Law

Copyright Office Makes Changes, Gives More Rights to Consumers

by Mike Mansell July 27, 2010

Yesterday the United States Copyright Office held a rare meeting (held once every three years) to review and change some copyright law. In doing so, the Copyright Office made a landmark decision that can definitely be seen as a win for digital rights supporters. Changes to the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) allowed for [...]

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Zuck At Risk of Losing Ownership In Facebook

by Jeff Weisbein July 25, 2010

A lawyer for Facebook said she is “unsure” whether Mark Zuckerberg signed a contract that reportedly entitles Paul Ceglia to 84 percent of the social network. Paul Ceglia sued Facebook and Zuckerberg in state court June 30, claiming that a contract from April entitles him to ownership of most of Facebook. Ceglia’s lawyer produced a [...]

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Thesis vs WordPress: GPL License Debate

by Jeff Weisbein July 15, 2010

Chris Pearson of DIYThemes and Matt Mullenweg of WordPress are at each others throats over this issue about Chris’ Thesis theme framework for WordPress which is not licensed under the GPL (General Public License). Thesis is a very popular theme for WordPress, it has over 27,000 users and while Matt claims it’s the only major [...]

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YouTube vs Viacom Lawsuit Thrown Out

by Jeff Weisbein June 23, 2010

In a battle between the companies dating back to 2007, today a judge has rendered a decision to throw out Viacom’s lawsuit against YouTube because the court has decided that YouTube is protected by the safe harbor of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) against claims of copyright infringement. What exactly does that mean? It [...]

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Gawker Threatens to Sue Sheriff’s Office

by Mike Mansell April 28, 2010

Following the leakage of pre-release iPhone 4.0 images and specifications last week, the San Mateo County sheriff’s office executed a search warrant on the home of Gizmodo author Jason Chen. In said search warrant, the local police seized computers, electronic media, and other miscellaneous “evidence” that they felt could prove that Gizmodo committed a crime [...]

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Microsoft Launches TechPolicy Website

by Jeff Weisbein January 8, 2010

Microsoft is launching a new website today which it hopes will spur discussion on key technology policy debates about privacy, security, competition, cloud computing, intellectual property rights and other topics. The site includes opinion articles, a calendar of events and a blog. The topics up for discussion also include patents, licensing, software and services, antitrust, [...]

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Steve Jobs Responds to The Little App Factory: “Change Your Apps Name”

by Jeff Weisbein December 3, 2009

The Little App Factory recently received a cease and desist letter from Baker & McKenzie on behalf of Apple requesting that they change the name of their popular Mac app, “iPodRip”. The name change requested was over the trademark iPod which of course belongs to Apple. The obviously frustrated CEO John Devor whose application has [...]

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IOBit Caught Stealing The Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware Database

by Jeff Weisbein November 2, 2009

Malwarebytes, the company best known for their Anti-Malware product made a post on their site today warning its customers that IOBit, a Chinese company, has been stealing their (Malwarebytes’) database and implementing it within IOBit’s own software. According to Malwarebytes President and CEO, Marcin Kleczynski, they have conducted a thorough and in-depth investigation before making [...]

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Hey Twitter, You’re In The App Store.

by Jeff Weisbein October 16, 2009

Did you know there is an iPhone app in the App Store called Twitter? No? Me either. But it is there and it’s not an official app either. The iPhone App called Twitter has been developed by NibiruTech LTD. Twitter has been known lately to go after people infringing on their copyright (their name). This [...]

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FTC Updates Guidelines. Begins Cracking Down On Bloggers.

by Jeff Weisbein October 5, 2009

Today, the FTC in a somewhat expected announcement updated their “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”. The changes reflect the agency’s attempt to become more current. The updates allow the FTC to crack down on independent bloggers (and celebrities) who do not disclose any freebies. In other words, if a company [...]

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