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Sonos could get a whole bunch of Google products banned in Germany — is the US next?
The Pixel 4a, YouTube Music, Nest speakers, and potentially more might be affected
You may have heard that Sonos and Google are involved in a dispute over patent infringement in the US, with Sonos claiming that the search company used its power to steal intellectual property when they first partnered up. The legal debate isn't limited by borders, though. Sonos also brought Google to court in Germany, where it has managed to enforce a preliminary sales ban of a whole bunch of Google products using the Cast protocol.
Federal court ruling ends random searches of phones (and other devices) at U.S. airports and borders
Random searches of phones, laptops, and other electronic devices at airports (and other ports of entry) in the United States have increased over the past few years. In fact, the practice is so commonplace that some people choose to wipe their phones before traveling. Thankfully, a district court has decided that random searches of devices at ports of entry is unconstitutional, making the searches illegal.
We've heard of phones taking potato photos, but phones being mistaken for a potato-based breakfast food is another story — one that now exists. A man in Connecticut spent his own money and 13 months of his life to prove in court that a police officer gave him a $300 distracted-driving ticked for merely eating a McDonald's hash brown while at the wheel. On Friday, a judge found Jason Stiber not guilty, bringing an end to what the defendant's attorney called "the case of the century."
Google's legal troubles in Europe continue as a European Commission court has accepted an injunction filed by alternative app store Aptoide. The antitrust complaint came after Google used Play Protect to warn users that Aptoide was potentially harmful.
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- AT&T has announced that the acquisition of Time Warner is now complete. Jeff Bewkes, former chairman and CEO of Time Warner, is staying as a senior advisor for the time being.
News of a proposed AT&T takeover of media giant Time Warner has been rumbling along for almost two years now. Donald Trump promised to contest the deal if he was voted into office, and sure enough, the Justice Department sued in an attempt to block the deal on antitrust grounds. The lawsuit has now been rejected by a District Court judge, allowing the deal to go ahead without any further conditions.
Back in 2012, the FBI, Department of Justice, and other domestic and foreign entities teamed up to seize three sites that pirated Android apps: Applanet, AppBucket, and SnappzMarket. The fallout for some of the operators of those sites was known within about 18 months of the unprecedented crackdown. For the then-teenager behind Applanet, the largest of the three offending sites, the consequences were not determined until this week: He'll avoid prison time but will be placed under probation with some special conditions.
One of the big advantages of Google Fi is its flexibility. You just pay for the data you use at a rate of $10 a gig, up to a recently-set maximum of $80 a month. But, according to a lawsuit filed earlier this week, Google may have charged at least one Project Fi subscriber for data that was used while the customer was on a Wi-Fi connection.
The continuing corporate drama between Android ROM developer Cyanogen, Inc., precocious enthusiast manufacturer OnePlus, and Indian smartphone vendor Micromax is basically a love triangle with Cyanogen's customized software in the middle. After Cyanogen made an arrangement with Micromax to exclusively provide the Android build for its Yu smartphone, Micromax went to the Delhi High Court to forcibly bar the OnePlus One (and its CM11S software) from being sold. The court granted an injunction on December 16th, allowing only the remaining stock to be sold on Amazon's Indian portal.
Writing for Android Police from my home office in Virginia, it's not every day that I get to report on something somewhat close to home. But here it is. A Virginia Circuit Court judge has ruled that while police officers cannot compel a person to give up their passcode, they can demand someone use their fingerprint to unlock their phone.
Texting and driving is a pretty heinous crime. Bad enough that it's spawned entire ad campaigns devoted to educating the public on the dangers of such acts. Of this, you are no doubt aware. What you may be less aware of is the fact that figuring out where you're going is exactly as dangerous as sending someone a message that says "Doesn't the Peachoid look like a giant..."
Last year, Apple won what was perhaps the largest legal victory in its war on Android when a court ruled that Samsung infringed its patents on a significant number of devices and owed the Cupertino company in excess of a billion dollars. Today, however, that same judge is vacating $450m from that total until a second damages trial with a new jury can commence.
Apple Posts Revised Court-Ordered Apology, Skips The Passive Aggressive, Judge-Undermining Remarks
Apple Posts Revised Court-Ordered Apology, Skips The Passive Aggressive, Judge-Undermining Remarks
Let this be a lesson to you all: if a judge orders you to issue a statement saying X, it might not be a good idea to say "Well, that guy said X, but everyone else in the world thinks he's an idiot, so it doesn't really matter." That's roughly what Apple did when it posted this court-ordered concession on its website. When the UK judge came back and said, "Um, no, try that again," the Cupertino company was forced to issue a new version, sans snark. Here it is in full:
A court in Tokyo returned a favorable ruling for Samsung Friday, finding that Samsung's mobile devices were not in violation of an Apple patent related to inter-device media transfer.
Let this be a lesson to all major tech companies: if you have a ton of users and you want to enter a new market, you'd better charge some kind of arbitrary fee, lest you end up in trouble with the French judicial system. Google is feeling that sting this week, as a French court ordered the company to pay €500,000 in damages to Maps competitor Bottin Cartographs as well as a €15,000 fine.
After lifting an injunction against the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 last month, Australia's High Court ruled that it would not hear Apple's application for special leave to ban the Tab once again, meaning would-be 10.1 owners in Australia have only to wait a matter of days before they can get their hands on Sammy's super sleek tablet.
Well, this is certainly an interesting turn of events. In Samsung and Apple's ongoing attempts to sue the pants off one another in every court conceivable, an unlikely player has stepped into the arena as a voice of reason (sort of).
This morning, as part of the ongoing Samsung v Apple patent litigation, the German court responsible for imposing a ban on Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales in the EU has backpedaled, temporarily lifting the injunction enjoining Samsung from distributing its flagship tablet in the European Union.