An Italian court has sentenced six scientists and a former government official to six years in prison for a faulty prediction of the 2009 earthquake in L’Aquila. What is this, the Salem witch trials? This is a dangerously anti-science precedent, even if it’s just in Italy. More »
Dish Network announced Sunday that the long and drawnout court case between it and AMC Networks along with sister company Cablevision Systems had finally been settled. The court case focused on a now-defunct service called Voom, and was originally filed in 2008. Dish Network later decided to drop AMC claiming that its channels cost too much.
Dropping AMC networks meant that Dish Network subscribers no longer had access to some the best and most popular shows on television including Mad Men, Breaking Bad and the zombie hit The Walking Dead. Fans of that show were particularly peeved because the show recently started its latest season. In fact, the entire last season of Breaking Bad was missed by Dish subscribers. During the blackout, AMC even ran an unprecedented and aggressive marketing campaign against Dish.
The good news for fans of the zombie drama is that the service came back on Sunday night, just in time to watch the latest episode of The Walking Dead. The settlement will have Dish Network paying Cablevision and AMC Networks $700 million in cash. Other AMC Networks channels, including IFC, We TV and the Sundance Channel will return to Dish Network on November 1.
[via ZDNet]
In the latest scuffle between Apple and Samsung, a Tokyo court has ruled that the iPhone 4 and 4S do not infringe on two of Sammy’s patents. According to The Asahi Shimbun, a decision on September 14th found Apple had not violated a patent related to app downloads, as Samsung’s method is different. A dispute regarding flight / airplane mode also went in
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Apple, Samsung
Japan court rules Apple did not infringe two Samsung patents originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Oct 2012 07:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Apple by two individuals named Zach Ward and Thomas Buchar. The suit was filed against Apple over locking consumers to the AT&T network without receiving the consent of the consumers to have their iPhones locked. The duo and their legal counsel are seeking to force Apple to provide consumers with unlock codes for the iPhone.
The suit also hopes to force Apple to provide unlock codes as a matter of practice on future versions of the iPhone. The suit was filed last week against Apple in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. The complaint lists a single count against Apple of “Conspiracy to monopolize the iPhone voice and data services aftermarket in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act.”
The suit is based in part on the allegation that Apple entered into a secret five-year contract with AT&T establishing AT&T as the exclusive provider of voice and data services for iPhone customers from launch in 2007 through 2012. The suit states that the plaintiffs and other class action members who purchased the iPhone didn’t agree to use AT&T for five years.
By not disclosing the five-year exclusivity agreement with AT&T to consumers, Apple effectively locked the iPhone into using the AT&T network for five years without the user’s knowledge. The plaintiffs are seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, treble and exemplary damages, legal costs, and the software unlock codes mentioned before. The suit also seeks to force Apple to disclose that the iPhone is locked to specific network.
[via Patently Apple]
Class-action suit filed against Apple over iPhones locked to AT&T network is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
DISH Network has announced it has reached a settlement with AMC subsidiary Voom, splashing out $700m in cash and getting a variety of channels and a chunk of wireless spectrum in return. The agreement will see AMC content – as well as other channels – rejoin DISH’s service immediately, though DISH will have to pass back the 20-percent share in Voom it currently holds.
AMC content was pulled from DISH boxes back in July, after the two companies failed to reach a satisfactory renegotiation of their contract. That meant no more Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, or Mad Men, something which unsurprisingly didn’t leave subscribers feeling too great.
However, as of Sunday, AMC returned to DISH channel 131, while the Sundance Channel, Fuse, WE tv, and IFC will show up again on November 1.
As for the wireless spectrum, DISH now has the use of 500MHz of wireless multichannel video distribution and data service (MVDDS) spectrum licenses, previously held by Voom. They apparently service a population of around 150m, spread across 45 markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia.
DISH hasn’t said exactly what it plans to do with the new spectrum access, though promises “digital expansion opportunities” for AMC and other content.
