In a very significant decision, the 9th circuit Court of Appeals ruled that software developers can legally prevent customers from owning the copies of software that they pay for. Instead, if the software license agreement is properly drafted, the software developer retains ownership in the copies they distribute and the…
Target’s recent launch of a program to sell gift cards redeemable for Facebook Credits or in the virtual world Poptropica towards either membership fees or the purchase of virtual currency further blurs the line (to the extent there still was one) between in-worldcurrency and real-world currency. Facebook and Zynga agreed earlier…
Augmented reality (sometimes referred to as Mixed Reality) will likely get a boost from Canon’s vision for the future of imaging. The following is an excerpt from an announcement about Canon’s upcoming EXPO in NY. Canon EXPO 2010 New York will feature the “Imaging for Tomorrow” exhibit showcasing new…
In the real world (at least in the US), the 5th Amendment to the Constitution states, “No person shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” A host of jurisprudence has determined…
A California Court ruled last week in favor of Blizzard, finding that Scapegaming (a.k.a. Alyson Reeves) ran an unauthorized secondary market that handled microtransactions in violation of the World of Warcraft terms of service. Blizzard sued Scapegaming last October for copyright infringement. The court awarded about $88 million dollars, including…
A federal court dismissed on summary judgment most of the copyright infringement claims against Google, ruling, in part, that Plaintiff’s notices were not compliant with the requirements of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). As a result, the court found that Google was entitled to “safe harbor” protection under various…
A patent infringement suit targeting a multiplayer, networking feature of Microsoft’s Xbox video game console was dismissed because the court found that, based on how the patent claims were written, the Xbox’s network connectivity mechanism differed from that required in the patent. This case, like many patent infringement cases, turned…
On July 23, 2010, Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California entered an order denying Facebook Inc.’s motion to dismiss a second amended complaint alleging that Facebook is guilty of contributing to the copyright infringement of a video game. Judge Alsup denied Facebook’s…
According to a press release today, the Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Playdom Inc., one of the leading companies in the fast-growing business of online social gaming for $563 million plus an earn out of up to $200 million more. According to the release, in just two and…
Internet businesses that are more that passive host sites should take note that a French court found that eBay is a “publisher of online brokering services” because it goes beyond “purely technical, automatic and passive [site host] services.” As a result it ruled that eBay did not qualify for the…