The Nook is Barnes & Noble’s first eBook ready and it has already impressed us. But it looks like there’s something fishy about the whole thing. Spring Design alleges that the Nook design was stolen from the Alex. Spring Design has shown the Alex dual-screen eBook reader to Barnes & Noble before the Nook has been developed and it looks like the two companies have worked together for a while. We’re not jumping to any conclusions yet as it’s not our place to do that.

Spring Design has filed a trade secret lawsuit against Barnes & Noble and we’re curious to see what happens next. Eric Kmiec, Spring Design Vice President of Sales and Marketing has this to say about the whole issue:

Spring Design unfortunately had to take the appropriate action to protect its intellectual property rights. We showed the Alex e-book design to Barnes & Noble in good faith with the intention of working together to provide a superior dual screen e-book to the market.

What will you choose between the Alex and the Nook?

via businesswire

Tags: alex, barnes noble, eBook Reader, lawsuit, Mobile News, nook, Portable Devices, spring design

It seems that a German company by the name of Smartbook AG is unpleased with companies utilizing the term ‘smartbook‘. In fact, they have recently told Netbooknews.de to stop using the term as Smartbook AG holds the trademark and copyright and the use of it is tarnishing their reputation.

What’s strange is the company has told the website to remove all references from the term on both their US and German websites which doesn’t make sense because they are based in Germany, not the US.

What would make more sense is if Smartbook AG went after companies deeming their products smartbooks, not the media.

via engadget

Tags: copyright, Germany, Laptops, lawsuit, Mobile News, netbooks, smartbook ag, Trademark

It seems that the Kindle’s cracked screens aren’t the only thing Amazon is getting sued about. This time, a 17 year old high school student is sueing Amazon because they deleted his homework, literally.

If you’ll recall a while back, Amazon, without notice, deleted digital copies of George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm from every Kindle that had it. Well the 17 year old in question was reportedly using the Kindle to take notes on 1984 for a summer assignment. Once the book was deleted, so were his notes, leading the teen to bring forth such a lawsuit.

The law suit seeks not only punitive damages but also seeks to forbid Amazon from doing the same thing in the future.

via Gizmodo

Tags: 1984, Amazon, Crazy Mobile, homework, Kindle, lawsuit, Mobile News, teenager

It seems that the patent dispute between Visto and Research in Motion has finally come to an end. This is the same patent dispute that has been going on for years but it looks that RIM’s lawyers have found a middle point.

Research in Motion will reportedly pay $276.5 million to bring the lenghty law suit to an end. However, RIM didn’t come out completely empty handed as they have netted themselves a license to use the patents in question along with “some of the plantiff’s intellectual property by way of transferred ownership”.

At least Visto didn’t accuse RIM of conspiring with the Mafia like this troubled man.

via Engadget

Tags: lawsuit, Mobile News, Mobile Software, patent, Research In Motion, Research In Motion, RIM, settlement, visto

Here’s one for the record books — It seems that a California resident has decided to sue Apple, stating that they used his iPod and conspired with the Italian Mafia to track his location.

Below is a an excerpt from the law suit:

The recording of death threats and other evidence, prove that APPLE INC. conspired with the Mafia and other Defendants to manufacture, distribute, and sell illegally bugged iPods and other electronic equipment to Plaintiff to perpetuate the stalking, extortion, and torture.

And if that wasn’t ridiculous enough, read on:

We’re going to kill you if you don’t model for us in New York. Media sources report that the modeling industry has an infamous “shadow Mafia” that forces models to work for pay after fraudulently putting them into excessive debt, coerces them into the illegal sex trade, and then disposes of them.

Let’s see how this one pans out. Can anyone guess an outcome?

via AppleInsider

Tags: Apple, Apple, Crazy Mobile, ipod, lawsuit, mafia, Mobile News, Mobile Software, MP3 Players

It seems the problem was a bit more widespread than we anticipated — Following a recent lawsuit brought before Amazon.com regarding the Kindle 2’s screens being prone to cracking, the company has released a press release stating that they will in fact replace cracked screens absolutely free.

If you are familiar with Amazon’s policy, they previously charged a $200 fee for the same repair. Perhaps Apple can learn a thing or two from Amazon.3

via Gizmodo

Tags: amazon.com, cracking, display, eBook Reader, Kindle 2, lawsuit, Mobile News, Portable Devices, repair, screen

Amazon’s Kindle certainly wasn’t the first eBook reader on the market but it’s probably the most hyped which means the company is bound to get some negative feedback from its customers.

