EU Competition Chief: Screw Around With Standards Essential Patents and You’ll Be Sorry

Tech companies plotting to use standards essential patents to bolster their market power best think twice before doing so.
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Google Working to Address Europe’s Concerns About Motorola Mobility Deal

You’d think European Union officials might have other things to worry about, but …
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EU Injects Itself Into Apple-Samsung Patent War

Looks like Apple’s sprawling intellectual property battle with Samsung could draw some unwanted attention from the European Union Competition Commission.
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Microsoft-Apple Word War Spreads to Europe

Microsoft has established a new beachhead in its semantic set-to with Apple and rallied some new allies to its fight against genericide. On Thursday it challenged Apple’s rights to the trademarks “App Store” and “Appstore” in the European market, filing a formal application for declaration of invalidity in the EU’s Community Trade Mark office.

EU Panel to Affirm Location Is Private

The European Union’s top advisory body on online privacy will issue an opinion this month saying that information collected by phone and Internet companies on customer locations must be treated like names, birthdays and other personal data, EU officials say.

Regulators Eye Apple Anew

U.S. antitrust enforcers have begun looking at the terms Apple Inc. set this week for media companies who want to sell their content on its popular iPad and other devices, according to people familiar with the matter.

Ball Gag Starting to Look Like a Good Idea for Google CEO

Eric Schmidt recently joked in a tweet that he was stepping down as Google CEO because the company’s younger co-founders no longer needed “adult supervision.” Or wanted it–at least not the kind that Schmidt’s been offering recently, which was on display once again today in yet another PR gaffe.

News Byte

Google, EU Reportedly in Antitrust Settlement Talks

Google has begun preliminary talks with European Union regulators in an effort to resolve an antitrust investigation that began in November, according to a source cited by Reuters today. The probe was launched after competitors charged that Google was using its dominant position in search to favor its own services in its result rankings.

U.S. Regulators Approve Intel's Perplexing Acquisition of McAfee

U.S. regulators have approved Intel’s pending acquisition of software security vendor McAfee. Still to go: The European Union.

Web-Based Amateur Private Eyes Enhancing Store Security

A new business attempting to help small retailers minimize shoplifting by harnessing the power of the Internet with existing security camera technology is showing some initial results as it works to improve stability and reliability. Internet Eyes is meant to help small stores that have CCTV installed but that lack the manpower to monitor the video feeds constantly.

EU Data Protection Chief: Beware the ACTA

EU Poised to Approve Oracle-Sun Deal

EU Hearing on Oracle-Sun Set for Dec. 10