Free Republic

Apple came out unscathed from a legal battle involving digital rights management IP owned by ContentGuard, a subsidiary of non-practicing entity Pendrell Corp. that sued the iPhone maker for infringing on five patents. The jury handed down its decision in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Friday, finding Apple not in infringement of five DRM-related patents owned by ContentGuard, reports Reuters. While not responsible for damages, Apple was not able to prove the patents-in-suit invalid. Apple was accused of illegally applying patented DRM technologies to its digital content distribution services, including music, movies and TV...

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Thursday took a step toward improving Internet speeds in America, requiring providers to offer download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second to classify as "broadband." The new restrictions also require 3Mbps speeds for uploads to classify as broadband Internet. Internet service providers face the more severe restrictions after the FCC determined that U.S. broadband deployment is not keeping pace with the rest of the world. The new benchmark speeds are a large improvement from the previous requirement of 4Mbps download and 1Mbps upload to classify as broadband. The FCC said that the...

In a recent hissy-fit , Apple Computer got bent out of shape after revelations about a future product appeared on three different websites that specialize in news and gossip about the company. Risking customer alienation, the company sued and demanded that the sites turn over information as to the derivation of the information. Immediately the Internet, particularly the so-called blogosphere, began a flame war regarding Apple's lawsuits. These sites, after all were Apple boosters. It made no sense for Apple to attack them. The brouhaha regards a product code-named "Asteroid." Asteroid is reportedly nothing more than an inexpensive device called...