tagged w/ Lawsuit
-
From Raw Story .com:
Progressive and liberal activists are planning at the end of the month to confront the secretive billionaire family that finances the so-called Tea party movement and a host of other right-wing causes and institutions.
"Our government is supposed to be of, by and for the people. So are you ready to take it back?" an invitation for the "Uncloaking the Kochs" event asked.
The Sunday, Jan. 30 event thrown by Common Cause, a nonpartisan, grassroots organization, aims to educate attendees in California on the Koch brothers who will be strategizing nearby with their mega-wealthy allies to win the 2012 elections. Afterwards, activists will rally in Rancho Mirage.
"We can't sit back while a few billionaires destroy the fragile fabric of democracy and the protections that are so necessary for the health of our society," Jodie Evans of CodePink told Alternet. "It is time for the progressive community to gather together and say no more, and what better place than where the Koch brothers are plotting their next moves."
Panel discussions will feature Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary; Van Jones, founder of Green for All; Erwin Chemerinsky, UC Irvine Law Dean; Lee Fang, Center for American Progress blogger and Koch Brothers expert; and DeAnn McEwen, co-president of the California Nurses Association.
For the last 30 years, the Koch brothers, who inherited their wealth from their father's oil interests, have funded a large portion of the conservative movement on issues that promote business over the environmental, labor, and public health concerns.
Recently, David and Charles Koch through their network of foundations and nonprofits outspent ExxonMobile on astroturf campaigns to misinform the American public about climate change legislation.
"From 2005 to 2008, ExxonMobil spent $8.9 million while the Koch Industries-controlled foundations contributed $24.9 million in funding to organizations of the 'climate denial machine,'" Greenpeace International reported.
Koch also donated funds to elect George W. Bush in 2000 as well as influence the results of the vote recount in Florida.
Among the top recipients of Koch funding are Americans for Prosperity, the Heritage Foundation, and the Cato Institute, which was co-founded by Charles Koch in 1977. Lesser amounts have gone to such groups as Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform and the Capital Research Center, which has been the primary source of ACORN-related conspiracy theories.
Prominent members of Congress to whom Koch has donated generously include Republicans Eric Cantor (R-VA) and John Boehner (R-OH) and Democrat Blanche Lincoln (D-AR).
Koch Industries, the second largest private company in America, recently sued a group of pranksters who claimed that the company would adopt pro-environment policies from now on.
“This is not a Koch Industries release,” a Koch spokesperson said in an advisory. “We remain committed to the principled positions we have taken on a wide variety of issues.”
Comedian Bill Maher on Friday lashed out at the followers of the Tea party movement whose activities are funded by Koch's Americans for Prosperity group.
The Founding Fathers "were everything you despise. They studied science, read Plato, hung out in Paris, and thought the Bible was mostly bullshit," he said.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/progressives-to-uncloak-the-secret-financers-behind-the-tea-party/
http://www.politifake.org/image/political/small/1011/the-koch-brothers-tea-party-political-poster-1288920960.jpgFrom Raw Story .com:
Progressive and liberal activists are planning at the end of... more
-
-
By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot in the head at a constituent outreach event in a supermarket parking lot in Tucson on Saturday. In all, the gunman shot 18 people, killing 6, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl.
Jamelle Bouie of TAPPED urges President Barack Obama to take up the issue of mental health care in his upcoming speech on the mass shooting. Several people who knew the alleged shooter came forward with stories of bizarre behavior and run-ins with campus police at his community college. College administrators ordered him to seek treatment before he returned to school, but he does not appear to have done so.
H. Clarke Romans of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Southern Arizona explained to Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! that mental health services in Arizona have been devastated by budget cuts.
In 2008 the state eliminated support services for all non-Medicaid behavioral health patients and stopped covering most brand-name psychiatric drugs. At least 28,000 Arizonans were affected. Arizonans with mental illnesses can expect even more cuts in the future as the state slashes spending in an attempt to address its budget shortfall.
