Technabob » law

Apple Doesn’t Own iPad Trademark in China

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:00:43 +0000

It must really suck to be the person in charge of securing trademarks for Apple right now. Apparently, Apple thought that it had the trademark for the iPad name in China. Or at least it thought its team of legal ninjas could beat down the Chinese opposition that owned the trademark. In either case, Apple was wrong.

A company in China has had the iPad trademark since 2000. The company is called Proview Technologies and it actually sold the rights to iPad to another firm for the UK and other countries. That company then sold it to Apple. The problem was that apparently Chinese rights weren’t part of the original sale.

That means that Apple has been peddling the iPad in violation of the trademark in China for a while now. China is booming and important to most tech firms so Apple can’t just walk away. Proview is apparently looking for (imagine Dr. Evil as you read this next part) a billion dollars. Will Apple have to change its tablet’s name in China or pay up big time? That remains to be seen.

[via Reuters]

Lawyer Suspended for Spending Too Much Time Playing His Video Games

Hazel Chua — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 11:30:51 +0000

So we’ve seen and heard of people who were incapable of going about their everyday lives because of an addiction to something. For many, it’s alcohol. For some, it was drugs. But for this certain guy, it was video games.

If you know someone who’s had an addiction or is currently battling one, then you might already be familiar with some of the signs and symptoms of addiction. Video game addiction doesn’t really sound as grave or up to par with those who are addicted to drugs or booze, but it’s still a pretty serious addiction, as in the case of Atty. Matthew Eshelman.

This Pennsylvanian lawyer just recently got suspended from his lawyering duties and was told that he could not practice law for 3 years because he just couldn’t tear himself away from playing his video games long enough to do the things that lawyers were supposed to do. This was the unwavering decision of the Disciplinary Board after Eshelman himself confessed that he neglected his work to play round after round of video games.

Eshelman previously worked for another firm before establishing his own; however, his work was undermined in both cases because of his addiction. Hopefully, he’ll snap out of it and get back to doing what it is he’s supposed to be doing because it’s really such a shame.

And kids, remember: moderation is the key.

[via Geeky Gadgets]

Nevada Passes Legislation Allowing Google’s Driverless Cars to Cruise State Highways

Shane McGlaun — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 17:25:14 +0000

I think you can agree with me, people are generally stupid. Put stupid behind the wheel and you get an idiot driver that will text, eat, and read all while doing 80 MPH down the highway in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Google is looking for a way to combat the accidents all the idiot drivers around the country cause by not paying attention. According to Google, the way to solve distracted driving is to simply not have the driver do the driving.

The search giant has created some awesome tech that allows the fleet of autonomous vehicles to drive and navigate without needing any input from a person. Google has been backing a bill in Nevada that has now been passed. The bill in question is Assembly Bill No 511 and it makes operating Google’s (and presumably other) driverless vehicles on Nevada state roads legal.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

That means drivers in Nevada may soon be passed by cars with no driver on their way to work. I bet most people will never notice since they are too busy reading, eating or texting anyway. The tech sounds cool, but I would like to see just how well it works and responds to random and unexpected emergencies like a deer or child suddenly running out in front of the car.

[via inhabitat]

Spread a Virus in Japan and Get Thrown in the Slammer

Hazel Chua — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 15:38:08 +0000

That’s right, you read that right: if you’re caught with a virus on your computer, then you’ve got to shell out $6,200 in bail or spend three years in jail. This only applies if you’re in Japan, that is. So if you’re not living in the Land of the Rising Sun, then you can go on ahead and spread those corrupt and wormy files without worrying about getting sent to prison.

All kidding aside, the bill that criminalizes the creation or distribution of computer virus was finally enacted last Friday by Japan’s parliament. The law also includes provisions regarding punishment that will be meted out to people who have been caught sending pornographic images to random people.

These laws are meant to crack down on the dirty web of cybercrime; however, some parts of the law border on infringing the privacy of communications as it allows data to be obtained or subpoenaed by authorities from servers for investigation when necessary.

Japan is the first country to enact and implement such a law. Hopefully, we’ll be able to gauge the effectivity of passing the law a few months down the line.

[via Geeky Gadgets]

Nvidia Settles Faulty Gpu Class Action, Admits No Wrong

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 14:12:20 +0000

I always get a kick out of companies that realize they can’t defend themselves in court and end up settling without admitting guilt. If they weren’t guilty, I hardly think most companies would offer to pay out. NVIDIA has been fighting a class action over allegedly defective MCPs and GPUs in notebook computers for years now.