It seems that one Seattle customer was so unpleased with his Kindle that he has decided to sue Amazon. The lawsuit states that the customer’s Kindle 2 was subject to cracking and screen freezes months after it was purchased.

I don’t know about you guys but I haven’t heard of any similar cases. Perhaps the guy/girl who bought it dropped the device and is sueing to make him/herself feel better? Who knows.

Read (WSJ)

Tags: Amazon, cracking, eBook Reader, freezing, Kindle, Kindle 2, lawsuit, Mobile News, Portable Devices

Now here is quite the unforunate story — Apparantly, a woman by the name of Jammie Thomas was found guilty back in 2007 for sharing 24 songs over Kazaa and was then ordered to pay $222,000.

Well, the woman was put on trial yet again this year at a Minnesota court and was again found guilty but this time ordered to pay an astounding $1,920,000 in damages. Thats a full $80,000 per song!

To stand unbiased on the situation, Mrs. Thomas was issued a cease-and-desist letter by the RIAA, which she refused to do. So remember boys and girls, crime never pays, even if it involves the non-violent act of downloading a couple songs.

Read (Gizmodo)

Tags: Crazy Mobile, file sharing, jammie thomas, kazaa, lawsuit, minnesota, MP3 Players, music, pirate, riaa, sueing

One of the most interesting trials we’ve seen lately was the Apple vs Psystar suit. We were really wondering who was going to win but it looks like we won’t get that answer anytime soon. Psystar can’t stay afloat anymore and it has filed for bankruptcy. Those Mac clones are going down folks and the economy is to blame. At least Apple and the world will be able to find out who are the creditors behind Psystar on that bankruptcy hearing on June 5th. We’ll bring you all the juicy details in case there are any.

Tags: Apple, Apple, Bankruptcy, lawsuit, Mobile News, Portable Devices, Psystar

I bet you were not expecting this to happen but it looks like Google and lots of other Android friends are in trouble with the law. Why is that? Well a certain Erich Specht who owns the trademark for Android Data Corporation since way back in October 2002, has sued Google and pretty much everyone else using the “Android” term for trademark infringement.

You would expect Google to be smarter than this and to actually apply themselves for the trademark for “Android” right? Well they did and the trademark application was denied to avoid confusion with Mr. Specht. I guess that Google and everyone else is going to pay a lot of money to keep the Android name in business. That’s right, Mr. Specht wants money and a name-change for Google’s OS. But what’s in a name anyway?

via tgdaily

Tags: Android, Google, Google, infringement, lawsuit, Mobile News, Trademark

When you have a big company you’re going to have to expect a bunch of smaller companies trying to get a slice of the success, Apple is no exception.

Apparently a company by the name of Affinity Labs is sueing apple claiming to hold patents on technology for browsing, streaming, and downloading content over wireless and cellular networks. Ring a bell? Yep, they are targeting both iTunes and the App Store.

But that’s not all, another company by the name of Accolade Systems is accusing Apple of infringing on their patent for CMOS image sensors in the iPhone camera. 

When will the lawsuits stop? Never, duh!

Read (TG Daily)

Tags: App Store, Apple, camera, Cell Phones, iPhone, iTunes, lawsuit, legal, Mobile News, Mobile Software, software

Apple and AT&T will keep getting sued over and over for that 3G service. No matter how hot or not the iPhone is, as long as the two companies keep emphasizing its capabilities and especially data speeds there are always going to be some unhappy customers. Like Damone Dickerson from New Jersey who has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. He says he hasn’t been able to connect to the 3G network more than a “fraction of the time”. Whenever he has connected to it it did not provide “full and continual service.” Will he make AT&T and Apple change their advertising messages? Will he “recover compensatory, statutory and punitive damages?” Apple and AT&T failed to comment so far but we’ll keep you updated.

via Yahoo

Tags: Apple, Apple, At&T, At&T, iPhone, lawsuit, Mobile News, trial

The Apple vs Psystar saga is far from being over. Psystar has mounted an offence after its last attempt to countersuit Apple was shut down a while ago. This time Psystar is claiming that Apple does not own the US rights to protect the Mac OS X and therefore the lawsuit shouldn’t even exist.

Psystar says that Apple didn’t go through the regular steps and procedures to register the copyright for Mac OS X. Without the copyright thing, which is really important, Apple can’t sue Psystar. Nobody else either for that matter.