In AlterNet, Adele Stan, argues that, while we don’t yet know the gunman’s motives, the right wing’s intensifying campaign of anti-government hysteria and violent rhetoric may have emboldened an already disturbed person:
Had the vitriolic rhetoric that today shapes Arizona’s political landscape (and, indeed, our national landscape) never come to call, Loughner may have found a different reason to go on a killing spree. But that vitriol does exist as a powerful prompt to the paranoid, and those who publicly deem war on the federal government a patriot’s duty should today be doing some soul-searching.
Reform repeal vote on hold
The House Republicans had scheduled a vote to repeal health care reform this week, but the vote has been postponed in the wake of the Giffords shooting. However, the conservative U.S. Chamber of Commerce threw its full weight behind the repeal effort on Tuesday, according to Suzy Khimm of Mother Jones. The Chamber is going back on its earlier pledge not to oppose health care reform outright.
CA insurer hikes rates by 59%
Nearly 200,000 policyholders in California are reeling from a 59% rate hike by Blue Shield, Brie Cadman reports for Change.org. According to the company, the increase was not due to health care reform, but rather to “increased utilization.” State insurance officials are reviewing the rate hike, but they can’t reverse it unless they find that Blue Shield fails to meet the legal medical loss ratio (percentage of premiums spent on medical care).
Reproductive rights in the states
Rachel Gould and Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute recap reproductive rights in the states at RH Reality Check. Last year, 44 states and the District of Columbia considered 950 repro rights-related measures on issues ranging from abortion to sex ed. By year’s end, 89 new laws had been enacted in 32 states and DC. Of these, 39 were abortion laws.
The vast majority of new abortion laws served to further restrict women’s access to abortion. The passage of the Affordable Care Act spurred several states to pass laws restricting insurance coverage for abortions. The District of Columbia’s decision to reinstate public funding was one of the few exceptions to the trend of restrictive new laws.
Autism/vaccine study based on “deliberate fraud”
The author of a discredited study purporting to link autism and vaccines schemed to profit from his tainted research from the very beginning, according to new research published in the British Medical Journal.
It turns out that the lead author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, was secretly working on a lawsuit against vaccine manufacturers when he published a study in The Lancet that appeared to show a link between vaccines and autism. We now know that Wakefield falsified the findings that sparked a global panic over the safety of childhood vaccines.
The journal retracted the paper last year. Wakefield was stripped of his license to practice medicine.
Some observers think these revelations will finally put the debate over vaccines and autism to rest. Kristina Chew of Care2 is doubtful:
I am very sure that, even with all the facts, data, and evidence laid before them, those who believe that vaccines or something in vaccines caused or somehow ‘contributed’ to their child becoming autistic will stand by their claims, and by Wakefield. Some of these persons are my friends. They are parents, as am I, of autistic children.
Wakefield’s die hard supporters weren’t swayed by earlier revelations of shoddy research and unethical conduct. It seems unlikely that this new found conflict of interest will change their minds.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about health care by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Pulse for a complete list of articles on health care reform, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, health care and immigration issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was... more
-
-
Here's a look from the now defunked Zooey Deschanel collection.
Now here’s a story that makes me cringe. Zooey Deschanel, the indie film darling is suing Steve Madden for a couple of million bucks from some sort of celebrity designer deal gone awry. First of all, relax girl, two movies in the can does not make you a Kardashian. And second of all, why isn’t being an indie darling enough for you? Sure, you need more cash…but frankly, to destroy your brand so early in the game…well…I for one would not cast you in anything now that your fashion stripes are showing..a.k.a. willingness to whore yourself. And I use the word “whore” in the most loving way because Steve Madden is a bit downmarket or mass market, if you ask me. And just because you have C-H-A-N-E-L in your last name does not make you a designer. A wanna-be…maybe. The bottom line is, you were selling your name and it all went south. Boo-hoo, Marlene. And wait. Didn’t Zooey just launch a music career like two seconds ago? How could she possibly think that this Steve Madden deal would serve that process? It would give her the lamest cred…as opposed to street. Girl, focus on your acting. Do some television. That should not be beneath you.
