Earlier this week, Apple filed a new patent lawsuit against Samsung in San Jose, California according to PaidContent. The complaint covers two patents, the first relating to spelling and autocorrect on its iOS devices, and the second concerning “universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system.” The company revealed it is using two new patents that were granted in December by the U.S. Patents and Trademark Office. The full scope of the case is not yet clear, however, since most of the court documents have not been made public. The Cupertino-based company has been in a constant battle with Samsung and a number of other rival vendors over numerous claims of patent infringement for more than a year.

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A public interest group asked a federal judge on Wednesday to block Google from changing its privacy policy, reports Reuters. The lawsuit comes from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which claims the search giant is in violation of a consent agreement made with U.S. regulator last March. The group is asking a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction against Google in the hopes that the Federal Trade Commission will enforce the consent agreement. “The Court must act now to prevent irreparable injury to EPIC and the public,” the group said in its court filing. Read on for more.

Google announced last month that it would combine individual privacy policies from a variety of its products into one main policy. Critics of the change were worried that Google was collecting more data, however the company ensured users that it is “not collecting any new or additional data about users,” a claim EPIC disagrees with. The group states that aggregated data would give advertisers access to information about users that they never had before, such as logged-in users’ YouTube search histories. ”Thus, Google will share new or additional information with third-party advertisers without first obtaining ‘express affirmative consent’ from Google users,” EPIC noted in court documents.

A Google spokesman said the company had not seen the filing and could not comment on the specifics. He did add, however, that “protecting people’s privacy is something we think about all day across the company and we welcome discussions about our approach.”

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Acer has filed a lawsuit against its former chief executive officer Gianfranco Lanci for allegedly violating a non-compete agreement. Lanci left Acer last March after the company hit a rough patch and was recently named head of Lenovo’s operations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. “We believe Mr. Lanci has clearly breached the terms of the non-compete agreement he entered into willingly . . . we believe we have a very robust case,” Acer said in a statement given to the Financial Times. The Financial Times notes that Acer has fallen from the second to the fourth largest computer maker in the world while Lenovo has seen recent success and has risen to the No.2 spot.

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Google has been ordered to pay €500,000 to Bottin Cartographes, a French company that filed a lawsuit against Google France after it began providing its free Google Maps services to customers. Google is also responsible for paying an additional €15,000 in fees. The court found Google “guilty of abusing the dominant position of its Google Maps application,” Economic Times said Thursday. ”We proved the illegality of [Google's] strategy to remove its competitors… the court recognized the unfair and abusive character of the methods used and allocated Bottin Cartographes all it claimed,” Botton Cartographes lawyer Jean-David Scemmama said. “This is the first time Google has been convicted for its Google Maps application.” Google said it will appeal the decision. “We remain convinced that a free high-quality mapping tool is beneficial for both Internet users and websites,” a Google spokesperson said. “There remains competition in this sector for us, both in France and internationally.” Google was also fined €100,000 in France last year after a court found it guilty of collecting private information for the Street View feature of Google Maps.

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Apple recently filed to appeal a December 19th ITC ruling that found HTC was infringing on just one of Apple’s patents. Patent expert Florian Muller of FOSS Patents said that Apple filed for the appeal on December 29th, and that it is likely Apple wants a more favorable ruling on the original case that includes a judgement on whether or not HTC is infringing on a real-time API patent. “It’s clear that Apple’s appeal of the ITC ruling at least aims to broaden the scope of the import ban by including the ’263 patent,” Muller explained. “If Apple succeeded, this would greatly increase the business impact of the import ban.” The original ban, which involved patents related to “data tapping,” is set to go into effect on April 19th, but HTC said it already has workaround ready to be deployed that will allow the company to circumvent the ban. “Whatever the scope of Apple’s appeal against the ITC may be, I believe Apple has realistic chances of winning a better outcome,” Muller argued.

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Motorola Mobility has filed a patent lawsuit against Apple in a Florida federal court. The phone maker is accusing Apple of infringing on six patents related to messaging, antennas, software and data filtering with its mobile devices, Reuters said. Motorola also argued that Apple’s iPhone 4S specifically infringes on one of its patents. Just two weeks ago, the International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that Motorola’s handsets did not infringe three Apple patents. The Mannheim Regional Court in Germany also ruled to ban sales of various iPhone and iPad models in December, although Apple has been given the opportunity to remove the infringing technology from its devices to avoid a ban in the country.

