Now Samsung Is Trying To Sue Apple Over The iPad Mini (AAPL)

Samsung filed a motion this week to amend its patent lawsuit against Apple to include the iPad Mini and new fifth-generation iPod Touch.  The motion claims since Samsung didn't know of the products when it filed the original lawsuit, they should be included since their design and software are so similar to other Apple products. Here's an excerpt of the filing via AllThingsD: The iPod Touch 5, iPad 4, and iPad Mini have the same accused functionality as the versions of the iPod Touch and iPad that are already part of this case. As such, the proof of infringement of the patents-in-suit by the iPod Touch 5, iPad 4, and iPad Mini will be substantially the same as for other Apple devices already accused of infringement in this litigation. Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »

Your ISP Is About To Become The Copyright Police

Five huge brand-name ISPs are banding together in an effort to slow down and possibly even cut off internet access to people accused of copyright infringement. After agreeing on a deal almost three years in the making, AT&T, Cablevision Systems, Comcast, Time Warner, and Verizon announced yesterday morning that they would be monitoring their customers' internet traffic for instances of copyright violation. The effort is called the PROTECT IP Act. It will operate on a six-strike system. After that, they initiate the wonderfully Orwellian-sounding "mitigation measures," which could include bringing a subscriber's internet speeds to a crawl and redirecting a subscriber’s service to a "educational" page about infringement. The arrangement has the full backing of the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America, but 90 lawyers have determined it to be unconstitutional. They've written an open letter to Congress along with several other professors and IP experts, which appears below. We'll be following along to see what happens. Here's the letter from all those legal experts:

// Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:You Could Call This The Tiger Woods Patent20 Ways To Ruin Your Chances During A Job InterviewDeath To The QR Code

Emails Sent By Mark Hurd's Accuser Jodie Fisher Have Leaked (HPQ, ORCL)

Some of the emails exchanged by ex-HP CEO Mark Hurd and the woman who accused him of sexual harassment, Jodie Fisher, have been leaked. The New York Times posted the emails, and we've uploaded them to Scribd and embedded them here. Nothing in these emails seems to contradict what was said in the letter Gloria Allred sent to HP's board. For the most part, it's just snippets of Fisher sending along short messages saying she's happy to be working for HP. (The fact that a random event hostess was emailing with the CEO seems pretty crazy to us.) Also, as you read these, don't forget, this is a hand picked selection of emails from HP. We're not seeing everything here, just what it wants us to see. Hurd Emails // Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:Well, There's No Longer Any Mystery Why HP Fired Mark HurdThis Is The Letter That Got Mark Hurd Fired As CEO Of HPThe Scandalous Letter That Led To Mark Hurd Being Fired At HP Will Finally Become Public

Facebook Holds Secret Banker/Analyst Meeting To Kick Off IPO

Facebook is hosting a meeting with bankers, analysts, and lawyers today, Kayla Tausche at CNBC reports. This is usually a "kick-off meeting" to get the IPO started. Bankers can ask questions so they can go sell the Facebook IPO to investors. Tausche called it, "run of the mill". However, one thing that's not "run of the mill" is having bankers and analysts at the same meeting. After the first dot-com bust, banks were forced to build firewalls to prevent the banking team from influencing the research team. Facebook wanted to save time by having both bankers and analysts come to a town hall meeting where they could gab with the C-level executives of Facebook. If bankers want to talk to the research people, they have to do it through lawyers says Tausche.

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:YAHOO SUES FACEBOOKThese Are The Patents Yahoo Claims Facebook Is InfringingMicrosoft Can -- And SHOULD -- Save Facebook From This Lame Yahoo Patent Suit

Twitter's Anti-Patent Pledge Is Bogus Fluff

Yesterday, Twitter published a pledge that it would only use patents for "defensive" purposes, and a lot of folks in the tech industry are lining up in support. Yammer CEO David Sacks, who is so angry about Yahoo's patent lawsuit against Facebook that he offered a $25,000 signing bonus to fleeing Yahoo employees, has promised to support the agreement via Twitter. VC Fred Wilson said that Union Square Ventures is "committed" to supporting it. Startup accelerator TechStars said it would incorporate it into the standard formation documents for all its startups, although founders are free to ignore it. Despite all the congratulations going on, the pledge actually doesn't mean much. As Michael Kanellos pointed out on Forbes yesterday, the agreement has holes. For instance, Twitter's pledge doesn't apply to any company that's filed its own patent infringement suit in the last 10 years. So even if you're a real company making real products, and you filed a lawsuit to prevent somebody from blatantly ripping off your IP, Twitter reserves the right to sue you first. Another example: the pledge says that Twitter can use the patents offensively to "deter a patent litigation threat." So if Twitter feels threatened, it can sue. Twitter's pledge also gives employees -- the actual inventors -- an uncomfortable amount of power. Kanellos lays out a hypothetical situation in which a rip-off company clones Twitter, then bribes a key patent holder to withhold consent so Twitter can't sue. Geekwire interviewed three IP experts who agreed that the pledge is full of loopholes. One of them called it "both dumb and disingenuous." Among other problems: you can't use patents defensively against most trolls, because they don't make any product. By definition they can't possibly violate your patents. You can really only use patents "defensively" when another company sues you, or threatens to do so. So what's this really about? This is about Twitter trying to portray itself as an innovative good guy in a world full of big, slow competitors. Think Yahoo. Or Microsoft. That's fine marketing -- it may even be true -- but it's not a serious attempt to fix the patent system and shouldn't be regarded as such.     Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »

