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Mar

Apple Sues Amazon Over Use Of 'App Store' Name

Posted by David Ruddock in Apps/Games, Development, News

Amazon's upcoming Android Market competitor, the Amazon Appstore, is in hot water for its namesake. On Monday, Apple filed a lawsuit in a California federal court claiming Amazon had infringed on its trademark of the phrase "App Store." Apple applied for a trademark to this name way back in 2008, but it wasn't approved until January of 2010. Since then, Microsoft has filed a dispute with the trademark office alleging that the grant was improper. That complaint's outcome is still pending.

In the meantime, Amazon may have a difficult time asserting that its use of "Appstore" (as opposed to "App Store") doesn't violate Apple's trademark - it's hard to deny that Apple's App Store is a well-know name in the mobile world.

Mar

Verizon Suing The Pants Off Of SMS Scammers

Posted by Will Shanklin in News, Verizon Wireless

Have you ever been annoyed by SMS spam that attempts to convince you to pay for new Paris Hilton ringtones or something else you probably don't want? It appears that Verizon Wireless has too, as they have filed a federal lawsuit outlining a fraudulent SMS scheme that targeted its customers.

Among the violations that the scammers allegedly performed on Verizon customers:

misappropriating approved short codes for unapproved “shadow” campaigns that did not comply with Verizon Wireless’ consumer protection and disclosure policies
blocking certain IP addresses from accessing the websites associated with these shadow campaigns
re-directing visitors to shell websites, preventing Verizon Wireless and its auditors from finding the shadow campaign websites in the normal course of monitoring Premium SMS campaigns for compliance

Customers who think they might have been on the receiving end of this scheme and think they might be entitled to a refund can visit www.premiumsmsrefunds.com to get the full scoop.

Jan

Updated: Oracle vs. Google: It's Not Looking Good For Android

Posted by David Ruddock in Editorials, News

Update: In response to the ZDNet article, it seems like Mueller may well have been incorrect about the "additional instances" of possible infringement he claims to have found. Exhibit J (linked as "6 pages of code") from Oracle's amended complaint is not addressed in the ZDNet article. We make no claims as to the validity of Oracle or Mueller's assertion; we are merely commenting on the situation.

Many people are confused about what it is Mueller is saying about copyrighted code, and it's an understandably complex topic, one I don't claim to fully comprehend. Those who offer evidence that "debunks" Mueller's additional files clearly know a lot more about code than I do.

Dec

"Android Data" Trademark Withdrawn From Erich Specht, Google Free To Continue Calling Android "Android"

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Android OS, Google, News

If you were worried that Google would no longer be able to call its mobile operating system "Android," fear not.

From 1998 to 2002, a gentleman by the name of Erich Specht ran a company called "Android Data." Android Data went bankrupt in 2002, and Erich hasn't used the name since. However, when he heard of Google's use of the "Android" name, he put together a website to "prove" that Google had infringed on his trademark. Shortly after, he sued Google, Android Inc., and the Open Handset Alliance for infringing on the name for $94 million.

Luckily for us Android enthusiasts, the judge in charge of the case wasn't convinced and consequently threw both the lawsuit and Erich's original trademark out the window, stating that the latter could result in confusion with Google's trademark and that Erich had used his mark "as a sword" against Google.

Dec

Sprint Taken To Court Over $10 Monthly "Premium Data" Fee

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in News, Sprint

Looks like Sprint's $10 per month "premium data" fee (I like to call it the "4G tax") is coming back to bite them - a class action lawsuit was recently filed against the carrier.

Customers of the HTC EVO 4G as well as the Samsung Epic 4G may be "interested to know" that they can call the law offices of Scott A. Bursor at 646-504-7781 to confirm that they have indeed been charged the $10/month fee. His plaintiffs' argument is that Sprint's customers are already promised unlimited data within the $69.99 "Simply Everything" package.

Thing is, while the plaintiffs certainly do have the right to sue, I have my doubts about this here lawsuit making it anywhere.