The issues happened in 2008 and 2009 with notebooks from Dell, HP, and Apple having various issues that were to do with faulty NVIDIA hardware inside. NVIDIA has been fighting to prove its hardware was not at fault and has finally thrown in the towel.

NVIDIA has now agreed to a settlement, yet still admits no wrong in the case. The settlement will see HP notebook owners with affected machines getting replacement notebooks. Apple and Dell owners will get new GPUs. Owners of machines from any company that paid to have the machine fixed may get as much as $2,000.

National Pork Board Threatens World Supply of Unicorn Meat

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:22:30 +0000

We all know the slogan for pork – The Other White Meat. Apparently, the legal firm retained by the National Pork Board, Faegre & Benson, has zero sense of humor and taken offense to a fake product ThinkGeek has on their website.

The product in question is Canned Unicorn Meat. ThinkGeek listed the product along with a catchy slogan “Unicorn – the new white meat.” The National Pork Board didn’t like that. I bet they were equally pissed when Fat Bastard uttered “Baby – the other, other white meat… GET IN MY BELLAY!”

The legal firm wants ThinkGeek to stop using the slogan immediately. ThinkGeek says that their usage is protected as parody. All I know is this cease and desist letter has to be one of the dumbest wastes of paper I have ever seen, and I read a few chapters of Twilight.

I’m not sure what would be worse, being the lawyer who had to send this letter or having your penis cut off in a freak Weed Eater accident.

South Korean Gamers Get Midnight Ban

Range — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:23:11 +0000

It looks like South Koreans won’t be able to play video games during the wee hours of the night. There is going to be an enforced ban, which will start at midnight.

The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has decided that gaming addiction has gotten to epic levels, so they will be enforcing a ban on online gamers, especially MMOs. Underage gamers will find their Internet connections disabled for six hours every night.

It goes beyond just a simple connection ban. If you play for more than six hours at a time, your connection will be throttled. This ban applies to 19 specific games, including MapleStory and Mabinogi. I don’t know how long this will last, but I’m sure that gamers will try and come up with some clever workarounds so they can stay online all night long. Or maybe they’ll actually just get real lives.

[via Crunchgear, photo by Mintymus]

Oh, L’Ironie: French Anti-Piracy Group Pirated Font for Its Logo

Lambert Varias — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:37:47 +0000

Last year, a law was passed in France that, simply put, allows the government to screen the Internet usage of its citizens (supposedly) to watch out for copyright infringement. Using a three strikes rule, French citizens who are accused of online piracy for a third time will be sent to court, where a judge can give them a fine, or even disconnect them from the Internet. It’s freakin’ scary right? And just to show you how serious the French government is about this whole thing, they set up the Hadopi agency, an organization dedicated solely to enforcing this new law. Here’s the agency’s logo, which was unveiled last week:

Remember those logos pirates! For they will be the last thing you – nah. Here’s le kicker in all of this serious law and order shit: turns out the font used in the logo was unlicensed. The font, called “Bienvenue”, is an “exclusive corporate typeface” meant only to be used for France Telecom-Orange products. In other words, the anti-piracy agency just committed piracy.

Hadopi has already apologized, and France Telecom-Orange said that they won’t sue, but the creator of the font, Jean-François Porchez, is considering pressing charges. Also, Hadopi, that’s strike one.

[via TorrentFreak via Boing Boing]

Patent Application Could be Trouble for Zune

Technabob — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 14:36:29 +0000

While Microsoft is touting the wonders of the music sharing features of the new Zune media player, I’m quite familiar with a project in which a team from the MIT Media lab developed a similar wireless music sharing capability a couple of years ago. The team filed a patent application back at the end of 2005 for virtually the exact functionality that Microsoft is planning.

The abstract of the patent documents reads:

Methods and apparatus for providing synchronous playback of the same piece of time-based media on multiple devices connected over heterogenous channels consisting of varying degrees of delay. The preferred embodiment of the invention is a handheld music player that uses a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth communications link to enable users to share music with similar nearby players and to synchronously play back the same music different players simultaneously. Users of all players tuned into one source hear the same thing at the same time, enabling the feeling of a shared music experience. Users can also use their players to exchange profile information and text messages.

Could this spell trouble down the road for Microsoft if this patent is eventually awarded?