Will this hold in court? It looks like Apple has at least a disc and a manual copyright for Mac OS X Leopard which was published on the same day the OS was launched, October 26th, 2007. And the US Copyright Office says so. How will Apple respond? We’ll see after the holidays.

Tags: Apple, lawsuit, Mobile News, Psystar

Yesterday Kodak filled a lawsuit on the US against two of the most popular companies in the mobile world: Samsung and LG.

The lawsuit is related to digital-camera patents, and includes the following functionalities: image capture, compression, data storage, and preview of images in motion.

So, what does Kodak really want? Basically they want to prohibit import and sales of the Samsung and LG products that use the patents. As for what they ask in the lawsuit: unspecified damages. Classic!

Tags: kodak, lawsuit, LG, LG, Mobile News, patent, Samsung, Samsung

We have a new development in the Apple-Psystar saga. It looks like a judge in California has granted Apple’s motion to dismiss Psystar’s counterclaims. You should remember how Apple has filled a suit against Psystar’s Mac clones followed by a countersuit a month later. Well that countersuit has just been rejected by Judge William Alsup and Psystar has less than a month to improve its argument through an amended complaint.

In a 19-page document Judge Alsup explained that Psystar’s allegations regarding Apple’s violation of the common law of unfair competition, the Cartwright Act, and the California Business and Professions Code aren’t backed up by enough facts. Psystar failed to prove the Mac OS is an independent, single-product market and in fact they have proven the contrary, therefore Apple’s motion was granted. What will follow next? We’ll keep you updated with this soap opera as it moves along.

Tags: Apple, lawsuit, Mobile News, Psystar, trial

Apple and Psystar battle in court is something we are expecting with some kind of interest. If Apple should loose, then we’re going to see more companies starting to sell PC rigged to run on Apple’s OS.

The two company might not let us indulge our pleasure to see them fighting to the death in court. They are going to settle the case with Alternative Dispute Resolution. That’s a process that will involve non-binding arbitration, early neutral evaluation and mediation. Wow! Does that mean that no one will bleed to death? We won’t see any of that since everything will go on behind closed doors.

Everything that’s going to be said will be private. That pisses me off. But in case you’re going to read some posts of us describing the new Psystar Mac-PCs, then you’ll know who was the real winner!

Tags: Apple, lawsuit, Mobile News, Psystar, software, trial

You should already be aware of the “war” Apple and Psystar. Apple sued Psystar for selling cheap PCs equipped with Mac OS. Psystar proves to be quite a tough nut to crack. Not only did it higher top notch lawyers but it started its own counteroffensive by suing Mac yesterday.

Psystar says that Apple is breaking the law by enforcing those terms of agreement which Psystar broke evidently when selling OpenComputers. According to Psystar, Apple is violating pro-competition laws which include the Clayton Antitrust Act and the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Psystar’s chief Rudy Pedraza says:

What we want to do is to provide an alternative, an option. It’s not that people don’t want to use Mac OS, many people are open to the idea, but they’re not used to spending an exorbitant amount of money on something that is essentially generic hardware.

Apple isn’t saying anything, but they usually don’t. They are obligated to respond within 30 days to Psystar’s complaint so we’re going to hear more about this conflict.

Tags: Apple, Desktop PCs, Laptops, lawsuit, Mobile News, Mobile Software, Psystar

It appears that Apple doesn’t always think outside the box the proper and legal way. A former top lawyer has just agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle federal charges. Apparently she cooked Apple’s books in order to hide backdated stock options issued to Steve Jobs and other executives.

The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Nancy Heinen helped Apple backdate two options grants to senior executives including herself. The move lead to $40 million being underreported in expenses. Steve Jobs was supposed to be a witness in the trial but Nancy Heinen settled. Besides the fine she agreed to be barred for five years from serving as an officer or director of any public company. Well that must mean she can afford it all. Not that it’s relevant to the whole case, but does she own any iPhone model?

Apple said its CEO knew about the whole think but he didn’t benefit from it. Sure he didn’t! He is just an innocent bystander in all of this right?

He didn’t know it was illegal, Apple says. Well I guess it is. Jobs wasn’t charged yet and I wonder if he’ll ever be…

Tags: Apple, lawsuit, Mobile News, steve jobs

In a not so strange twist of events, Motorola ended up suing its former employee, Michael Fenger who is currently working at Apple. Michael Fenger was a Motorola executive until March and his job description involved among other things knowing Motorola’s business practice and policies for the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions.
(more…)

Tags: Apple, Apple, lawsuit, Mobile News, Motorola, Motorola