Lawyer For Harvard Student Battling Apple Will Seek To Dismiss Lawsuit
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TechWeb - A lawyer, who has signed on to represent a Harvard student being sued by Apple Computer, said he will seek to dismiss the case on First Amendment free-speech grounds within two weeks.
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A lawyer for Michael S. Ovitz, the former president of the Walt Disney Company, argued Wednesday that his client should be excused as a defendant in a lawsuit
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The 19-year-old publisher of a Web site facing a lawsuit over an article about a top-secret &#36;499 Apple computer said Friday he can't afford to defend himself.
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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, Bloomberg reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
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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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An internet entrepreneur today claimed he was fighting a David versus Goliath battle with computer giant Apple over the ownership of a website address.
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The computer maker is filing a lawsuit accusing a 19-year-old Harvard freshman of illegally misappropriating trade secrets on an Internet Web site.
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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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(InfoWorld) - Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been subpoenaed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to give a deposition in the stock option backdating lawsuit against former Apple General Counsel, Nancy Heinen. Citing two sources familiar with the case,Â Bloomberg reportsÂ that the subpoena is not part of an SEC investigation. Jobs' testimony is required as part of aÂ lawsuit brought against Heinen by the SECÂ in April 2007. Heinen is the only former Apple executive charged in the backdating scandal.Â Apple's internal investigation cleared all current executivesÂ of any wrongdoing and the SEC reached a deal with former CFO Fred Anderson in the case. Apple representatives were not immediately available to comment. The SEC says that Heinen granted 4.8 million options to six Apple executives, including herself, Anderson and CEO Steve Jobs, in February 2001. To avoid reporting an US$18.9 million compensation charge, Heinen backdated the options to January 17 when the company share price was much lower, the SEC said. She then told her staff to prepare false documents showing the board of directors had acted on that day. Later, in December 2001, the company granted 7.5 million options to Jobs. Again, Heinen avoided a $20.3 million charge by drafting minutes for a fake board meeting she said happened on Oct. 19, the SEC said. That meeting had never occurred. Heinen has maintained her innocence in the case and a statement by her lawyers said, "Nancy Heinen's integrity is unimpeachable."Apple's backdating problems started in June 2006, when the company announced thatÂ an internal probeÂ had found some irregularities in some option grants issued between 1997 and 2001. Four months later, Apple said a special committee hadÂ found irregularities in 15 of the grantsÂ made between 1999 and 2002. The internal investigation also found that Jobs was aware that favorable grant dates had been selected but didn't receive or benefit from those grants and was "unaware" of the accounting implications. In late December,Â Apple disclosed more backdating-related news,Â again clearing current executives and taking an $84 million charge on its restated earnings. Macworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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Nothing breeds lawsuits like success. And for Apple, the New Year is bringing a rash of them. Earlier this week, Apple disclosed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that an iPod customer, Melanie Tucker, has filed a suit against the company, claiming that Apple violates antitrust laws by not allowing music bought on iTunes to be played on non-Apple music players.
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SAN JOSE, Calif.  --  Cisco Systems Inc. said late Thursday 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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A state court judge in Seattle has dismissed the third and final claim of a lawsuit brought by a violinist who accused the Seattle Symphony and its music director, Gerard Schwarz, of abuse and discrimination. The violinist, Peter Kaman, charged that the orchestra had discriminated against him because of his disability â a severe anxiety disorder â and systematically harassed him. The judge, Catherine Shaffer of King County Superior Court, previously dismissed the discrimination claims and last week threw out a claim that Mr. Kaman had suffered outrageous conduct and emotional distress. Mr. Kamanâs lawyer, Brenda Little, said on Monday that she would file a motion for the judge to reconsider last weekâs ruling; an appeal of the earlier dismissals is already pending, she said. The lawsuit was the latest chapter of turmoil in the orchestra: Mr. Schwarz has faced persistent opposition from players, several of whom have said they were targets of vandalism.
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Apple Corp. and Apple Comp. - aka the Beatles and the maker of the Mac - are reported to be on the verge of ending their legal dispute over the latter&#39;s right to operate in the music market.
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As part of a series looking at Internet and intellectual property law, Eric Goldman, assistant professor and director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University, discusses self-service IP enforcement, current search engine lawsuits, and the future of search engine law.
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A lawyer who represented a Rutgers University women's basketball player complained to the school that her coach pressured the athlete to drop a lawsuit against Don Imus over the radio host's sexist and racist remarks about the team.
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A&#160;class-action suit filed against Apple&#160;alleges the company unfairly uses technological restrictions with its iPod line and iTunes Music Store to beat out competitors.The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is the latest one to accuse Apple of unfair business practices. Apple is facing similar legal actions and scrutiny in the U.S. and Europe.The suit was filed Dec. 31 by Stacie Somers, a resident of San Diego County, California, who bought a 30GB iPod from Target, a retail store. Others who bought an iPod or content from Apple&#39;s iTunes store after Dec. 31, 2003, may join the suit.The suit calls for Apple to forfeit money it earned from the unfair practices and pay the plaintiffs damages.It alleges that Apple has constricted the market by not enabling iPods to play content in the Windows Media Audio (WMA) format, Microsoft&#39;s copy-protection technology. Further, Apple sells songs on the iTunes store with its own copy-protection technology, FairPlay, which is incompatible with music players other than the iPod.The suit contends iPod-owning consumers can only buy music from iTunes, an unlawful tie-in that violates U.S. antitrust laws. Apple could license the WMA format for as little as $0.03 per iPod, or for a total of $800,000 based on Apple&#39;s 2005 iPod sales, the suit reads.The suit may quickly become less relevant as many online music retailers, including Apple, expand their offerings of music free of copy-protection restrictions, also known as DRM (digital rights management).DRM-free tracks offer the advantage of being compatible on a wider range of devices. In May, Apple began selling songs from the label EMI without DRM. Also,&#160;Amazon.com now sells song in MP3 format, and Universal Music Group has tested selling DRM-free music.&#160;
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Apple Computer filed suit this week against three developers it says posted a prerelease version of Mac OS X onto the Internet. The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in San Jose, alleges that the three