In the Oracle vs. Google litigation, which is winding down, Judge William Alsup ordered the companies to disclose authors, bloggers and journalists with whom they had financial relationships. Oracle previously disclosed that it had retained Florian Mueller, who writes the blog FOSS Patents. Google disclosed that it had paid no one. On August 17, 2012 Google filed a statement that read in part: Neither Google nor its counsel has paid an author, journalist, commentator or blogger to report or comment on any issues in this case. And neither Google nor its counsel has been involved in any [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Legal | Legal: Copyright & Trademark | Legal: Patents | Top News

Apple has been waging a proxy war with Google and Android through its global litigation with Samsung. Now the companies will be directly battling it out in a new action filed by Google subsidiary Motorola before the US International Trade Commission (ITC). Motorola filed and partly won a patent case before the ITC, prior to the Google acquisition. But this is the first case filed under Google ownership. The earlier Motorola ITC patent victory was based on a single claim related to wireless 3G standards. Motorola seeks an import ban on iPhones in that case. A final decision from the administ [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iOS | Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Acquisitions | Google: Android | Google: Business Issues | Google: International | Google: Legal | Google: Mobile | Legal: Antitrust | Legal: Patents | Top News

According to Reuters the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has opened a formal antitrust investigation against Google. The article reports that CCI received a complaint that Google had "contravened" an Indian "competition rule." However that rule and the substance of the complaint aren't identified. Google told Reuters that it was cooperating with the CCI and was confident that it hadn't violated any Indian regulations. This is merely the latest legal headache for Google in India. The country has also sought to impose aggressive censorship rules on Google that require Google to block [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Critics | Google: International | Google: Legal | Legal: Antitrust

Beginning this week, Google will be penalizing certain sites that are frequently accused of violating copyright laws. In a blog post Friday morning, Google explained the change this way: Starting next week, we will begin taking into account a new signal in our rankings: the number of valid copyright removal notices we receive for any given site. Sites with high numbers of removal notices may appear lower in our results. This ranking change should help users find legitimate, quality sources of content more easily.... Rights groups such as the Recording Industry Association of Americ [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Google: Legal | Google: SEO | Legal: Copyright & Trademark | Search Marketing

It's official. As earlier reported, Google will pay $22.5 million to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that it placed tracking cookies and served targeted ads to Safari browser users, after it said it wouldn't. The cookie placement violated the privacy settlement Google reached with the FTC in October of last year. It's the largest penalty ever posed for violation of an existing order by the FTC, according to the Commission, but it represents a drop in the bucket for Google, which had Q2 revenues of more than $12 billion. When questioned about the sufficiency of the penalty, [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Legal | Google: Privacy | Legal: Privacy | Top News

Reuters is confirming that the civil penalty Google will pay to settle the "Cookiegate" episode, in which it bypassed the default Safari privacy settings on the iPhone, is $22.5 million. This figure was previously reported and represents a fine of $16,000 per violation per day. In February the Wall Street Journal first reported that Google and other ad networks (i.e., Gannett’s PointRoll) were discovered circumventing mobile Safari’s default “no third party cookies” settings. Google said it was simply trying to make its +1 buttons work on iOS and nothing sinister was intended. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Legal | Google: Privacy | Legal: General | Legal: Privacy

Despite assurances to the contrary, Google told the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) today that it still has some of the WiFi payload data that it's Street View cars collected in 2010. That data may include personal information such as usernames, passwords and email addresses that Google collected via unsecured WiFi networks. Google's collection of such data has sparked numerous governmental investigations around the world -- some of which are still in progress. Google had previously promised the UK government and public that it had deleted all of the data. But Google attorne [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Legal | Google: Privacy | Google: Street View | Legal: Privacy | Top News

Google and Facebook both increased their spending trying to educate (read: influence) Congress in the second quarter, according to filings made under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995. Companies that employ lobbyists must file these reports on a quarterly basis. The disclosures show that Facebook spent just under $1 million ($960,000) on lobbying in Q2, up from $650,000 in Q1 2012. That compares with $320,000 spent trying to influence lawmakers in Q2, 2011. A wide range of bills and issues were cited on Facebook's disclosures. Among them privacy, intellectual property reform, corporate [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Facebook: Business Issues | Facebook: Legal | Google: Business Issues | Google: Legal

The Wall Street Journal reports Google and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is expected to announce the terms of 'Cookiegate' fine. This fine is due to Google bypassing the default privacy settings in Apple’s Safari web browser. The Wall Street Journal says they expect the fine to be the "largest penalty ever levied on a single company" by the FTC. The amount is a whopping $22.5 million according to sources. For Google, $22.5 million is not much but for their reputation, it just tacks on one more dent to their "do no evil" reputation. The penalty is $16,000 per violation per day, a [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Legal | Google: Privacy | Legal: Privacy | Top News

Be In, a company that created the video sharing service CamUp, is accusing Google of stealing trade secrets and violating its copyrights when it added a "Watch with Friends" video sharing feature to Google+. CamUp is a New York-based online service/community that allows users to share multimedia content via connected webcams. GigaOm has posted a copy of the lawsuit, which claims Be In has suffered losses in excess of $75,000 and "continues to suffer irreparable harm." The suit asks the court to shut down the Hangouts feature on Google+, to make Google remove the Hangouts button on YouTube [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Google: Google+ | Google: Legal | Google: YouTube | Legal: Copyright & Trademark | Top News

