Hasta La Gadget!

Paul Devine, the man who last August collected a pretty lengthy list of charges against his name from the FBI and IRS — which collectively amounted to an accusation of “screwing Apple” — has now admitted his guilt. Specifically, Devine has fessed up to wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering, in which he engaged while exchanging confidential information about upcoming Apple products for cold hard cash from interested parts suppliers. He’s now having to forfeit $2.28 million in money and property that resulted from his nefarious exploits, with sentencing scheduled for June 6th. Devine’s lawyer is quoted as saying he’s a “good man who made a mistake, and now he’s trying to make amends.” Indeed, the mistake of getting caught and the amends of trying not to go to prison. Jump past the break for a full statement on the matter from the US Department of Justice.

Continue reading Former Apple employee admits he sold confidential info, cost the company in excess of $2 million

Former Apple employee admits he sold confidential info, cost the company in excess of $2 million originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 04:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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To Xoom or not to Xoom, that is the question — and Xoom Corporation says Motorola needs to ditch the name of its new Honeycomb-laden slate. That’s right, Xoom has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit asking for monetary damages, a temporary restraining order, and / or a preliminary injunction to spoil Moto’s release party for its new tablet. In case you’re curious, Xoom (the company) does seem to predate the slate by a good bit: it’s been operating its online payments business under that name and has owned the www.xoom.com domain since 2003. Xoom got a registered service mark for its money transfer and e-payment services in 2004.

But what about that Xoom trademark Motorola filed last year for mobile computers and related accessories? Traditionally, courts give priority to the first user to register a mark, so Xoom Corp. certainly has a case here, but we’re not so sure they’ll be able to prove that consumers are likely to be confused. To find out, the court will look at multiple factors to determine the likelihood of confusion: the strength of Xoom’s mark, the similarities between the two marks, the proximity of Xoom’s services and software to Moto’s tablet in the consumer marketplace, evidence of actual customer confusion, and the similarity of the marketing channels used by Moto and Xoom. Honestly, we can’t see Moto marketing the Xoom tablet to anyone looking for online payment services (aside from the occasional Android Market purchase) so Xoom Corp. has a tough road to hoe, but stranger things have happened — we’ll see how it goes.

Motorola dragged into court for Xoom trademark infringement originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s perhaps a little too little and a little too late, but Qualcomm can now use the word “smartbook” to describe low end smartphone/laptop hybrids — the sort of machine the company’s CEO says have been all but killed off by tablets. The unfortunate legal action initiated by Smartbook AG way back in 2009 has now been deemed invalid by the German Patent and Trademark Office. The combination of the words word “smart” and “book” are no longer covered by German trademark law, which seemingly leaves Smartbook AG in a rather more vulnerable position than it was in before. Not as vulnerable as the poor smartbook platform, though.

Qualcomm fends off Smartbook AG, can legally write ‘smartbook’ on the platform’s tombstone originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The fight isn’t over, but round one has certainly gone to Clearwire. Last month, Sony Ericsson sued the company for a logo that it thought to be too similar. And, indeed, they’re both vaguely swirly green blobs (that’s SE’s orb on the left). However, Clearwire has issued a statement indicating that a federal court isn’t so concerned, finding “insufficient evidence of likelihood of confusion and no irreparable harm,” denying a motion for a preliminary injunction. It’s unlikely that the case will go much further from here, but the final bell certainly hasn’t rung just yet. The full statement is below.

Continue reading Clearwire wins initial round against Sony Ericsson in trademark bout

Clearwire wins initial round against Sony Ericsson in trademark bout originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 22:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Are you that kid aiming his father’s laser pointer at people walking along city sidewalks? Yeah, well stop it — now. What you might consider a harmless prank can have serious repercussions when aimed at the cockpit of an approaching jetliner. What seems like good fun at the time can temporarily blind a pilot attempting to land nearly a million pounds of life, metal, and fuel. According to the numbers just released by the FAA, 2010 saw a record number of reports of lasers pointed at aircraft — “almost double” the number of reports from 2009. Of the 2,800 incidents reported nationwide, the Los Angeles area reported the most with 201 incidents, followed by Chicago (98), Phoenix (80, half of which were probably UFO related), and San Jose (80 — nerds!). Top 20 list after the break.

Continue reading Record number of aircraft ‘laser events’ gives us one more reason to hate LA

Record number of aircraft ‘laser events’ gives us one more reason to hate LA originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 08:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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