Read more: http://imeanwhat.com/youcallthisfashion/zooey-des-chanel-get-it#ixzz18lKAfShSHere's a look from the now defunked Zooey Deschanel collection.
Now... more
-
-
In a front-page story, the New York Times "Federal prosecutors, seeking to build a case against the WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange for his role in a huge dissemination of classified government documents, are looking for evidence of any collusion in his early contacts with an Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking the information." Justice Department officials "are trying to find out whether Mr. Assange encouraged or even helped the analyst, Pfc. Bradley Manning, to extract classified military and State Department files from a government computer system. If he did so, they believe they could charge him as a conspirator in the leak, not just as a passive recipient of the documents who then published them."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/world/16wiki.html?_r=1&hpIn a front-page story, the New York Times "Federal prosecutors, seeking to build... more
-
-
-
The US is suing BP and eight other firms for allegedly violating federal safety regulations in connection with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The lawsuit asks that they be held liable without limitation for all clean-up and damage costs.
The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion in April killed 11 workers and spilled millions of barrels of oil over several months.
The oil leak became the worst environmental disaster in US history.
The lawsuit charges the companies under the US Clean Water Act and Oil Pollution Act.
US Attorney General Eric Holder said the complaint alleges that "violations of safety and operational regulations" caused the 20 April explosion.
The companies targeted in the lawsuit are BP Exploration and Production Inc, Anadarko Exploration & Production LP, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC, Triton Asset Leasing GMBH, Transocean Holdings LLC, Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling Inc, Transocean Deepwater Inc and QBE Underwriting Ltd/Lloyd's Syndicate 1036 - BP's insurer.
The key accusations are:
* Failing to take necessary precautions to keep the Macondo Well under control in the period leading up to the April 20th explosion
* Failing to use the best available and safest drilling technology to monitor the well's conditions
* Failing to maintain continuous surveillance
* Failing to use and maintain equipment and material that were available and necessary to ensure the safety and protection of personnel, equipment, natural resources, and the environment
Halliburton, the company that cemented the Macondo Well, and Cameron International, which provided equipment for the well, were not targeted in the lawsuit.
But the Justice Department said on Wednesday that the investigation into the oil spill was ongoing and more defendants and charges could be added to the suit.
"We intend to prove that these defendants are responsible for government removal costs, economic losses and environmental damages without limitation," Mr Holder said.
"As investigations continue, we will not hesitate to take whatever steps necessary to hold accountable those responsible for this spill," Mr Holder added.
Mr Holder did not specify a timetable in the lawsuit, instead saying the US would move as quickly as possible in the matter.
Eleven workers on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig were killed by an explosion which followed, and hundreds of miles of coast were polluted before it was stemmed in July.The US is suing BP and eight other firms for allegedly violating federal safety... more
-
-
by Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
The Virginia federal judge who ruled against a key component of health care reform on Monday has ties to a Republican consulting firm. Judge Henry Hudson is a co-owner of Campaign Solutions, as Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! reports.
Hudson, a President George W. Bush appointee, has earned as much as $108,000 in royalties from Campaign Solutions since 2003. A cached version of the firm’s client roster lists such vocal opponents of health reform as Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Jim DeMint (R-SC), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), the Republican National Committee and the American Medical Association.
In November, Collins and Snowe joined McConnell in signing an amicus brief to challenge the constitutionality of health care reform in a separate suit in Florida. Campaign finance records show that Campaign Solutions has also worked for Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who is spearheading the lawsuit. Tiahrt added an amicus brief to Cuccinelli’s lawsuit.
Today, the mandate. Tomorrow, the regulatory state?
