During CES 2012, a company named ION Audio gained attention for showing off one of their newest products called the Guitar Apprentice. The Guitar Apprentice is a full-sized guitar, but it uses a lighted fretboard and the iPad to teach users how to play guitar. It certainly got my attention when I was walking on more »

Lodsys, the company who at one point threatened to sue Apple App Store developers for allegedly infringing on its patents, has turned its attention to the Android developers. Lodsys claims that while companies such as Apple and Google have the right to use its patents for in-app purchases, that same courtesy does not extend to app developers who try to make more money from microtransactions.

Samsung is facing a lawsuit brought on by Apple. Last Friday, Apple filed a suit that accuses Samsung of trademark infringement and unfair competition due to Samsung’s Galaxy phones and tablets. Simply put, Apple believes Samsung copied the physical and software designs of the iPhone and iPad. Apple is seeking financial compensation and possible injunctions. If granted, Samsung may have to change the design of its phones and tablets.

Raise your hand if you remember the Spore SecuROM fiasco. The community backlash, and the resulting huge amount of pirated copies of the game that became available. You’d think that somebody would try to create a form of copy protection that both copyright holders and consumers can be okay with. Apparently the people at CD Digital Card didn’t get that message.

CD Digital Card is trying to bring 2 Geeks In A Lab’s Global Garde copy protection to mass market. Apparently the code is small (only about 250 to 500 KB), takes only five minutes to install, and is supposed to be invisible to consumers. According to the press release it’s currently hailed as “the holy grail of anti-piracy and copy protection.” In other words: the bane of those who simply want to access the content that they paid for, or those who want to pirate it.

“The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.” So says the warning on all movies released since early 2004. Well, granted many get a bit of a chuckle every time they pop a movie into their player and see that flash across their screen knowing they’ve just downloaded it from somewhere on the ‘Net, but still…it’s the thought that counts. And apparently, the thought of RealNetworks is that they want to make it a little easier for their customers to burn those dvds; since they are coming out with a new product called RealDVD which allows users to burn a digital copy of the movie of your choice…ummmm..legally? Guess that remains to be seen. Because there hasn’t been enough chatter about the whole piracy/fair use thing lately.

Your right to privacy is no longer as private as you once thought or hoped. By court order, Google is being forced to hand over all the records of every video watched by YouTube users. This information will include users’ names as well as IP addresses, and the request has Google lawyers arguing invasion of privacy. The judge in his ruling, however, found this argument “speculative” and ordered them to turn over the logs on a set of four terabyte hard drives.

The purpose behind the lawsuit is that Viacom intends to prove that infringing material is more prominent than user-created videos. This would most likely increase Google’s liability if they are found guilty of contributory infringement. The suit was originally filed in March of 2007, with Viacom seeking over $1 billion in damages. Google tried to argue that the law provides a “safe harbor for online services so long as they comply with copyright take-down requests.” Apparently Judge Louis L. Stanton, the senior judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, who issued the opinion and order, wasn’t buying it, since the order also requires Google to supply copies of any video that was taken down for any reason.

The International Trade Commission has agreed to investigate a complaint of patent infringement made against Sharp Corp. Samsung claims that Sharp has infringed on 4 different patents for LCDs. Samsung is attempting to block imports of products using Sharp LCDs. These products include HDTV’s and the Motorola RAZR2. The companies are suing each other in more »