PayPal slaps Google with mobile payment suit

By Christopher Trout

Just this morning we reported on the rather jovial atmosphere at Google's big mobile payment announcement -- well, it looks like PayPal's prepared to bring an end to the celebration. According to Bloomberg, PayPal filed a suit against Google today in a California Superior Court, alleging that former PayPal executive, and one of this morning's MCs, Osama Bedier misappropriated the company's trade secrets.

The suit further fingered Stephanie Tilenius, also formerly with PayPal, of violating the terms of her contract in recruiting Bedier. Though we've yet to get our hands on any clear details about which trade secrets PayPal's pointing to, we'd say the timing speaks volumes.

Billionaire Louis Bacon Wins Wikipedia Defamation Suit, Will Go After Names

Most comment trolls don't think they'll ever have to show their faces to the people they insult. But Louis Bacon, an American billionaire hedge fund manager has received the go-ahead from a London high court to force three websites to disclose the identities of his alleged defamers, the Guardian reports.

Bacon received permission to ask publishers behind Wikipedia, WordPress and the Denver Post to track down online commenters who he claims have posted libellous content about him, according to the Guardian. Bacon, now equipped with a Norwich Pharmacal Order, will serve the websites with the order so that he can go after these individuals for defamation.

But according to legal experts, it may be a difficult proposition to get these US companies to agree with the UK court order. The Guardian reports that the Wikimedia Foundation, and Automattic (the company that owns WordPress) have stated it will only comply with a US subpoena for such data.

Bacon succeeded in making a similar case against a UK-based site, justhost.com, last year. In the US, Bacon would have some precedent for his actions: last year, an Illinois newspaper was forced to reveal the names of online anonymous commenters in a defamation suit. The same happened to an Indianpolis newspaper in March. And last October, a business student was able to get a court to force Google to reveal the names of commenters insulting her on YouTube

Huawei Sues ZTE, So does Ericsson

Welp, the pie seems to be getting smaller so everyone’s on everyone else’s throats. Bon appetit

Huawei sues ZTE for patent infringement in Europe

April 29, 2011 — 12:22pm ET By Paul Rasmussen

In a surprise move Huawei sued its fellow Chinese vendor ZTE in the European courts for patent and trademark infringement. Specifically, Huawei accused ZTE of flouting patents it holds relating to data cards and LTE technology.
According to Huawei, the company has started legal action in Germany, France and Hungary with the aim of stopping ZTE from using Huawei patents and trademarks. ZTE is charged with branding some of its data cards with the Huawei brand.
Song Liuping, Huawei's chief legal officer, was reported by the Financial Times as wanting to resolve the dispute through negotiations. However, suggestions to decide the matter out of court using cross-licensing had not provoked a substantive response.
ZTE's reaction to this move was surprise and puzzlement, but it also made plain that it rejected the allegations and threatened to instigate legal action itself. ZTE on Friday sued Huawei in China fore infrnging on patents it holds for LTE.
In a statement carried by the Financial Times, ZTE said: "ZTE Corporation is astonished that Huawei Technologies has taken these legal actions. As a company listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, ZTE respects and adheres to international intellectual property laws and regulations without reservation, and absolutely rejects that there has been any patent and trademark infringement."
It also noted: "ZTE is always willing to negotiate on issues in good faith, but will definitely take vigorous legal action in situations like this to protect its interests and those of its customers worldwide."
However, a report carried by AFP said that Huawei had recently made public images of a ZTE-branded data card using a Huawei-registered trademark and patented design.
Earlier this month, Ericsson started legal procedures against ZTE in the UK, Germany and Italy over alleged infringement of patents for 2G and 3G technologies. Ericsson said that it spent four years attempting to resolve the issue with ZTE with no results.