Hudson ruled that the individual mandate of health care reform is unconstitutional. The mandate stipulates that, after 2014, everyone who doesn’t already have health insurance will have to buy some or pay a small fine. The judge argues that this requirement exceeds the federal government’s power to regulate interstate commerce.
The Commerce Clause gives the federal government the power to regulate commerce between the states and international trade. Suzy Khimm of Mother Jones explains that this clause underpins the power of the federal government to regulate the economy in any way:
But the issues at stake in Cuccinelli v. Sebelius (Ken Cuccinelli is the conservative attorney general of Virginia; Katherine Sebelius is President Barack Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, or HHS) are actually far broader. Hudson’s ruling doesn’t just show how the Supreme Court could gut the health law—it shows how the court could neuter the entire federal government.
Is it constitutional?
Chris Hayes of The Nation interviews Prof. Gillian Metzger, a constitutional law scholar at Columbia University, about the merits of challenges to the constitutionality of health care reform. According to Metzger, “the argument that [the mandate] is outside the commerce power is also pretty specious given the existing precedent.”
Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly accuses Judge Hudson of committing an “inexplicable error” in legal reasoning. There is a longstanding precedent that the federal government can regulate economic activity under the Commerce Clause. Hudson acknowledges this, but he maintains that this power doesn’t cover regulations of “economic inactivity” (i.e. not buying health insurance). As Benen notes, people who don’t buy insurance aren’t opting out of the market, they’re opting to let society absorb their future medical costs. Everyone who does buy insurance pays more because freeloaders coast without insurance and hope for the best.
Luckily for the Obama administration, the judge did not bar the implementation of health reform while the case works its way through the courts. The Supreme Court will ultimately hear this case. In the meantime, the federal government can continue building the infrastructure that will eventually support health care reform.
This is the third time a federal judge has ruled on the constitutionality of health care reforms and the first victory for the anti-reform contingent.
Mandatory mandate
Paul Waldman reminds TAPPED readers why the mandate is critical to any health care reform based on private insurance. With a single-payer system, you don’t need a mandate because everyone is automatically covered. A mandate only comes into play when you have to force people to buy insurance.
Without a mandate, healthy risk-takers who don’t buy insurance will starve the system of premiums while they are well and bleed the system for benefits when they get sick. Meanwhile, people who already know they’re sick will sign up in droves, and the Affordable Care Act will force insurers to accept them. Without a mandate, the private health insurance industry would collapse and take health care reform down with it.
Is expanding Medicare the answer?
Matthew Rothschild of the Progressive argues that the legal headaches over the individual mandate illustrate why it would have been legally and procedurally easier to achieve universal health care by simply expanding Medicare to cover everyone.
At Truthout, Thom Hartmann argues universal health insurance in the form of “Medicare Part E” would spur economic growth and innovation because entrepreneurs could start businesses without worrying about how to provide health insurance for their employees.
Meanwhile, Brie Cadman reports at Change.Org, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is trying to defund health care reform by cutting funds for preventive health care. Coburn is urging his fellow Republicans to vote against a House-passed measure that would allocate $750 million for the 2011 Prevention and Public Health Fund. Cadman notes the irony of a medical doctor like Coburn, who also claims to be a fiscal conservative, trying to scuttle funds to control preventable diseases which would otherwise cost society billions of dollars a year.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about health care by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Pulse for a complete list of articles on health care reform, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, health care and immigration issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.by Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
The Virginia federal judge who... more
-
-
Breawna Smith is a ten year old animal advocate who recently visited the Tiger Truck Stop in Louisiana, listen to her report on Tony and his living conditions...Breawna Smith is a ten year old animal advocate who recently visited the Tiger Truck... more
-
-
BigCat
-
added this
-
2 years ago
- |
-
The Winklevoss twins have re-started their bitter legal battle against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, claiming that the money they had received in compensation during a previous lawsuit was not sufficient.The twins previously filed a lawsuit against Facebook in 2008 and received $65 million in settlement.Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who went to Harvard with Zuckerberg - and now both have Facebook profiles - claimed that their former friend stole the idea of making a Facebook like platform and presented it as his own.The twins claim they were misled about the actual worth of the social networking platform.The lawsuit also accuses Zuckerberg of securities fraud and demands an unspecified amount of money.Facebook has dismissed the lawsuit by claiming in its legal filings that the twins were suffering from "a bout of settlers' remorse".
