Vista OS was just too popular. "They have sold tens of ... dozens of copies," Hodgman said.
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SAN JOSE, Calif. - Cisco Systems Inc. said late Thursday that it has given Apple Inc. nearly another week to respond to its trademark infringement lawsuit that threatens to halt Apple from using the "iPhone" name on its much-hyped new iPod-cellular phone device.
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Derrick Story writes for the O&#146;Reilly MacDevCenter, summarizing a Mac OS X Tiger preview recently presented to the O&#146;Reilly Mac OS X Conference by Apple product manager Chris Bourdon. [Nov 17]
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Notoriously secretive Apple Computer has filed a lawsuit seeking to silence individuals it accuses of leaking trade secrets about a forthcoming product over the Internet.
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(InfoWorld) - The beta build of Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" that Apple handed out to developers June 11 at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) has leaked to the Internet and is being downloaded by users of PirateBay, the Swedish torrent tracker. Last Monday, CEO Steve Jobs spent most of this 90-minute WWDC keynote address touting the upcoming OS, which is set for release in October. Eight days later, the beta labeled build "9A466" was uploaded to PirateBay. The first upload on Tuesday didn't take -- there was only one "seeder," the term for a computer that has a complete copy of the torrent file -- but the second yesterday is being downloaded and assembled, according to comments left by numerous users. As of late yesterday, only four seeders were available, with 181 "leechers," or computers that have downloaded only part of the complete torrent. By 3 p.m. today EDT, however, the numbers had climbed to 44 seeders and more than 1,500 leechers. The beta was also posted to the private, invitation-only torrent tracker Oink yesterday, according to CrunchGear, a tech blog. But when CrunchGear exposed the leak, Oink pulled the beta. That sent downloaders into a verbal rage during which they vented their collective spleens at the blogger who outed Oink. "Go [expletive deleted] yourself you [expletive deleted] rat," ranted one. Based on the PirateBay listing, the Leopard 9A466 beta weighs in at a bit more than 6GB. But the exact byte count worried a user tagged as "konelli." "It's definitely not my intention to spoil the party, but how do we know that this is the real thing? Last time I checked, the WWDC version was supposed to be 6.94GB (or 7,450,640,384 bytes). This is, well, less. Has anybody finished downloading who could confirm that this is genuine?" Apple was asked if it planned to pursue the person or persons who leaked the build to BitTorrent, or what actions it might take against PirateBay. It did not immediately respond with comment, however. The first question is especially important in light of past history. The last time an under-development version of Mac OS X ended up on BitTorrent, the Cupertino, Calif.-based computer maker brought out its lawyers. In December 2004, Apple sued three men, as well as 25 others identified only as "Does," for releasing a developer preview of Tiger, Mac OS X 10.4, via the BitTorrent file-sharing network. All three were members of the company's own Developer Connection, Apple claimed, and had illegally leaked their copies of Tiger. But after several Apple notables, including co-founder Steve Wozniak, pleaded for leniency in blogs and other online postings, Apple backed off a bit. During a 10-month span from March to December 2005, Apple signed a settlement with the three named defendants: students Vivek Sambhara, David Schwartzstein, and David Steigerwald. Each promised to never again release information about the company or its products, while media accounts reported that Schwartzstein and Steigerwald also distributed repentant statements and paid damages to Apple. "We are pleased that Mr. Steigerwald has taken responsibility for his actions and that we can put this lawsuit behind us," Apple spokesman Steve Dowling told the Associated Press in March 2005 after the company settled with David Steigerwald, then a 22-year-old North Carolina college student.
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Honeywell on Wednesday announced that it has filed suit in federal court against Apple Computer Inc. and more than thirty other companies, alleging infringement over a 1994 patent that describes technology
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(InfoWorld) - Cisco Systems has given Apple a further extension on the deadline to respond to its lawsuit concerning the iPhone name, the company said late Thursday. Apple wasÂ hit with a trademark infringement lawsuitÂ from Cisco Systems the day after itÂ unveiled a new cell phoneÂ under the name iPhone at January's Macworld Expo in San Francisco. Cisco says its Linksys division owns the trademark on "iPhone" and filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court for Northern California seeking an injunction against Apple using the name. On Thursday evening Cisco said it had agreed to a request from Apple for more time. "Cisco has agreed to give Apple an extension until Wednesday, Feb. 21," the company said in a brief statement. "Cisco is fully committed to using the extra time to reach a mutually beneficial resolution." When Cisco sued Apple on Jan. 10 it revealed that the two companies had been talking about the iPhone name for about two years and were close to a deal on Jan. 8, which was the day before Macworld Expo. When Apple CEO Steve Jobs went ahead on Jan. 9 and announced the phone he did so before an agreement between the two companies had been reached and that pushed Cisco to file its lawsuit. AÂ previous extension was granted AppleÂ by Cisco on Feb. 1 at which time Cisco said it wanted an agreement on "trademark use and interoperability." Those words lend credibility to earlier media reports that Cisco might back-down over the trademark issue if the iPhone were made compatible with its networking gear. Just how serious Apple views the issue or how close the current talks are to a deal is unknown. A few days after being hit with the lawsuit Natalie Kerris, Apple's Director of music public relations, told IDG's Macworld that the company thought the lawsuit is "silly." Linksys launched its iPhoneÂ in late December, just as buzz was building about the possibility of a cell phone and music player combo from Apple coming at Macworld. The Linksys iPhone is a cordless telephone with base station that attaches to the Internet. It means calls can be made from the handset over Skype without the need for a personal computer. Apple's iPhone is a GSM cell phone married with an iPod that runs on Apple's Mac OSX operating system. The phone is due to be released in the U.S. in the middle of this year through a deal with Cingular Wireless. Models for international markets are due out sometime after the U.S. launch.