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Apple is said to have spent as much as $100 million on its first round of legal battles with HTC, and the company has precious little to show for it. Newsweek’s well-sourced Dan Lyons cited “a rumor going around among the lawyers” in reporting the staggering figure on his personal blog, and he noted that Apple’s onslaught of lawsuits around the world have yielded precious little for the Cupertino, California based technology giant. Meaningful wins have been few and far between for Apple in its ongoing legal battles against Android vendors. The company did score a victory last month when the International Trade Commission banned the import of several HTC smartphones it deemed to be infringing on one Apple patent, but HTC responded the same day and said a simple workaround was already set to be rolled out. Apple’s aggressive strategy with regard to technology patents could fueled by lost sales or perhaps even by its former CEO’s vow to destroy Android, but it doesn’t seem to be paying off for the time being. Whether or not that will prompt Apple to pump the brakes, however, remains to be seen.

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Apple is warring with Samsung yet again in Germany. The iPhone maker filed another suit against Samsung and this time is arguing that the slide-to-unlock feature on the Galaxy Nexus infringes on an intellectual property right called a “utility model,” patent expert Florian Muller wrote on his website FOSS Patents Friday. Apple reportedly registered the utility model in 2006 and said it wasn’t able to use its utility model against Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus in court yet because the phone is so new. Muller said the court will issue a ruling, a stay, or decide to appoint an expert to help the judges decide if Apple’s utility model is “obvious or non-obvious” on March 16th. Earlier on Friday, a German court cleared Apple of an accusation that it infringed on one of seven Samsung patents.

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The Department of Justice recently released information that suggests a number of large U.S. technology companies may have created secret “no poaching” agreements with one another. The companies that have been under investigation include Apple, Google, Intel, Adobe, Intuit, Pixar, Adobe and Lucasfilm. The alleged no poaching agreements may have been pretty scary: According to TechCrunch, which published the DoJ’s early findings, companies were told to deny offers to anyone who applied for a job voluntarily from competing firms, and were to alert the employee’s current boss. That’s in addition to agreeing not to steal employees from one another. In one excerpt, Adobe’s senior vice president of human resources said: “Bruce [Adobe's former CEO] and Steve Jobs have an agreement that we are not to solicit ANY Apple employees, and vice versa.” The results of the DoJ investigation will be revealed as part of a class-action lawsuit hearing in San Jose next week.

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Oracle recently asked a court to stay or dismiss a Java-related patent infringement case against Google for up to 9 months. In a letter to the court, however, Oracle also revealed how much it believes Google makes per day from Android activations alone. “Each day’s worth of activations likely generates approximately $10 million in annual mobile advertising revenue for Google,” Oracle said. Patent expert Florian Muller of FOSS Patents explained that while Oracle doesn’t state how it came to the conclusion, the figure is likely derived “on the assumption of annual advertising revenues of $14 per Android user.” Oracle also argued that Android helps Google gain users on its Google+ social network and that Android alone is much more than a source for mobile ad revenue. Oracle hopes the stay or dismissal, if approved by the judge, might lead to a near-term copyright trial, Muller explained.

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Investors who were upset by Netflix’s poor decision making in 2011 have filed a class-action lawsuit against the company in a U.S. District Court in Northern California. ”At the beginning of the class period, Netflix was facing increasing competition for streaming business, and content providers were exploring new ways to distribute their content and/or maximize their licensing fees,” the lawsuit reads. “Rather than fully disclose the devastating cost increases which were then threatening Netflix’s entire business, the defendants talked about [the company's] ability to grow.” Netflix lost as many 800,000 customers during the third quarter of 2011 when it decided to raise its prices and spin off its DVD rental service into a new subsidiary called Qwikster. The spin-off decision was soon reversed but customers had already left in droves. According to paidContent, investors are also suing because several of Netflix’s executives sold stock before it tanked due to poor decision making.

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The United States International Trade Commission on Friday issued a prliminary ruling stating that Motorola Mobility smartphones do not infringe three Apple patents. ”It is held that no violation of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C. § 1337, has occurred in the importation into the United States, the sale for importation, or the sale within the United States after importation of certain mobile devices and related software by reason of infringement of one or more of Claims 1, 2, 10, 11, 24-26, and 29 U.S. Patent No. 7,812,828 (“the ’828 Patent”), claims 1-7 and 10 of U.S. Patent No. 7,663,607 (“the ’607 Patent”), and claims 1, 3, and 5 ofthe U.S. Patent No. 5,379,430 (“the ’430 Patent”),” the ITC said in its ruling. Apple filed a formal complaint against Motorola in October 2010 alleging that its Android smartphones infringe multiple Apple-owned patents, and it asked the Commission to ban the import and sale of the infringing devices.

UPDATE: Motorola’s comments on the ITC judgement follow below.

Motorola Mobility Comments on Initial Determination from ITC

ALJ determines that Motorola Mobility does not violate Apple’s patents

LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. – Jan. 13, 2012 – Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) (“Motorola Mobility”) today announced that it has received notice that the Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) in the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) action brought by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) against Motorola Mobility has issued an initial determination. The ALJ ruled in favor of Motorola Mobility, finding no violation for any of the three Apple patents listed in Apple’s suit.

