Business, Financial & Legal - Page 281

In a move that should help to keep innovation from being stifled, Judge Alsup, the judge presiding over the Oracle v Google trial, has ruled that sequence, structure, and organization (SSO) is not covered by today's copyright law. This, in turn, allowed him to dismiss the claims by Oracle of Google infringing on their copyright.

Instead of creating a massive precedent by making a wide ruling, Judge Alsup focused very narrowly on specific factors in the case which lead to the decision. This way he didn't create a massive precedent. He has also been very careful throughout the trial. So even though appeals are possible, it is likely his decision will be upheld.

From the judge's ruling:

It has been confirmed that Activision and Jason West and Vincent Zampella have settled their lawsuit out of court after a brief meeting on Thursday. This settlement brings to an end the two year lawsuit stemming from the termination of their employment. There was a lot of he said she said, but in the end, it seems to boil down to the fact Activision didn't want to pay them royalties.

The settlement terms, as par for the course, were not discussed and are highly secretive. This settlement also settles another lawsuit Activision was involved with. This other lawsuit was over royalties as well. When West and Zampella left, 40 or more developers left shortly after. They too filed a lawsuit saying they didn't get their royalty checks.

"All parties have reached a settlement in the dispute, the terms of which are strictly confidential," said Robert Schwartz, an attorney representing West and Zampella. West was in the courtroom, but only grinned widely as he left. Others in the game industry watched closely as it could produce some new case law that would affect somehow.

Could those words be any more mysterious? Apple CEO Time Cook when questioned about the lack of Facebook integration on iOS, said "Stay tuned". Considering that Facebook have nearly 1 billion users, and Apple's handshake with Twitter and its integration with iOS, we have to wonder, 'why not Facebook?'

Cook adds "Facebook is a great company, and the relationship is solid. I saw Sheryl (Sandberg) earlier outside. We have great respect for each other."

When Swisher reffered to Jobs calling Facebook "onerous", Cook responded with:

Attorneys representing the now defunct upload site MegaUpload have filed a motion with the court to dismiss criminal piracy charges due to the fact the US had no jurisdiction. "Megaupload does not have an office in the United States, nor has it had one previously," MegaUpload's lawyers wrote in their motion to dismiss. "Service of a criminal summons on Megaupload is therefore impossible."

The filing came today and is just the latest in a long drawn out court battle between MegaUpload and the United States. The sad part is that millions of legitimate users have been affected and their files, some the only copy, have been put into jeopardy at the hands of the US government. The issue at hand is that MegaUpload has never had a US-based agent or office:

The Megaupload case continues, with Kyle Goodwin, an EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) asking the court to return the files, that were legal, back to Goodwin.

Goodwin lost his files when Megaupload was seized in January, since then they've been to court, both for a hearing and a mediation, but nothing has changed according to the EFF. The problem between Goodwin's files and the court, is that the government isn't helping third parties like Goodwin to get access back to their data. This leaves no choice but court.

On May 24, EFF filed a brief asking the court to order Goodwin's rightfully owned data returned. But the problem is, is that's not just Goodwin'd files, it's the thousands upon thousands of other Megaupload users who had data on their servers, where they thought it was safe.

Would you decline $75 million? Heck, $75 for free wouldn't be too bad these days. On the flip side, Apple CEO Tim "Good Guy" Cook has declined a $75 million payout in restricted stock dividends owed to him. Yes, declined.

Apple announced plans last week where they would pay a $2.65 per share dividend on restricted stocks held by Apple employees. This is rare for a company to reward its employee stockholders like this, and even more strange for a high level executive to decline the money they are entitled to.

But, it's not all bad. AllThingsD reports that this could actually benefit both the company, and Cook in the long run. This move gets positive press for not just Apple, but Cook, which could, and most likely will, translate into more stocks sold. It also shows the kind of person Cook is, in this world of increasingly greedy CEOs and executives.

This is one of those moments where you just want to know what a person was thinking. But until someone develops a mind-reading machine, we won't know for sure. As an epitome of United States corruption, ignorance, and waste, the Berkeley, California chief of police sent out ten of his officers to track down his son's stolen iPhone.

Guess what! They didn't manage to find the device even though it had tracking software installed on it. The officers sent to find the device weren't just regular officers, although some were. Michael Meehan, the chief, also sent officers from the drug task force to aid in the search. All of this was over a replaceable iPhone that couldn't cost more than $500.

The hunt most likely cost taxpayers a few thousand dollars. It could have potentially cost even more as only some of the officers received overtime pay for their participation in the search. This truly is an epitome of selfishness. Meehan used his position to do his personal bidding while wasting my taxpayer dollars. As a California resident, I'm not exactly happy with this story. Did Meehan cross a line or was this an acceptable use of money? You be the judge and let us know in the comments.

As part of PayPal's effort to move out of the digital world into the real world, PayPal has been courting big retail stores to add the option to pay with PayPal at the point-of-sales terminals. Home Depot was the first to jump on board and has been offering the option of paying with PayPal when checking out since at least March of this year.

PayPal wants to compete with the credit card companies along with other emerging payment systems such as Google Wallet. The announcement was made at a press event today to show the progress PayPal is making with its real world payment system. PayPal still has to convince consumers that maintaining another payment method is worth the hassle.

But, if PayPal makes it simple enough and available at enough locations, it is a viable alternative to credit cards and cash. It would be especially nice if someone were to forget their wallet or not have enough cash with them. Currently, users just have to type in their phone number and a pin to pay which is pretty simple. If they add in the features they are looking to, it will be quite the competitor.

The Facebook IPO may now be part of a Securities Fraud Lawsuit, but there's some more interesting news building at the moment. Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg is not around to enjoy the fruits of his labor. Zuckerberg's last public appearance was the day he rang the Nasdaq opening bell, the same day the shares went public and this problem became an issue for thousands across the world.

The only other appearance from the social networking guru is the wedding picture he posted over the weekend. It's been five days since then, and there has been nothing on his Facebook page either. The shares are steady on $32 a piece, and this just adds to the hysteria that is the Facebook IPO.

Zuckerberg and co have a large hole to dig out of, and while Facebook is a seemingly invincible brand, nothing is ever indestructible. I have seen on my ventures through the jungle that is the Internet, other sources claiming that "Facebook could destroy the U.S. economy", which may sound ridiculous, but it's not a random blog saying this, it's Market Watch, which gives it some credibility.

It seems that the ongoing tanking of the Facebook shares is now getting worse, with the Facebook IPO now the subject of a Securities Fraud Lawsuit filed in the United States District Court in New York. The lawsuit is built upon certain Facebook IPO documents containing untrue statements of material facts and omitted other facts necessary to make such statements not misleading.

But, it gets worse, the fraud lawsuit goes on to say that the Facebook IPO documents weren't prepared in accordance with Federal rules and regulations governing their preparation, thus, violating Federal Securities Laws. But, you might be safe, if you purchased, or acquired shares in Facebook common stock (FB), traceable to the Facebook IPO, on or around May 18, 2012, you can contact the Securities Fraud Attorneys to discuss your rights to recovery.

If you have purchased or acquired shares in Facebook, and want to go through with this, here are some contact details: