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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We always thought that the RIAA’s first-ever filesharing trial victory against Jammie Thomas was a little suspect since the labels weren’t required to prove that Thomas even had Kazaa installed on her machine or was the person using the account in question, and it looks like the court agrees — it’s just declared a mistrial and set aside the $222,000 judgment on the grounds that simply making copyrighted works available for download does not constitute copyright infringement. That’s a huge decision — the “making available” theory is the basis for most of the RIAA’s legal arguments — and it means that the RIAA will now have to prove the unauthorized transfer of each song it wants to collect damages on at the new trial. We’ll see what effect this has in the broader sense — we’ve got a feeling we’re in for a slew of appellate decisions on both sides of the “making available” debate — but for now it looks like the good guys are finally starting to score some points.

[Via ZDNet, thanks JagsLive]

Read - Wired article
Read - Decision [PDF]

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Source: Nilay Patel

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Filed under: Cellphones

Not that we haven’t seen victories over SMS spammers before, but this one is sure catching a lot of attention due to the names attached. GSI Commerce and Timberland have reportedly agreed to “establish a fund of up to $7 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought against them for allegedly sending unsolicited text messages to wireless telephone users in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.” The settlement has already received preliminary approval from a judge in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division, and while the aforementioned firms vehemently deny any wrongdoing, they concede that taking this to court would be “burdensome, protracted and expensive.” More expensive than $7 million? Is that guilt we smell, or what?

[Via mocoNews]

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Transportation

If you had any urge whatsoever to try to your hand at drug trafficking over water while these “weird” economic times sort themselves out, uh, you may want to reevaluate your options. The ever-so-stealthy Stiletto has come to life after tracking down a remarkably quick drug-running boat near Florida; the bad guys were cruising at 42 knots, but that comic book-esque thing you’re undoubtedly peering at above can reach speeds of up to 60 knots. The double-M-shaped hull enables it to navigate in extraordinarily shallow waters without trouble, and a plethora of sensors and radars give it all the power it needs to track down goons. Oddly enough, it’s having a somewhat difficult time finding a government agency to truly call home, but if it continues to keep the coke out of our seas, we’d say it’ll win over some hearts soon enough.

[Thanks, Laz]

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Cellphones

Man, Sprint just can’t catch a break lately — the beleaguered wireless carrier was just told that it would have to pay some $73M in refunds to customers for improperly charging early-termination fees. The ruling, from a California state court, will basically set off a flood of similar cases if it stands — but Sprint still has two weeks to respond to the ruling before Judge Bonnie Sabraw, and you can bet Yellow Swoosh will appeal if it loses in the end. Interestingly, Verizon was facing a similar lawsuit earlier this year and chose to quickly settle — a lesson Sprint, with far less revenue and shrinking profits, might do well to learn from.

[Thanks, Roger A]

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Source: Nilay Patel

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/Apple_s_lawsuit_against_Psystar_examined’;
So we just got our hands on the complaint Apple filed against Psystar for building off-label Mac clones, and as expected, Steve and friends aren’t pulling any punches — in addition to the eight total claims, request for a permanent injunction, and money damages, Apple wants a recall of every Psystar machine ever sold. That’s harsh, but it’s not like Apple to take this lightly. Like we’ve been saying all along, the suit is more about copyright infringement than EULA violations, since Psystar was distributing a modified version of Apple’s copyrighted code outside the terms of the EULA. Grab the complaint here [PDF], and then head after the break for a quick breakdown of what Apple says Psystar is liable for.

PS. - Somewhat charmingly, we’re quoted in the factual allegations section as calling the Psystar machine we reviewed “crazy loud” — aww, you shouldn’t have, guys. Maybe you want to throw in a citation next time, though? Just a thought.Continue reading Apple’s lawsuit against Psystar examined

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Source: Nilay Patel

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Filed under: Desktops

C’mon now — you saw this one coming down the road, didn’t you? Apple has officially taken legal action against Mac clone-maker Psystar, according to court documents. On July 3rd, the Cupertino giant filed suit in the federal district court of northern California alleging violations against its shrink wrap license, trademarks, and copyright infringement. Clearly this doesn’t look real promising for the Florida-based cloner, but we’re confident they’ll handle this situation with the tact and aplomb we’ve come to expect from them. Which is none.

Read - Confirmed: Apple files suit against Psystar
Read - Apple goes after clone maker Psystar

[Thanks, ginger.al]

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Cellphones

Oh, there are plenty of bad Chinese iPhone knockoffs out there, but the HiPhone may be the reigning champion these days — so it kind of seemed like a matter of time before Apple loosed the hounds on distributors of the device. We don’t have confirmation or proper human translation of the above legal notice, but it would appear Apple’s European counsel Bird & Bird has delivered at least one notice to an unnamed distributor threatening €25,000 in damages (and €15,000 in legal fees) for HiPhone sales. Hardly the case of the century, but we’ll let you know if we hear anything.

[Thanks, Ricardo]

Update: Reader Ben W hooked us up with a translation of the letter; we can’t vouch for its veracity, but it’s posted after the break if you want to check it out. Thanks, Ben!Continue reading Apple finally setting its legal sights on the HiPhone?

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Source: Ryan Block

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Filed under: Desktops

Psystar’s offer to build off-license OSx86 OpenMac clones was apparently pretty popular — we saw a note from the company saying it was trying hard to cope with the rush of traffic, but it looks like things got overwhelming, and the site is now unavailable. People are speculating that Apple already shut things down, but that’s pretty unlikely: nothing on the Psystar site infringed any of Apple’s IP (as far as we can recall) and the company hadn’t actually sold anything yet, which means there isn’t much of anything for Apple to go to court over. On top of that, we doubt that Psystar wasn’t expecting to attract Apple’s attention, so we don’t think a cease and desist letter would scare the company into shutting things completely down. Of course, we’re still willing to bet that Apple’s legal team is licking their chops in anticipation of something actionable happening, but we’d say the most interesting thing about this so far is the incredible amount of attention a low-cost expandable minitower running OS X has gotten — maybe someone at Apple apart from the lawyers should be taking notes as well.

Update: They’re back! They’ve changed the name to “Open Computer,” which should totally throw off Apple’s lawyers. Or… probably won’t.

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Source: Nilay Patel

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