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) was mulling whether to reopen the Google Street View "Wi-Spy" investigation. This was prompted by the US Federal Communications Commission report that found the collection of so-called consumer payload data by Google was intentional. The ICO investigation has now been reopened, accordingly. The original 2010 investigation was closed without any penalty being assessed against Google. But the subsequent finding of intentional conduct by Google and executive knowledge of the capture of payload data was sufficient to justify reopening the inve [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Critics | Google: Legal | Google: Mobile | Google: Street View

Last week Google notched a major victory for Street View in Europe. The Swiss have affirmed its basic right to exist in the country, which is widely regarded to have among the toughest privacy laws on The Continent. The Swiss privacy regulator had demanded that Google guarantee it would be able to blur faces, car license plates and other images with complete accuracy, 100 percent of the time. That requirement was seen as a threat to Google's ability to continue to operate Street View in Switzerland -- because it could only blur faces (etc.) with 99 percent accuracy. In what was described [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Business Issues | Google: Legal | Google: Street View | Legal: Copyright & Trademark | Legal: Privacy

Google's YouTube won a legal victory today when a French court dismissed a copyright violation lawsuit filed against by TF1, a French television company. According to a New York Times report, TF1's lawsuit asked the court to rule that YouTube was required to pre-filter all content before it was published on the site. But the Tribunal de Grande Instance decided that YouTube's existing system for dealing with copyrighted material is adequate. (That system, called Content ID, prompts YouTube to identify copyrighted material and notify the owner of the possible infringement. The content own [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Google: Legal | Google: YouTube | Legal: Copyright & Trademark

Governments that had previously closed the book on Street View privacy investigations appear to be considering "round two," in the wake of the FCC report that asserted that the personal data collected was not inadvertent but intentional. Privacy regulators in both the UK and Australia are now considering reopening Street View privacy cases that were previously closed. Several other European nations had concluded similar investigations with either no penalties or relatively minor fines assessed against Google. Those generally favorable outcomes for Google were largely based on earlier sta [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: International | Google: Legal | Google: Privacy | Google: Street View | Legal: Privacy | Top News

According to reports just coming out, the jury in the Oracle-Google trial has found that Google did not infringe any of Oracle's patents with Android. Thus there are no damages that Google must pay to Oracle. This is near total victory for Google. In an earlier phase of the trial Google was found by the jury to have violated Oracle's copyright in using some Java code in Android APIs. However, the jury deadlocked on the question of Google's defense of "fair use." The status of that portion of the trial is still unresolved. Final determinations about the copyright issues will be mad [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Legal | Google: Mobile | Legal: General | Legal: Patents

I was asked to speak about the evolution of search and offer some of my thoughts about its future at a conference of legal experts and government officials at George Mason University Law School in Virginia. The conference was the school's "Second Annual Conference on Competition, Search and Social Media." FTC and Google in the house Other than me the speakers were either practicing lawyers, law professors or people who work in Washington at places like the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). These are some of the same people deciding whether or not to bring an antitrust case against Google. ( [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Features & Analysis | Google: Legal | Legal: Antitrust

This morning comes more saber rattling from Iran, the troubled Middle-Eastern regime that routinely issues threats against real and perceived enemies. This time the object of the Iranian leadership's vitriol is Google. Google has dropped the name of the body of water historically known as the "Persian Gulf." The map instead offers no name for the area. According to a report from the Associated Press, "Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says that if Google does not restore the name of the Persian Gulf, it will face 'serious damages.'" The country has threatened to sue Googl [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google | Google: Legal | Google: Maps

The National Arbitration Forum (NAF) has given Google ownership of more than 750 domains that used its trademark name, often in conjunction with other well-known trademarks and/or celebrity names. In one of its legal filings, Google called it "one of the most aggressive campaigns of domain name infringement that [Google] has encountered." The domains were registered by Chris Gillespie between February 29 and March 10, 2012. They include domains like googlechevron.com, googlecoors.com, googledonaldtrump.com and googlegaycruises.com. For a time, according to Google's complaint, Gillesp [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content Marketing | Domaining | Google: Business Issues | Google: Legal | Legal: Copyright & Trademark | Top News

According to published reports, a federal jury earlier today delivered a mixed result in Oracle v. Google. The jury found that Google had in fact infringed on Oracle's Java copyright (by virtue of its Sun Microsystems acquisition) in using some Java code in Android and related APIs. However it deadlocked on the question of whether that infringement was protected by the doctrine of "fair use." Fair use is a defense against a claim of copyright infringement. There were more findings and procedural nuances, more fully explained in the Mercury News article on the case. Google has now moved f [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Business Issues | Google: Legal | Google: Mobile | Legal: Copyright & Trademark | Legal: General | Legal: Patents | Top News

Google is under antitrust investigations in the US, Europe, Argentina and South Korea. Now India has said it will investigate AdWords for anti-competitive behavior, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The  Competition Commission of India said that although it's initially focused on AdWords the scope of the investigation could expand over time. The WSJ cites data showing that "less than 10% of India's population of 1.2 billion is online" but that Google now controls a "50 percent share of the overall Indian digital ad market." The WSJ described one of the several complaints recei [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Business Issues | Google: International | Google: Legal | Legal: Antitrust