Oct

The Revenge Of El Jobso - Apple Countersues Motorola

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Motorola, News

At the beginning of the month (October 6 to be exact), Motorola sued Apple for infringing 18 of its patents, including ones as diverse as antenna design and multi-design synchronization. Of course, being a company run by El Jobso himself, Apple just couldn't help it - they just had to strike back.

And strike back the fruit-themed company has, claiming Motorola's Android phones infringe on six Apple patents, including (but not limited to) the:

Droid
Droid 2
Droid X
Cliq
Cliq XT
Backflip
Devour A555
Devour i1
Charm

The patents?

7,812,828, Ellipse Fitting for Multi-Touch Surfaces
7,663,607, Multipoint Touchscreen
5,379,430, Object-Oriented System Locator System
7,497,949, Touch Screen Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for Determining Commands by Applying Heuristics
6,493,002, Method and Apparatus for Displaying and Accessing Control and Status Information in a Computer System
5,838,315, Support for Custom User-Interaction Elements in a Graphical, Event-Driven Computer System

It's not surprising to see Apple re-enforcing its scrolling patent (that would be patent #7,497,949) yet again, and since the company filed the cases in the Western District of Wisconsin (a court with a reputation for being nice to the plaintiffs), Motorola might be in deep with the sharks here.

Oct

Android At War: Google Mounts A Defense Against Oracle, But Can They Win? An Analysis

Posted by David Ruddock in Editorials, News

As we previously reported, Oracle America has filed suit against Google for (primarily) patent infringement. If you're not familiar with the case, I'll quickly summarize.

Oracle claims Google is in violation of seven U.S. patents previously filed by Sun Microsystems as part of the Java platform. Oracle now owns Sun. The alleged infringer, more specifically, is Android. If you want a more detailed explanation, read the next paragraph. If not, look at the pretty picture and continue.

The patents generally relate to the Java virtual machine (JVM). Apps on your Android phone run through the Dalvik VM (DVM), a Google / Open Handset Alliance developed alternative to JVM that utilizes portions of an open source Java implementation known as Apache Harmony.

Aug

Motorola Responds To Leaked DROID X 2.2 Update: Stop That, Or We'll Sue You

Posted by David Ruddock in Droid X (Shadow), Motorola, News

Despite a lot of fun Motorola hardware leaks lately (even some love for AT&T), Moto would like to remind us that they aren't much friendlier than Apple when it comes to unintended dissemination of their intellectual property.

The recently leaked update to Android 2.2 for the DROID X has been quite a popular download for daredevil users, and apparently Motorola has taken notice. While the ROM is now undoubtedly in the hands of every modding and development community member who has any interest in it, that isn't stopping Motorola from issuing cease and desist letters (e-mails) to those hosting the file.

Aug

Google To Oracle: We'll Fight For Android

Posted by David Ruddock in News

Them’s Fightin’ Words

As you may have heard, Oracle (who now own Sun and the Java programming language) filed a patent infringement suit against Google related to the use of Java on the Android platform (particularly in the Dalvik VM, details on TechCrunch if you’re interested). Google has responded to Oracle’s suit, and they are ready to make a stand:

We are disappointed Oracle has chosen to attack both Google and the open-source Java community with this baseless lawsuit. The open-source Java community goes beyond any one corporation and works every day to make the web a better place. We will strongly defend open-source standards and will continue to work with the industry to develop the Android platform.

Jun

The Court Room Drama Continues: Apple Files New Suit Against HTC

Posted by Nate Kimmey in HTC, News

It seems the battle between HTC and Apple isn’t going to end anytime soon. Apple has filed a new lawsuit against HTC which includes four patents – however, only two of them are new. The other two were also included in the previous lawsuit, but needed minor corrections and were instead included in the new suit. The two new patents are actually very closely related, with the newer one being a continuation of the other.

Some History

In case you forgot, Apple sued HTC back in March, citing violations of about 20 of their patents. In May, HTC countersued, claiming Apple was infringing on five of their own patents.