Can tech help Alzheimer’s sufferers?
StandardFrom CNET Magazine: Brain-training apps might one day help the millions of Americans living with Alzheimer’s.
legal
The rise of the Internet police
StandardFor decades, the Internet has been like the Wild West, with anonymous users creating racist or hate-filled posts. Now the world’s largest social networks are doing something about it.
Apple, Samsung in Renewed Settlement Talks, but Deal Elusive
StandardApple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. have held a series of private negotiations about their patent disputes since last summer when Apple notched a victory in one case, according to legal documents and people familiar with the matter.
Driverless Cars Move Closer to Reality
StandardDriverless cars are no longer the domain of science fiction.
Apple’s Secrets Revealed at Trial
StandardApple Inc., one of the world’s most secretive companies, is finding there’s a price in pushing its grievances against rival Samsung Electronics Co. in federal court: disclosure.
In just the first few days of its patent trial this week, Apple has publicly discussed how it created the iPhone and iPad, showed early designs of the devices and described intimate details about its product team.
Apple Offered Licensing Deals to Patent Foes
StandardApple Inc. is fighting a multi-front patent war against competing makers of mobile devices, demanding injunctions that would block sales of their products. But the company has also indicated a willingness to cut deals with competitors, according to people familiar with the matter.
The consumer-electronics company has put forth proposals to Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. to settle some pending litigation in exchange for royalty payments to license its patents, among other terms, these people said.
This is not a new tactic; Apple had some discussions with companies such as Samsung before initiating litigation, according to statements made to a court in at least one suit.
Fight Over iPad Name Spills Into U.S. Court
StandardProview Electronics Co. has taken its legal battles with Apple Inc. to a U.S. court, claiming the iPhone maker used deception in buying the iPad trademark and shouldn’t be allowed to keep it.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the Superior Court of the State of California in Santa Clara County on Feb. 17 but previously unreported, claimed that Apple had committed fraud when it used a company set up by one of its law firms, called IP Application Development Ltd., to purchase the iPad trademark from Proview on Dec. 23, 2009 for 35,000 British pounds ($55,000).
Price of the iPad Name: $55,000 to $2 Billion
StandardWhat’s in a name like iPad?
Apple Inc. agreed to pay Proview International Holdings Ltd. £35,000 ($55,494 at current exchange rates) for the iPad trademark, according to a cache of documents that includes emails and a contract detailing an agreement between the two companies.
The newly unearthed documents come as Apple has been battling Proview over whether it purchased rights to the iPad name from Proview in 2009—a key issue in a dispute between the companies.
Proview defended its claims to the trademark in China, and suggested on Friday that the company could be due as much as $2 billion from Apple.
Apple Asked Standards Body to Set Rules for Essential Patents
StandardSAN FRANCISCO—Apple Inc. has asked a telecommunications standards body to set basic principles governing how member companies license their patents, an increasingly contentious topic for rivals in the smartphone industry.
In a letter to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, Apple said the telecommunications industry lacks consistent licensing schemes for the many patents necessary to make mobile devices, and offered suggestions for setting appropriate royalty rates that all members would follow.
Many mobile technology companies, such as Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., hold patents that became part of industrywide standards. Standards bodies often require the patent holders to offer to license their patents to any company on a basis known as Frand, or fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory. Questions about such commitments have arisen amid a flurry of patent suits between rivals in the mobile-device market.
Beyond the Password
StandardOne day five months ago, Karim Hijazi saw an unusual sight while reading his work email. A message that had been marked as “read” was suddenly marked “unread.”
What the founder of Unveillance, a computer-network security firm, soon learned was that hackers had broken into his account.
The hackers gained access to his email by stealing log-in information from an insecure website, which they then matched up with a password they found on the Internet. After downloading all of his emails, the hackers sent Mr. Hijazi a message demanding he share sensitive security information with them. When he refused, the hackers released his emails on the Web.
“It was like a baby with a gun,” he says.