“We are pleased with today’s favorable outcome for Motorola Mobility,” said Scott Offer, senior vice president and general counsel of Motorola Mobility. “Motorola Mobility has worked hard over the years to develop technology and build an industry-leading intellectual property portfolio. We are proud to leverage this broad and deep portfolio to create differentiated innovations that enhance the user experience.”

[Via CNET]

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AT&T has settled a patent lawsuit with TiVo in which it will pay the DVR vendor $215 million through June 2018, including an initial payment of $51 million. AT&T will also pay “incremental recurring per subscriber monthly license fees” to TiVo through July 2018 if its subscriber base surpasses a certain level, TiVo said in a statement Wednesday. AT&T and TiVo were locked in a patent battle after AT&T began to market its own digital video recorder using a technology patented by TiVo. TiVo also recently settled similar lawsuits with Dish Network and EchoStar Corp. Read on for more.

“We are extremely pleased to reach an agreement with AT&T, which acknowledges the value of our intellectual property,” said Tom Rogers, CEO and President of TiVo. “This settlement, on the heels of our recent operational success that has resulted in the growth of TiVo’s overall subscriber base, is another major accomplishment for TiVo and we believe a great outcome for our shareholders. The combination of guaranteed payments and future additional fees paid to TiVo in the event that AT&T’s pay TV business continues to grow in-line with consensus analyst expectations, represents hard-earned compensation for our IP enforcement efforts.”

Rogers continued, “The settlement also provides us rights to innovate TiVo products and services under license from AT&T and allows us to avoid significant legal expenses that we expect would have been incurred by us during and after trial.” TiVo’s full press release follows below.

TiVo Announces Settlement of Patent Litigation With AT&T; TiVo and AT&T Enter Into a Patent Licensing Arrangement

ALVISO, CA — (Marketwire) — 01/03/2012 — TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) announced today that it has settled its pending patent litigation with AT&T and that the companies have entered into a mutual patent licensing arrangement. Under the terms of the settlement, AT&T agreed to pay TiVo an initial payment of $51 million, followed by recurring quarterly guaranteed payments through June 2018, totaling $164 million, which together yield minimum payments of $215 million. In addition to these minimum payments, AT&T will pay incremental recurring per subscriber monthly license fees through July 2018 should AT&T’s DVR subscriber base exceed certain levels.

As part of the settlement, TiVo and AT&T agreed to dismiss all pending litigation between the companies with prejudice. The parties also entered into a cross license of their respective patent portfolios in the advanced television field.

“We are extremely pleased to reach an agreement with AT&T, which acknowledges the value of our intellectual property,” said Tom Rogers, CEO and President of TiVo. “This settlement, on the heels of our recent operational success that has resulted in the growth of TiVo’s overall subscriber base, is another major accomplishment for TiVo and we believe a great outcome for our shareholders. The combination of guaranteed payments and future additional fees paid to TiVo in the event that AT&T’s pay TV business continues to grow in-line with consensus analyst expectations, represents hard-earned compensation for our IP enforcement efforts. The settlement also provides us rights to innovate TiVo products and services under license from AT&T and allows us to avoid significant legal expenses that we expect would have been incurred by us during and after trial.”

M-Edge Accessories has filed a lawsuit against Amazon with a federal court in Maryland that accuses the online retailer of bullying it into coughing up higher commissions in exchange for better placement on Amazon’s website. M-Edge Accessories isn’t just filing a suit for extortion according to The Wall Street Journal, however — the accessory maker is also accusing Amazon of patent infringement, false advertising, creating unfair competition and hampering M-Edge’s customer relations. Amazon reportedly played some pretty dirty games with M-Edge in order to secure a larger percentage of commissions. M-Edge said it initially signed a deal with Amazon that would provide the retailer with a 15% commission on all goods sold. Amazon allegedly came back two months later and demanded a larger 32% commission. When M-Edge declined, an executive told M-Edge that Amazon would “de-list,” “play” with, or bury the accessory maker’s products so that “no one will be able to find you.” M-Edge eventually signed a new contract with Amazon, but it had to pay $6.5 million in commissions in order to do so. Even still, Amazon allegedly left its products off of the “Amazon Approved Accessory Maker” list. M-Edge is also suing Amazon for patent infringement and is arguing that it holds a patent for a Kindle case with a built-in reading light.

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Toymaker Hasbro recently filed a lawsuit against Asus for naming its new convertible Android tablet the “Transformer Prime.” According to The Verge, Hasbro has a pending trademark for “Transformers Prime,” which it used in 2010 for an animated television series. The company also owns four other trademarks related to the “Transformers” name. Hasbro said in a statement that it filed the lawsuit to “aggressively protect its brands,” but it doesn’t appear that the company is seeking an injunction against the Asus Transformer Prime tablet just yet. Asus has 21 days to respond and it has not yet issued a statement on the matter.

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