lawsuits

Microsoft hit with lawsuit over Surface's storage space

Microsoft is being sued for allegedly misleading advertising about the amount of storage space in its new 32GB Surface tablet.

The lawsuit was brought by California lawyer Andrew Sokolowski who claims that he bought the device under the premise that he'd get 32GB of storage but soon found out it actually came with much less, according to the Associated Press.

Sokolowski's argument is true. Microsoft's Surface, which hit stores last month, is advertised as having 32GB of storage when in fact there is only 16GB of free storage space for users to fill with music, documents, and … Read more

Uber faces new legal challenge, at home in San Francisco

It looks like Uber has yet another legal hurdle to surmount, this time on its home turf in San Francisco.

The popular ride-summoning startup, which has recently dealt with regulatory challenges in Washington D.C., New York, and Chicago, is now being sued in San Francisco by the city's cab drivers, who are claiming unfair business practices.

The fast-growing service, which allows customers to use smartphones to arrange transportation in several U.S. cities, announced last month that in the San Francisco market it was testing out a taxi service option within the Uber app, alongside its existing sedan … Read more

Papa John's pizza up against $250M lawsuit for text spam

What looked like an easy shortcut to earn some extra cash could now ending up costing Papa John's millions. The pizza chain is being targeted in a $250 million class-action lawsuit in which customers allege that Papa John's sent out hundreds of thousands of illegal text messages.

"After I ordered from Papa John's, my telephone started beeping with text messages advertising pizza specials," one of the plaintiffs in the case Erin Chutich said in a statement. "Papa John's never asked permission to send me text message advertisements."

Apparently, in 2010, Papa John'… Read more

Google asks court to ax book-scanning suit from Authors Guild

Google is trying to convince the courts to throw out a book-scanning lawsuit filed against it by the Authors Guild.

In a brief submitted to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals last Friday, Google argued that a suit filed on behalf of all authors whose books have been scanned shouldn't be allowed because most authors support the scanning.

Backing up its claim, the company yet again cited a survey that found 58 percent of the authors polled approved of Google scanning their books so the content could be searched online. A full 45 percent said they had … Read more

In your FaceTime: Apple gets sued by VirnetX -- again

VirnetX, which has already won $368.2 million in damages, isn't quite done with Apple.

The patent holding and security software company, which earlier this week won an earlier suit against Apple in a Texas court, has now slapped the electronics giant with a new lawsuit. As in the prior complaint, VirnetX is accusing Apple of infringing four of its networking patents through the use of FaceTime.

Those patents, Nos. 6,502,135, 7,418,504, 7,921,211 and 7,490,151, cover advancements for secure communication over the Internet. That includes technology for creating a virtual private … Read more

Apple walloped with $368M in damages in VirnetX patent suit

A Texas court ordered Apple to pay $368.2 million in damages to the patent holding and security software company VirnetX today. According to Bloomberg, which broadcast the news on Twitter, Apple is being fined over infringement of VirnetX's network patents.

In the suit, VirnetX claimed that Apple integrated these network patents into its products like FaceTime, according to 9to5Mac. Originally VirnetX was asking for $900 million, but apparently the jury decided $368 million was enough.

VirnetX is well known for going after major tech companies for patent infringement. In its early days, the company aggressively patented technology that … Read more

Morgan Stanley tries to stop Facebook investor arbitration

Morgan Stanley, the lead banker on Facebook's messy IPO, is attempting to stop a Facebook investor from seeking securities arbitration related to the stock offering, according to a report from Reuters.

Because the investor isn't a Morgan Stanley customer, the firm has argued in a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court that the arbitration shouldn't proceed. It argues the investor, Uma Swaminathan of East Brunswick, N.J., ordered shares through Vanguard Financial, according to the report.

Swaminathan, meanwhile, has said the botched IPO has cost the investor $1.9 million in damages.

Swaminathan filed a claim with … Read more

Facebook wins another round against Paul Ceglia

As if Paul Ceglia, the man claiming to own half of Facebook who was arrested on fraud charges last week, didn't have enough trouble, his civil lawsuit against the social-networking company ran aground this week.

A federal judge in New York allowed Facebook to present what appears to be a damning forensics report that concludes the purported "contract" giving Ceglia part ownership of Facebook was altered.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie Foschio on Wednesday ruled that excluding an expert witness report about the authenticity of the documents -- which Ceglia had requested -- was a "drastic … Read more

Apple takes down Samsung patent 'apology' notice

It was only a week ago that Apple lost its appeal to a U.K. High Court, where it was seeking to overturn a previous ruling that resulted in the iPad and iPhone maker being forced to publish a notice on its U.K. Web site stating that rival Samsung did not copy its products.

The notice has now been taken down, after Apple was ordered to replace it following objections from Samsung to its content.

The lengthy legal battle between Apple and Samsung, which has been fought in several countries and courts worldwide, revolves around both tech giants stating … Read more