Law

Apple and Samsung bosses meeting on May 21-22 to talk patents

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

As previously hinted, top dogs at Apple and Samsung will meet next month to discuss a possible settlement to the ongoing patent war which has seen minor casualties on both sides, but has otherwise failed to produce an outright winner. A new report claims the upcoming mediation will take place on May 21 and May 22, starting on each day at 9:30am.

The court-moderated settlement talk is to seek an alternative dispute resolution to the more than fifty lawsuits the two technology giants have filed against each other in little more than a year in courts the world over...

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iCloud boss Eddy Cue: Uncle Sam is lost in agency model

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 23, 2012

The United States Department of Justice (DoJ), which filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five major publishers for alleged price fixing of electronic books sold on the iBookstore, is painfully lost in the intricacies of the so-called agency model exercised on the iBookstore, says Apple's Eddy Cue.

Unlike Amazon which gets to dictate prices, often at the expense of publishers, Apple lets publishers set their own price tags on the iTunes store, opting instead to take its standard 30 percent cut.

Somehow, the government alleges such a practice, which has been widely accepted on iTunes since the dawn of time, is the product of a conspiracy.

Now, Apple had to dispatch its online services boss to set the record straight, saying the government doesn't have a clue...

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Confident about its case, Apple wants trial on eBook price fixing allegations

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

Confident that the US Department of Justice's allegations that Apple sat down with book publishers to agree on eBooks prices are weak, the company wants to go to trial to defend itself, a lawyer for the company said today.

According to antitrust experts, the DoJ, which filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five other publishers last week has a weak case, and this probably explains why Apple is feeling so strong about the situation...

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Woz on patent war fallout, Tim Cook, post-PC world, tight Apple ecosystem

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 11, 2012

Steve Wozniak, who with his friend Steve Jobs co-founded Apple Computer on April 1, 1976 , always has interesting things to say about his company, competition and the technology industry at large. In an interview yesterday, the outspoken gadget lover expressed concern over patent wars.

He argued that patent-related litigation often blocks off start-ups and young thinkers because big boys make sure they own it all.

He also isn't convinced that we'll stop using computers in the post-PC world and said it's too early to judge Tim Cook as Steve Jobs has stamped his mark on products that are three years in the queue...

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Apple called back to Congress to discuss privacy concerns

Jake Smith ∙ March 14, 2012

The United States Congress is set to give Apple another look. AllThingsD reports that Congress has sent a letter to Apple's CEO Tim Cook requesting he sends a company representative to the Capitol to brief Congress on how Apple is protecting its users personal information on mobile devices.

While Apple was called to congress in February, this time around it's about the issue of apps being able to view customers' photos, location data, and more without their permission...

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Department of Justice approves Apple’s acquisition of Nortel patents

Jake Smith ∙ March 12, 2012

The US Department of Justice has just approved the sale of Nortel patents to the group Rockstar Consortium, which is an alliance made up of Apple, Microsoft, Research In Motion, Ericsson and Sony. The acquisition is priced at roughly $4.5 billion and will give the group 4,000 patents, reports The Next Web.

The patents are vital, and cover areas like 4G, network, voice, and more...

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Apple forced to stop suing Kodak over patents

Jake Smith ∙ March 8, 2012

In January, 131 year old camera company Kodak filed a lawsuit against Apple for violating four patents. Fast forward a month later, Apple went after the already bankrupt Kodak in court, counter suing the company. Apple claimed that Kodak actually stole the patents in question from Apple.

Today, the WSJ reports a New York judge has ordered Apple to stop filing lawsuits against Kodak. Kodak is failing as a company and is currently bankrupt... 

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Apple responds to ABC’s iFactory documentary

Jake Smith ∙ Updated November 19, 2017

In a special edition of ABC's Nightline program last night, correspondent Bill Weir traveled to Apple's main manufacture, Foxconn, to get an inside look at working conditions inside of the plant. During the program, Weir showed workers working on the assembly line, the dormitories they live in, and more.

Apple, Foxconn, and the FLA have today released statements to ABC regarding a few of the things said during last night's program. Apple responded to a claim one worker made, after she said that she carves the aluminum shavings from 6,000 iPad logos per day...

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Workers claim Foxconn hid underage workers before FLA inspection

Cody Lee ∙ February 22, 2012

After facing criticism from both the media and human rights organizations, Apple has opened up the doors to its manufacturing plants for the world to see. This has allowed the Fair Labor Association in to do an inspection, and ABC to do a report.

If you haven't seen ABC's "A Trip to the iFactory" yet, you should really watch it. The documentary actually doesn't make Foxconn, Apple's largest manufacturing partner, look as bad as the media has made them out to be. But were they hiding anything?

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Analyst arrested for leaking iPhone sales projections

Cody Lee ∙ February 18, 2012

How many times have you come across an Apple-related rumor that came from an analyst and his "supply chain" sources? Just look at all of the Apple TV gossip — most of it can be traced back to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.

While we tend to write off most of their predictions, there are some analysts that actually know what they're talking about. But we don't see them very often, because the ones that do provide accurate information, usually go to jail...

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EFF Attorney Talks About The Legality of Jailbreaking

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

Last month, we told you about the danger of jailbreaking becoming a "legal violation" again this year. Two years ago, the US government ruled that the act of jailbreaking was legal. But that ruling could expire this year if it isn't renewed.

Leading the fight to keep jailbreaking legal is the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation). And Gizmodo recently had a chance to sit down and talk with one of the foundation's staff lawyers, Mitch Stolz, about the whole matter...

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