Tag archive: settlement

Mark Zuckerberg can breath a sigh of relief: Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twins famously depicted in the Academy Award-winning film The Social Network, said this week that they would not appeal the Supreme Court ruling that upheld their settlement with Facbook and its co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, reports Reuters. The decision to throw in the towel comes after seven years of ongoing lawsuits. The settlement terms were originally… Read More

The LimeWire saga continues. Today, the RIAA announced that it reached a $105 million out-of-court settlement with LimeWire, a now defunct file-sharing network. This settlement comes a year after after a judge ruled that the P2P network actively helped users violate music copyright laws. The network has been down since October. “We are pleased to have reached a large monetary settlement following the court’s finding that both LimeWire and… Read More

Everyday consumers are no strangers to being overcharged by Verizon: the company has been slammed for its onerous early termination fees and recently agreed to cough up $77.8 million to settle allegations it charged customers for data services they never used. But consumers are not alone: now, Verizon has reached a $93.5 million settlement with the U.S. government to settle charges that the company overbilled for voice and data services… Read More

It seems Hewlett-Packard isn't the only technology giant willing to engage in a little backhanded deal-making to secure lucrative government contracts: communications gear maker Alcatel has agreed to pay some $137 million to settle charges brought by the SEC and Justice Department that it paid sham consulting fees to bribe government officials in Asia and Latin America to secure lucrative contracts. “Alcatel and its subsidiaries… Read More

Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and a prominent antitrust lawyer urged a federal judge Tuesday to block a class-action settlement that would give Google Inc. the digital rights to a vast library of books. As that coalition warned of a literary cartel that would lead to higher prices and less competition, Sony Electronics, a technology trade group and economics professors came to Google's defense by depicting the book deal as a… Read More

Microsoft, Yahoo and other challengers have submitted their final arguments to the courts today opposing the class-action settlement that would substantially expand Google’s library of digital books. As we previously reported, the lawsuit and settlement were brought about by authors and publishers, claiming that Google has violated their copyrights and of other rightsholders of books and inserts by scanning their books, creating an… Read More

Online bookseller Amazon.com Inc. is warning a federal judge that Internet search leader Google Inc. will be able to gouge consumers and stifle competition if it wins court approval to add millions more titles to its already vast digital library. The harsh critique of Google's 10-month-old settlement with U.S. authors and publishers emerged this week in a 41-page brief that Amazon filed in an attempt to persuade U.S. District Judge… Read More

Technology heavyweights Amazon, Microsoft, and Yahoo have signed on with the Internet Archive to form the Open Book Alliance, a coalition that's seeking to crystalize opposition to a legal settlement that could give Google digital rights to millions of copyrighted books. The group, which will also include a number of non-profit organizations, seeks to defeat a 2008 settlement agreement to two lawsuits that would effectively make… Read More

Although the bulk of the legal maneuverings surrounding Apple's back-dating of stock options given to executives is behind the company—including former Apple attorney Nancy Heinen settling with the SEC last month for $2.2 million—a few final bricks need to be mortared into place before the affair can safely be sealed off in the cellar. Federal judge Jeremy Fogel has given preliminary approval to a $14 million settlement… Read More

Apple has agreed to settle (PDF) a pair of class action lawsuits brought against it in Canada by Inez Lenzi and Bradley Waddell that accused the company of misleading consumers about the battery life of its famous iPod portable media players. Under terms of the settlement, customers who bought particular iPods in Canada on or before June 24, 2004, will be eligible for $45 CDN credit in the Apple Canada online store. The suits… Read More

Although neither company has revealed the specific terms of the settlement, software giant Microsoft and mobile email developer Visto have announced a settlement to a patent dispute between the companies that has been running for two years. The settlement involves Microsoft getting a license to the Visto patents for “cash and non-cash consideration,” and both companies dismissing all legal claims. “This settlement is yet… Read More

Hewlett-Packard is still working to put 2006′s spying scandal behind them, announcing that it has reached a settlement with four journalists over allegations the company engaged in corporate espionage to ferret out a leak in its board room. Hewlett-Packard has already paid a $14.5 million settlement in the affair, although the company admitted no wrongdoing over allegations investigators in its employ used… Read More

VoIP operator Vonage has announced that it has reached a settlement in the patent infringement suit brought against it by Nortel earlier this month. This time, no financial terms of the settlement were disclosed because, apparently, there were no financial terms: instead the companies will grant each other limited cross-licenses to each other's patents: Vonage will get access to three Nortel patents, and Nortel will get access to three… Read More

XM Satellite Radio has reached a settlement with Warner Music Group which sets up a multi-year deal that will enable XM listeners (and, if the merger goes through, perhaps Sirius customers) to record music from Warner Music Group artists on XM devices. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The recording industry had sued the satellite radio operator back in 2006 over the Pioneer Inno, a portable receiver which can record tup to 50… Read More

Back in 2005, one particular action by Apple—then called Apple Computer—set the blogosphere and the online journalism community into a snit-fit: the famously secretive company sued three online sites—O'Grady's PowerPage,Apple Insider, and Think Secret—for publishing stolen trade secrets related to an unreleased audio interface codenamed “Asteroid.” Apple sued the three sites (and their ISPs)… Read More