Friday, November 20, 2009
Google Books Settlement Proceedings to Drag on Until Mid-February
The latest revision of the Google Books settlement has been granted preliminary approval by a New York district judge, though it will be some time before that approval is finalized–if it is finalized. Judge Denny Chin of the Southern District of New York said Thursday that he will hold a hearing Feb. 18 on the new agreement, which will restore access to millions of out-of-print books, but may also one day give the company a monopoly on the largest digital library in the world.
Analysts mulling over Nokia’s IP infringment suit against Apple seem to be of two minds about how the action will play out. Some see it as a move to cash in on Apple’s iPhone success. Others view it as a preemptory move against a possible infringement suit from Apple aimed at Nokia’s own multitouch handsets.
It’s not the $974.5 million TiVo had been looking for, but the $200 million in sanctions against EchoStar’s Dish Network the company has been awarded isn’t exactly petty cash, either. On Friday, a U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of Texas ordered the satellite broadcaster to cough up that sum for its continued infringement of TiVo’s “multimedia time warping system” patent.
AT&T and Verizon have run afoul of TiVo’s video patents. Reporting a second-quarter loss and projected results below Wall Street expectations Wednesday, the digital video recorder pioneer said it is suing the two telecoms for infringing on its patents for technology that allows DVRs to simultaneously store and play back programs, pause live television and deliver other features. 
Cosmetics giant L’Oréal is 0-5 in its legal cases against eBay over the counterfeit perfumes and face creams listed on the auction site. Today the High Court in London ruled that eBay was “not jointly liable” for trademark infringements committed by its users, though it could do more to prevent them.
2009 is proving to be a year of dubious distinction for Microsoft in patent litigation. On Wednesday the company was ordered to pay $200 million to Toronto-based i4i for willfully infringing its patents. 
Google’s gone and run afoul of the Department of Justice again. Its interest piqued by the growing outcry over the company’s proposed book-search settlement with authors and publishers, the agency has opened an inquiry. 
Earlier this year, Apple COO Tim Cook said the company would use “whatever weapons we have at our disposal” to pursue anyone who “rips off” Apple’s iPhone intellectual property. He’d better hope those weapons are as effective a defense as offense because the company may soon need them. Elan Microelectronics has slapped Apple with a lawsuit claiming the MacBook, iPhone and iPod touch infringe upon touchscreen patents it holds.
