Lawsuits

A made-for-TV lawsuit: MIT sues television makers over digital sets

adamg — Sat, 19 May 2012 20:12:13 +0000

MIT yesterday sued two TV makers for refusing to pay licensing fees on digital-television patents it was granted in the 1990s.

In lawsuits against Funai - which makes Philips, Magnavox, Sylvania, Emerson, Funai, and Symphonic products - and Vizio - MIT says it held four patents at the heart of American digital television and that it's owed licensing fees and penalties because the two companies refused to buy licenses for the technologies, unlike other makers of TVs and Blu-ray players.

How the Facebook IPO could help the Boston Phoenix

adamg — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:52:25 +0000

The shrinking Phoenix Media Group still has one possible ace in the hole - a patent lawsuit against Facebook that, if successful, would give it ownership over one of the most fundamental parts of social networking.

At issue is a patent held by Phoenix subsidiary People2People on the concept of creating a personal page on a Web site.

Norwood man wants ad agency to sing different tune over McDonald's Filet-o-Fish ad

adamg — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:13:14 +0000

Who could forget that McDonald's commercial with the singing fish? Not Daniel Thomas Calden of Norwood, who says the ad agency that came up with it ripped off his idea, to the tune of $20 million in damages.

In his copyright-infringement lawsuit, originally filed in state court but now in US District Court in Boston, Calden says the ad by Arnold Worldwide of Boston is based on a music video he posted to a McDonald's contest on MySpace in 2008. Calden's video was about the Big Mac and featured a singing sock puppet, but Calden says it's obvious Arnold took his work and parodied it for use in what became one of the earwormiest TV campaigns of the decade.

Compare for yourself:

West End renter makes federal case out of apartment fee

adamg — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:17:18 +0000

A resident of the West End apartment complex has filed what she hopes will become a class-action lawsuit against her landlord over a $500 "amenity fee" that supposedly helps pay for a fitness center, concierge and freight elevator, but which she says violates a Massachusetts tenant-rights law.

If a tree falls in a park and a softball player is under it, the city might have to pay damages, court rules

adamg — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:38:26 +0000

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today the city of Newton will have to show a lower court why it shouldn't be made to pay a softball player for serious injuries caused by a tree falling on him while he was waiting his turn at bat.

Appeals court: Judge in divorce case has power to bar ex from going into business against former spouse

adamg — Fri, 04 May 2012 22:22:37 +0000

The Massachusetts Appeals Court today gave a probate judge permission to block a Cape woman from setting up a competitor to her ex-husband's feed and grain business as part of the divorce settlement.

The ruling does not mean the woman will now have to give up the feed and grain she set up - in the same building from which her husband's concern was evicted on her request - only that the judge in the case will have the legal authority to reconsider the husband's request that she be forced to knock it off.

The husband was awarded control of the family feed and grain business in divorce proceedings in 2009. To keep the concern going, he asked the judge to block his soon-to-be ex, a veterinarian, from setting up a competing feed and grain.

Award-winning director sues local cardiologists for wire he says was left in his chest after a heart procedure

adamg — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:01:49 +0000

William Fertik, a New York director who has won both an Academy Award and three Emmy Awards, says he suffered a series of strokes after a 15.5-inch wire snapped off while still embedded in his heart and doctors at Brigham and Women's Hospital failed to realize that for more than three days - after they had discharged him and he was on his way back to New York.

Court rules you really shouldn't store flammable chemicals near your water heater's pilot light

adamg — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:07:56 +0000

The Massachusetts Appeals Court today tossed a Norwood couple's lawsuit against a local hardware chain for selling them a can of paint stripper that burst into flames after they stored it next to their basement water heater, giving both of them serious burns.

The court said the can was prominently labeled as both flammable and poisonous and that people need to use common sense when dealing with such chemicals:

Pornographers suing unknown (for now) file swappers in Massachusetts

adamg — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 13:09:42 +0000

Over the past couple of months, companies that produce porn films have filed a series of lawsuits in US District Court in Boston against scores of unidentified BitTorrent users they claim are illegally distributing such classics as "Illegal Ass 2" and "Big Wet Brazilian Asses 7."

The copyright suits list the defendants only as Does, but say the plaintiffs have their IP numbers and will use that to seek their names and addresses from their ISPs. The suits seek an end to the file swapping, destruction of any copies of the films and, naturally, lots of money.

Patrick Collins vs. Does 1-30 - Copy of one of the suits (they're all pretty much the same, save for the name of the plaintiff, the number of Does and the film details).
How BitTorrent is used to distribute files illegally - 5M PDF by the plaintiffs' consultant.
Sample listing of IP addresses

Citizens Bank to pay $137.5 million to make lawsuit over questionable overdraft fees go away

adamg — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:44:11 +0000

The bank declined to admit it jiggered its transaction software to increase the odds patrons would rack up overdraft fees, says it's pleased to move forward and "provide our customers with choices to help them manage their accounts and their finances," the Globe reports.

MBTA settled with patent trolls two years ago to keep T alerts flowing

adamg — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:16:50 +0000

The Atlantic recently reported a company in Luxembourg is methodically suing public-transit agencies across the US, alleging real-time bus and train information violates patents it holds with a partner in the British Virgin Islands.

One transportation authority it won't sue, however, is our own MBTA.

The two companies actually sued the T in 2010 for alleged patent violations involving T alerts. Just four months later, however, both sides filed paperwork with US District Court in Boston that they had settled the case "with prejudice" - which means the two companies are barred from suing the T again.

"The settlement provides MBTA customers with uninterrupted access to the information they use regularly to make their commutes easier and more convenient," spokesman Joe Pesaturo said this morning. So did the T pay the two companies to leave it alone? "By mutual agreement, the parties are not discussing the terms," he said.

In 2010, the T's response to the lawsuit began: "This lawsuit offends any notion of justice," and called the lawsuit an attempted "shakedown" by companies that exist solely to attempt to extort money through lawsuits.

Court upholds Dana-Farber windfall from drug-overcharging settlement

adamg — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 23:28:23 +0000

A federal appeals court ruled today that Dana-Farber can keep the $11.4 million a federal judge awarded it from a settlement pool for consumers overcharged for the cost of a prescription drug in the 1990s.

State's highest court grows weary of the former Cat Lady of Beacon Hill

adamg — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:26:28 +0000

Heidi Erickson, who gained fame for her large collection of cats, several dozen of them stored in a freezer, has just lost her latest case before the Supreme Judicial Court.

And this time, the justices are signalling they're nearing the end of their patience with Erickson, now a South Shore resident who has now been involved in nearly a gross of cases to reach either the SJC or the Massachusetts Appeals Court:

Appeals judges to former court clerk who gave blank search warrants to robbers: Tough, you're not getting a pension or health insurance

adamg — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:06:58 +0000

A federal appeals court today refused to reinstate the pension and health benefits of a one-time Cambridge District Court clerk-magistrate even though he agreed to a plea deal because he thought it would let him keep his pension and benefits.

Arbitrator can't force Roxbury Community College to give a professor another shot at tenure, court rules

adamg — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 20:40:45 +0000

The Supreme Judicial Court today overturned an arbitrator's ruling that the college had to give a social-sciences professor a second crack at tenure after it told him he would be terminated.