The Winklevoss twins have re-started their bitter legal battle against Facebook... more
-
-
Boing Boing reports, Greenpeace is filing a lawsuit again a number of chemical companies and PR firms which hired private investigators to spy on the group.
According to the report, the hacking, bin searches and surveillance took place in 1999-2000 so they could gather information on planned protests by Greenpeace.
"Greenpeace and Mother Jones said the documents showed that former agents for the Secret Service, the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency took part in the work, which was carried out by off-duty police officers from Washington and Baltimore."-NYtimesBoing Boing reports, Greenpeace is filing a lawsuit again a number of chemical... more
-
-
-
More than 95 percent of the workers who sued New York City and its contractors over health damages suffered in the 9/11 rescue and recovery effort have approved a negotiated settlement of their claims, clearing the way for payouts totaling at least $625 million, lawyers said Friday.
More at link
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/20/nyregion/20zero.html?_r=1&src=twrhpMore than 95 percent of the workers who sued New York City and its contractors over... more
-
-
NEW YORK (AP / CBS 2) - The fiancee and friends of an unarmed man killed in a 50-bullet police shooting on his wedding day said they wanted justice. The legal system gave them money - more than $7 million.
The city did what it has done time and time again: pay.
Nearly $1 billion has been paid over the past decade to resolve claims against the nation’s largest police department, according to an investigation by The Associated Press. Some smaller departments also shell out tens of millions a year in payouts, but New York’s spending on police claims dwarfs that of any other U.S. city.
Taxpayers foot the bill - New York officials say the payments cost less than insurance would, and officers themselves don’t usually bear personal responsibility.
The $964 million in payouts covers everything from brutality cases to patrol-car wrecks to stationhouse accidents, and it includes settlements and trial awards. Some police officers have been sued again and again - including one officer at least seven times on excessive force and brutality claims. Some law firms have made it their primary business to sue the city.
City lawyers call the payouts a hard-fought cost of policing a metropolis of 8.3 million people - a price officials work to minimize through officer training and discipline. And the city has prevailed in thousands of cases, including some deadly shootings.
“We’re not pushovers,” said Fay Leoussis, one of the city’s chief lawyers.
But the city is literally paying for police mistakes without learning from them, critics say. In cases like the 50-bullet shooting, the city pays even when officers are acquitted of criminal charges and don’t admit wrongdoing.
“Right now it’s open season against the city. Just file a lawsuit, and you’re going to get money,” said City Council member Peter Vallone, who has sponsored a bill he hopes will make it impossible to pay out dubious claims. “Everyone makes out - except the taxpayer.”
Lawsuits against police are inevitable, some experts say - police interact with millions of citizens a year, confronting criminal suspects and the mentally ill, as well as the angry, opportunistic and litigious. A 2005 federal Bureau of Justice Statistics survey found that 90 percent of people say officers act properly, but other studies estimate about 30,000 lawsuits are filed against them a year.
To some who have sued and won, payouts don’t amount to true compensation.
“You can sue New York City, but it’s not really justifying what happened,” says Charles Shepherd, who spent about 14 years in prison on a murder conviction that hinged on the testimony of a witness who eventually admitted she’d lied; another man later confessed to the crime.
Shepherd settled in 2005 for $370,000 from the city and $1.65 million from the state.
“The city feels they can give you X amount of money” to make up for injustice, said Shepherd, 45, now a counselor for children with HIV. “It’s not fair whatsoever.”
