Two Detroit pension funds have sued Yahoo and its board of directors, saying they breached their duties to shareholders in trying to thwart a takeover by Microsoft. The lawsuit was recently filed in Delaware Chancery Court by lawyers representing Detroit's police and fire retirement system and general retirement system, as well as "all other similarly situated public shareholders." The suit charges that Yahoo's board is pursuing "value-destructive" third-party deals in an effort to fight off Microsoft.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) said on Thursday that it would make key technology elements of some of its best-selling software products widely available to boost interoperability of its software with that of competitors and customers.
To make connecting Microsoft products with third-party software products easier, Microsoft will publish on its Web site key software blueprints, known as application program interfaces, pertaining to its high-volume products used by other Microsoft products.
Microsoft also pledged not to sue open-source developers for development or noncommercial distribution of those software blueprints.
In January, the European Commission launched new antitrust investigations into Microsoft to see whether the company broke competition rules to help its Web browser and its Office and Outlook products.
Microsoft said the moves announced on Thursday apply to its following products: Microsoft Vista, Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, Office 2007, Exchange Server 2007, and Office SharePoint Server 2007, as well as all future versions of the same products.
(Reporting by Duncan Martell; editing by John Wallace)
The face of bankruptcies in corporate America has changed several times since the 1978 reforms, and according to authors Louis A. Recano and Scott Y. Stuart, it's going to change once more -- probably radically -- over the coming months. The authors discuss how business use of the bankruptcy process has changed over the years, and suggest that unlike the recent past, where Chapter 11 may have been viewed as just a business option, many companies in the future may find that bankruptcy is a likely reality.
Louis Vuitton Malletier S.A. v. Haute Diggity Dog concluded that canine chew toys fashioned after Louis Vuitton handbags were a permitted parody that did not infringe or dilute Louis Vuitton’s admittedly well-known marks. Although the decision breaks little new ground in the trademark jurisprudence of parody and infringement, it was a first opportunity for an appellate court to assess parody under the new Trademark Dilution Revision Act.
A Democratic lawmaker on Wednesday proposed legislation to stop network providers from playing traffic cop on the Internet. Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet, introduced the bill to promote the principle, known as "Net neutrality," of treating all Internet traffic equally.
The Federal Circuit affirmed a decision of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas denying defendant-appellant Microsoft Corp.'s renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law after a jury ruled that it had infringed two of the plaintiff-appellee's patents related to prevention of software piracy and failed to demonstrate that the patents were invalid.
Yahoo Inc. is discussing a possible partnership with News Corp. in its latest effort to repel Microsoft Corp. or prod its unsolicited suitor into raising its current takeover bid. News Corp. and a private equity firm also would buy significant stakes in Yahoo in a complex deal designed to boost the Sunnyvale-based company's market value above Microsoft's initial bid of $44.6 billion.
In a case of apparent first impression, a New York judge has ruled that a MySpace "friend request" can constitute a violation of a temporary order of protection. "While it is true that the person who received the 'friend request' could simply deny the request to become 'friends,' that request was still a contact," the judge wrote. "It is no different than if the defendant arranged for any agent to make known to a claimant, 'Your former friend wants to communicate with you. Are you interested?'"
IBLS Editorial Department Wednesday, February 13, 2008 Most cybercrimes tried in the United States have dealt with violation of purely federal statutory law; and therefore, they have been conducted in federal courts. Yet, a recent 2008 criminal case emerged as one of the first criminal case involving a typical state criminal case but because of the forum it was conducted- the Internet- it implicates Interstate commerce and federal law. This attempted murder case was originated on the Internet; involves two state jurisdictions; concerns electronic evidence and online advertising. The case relates to a murder-for-hire Internet plot. The indicted person, a Michigan resident, published an online advertising in Craiglist.org in an attempt to recruit someone to murder a California resident. The accused woman was arrested and a grand jury in California indicted her with 3 counts, including attempted murder and the use of Interested commerce- the Internet- with the intend to kill someone.