FACEBOOK FIRES BACK: Sues Yahoo Over 10 Of Its Own Patents (YHOO)

Facebook is turning the tables on Yahoo. It is suing Yahoo, claiming patent infringement on 10 different patents. This is in response to Yahoo's lawsuit against Facebook, which says Facebook is infringing on a dozen patents. Facebook wants to have the lawsuit dropped, and it's firing back to with patents it developed on its own, as well as purchased from outside companies. In the suit, Facebook says all of Yahoo's major properties are infringing on Facebook patents. Specifically, it says Flickr is infringing on Yahoo patents, as well as Yahoo's optimization engine for its pages. We have the suit below, and the patent infringement claims start on page 12. Click here to see a quick run down of all the patents Facebook says Yahoo infringed > Fb Answer and Counterclaims Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:Yahoo Is So Bloated, It Could Cut 25 Percent Of Its Staff And Nobody Would NoticeTHE MICROSOFT INVESTOR: Could Bing Help Facebook Steal Ad Dollars Away From Google?THE GOOGLE INVESTOR: Patents, Patents, Patents! Oracle And Now ... Lycos?

Facebook Is Ready To Fight Back Against Yahoo (YHOO)

Facebook is getting ready to fight back against Yahoo, which sued it yesterday for patent infringement. That's according to Om Malik, citing reliable sources close to Facebook. The company apparently thinks it has enough patents to fight back. Good move. If Facebook fights and the case actually goes to trial, Yahoo could end up with all sorts of trouble:

Its patents could be challenged and invalidated.

Yahoo might be found to infringe upon Facebook's patents, in which case payment might go the other way.

There's a remote chance that embarrassing information -- like emails -- could come out during discovery, or that Yahoo employees might have to testify.

This is why companies typically resort to patent litigation as an absolute last resort. And why patent cases are almost always settled before trial. Facebook had no comment on the report.         Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:Former Yahoo Engineer Is 'Embarrassed' By Patents Filed In His NameHere's Why Yahoo Suing Facebook Is Nothing Like When Yahoo Sued GoogleMicrosoft Can -- And SHOULD -- Save Facebook From This Lame Yahoo Patent Suit

Fred Wilson Flips Out Over Yahoo's Attack On Facebook: 'I Hate Them' (YHOO)

Influential New York venture capitalist Fred Wilson is furious with Yahoo over its decision to sue Facebook. He writes at his blog, A VC, the patents Yahoo is using are "a crock of shit." He adds, "None of them represent unique and new ideas at the time of the filing." And he's right. Have you seen what Yahoo is claiming it invented? It thinks it owns a patent on the idea of a free website supported by ads. Seriously! Yahoo "crossed a line" by suing Facebook, says Wilson and now, "They are dead to me. Dead and gone. I hate them now." Yahoo was already hated by the cool kids in tech. Now it's abhorred. It's going to be really hard to attract go engineers, and it's going to be harder to make acquisitions. Who wants to work for this sort of company? Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:Microsoft Can -- And SHOULD -- Save Facebook From This Lame Yahoo Patent SuitHere's Why Yahoo Suing Facebook Is Nothing Like When Yahoo Sued GoogleYAHOO SUES FACEBOOK

Twitter Is Taking The High Road While Yahoo And Facebook Are Suing Each Others' Faces Off (YHOO)

Twitter today announced it's going to publish a draft of an "Innovator's Patent Agreement," which is basically a promise that it will only use its patents defensively. That means Twitter will only call up its patents in court if they are attacked by another technology company on the basis of infringing on patents. Like Yahoo, for example. It's in response to Yahoo suing Facebook — widely seen as one of the biggest scumbag moves in the technology industry — over a set of patents now that it's about to go public. A lot of older technology companies do this to younger ones as a source of new revenue when they're in bad shape — especially if the younger technology company is about to go public. There's a small caveat, though: Twitter will use patents from employees’ inventions in offensive litigation if they have the employees permission. Also part of this agreement: if another company buys those patents, they will also have to get the inventor's permission to use them in offensive litigation too. Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:Here's What To Say When Someone Says Instagram Proves It's 1999 All Over AgainTHE GOOGLE INVESTOR: Everything You Need To Know About Google Earnings TonightZuckerberg Might Not Bother Attending Facebook's Road Show

Sean Parker's 2009 Letter Of Praise To Spotify Says To Lock Up A Deal With Zuckerberg

Sean Parker wrote a lengthy four-page email to Spotify's Daniel Ek and Shakil Khan in August 2009. It was just released. Parker's main points are:

You guys are awesome

I wish I had invested

You're at least as great as Napster

Lock up an exclusive Facebook integration music deal with Mark Zuckerberg, but wait until you have more leverage. Facebook has already passed on iTunes and LaLa.

Sean Parker 's Email to Spotify's Daniel Ek

//

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:New York Post Says Zuckerberg And Sean Parker Got Into A Big Fight That Almost Came To Blows Over Spotify*Facebook And Google Are Exploiting The Presidential Race To Advance Their Own CausesCHART OF THE DAY: Zynga's Biggest Problem