Comparing cities’ payouts is complicated because of differences in record-keeping, the time frames of data available and the fact that the 35,000-officer NYPD is more than twice as big as any other U.S. police department.
But some rough comparisons can be made, using recent data several cities provided to the AP.
Chicago, with about a third of New York’s population, paid out an average of $39.1 million a year over the past six fiscal years; New York paid $96.4 million a year on average from 1999 to 2008, the most recent years available.
Chicago’s figures include a nearly $21 million payment in 2008 to a driver paralyzed when police slammed into his car while chasing someone else.
In Los Angeles, with less than half New York’s population, police paid an average of nearly $21.4 million a year in the past seven fiscal years.
Philadelphia, with less than a fifth of New York’s population, spent only about one-tenth as much as New York in payouts, averaging $9.2 million a year on payouts from 2005 to 2009. Philadelphia police track “problem” officers but through internal investigations, not lawsuits.
New York’s data don’t detail the nature of the police cases. But research into just some of the biggest payouts shows car accidents alone cost more than $30 million in those 10 years. Some multimillion-dollar settlements have gone to officers themselves for on-the-job injuries.
More than $23 million was spent to compensate for police bullets or brutality, millions more to settle claims of unjustified arrests and wrongful convictions.
Some officers are sued multiple times: In the past three years, one Brooklyn precinct sergeant has been sued at least seven times on excessive force and brutality claims, costing the city at least $188,250. A narcotics detective was the target of at least six suits that spurred $103,000 in payouts. The city has paid $171,500 to settle four suits against one plainclothes detective; another case against him is pending.
The city did not admit wrongdoing. Two of the officers are still on the force; one retired. None was charged criminally or disciplined, though the sergeant was later monitored for use of force.
Most departments don’t do much, if anything, with information from lawsuits; to them, if no wrongdoing is admitted, why bother tracking the cases?
But some experts believe mining the cases could lead to fewer suits.
Even if (officials) tracked the information just to decrease liability, isn’t that a good idea?” said Cynthia Conti-Cook of Stoll, Glickman and Bellina, a Brooklyn firm that has sued officers.
Last year, Vallone proposed tracking the city’s settlements to ensure it pays out only when liable and learns from the cases it does pay. The NYPD assigned a committee to look at the more costly payouts for evidence of perjury, corruption and other wrongdoing.
City lawyers say they do weigh claims with an eye on potential costs.
“Even though the facts may all be pointing to a justification of what you did, and no liability, if it’s going to a jury, then it’s always a question,” Leoussis said of the city law department. “You can’t afford to take that kind of risk.”
The nearly $7.2 million settlement in the Sean Bell case was the city’s largest settlement ever in a fatal police shooting.
Three officers opened fire on a car carrying the unarmed Bell, 23, and two friends. The officers said they thought the men were armed, and the men had ignored orders to stop. Bell died in a hail of 50 bullets around the corner from a Queens topless bar where he had just had a bachelor party.
The officers were acquitted of manslaughter in the 2006 shooting in state court; federal prosecutors declined to charge them with civil rights crimes.
The shooting led to police reforms ranging from added firearms training to rule changes for undercover work. The officers still face disciplinary proceedings that could cost them their jobs.
Bell’s friend Joseph Guzman, shot 17 times, ended up with $3 million.
But, he said, “nobody wins in this.”
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/10/14/nypd-paid-nearly-1-billion-to-settle-lawsuits/NEW YORK (AP / CBS 2) - The fiancee and friends of an unarmed man killed in a... more
-
-
Apple today reported that it had trademarked its catchphrase "there's an app for that". Apple had initially filed the trademark back in December 2009. Interestingly trademark filed in Advertising, Business and Retail Services, Computer ...
http://bit.ly/bkRhUtApple today reported that it had trademarked its catchphrase "there's an app... more
-
-
Caitlin Sanchez is in news today and this is because of her lawsuit, her parents have filled against Nickelodeon. Caitlin Sanchez is the voice of NickelodeonCaitlin Sanchez is in news today and this is because of her lawsuit, her parents have... more
-
-
Apple has been ordered by a jury in Tyler, Texas to pay the owners of Mirror Worlds LLC $625.5 million for three copyright infringements.
