Injury Law Firm Blog

Beatles Infringement Lawsuit Against Apple Computer

In London's High Court, Apple Corps, which represents the band's interests, argued that Apple Computer company had violated a 1991 trademark agreement; however, a judge ruled that Apple computer’s iTunes Music Store has not infringed upon the Beatles Apple logo.

Blackberry involved in patent lawsuit again

Research In Motion, maker of the popular Blackberry, which paid $612.5 million to resolve a patent lawsuit recently against NTP, has filed a complaint challenging another company's infringement claims.

Visto Corp., a California-based company that provides e-mail software to cell phone companies has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Research In Motion.

Research In Motion has asked a federal court in Dallas to rule that the BlackBerry doesn't infringe patents owned by Visto Corp. The lawsuit will allow Research In Motion, whose U.S. distributor is based in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas, to contest which court will hear the case.

Actor suing City of West Hollywood

On a lighter note, Johnny Depp is currently involved in a lawsuit against the city of West Hollywood to stop the construction of a Sunset Strip shopping center that he says will ruin the view of Los Angeles from his Hollywood Hills home and is alleging that the city violated environmental quality laws.

Jury awards $1.7 million to spanked employee

A jury of six men and six women recently awarded a former female employee of Alarm One Inc., who was spanked in front of co-workers in what the company called a team building exercise, $1.7 million.

The jurors awarded $10,000 for economic loss, $40,000 for future medical costs and $450,000 for emotional distress and pain and suffering in addition to $1.2 million in punitive damages.

Family sues after organs removed without consent

The family of a 19-year-old construction worker who was pronounced brain-dead after a fall has filed a $180 million suit against the New York Organ Donor Network for allegedly removing organs without the proper informed consent.

After being rushed to the emergency room from falling two stories at a construction site, Melesio Martinez was pronounced brain dead by physicians shortly after his arrival.

Texas Jury orders Microsoft to pay $115 million in patent-infringement lawsuit

A Texas jury ruled Microsoft must pay $115 million to z4 Technologies for the infringement upon z4's inventions to prevent software piracy.

z4 Technologies claimed that two patents were infringed by Microsoft Office and Windows XP software.

TiVo wins $74 million patent infringement lawsuit against Dish TV

In Marshall, Texas, a federal jury awarded TiVo Inc. nearly $74 million in damages regarding a patent-infringement lawsuit against EchoStar Communications which is the parent company of the popular Dish TV satellite provider.

TiVo claimed that EchoStar violated its patent for a "multimedia time warping system" that has the ability to pause, rewind or fast-forward live TV programs by recording them on a hard drive.

eBay accused of stealing another companies idea

A small Virginia based patent holder, Thomas Woolston and his company MercExchange accused eBay, the popular Web-based marketplace, of stealing its idea for selling goods in cyberspace.

MercExchange says it came up with the idea of using an electronic network of consignment stores that would ensure legitimacy of sales by taking possession of goods being offered.

Hurricane Katrina is back - this time in the courtroom

Poor New Orleans. It was bad enough that a hurricane caused unimaginable devastation to the city. Now the residents of the Big Easy are forced to contend with a cadre of insurance companies who won't live up to their end of an insurance policy. The city's residents are also facing off with a number of unscrupulous contractors who never performed the jobs they they were paid to do. But, have no fear, the lawyers are now here.

New Orleans civil courts this week began fast-tracking what they expect to be thousands of lawsuits stemming from damage done to homes, businesses and personal property during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In many of the cases, property owners will be asking the courts to force insurance companies to pay claims for storm-related damage.

I Have Fallen

So, you have fallen and can’t get up. Remember those pesky TV commercials where the elderly woman stumbles down the stairs and no one is there to help. Luckily, she can pull the cord around her neck and emergency help is on its way. Whew! Saved again by modern technology!

But what happens if this same woman can’t speak when EMS arrives? Who is going to give this woman’s health history to her health care providers? No need to panic – modern medical science comes to the rescue once again. There are a handful of Americans who have tiny electronic VeriChips inserted under their skin. These microchips provide instant access to the patients’ computerized medical records – all in an effort to treat the patient quicker and to prevent errors.