The Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill in New Zealand has been passed, despite strong opposition. The law will come into effect on September 1st and repeals Section 92A of the Copyright Act. The legislation seeks to tackle illegal file sharing, with illegal sharers receiving warnings for their first two infringements. A third infringement will […]
Motorola Solutions and Huawei Technologies have entered into an agreement to settle all pending litigation between them on breach of trade secrets. Motorola Solutions has agreed to withdraw its claims and dismiss, with prejudice, Huawei as a defendant in the Motorola v. Lemko litigation pending in the Chicago court. For its part, Huawei has agreed […]
Geo News and Geo Super have seemingly upset Pakistan’s regulator, and not for the first time. Now Pakistan’s media regulator (PEMRA) having taken note of what they say are “perpetual violations” committed by the two channels for “airing false news reports” has issued formal notices and is now blocking the channels distribution in the country. […]
The UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has decided not to prosecute BT and Phorm for secretly tracking the online habits of 18,000 Internet users. BT and Phorm sparked controversy in 2006 and 2007 when it emerged that the companies were covertly trialing software tracking users behaviour in order to deliver targeted advertising. BT ditched the […]
A coalition of content owners is working on a detailed proposal for a voluntary scheme which would see Internet Service Providers (ISPs) block dozens of sites facilitating online piracy, following a series of meetings convened by the communications minister Ed Vaizey, reports the Financial Times. The initiative comes amid continuing delays to the implementation of […]
As anticipated, the US House of Representatives has voted to overturn the so-called ‘net neutrality’ rules designed to create an open Internet. A clash with the Senate and President Obama is now certain to follow. The House voted 240 to 179 in favour of a Republican-backed resolution that seeks to block the rules approved by […]
Time Warner Cable and Viacom have counter-sued each other in an escalating battle over whether cable companies have the right to distribute TV shows to devices such as Apple’s iPad. TWC asked a court for a declaratory judgement regarding Viacom’s demand that the cable company stops delivering its programming on devices such as the iPad. […]
A US congressional hearing into IP piracy has suggested that Google was falling short in its anti-piracy efforts. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet Subcommittee that is investigating Web sites accused of pirating intellectual property, noted certain of Google’s efforts, such as removing apps connected with […]
The HomeGrid Forum today hasthe news that the G.hnem standard has entered the final stages of approval at the ITU, the UN’s International Telecommunications Union. Two new recommendations, G.9955 (PHY and system architecture) and G.9956 (DLL) form the global G.hnem standard for low frequency (9-500 KHz) powerline communications (PLC) for smart meters, energy management systems, […]
Six Hollywood studios are suing an Internet movie-rental site, Zediva, claiming the Silicon Valley start-up infringes their copyright by streaming films over the web directly from DVD players. Zediva streams movies shortly after they are available on DVD – but weeks before legitimate sites such as Netflix have them available. Its members pay as little […]