From the article:
"In 1991, before access to the World Wide Web was mainstream, Gelernter published a book called "Mirror Worlds: or the Day Software Puts the Universe in a Shoebox...How it Will Happen and What it Will Mean." The volume laid out a vision of the future in which people can access and interpret unprecedented volumes of real-time, real-world data using a computer.
A decade later, Gelernter's Mirror Worlds Technologies Inc. launched its first and only product, Scopeware, which could organize all sorts of information on a timeline or "lifestream." It looked like a cascade of index cards on the screen, each representing a unique piece of e-mail, a Web page, spreadsheet or other document, updated constantly as new items arrive. From descriptions at the time, Scopeware had a similar look to and functionality as Apple's Cover Flow, which is built into the company's Mac OS X operating system and the software that runs on iPods and other devices."
Back in March of this year Apple filed a patent infringement lawsuit against HTC, maker of Google’s Nexus One phone.
more at the article...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/05/apple-cover-flow-patent_n_750881.htmlApple has been ordered by a jury in Tyler, Texas to pay the owners of Mirror Worlds... more
-
-
A French man sued Google because typing in his name resulted in search suggestions for "rapist," "satanist," "rape," and "prison." The court today ruled against Google in the defamation suit.
In what could either be a landmark ruling or one of the most easily overturned decisions ever, the French court ordered Google to 5,000 euros ($6734) in damages.
The man, whose name has not been publicly released, was reportedly found guilty earlier this year for counts of "corruption of a minor." As a result, when users punch in his name in Google's search bar, the engine pops up with search suggestions like "rape" and "rapist.
http://www.tgdaily.com/business-and-law-brief/51735-child-attacker-wins-defamation-case-against-googleA French man sued Google because typing in his name resulted in search suggestions for... more
-
-
The Obama administration has invoked the state secrets privilege to block a lawsuit on behalf of US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, an alleged terrorist said to be targeted for assassination.
In a court filing, the Justice Department said that the issues in the case are for the executive branch of government to decide rather than the courts.
The department also said the case entails information that is protected by the military and state secrets privilege.
The courts have sufficient grounds to throw out the lawsuit without resorting to use of the state secrets privilege, the Justice Department said in its filing.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2010/0925/US-seeks-to-dismiss-suit-filed-for-radical-cleric-Anwar-al-AwlakiThe Obama administration has invoked the state secrets privilege to block a lawsuit on... more
-
-
-
Tomorrow, the European Parliament will vote on the Gallo report that deals with the enforcement of intellectual property. Drafted by a partner of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the report paves the way for draconian anti-piracy measures to be introduced across Europe, potentially affecting the lives of millions of Internet users.
In recent years pro-copyright lobbyists have pushed governments worldwide to adopt harsher anti-piracy legislation. Thus far they’ve booked several successes, with the controversial trade agreement ACTA as the most important victory. But there’s more. Tomorrow the European Parliament will vote on another document that could turn the Internet into a copyright police state.
The Gallo report, named after the French MEP Marielle Gallo, is an initiative report. This means that it’s non-legislative, but that doesn’t make it less dangerous. It functions as advice for all European member states and offers local governments and lobbyists an excuse to push for harsher anti-piracy measures.
Among other things, the report offers advice to ”complete the legislative framework to introduce a set of measures to combat intellectual property infringements”. Furthermore, it promotes ”voluntary” partnerships between Internet service providers and copyright holders to crackdown on copyright infringers.
http://torrentfreak.com/european-parliament-votes-on-controversial-anti-piracy-report-100921/Tomorrow, the European Parliament will vote on the Gallo report that deals with the... more
-