AMC returns to DISH Network after $700m settlement is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Google has threatened to exclude French media websites from search results as a protest against an upcoming French law. What has the mega company so riled? The law would force search engines to shell out cold hard cash for content. Google responded that it “cannot accept” such a law.
Google sent a letter stating as much to multiple ministry offices around France, stating that if the law was passed, the company “as a consequence would be required to no longer reference French sites.” It also stated that such a model – requiring Google to pay to display links – would threaten the company’s existence.
Also in the letter was the statement that Google “redirects four billion clicks per month towards the Internet pages [of French media].” Obviously, having to pay to display those links would put a serious damper in Google’s finances, and not displaying the links will put a serious damper on those websites’ traffic numbers. According to Google, “Such a law would be harmful to the Internet.”
This comes after a call last month by a French newspaper to require search engines to pay for the links they display. The argument is that Google makes substantial revenue from advertisements from searches on media websites. This issue continues to rise as newspapers and magazines see decreased revenue from print editions. France’s Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti stated that she is in favor of the proposed law.
[via France 24]
Google threatens to exclude French media from Search in protest is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
The Center for Copyright Information (CCI) will officially begin cracking down on illegal downloading and other various acts of online piracy by rolling out its Copyright Alert System (CAS) sometime in the next few weeks. The CAS will be used to deliver copyright infringement notices to internet service providers from content owners who detect users that are illegally downloading copyrighted material.
The notices from CAS will be just that: a notice, and it will be up to internet service providers to take further action on offenders. This includes punishments, which could range from throttling download speeds to terminating internet services entirely, depending on the ISP. However, offenders can request a review of their network activity by paying a $35 billing fee. If the offender is found not guilty, the $35 will be refunded.
The Center for Copyright Information has partnered with several major ISPs, including AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner, and Verizon. Each ISP will use their own version of the CAS. In general, though, the system will detect illegal downloading by using a mix of humans and automated processes provided by MarkMonitor.
The CCI noted that they won’t have the ability to obtain personal information from the data they collect, and the overall goal of the CAS is to simply inform users rather than punish them. The CCI says that the system is designed to make users “aware of activity that has occurred using their Internet accounts, educate them on how they can prevent such activity from happening again, and provide information about the growing number of ways to access digital content legally.”
[via Ars Technica]
Copyright Alert System rolling out this fall is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
If you didn’t know, Apple and Samsung are still going at it, and today Judge Lucy Koh of the US District Court denied Apple’s request to have several financial documents sealed from public view. Said documents include “product-specific unit sales, revenue, profit, profit margin, and cost data.” Apple wants to use these documents in its argument in order to obtain a higher award from the court.
These financial documents could help Apple win an extra $535 million in damages from Samsung, on top of the $1.05 billion that’s already owed. Samsung, of course, appealed the court decision and wants a new trial, citing that the jury was dishonest about their lawsuit history and that personal viewpoints got in the way of making an informed decision.
Judge Koh noted that Apple is not allowed to use these financial documents as evidence to seek damage costs while keeping the documents secret at the same time. Apple must decide between either publicizing the documents and continue their quest for more damages, or keep the documents sealed and end the fight.
Judge Koh also mentioned that the extra damages and the sales bans that Apple is seeking upon Samsung “would have a profound effect on the smartphone industry, consumers, and the public.” Koh also noted that Apple hasn’t provided any compelling reason for wanting to keep the financial documents sealed other than just mentioning that the information in the documents are trade secrets.
[via Ars Technica]
Judge denies Apple’s request to seal financial documents is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Earlier this week, Foxconn owned up to using underage workers in one of its factories. That’s made Nintendo—whose Wii U is also assembled at Foxconn—suspicious, so it’s launching its own investigation into the Chinese manufacturer’s labor practices. More »
Having lost its appeal against the UK High Court of Justice’s ruling, which decided Samsung’s tablet designs didn’t infringe on the iPad, Apple is being forced to make a public apology. More »
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