Facebook Profile Sees Drunk Driver Imprisoned

A dubiously titled Facebook photo has led to the imprisonment of 17-year-old Ashley Sullivan who, thanks to her Facebook photos, was refused “youthful offender” status.

Word comes from BuffaloNews that Sullivan pleaded guilty to”criminally negligent homicide and misdemeanor driving while intoxicated” after a car crash that killed her boyfriend. One month later, Sullivan is reported to have gone to Florida, during which trip she uploaded photos to her Facebook page, fairly simply titled “Drunk in Florida.”

Google’s Chinese Apology Up in the Air

Planned negotiations to end a copyright row between Google and a group of Chinese writers have been postponed, leaving a formal apology hanging in the air. The China Daily – which is always lying around the Komplett offices – has reported that Erik Hartmann, Google Book’s “top negotiator in China”, called his counterpart Zhang Hongbo, deputy director of China Written Works Copyright Society (CWWCS) early on  Tuesday morning (Chinese time) and said Google wanted to postpone the negotiations which were due to happen only a few hours later.

Google Books aren't apologising just yet to some very angry Chinese authors

Zhang said that Hartmann had not explained the “exact reason” for all of this, while it had been assumed that today would see a formal apology via press conference after Google had apparently backed down and agreed to hand over a list of books it has scanned in recent years by Chinese authors. The works were digitized without the permission of the Chinese authors in question and in an effort to placate them Hartmann, who runs the Asia-Pacific division of Google Books, had written a letter of apology to 8,000 members the China Writers’ Association over the weekend.

Microsoft Office Injunction Comes into Play

The injunction to prevent Microsoft Word being sold in the US is now in force, meaning the company has to release a new version of the offending software if it wants to continue selling it.

The injunction against Microsoft was obtained by the Canadian firm i4i, which claimed that the manner in which Microsoft implemented custom XML functionality in its Office packages infringed on its own patents. Indeed, the case was convincing enough that Microsoft, despite filing an appeal, has been ordered to cease sales of the software until the custom XML feature is removed.

Internet Pirates Move Further Afield

It seems that internet pirates have started to move away from countries in which they might be prosecuted, setting up shop in far-flung regions in an attempt to avoid persistent litigation.

Sweden was, for a very long time indeed, host to The Pirate Bay, which became practically iconic for its flaunting of copyright law within Europe. However, after it lost the case brought against it by representatives of the various media publishers losing money because of it, The Pirate Bay hopped from one location to another in a bid to stay open, a move that’s been aped by other major filesharers. Indeed, there’s a bit of a trend among some of the major illegal filesharing operations when it comes to shifting to places they’re less likely to be prosecuted.

France to Disconnect Illegal Downloaders

France’s controversial new law covering the disconnection of internet users found to be guilty of illegally downloading copyrighted material is now in effect.

The Pirate Bay's logo remains the go-to image for piracy news 😉

According to the BBC’s article on the law, those who are found to be illegally downloading content will initially be sent an email to warn them to cease their illicit activities. Those who continue to flaunt the law will be sent a plain-old snail-mail letter to inform them of their position. Should that fail to convince users to stop downloading, they’ll be brought before a judge and face either a fine or potential disconnection.

Court Rules iPods Don’t Deafen

Apple has won an appeal to an earlier ruling in its favour against the claim that the its iPod hardware was responsible for hearing loss among those who listen to the device at high volumes.

According to TechRadar, the case was levelled by two claimants who asserted that the iPod line range is “defective,” in that it allows user to listen to their various media at volumes in excess of those determined to be safe for sustained listening. David Thompson, the judge involved in the case issued a statement, in which he pointed out that,

Microsoft Loses Word Appeal

Microsoft has lost its case to appeal the recent injunction that would see its word processor, Microsoft Word, either remove functionality or force the company to stop selling the application.

Word comes via TheRegister of the loss, which puts Microsoft in a particularly awkward position when it comes to its Office suite of applications. Microsoft must now drop XML functionality from Word, courts having ruled twice now that it infringed on patents owned by a software company called i4i. Still, it seems that Microsoft isn’t in quite as dreadful a position as many had imagined.

Intel Claims No Wrongdoing with FTC

Word has emerged that the US Federal Trade Commission (the FTC) has launched court proceedings against Intel after the accusation that the chip giant used bribery and coercion to get to the top of the processor market.

Now, word comes from TomsHardware that Intel has issued an official response to the FTC, essentially outlining that it’s guilty of no wrongdoing when it comes to anti-competitive practices. Despite the fact that AMD announced last week that it had received fully $1.25 billion from Intel as part of the terms of the settlement over the whole “bribery and coercion” case, it seems that Intel is telling the FTC that it’s not done anything at all wrong.

Microsoft/Plurk Spat Continues

Now that Microsoft has admitted that its Juku service in China was based on code stolen from Plurk’s micro-blogging setup, it seems that Plurk isn’t pleased to just accept an apology and move on.

Word comes from PCWorld that the folks at Plurk aren’t really pleased to just accpept Microsoft’s apology for plagiarising its code and move on. Instead, it seems far more likely, based on statements from Plurk’s Alvin Woon, that the company is considering legal action against the Redmond-based software giant. This is most interesting because Microsoft isn’t directly responsible for the whole kafuffle, but the “vendor” which provided its Juku social network in China.

AMD Receives Intel Money

AMD has announced that it has received the $1.25 billion sum that the New York Attorney General ruled it was to be paid by Intel after allegations surfaced that Intel had used bribery and coercion to earn it a top position in the processor market.

Word comes via Trading Markets that AMD has received the monetary remuneration it was due from Intel, and that we can likely expect the rest of the rest of the bits and pieces that Intel has promised to go quite smoothly. For those who haven’t been keeping up with the story, Intel wasn’t just forced to pay out the $1.25 billion to AMD, but also: