Dec 27
Google has been tied up in court over allegations of patent infringement with the Rockstar Consortium. Rockstar is a consortium of companies that banded together to enforce copyrights backed by … Continue reading
Dec 27
Bitcoin has suffered some blows to its value and tradability over the last few weeks. Bitcoin was dismissed as a currency in Norway a few weeks ago. Bitcoin was then … Continue reading
Dec 26
Attempts to edit Edward Snowden out of cyber security history have prompted fierce debate about the role played by the NSA whistleblower, after famed spy museum Bletchley Park opted not … Continue reading
Dec 26
Google wants US court to say Android isn’t infringing on Rockstar Consortium patents
Posted in: Today's ChiliThe Rockstar Consortium is a coalition of technology firms that hold a number of patents. The Rockstar group includes Microsoft, Apple, BlackBerry, Ericsson, and Sony. The Rockstar Consortium filed suit … Continue reading
Dec 26
League Of Legends’ Justin Carter’s Motion To Quash Terrorist Threat Case Denied
Posted in: Today's Chili
Several months ago back in July, a League of Legends player found himself in a hot legal mess after he made a somewhat inappropriate joke about shooting up a school. While some found the comment made to be obviously sarcastic and made in jest, there were some who just weren’t going to sit by and take a chance and report the teen to the authorities. Justin Carter faced jail of up to 8 years and if you’re wondering what’s going on now, well it looks like Carter’s luck has not improved.
According to the latest reports, the motion to quash the case has since been denied, with the comment being flagged as a terrorist threat. This is definitely not good news for Carter, although the silver lining is that at the very least Carter made bail, thanks to an anonymous benefactor that donated $500,000 which was the amount required to get Carter out on bail. While this is definitely a setback, Carter’s legal representatives have stated that even if the case would not be dismissed, there are other avenues that they can explore to appeal it.
As we mentioned earlier, if it fails, Carter could face the next 8 years in prison, over a comment which made or may not have been made in jest. We have seen this happen many times in the past where a single comment, perhaps made innocently, blown out of proportion by social media. If anything this goes to show that whether we are joking or not, we definitely need to be careful of what we say on the internet.
League Of Legends’ Justin Carter’s Motion To Quash Terrorist Threat Case Denied original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Dec 25
World of Warcraft accounts, and like many other online gaming accounts, are susceptible to hacks. This can happen either by players choosing bad passwords, or clicking on bad links which have been disguised to look like official links from Blizzard or a developer. Well the good news for those who have ever been hacked, justice has been somewhat served over in China where a group of ten men have been sentenced to prison for up to two years for hacking over 11,000 World of Warcraft accounts.
The team of hackers were led by two men, Chen and Zhu, who would hack World of Warcraft accounts and then extract all the gold and items found in each character, and then sell the rest on auction for $3, making it ideal for gamers looking to save time leveling up a high level character. By the time they were caught, Chen and Zhu reportedly managed to rake in around $10,800. While Chen was fined $8,000, his partners in crime were fined $1,000 each, while all of them received 2 years of prison each.
Hacking has been an issue with World of Warcraft and Blizzard has warned in the past that by purchasing gold, you could be encouraging hackers to hack accounts to steal the gold in which they then sell back to you. Granted it is possible that the gold is being farmed without hacking, but sometimes it is done through the use of bots which also goes against Blizzard’s ToS.
World Of Warcraft Hackers In China Sentenced To 2 Years In Prison original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Dec 25
For those unfamiliar with the Rockstar Consortium, they are a group of big tech companies consisting of Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Sony, and Ericsson, who have teamed up together to purchase patents from Nortel Networks which occurred back in 2011. Unfortunately it seems that the patents that they purchased were harder to license out than they thought which is why according to a report from Bloomberg, the consortium is allegedly looking to sell of a portion of the $4.5 billion worth of patents it had acquired a couple of years ago.
However on the flip side of things, Rockstar has managed to find use for several of its patents and have recently filed a lawsuit against the likes of Google and several of Google’s Android OEMs, claiming that they have infringed upon multiple patents. Naturally Google and the rest of the companies involved weren’t going to take this lying down, which is why we have recently reported that Google had filed a declaratory judgment against the Rockstar Consortium, accusing them of harassing them and for placing “a cloud” on Google’s Android platform. Are the folks at Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Sony, and Ericsson regretting their purchase of some of Nortel’s patents?
Rockstar Consortium Looking To Sell Off Some Of Their Patents original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Dec 25
There is a patent consortium known as Rockstar whose name is rather appropriate given that it consists of companies such as Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Sony, and Ericsson. We have seen how they have tried to sue Google and other companies in the past over alleged patent infringements and it looks like Google is having none of it. The company has recently filed a declaratory judgment complaint where they are asking a San Jose court to rule that their company does not infringe on any of the seven patents that Rockstar claims that it does. According to the complaint, Google states, “Rockstar’s litigation campaign has placed a cloud on Google’s Android platform; threatened Google’s business and relationships with its customers and partners; as well as its sales of Nexus-branded Android devices.”
In the past we have seen how companies such as Apple and Microsoft go after Android manufacturers individually, and for the most part despite the whole “Mac versus PC” debate, Apple and Microsoft have never really had too much legal trouble with one another, although with the Rockstar patent group and the combined patents that they own, we expect that they could give other tech companies a whole lot of trouble and grief. It does seem a tad anti-competitive in nature but what do you guys think? Will the Rockstar group prevail, or will Google be able to beat them back?
Google Files Complaint Over Rockstar Consortium original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Dec 25
If there’s one thing about Apple is that they are consistent with the pricing of their products. If one were to hop on over to an Apple retail store or online website, you will realize that the prices of their iPhones, iPads, and Mac computers are more or less the same compared to other countries, with slight differences either due to currency conversion or taxes, but at the end of the day, the prices are too wildly different. It makes for a pretty fair scenario but over in Taiwan, it seems that the commission for the Fair Trade Act is not too pleased with how Apple is meddling with the prices in the country.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, the FTC claims that retailers and carriers who have been given the right to sell Apple’s iPhone, should be able to sell them at whatever prices they want after paying Apple for said rights, although this upset seems to be directed towards the iPhone only as the rest of Apple’s other products were not mentioned. The report goes on to state that the carriers had to submit pricing plans to Apple for approval before their iPhones were able to be sold. It is because of this alleged meddling that Apple is currently facing a $670,000 fine which they can appeal if they choose, but if they were to ignore the fine, it is possible that the fine would then be increased.
Taiwan FTC Fines Apple For Price Meddling original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Dec 24
Italy will force Italian companies to buy web adverts from locally-registered companies as opposed to foreign firms potentially trying to avoid domestic taxes, in a new ruling already under fire … Continue reading
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