PUBLIC MARKS with search lawsuit

According to TMZ, legendary blues singer Syl Johnson filed a lawsuit against the hip-hop band claiming the music from his 1969 record "Is It Because I'm Black" were used without permission on Hill's "Lock Down (Interlude)."

A charity operated by "Get Smart" actress Anne Hathaway's boyfriend is being investigated by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the New York Post reported. Until recently, Hathaway's beau, 29-year-old Italian businessman Raffaello Follieri, sat on the children's charity's board of directors, The Post reported. Cuomo's office refused to tell the Post why it was investigating the Manhattan-based charity, which says its programs include vaccinating Third World children. Cuomo's probe comes two months after Follieri was arrested in Manhattan on charges that he bounced a $215,000 check — written against an account that a source said had just $39 in it — to a New Jersey man for services to his real-estate company, the Follieri Group. Charges were dropped in May. Earlier this year, Follieri settled a lawsuit filed by Los Angeles billionaire Ron Burkle, who accused him and the Follieri Group of "systematically misappropriating" at least $1.3 million of more than $55 million that Burkle's company had contributed to a joint venture to buy and redevelop Catholic Church properties. Burkle's suit said Follieri used the money to fund an extravagant lifestyle that included private jet travel for himself and Hathaway, as well as for loans of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the foundation.

"Microsoft Corp. offered $40 a share for Yahoo! Inc. in January 2007, according to court papers unsealed in a lawsuit over Yahoo's refusal to accept the bid."

The lawsuit said all the rappers used portions of Farrell's 1974 musical composition "Upon This Rock" in three separate songs -- West in "Gone," Common in "Chi-City" and Method Man and Redman in their song "Run 4 Cover."

The documents Apple has produced provide critical details about Apple's backdating practices and confirm that all of Apple's directors were aware of and participated in the backdating scheme

'Vista Capable' lawsuit against Microsoft now a class action By JOSEPH TARTAKOFF AND TODD BISHOP P-I REPORTERS In a blow to Microsoft Corp., a federal judge granted class-action status to a lawsuit late Friday alleging that Microsoft unjustly enriched itself by promoting PCs as "Windows Vista Capable" even when they could only run a bare-bones version of the operating system, called "Vista Home Basic."

Online history: The rise and rise of social networking Mid to Late 1990s First social networking sites emerge, such as sixdegrees.com and classmates.com. By 1999 MySpace is in operation; at the same time Hertfordshire couple Steve and Julie Pankhurst, devise Friends Reunited. 22 March 2002 Friendster is launched by Jonathan Abrams in California. For a while it is considered the No 1 social networking site. March 2003 MySpace, widely held to be the biggest social networking site of them all, is launched by Tom Anderson. 4 February 2004 Facebook is launched by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg. Initially the network is only for Harvard students. Within two months all the Ivy League schools are included and over the next two years more universities, high schools and corporations are added. 2 September 2004 A lawsuit is filed against Zuckerberg by ConnectU founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, alleging that he illegally used the concept and codes for their site after he worked for it as a programmer. January 2005 Bebo launched by UK couple Michael and Xochi Birch. The site quickly climbs to the top of the social networking league. 23 August 2005 The domain facebook.com is purchased for $200,000. March 2006 Facebook reportedly turns down an offer to buy the site for $750m, allegedly claiming it should be able to fetch $2bn. September 2006 'Wall Street Journal' reports Yahoo is in talks with Facebook to buy the site for $1bn. 22 August 2006 Facebook signs a three-year US-based deal with Microsoft to be the exclusive provider of advertising on the site in return for a revenue split. 11 September 2006 Facebook opens to everybody 13 or over with an email address. 28 March 2007 ConnectU's lawsuit is dismissed without prejudice. They immediately refile and are granted a new hearing. 3 August 2007 Six major British firms, among them Vodafone, Halifax and Virgin Media, remove their adverts on Facebook after they appear on a rotating basis on a BNP-related page. October 2007 A Tory aide, Philip Clarke, is suspended from his job after posting pictures of him applying burnt cork to another aide along with racist comments on Facebook. 24 October 2007 Microsoft buys a 1.6 per cent share in Facebook for $240m and will now begin to sell advertising for Facebook internationally as well as in the US. December 2007 Zuckerberg publicly apologises for launching the dubious advertising system Beacon on Facebook.

The RIAA's habit of roping numerous unrelated defendants into a single "John Doe" lawsuit has drawn the attention of a federal magistrate—and not in a good way. In the case of Arista v. Does 1-27, a lawsuit targeting students at the University of Maine, Magistrate Judge Margaret J. Kravchuk suggests that the court look into imposing Rule 11 sanctions on the RIAA's legal team.

Johnson & Johnson receives minor boo-boo in its ongoing lawsuit with the American Red Cross over the “Red Cross” trademark

"at this stage, that American Airlines' complaint does state a claim upon which relief can be granted."

California-based DualCor has sued Intel over its use of "Dual-Core" in its product labelling.

"Pantera.com webmaster Leif Alfenas filed a lawsuit in the Michigan Western District Court on August 2, 2007 against the Pantera Partnership (consisting of Vincent Paul Abbott, Philip Hansen Anselmo, Rex Robert Brown, and the estate of Darell Lance ["Dimebag Darrell"] Abbott) over the domain, which has apparently been registered to Alfenas since 1998. The Pantera Partnership, meanwhile, filed a suit of their own in the Michigan Eastern District Court against Alfenas (who resides in Michigan) the very next day, August 3, 2007."

DDP Settles Trademark Lawsuit Against Jay-Z July 25, 2007 (ce litige était mentionné dans un billet antérieur).

BBspot has obtained secret documents which RIAA lawyers use to determine whether to file a lawsuit against a copyright violator. These documents give insight into the RIAA's decision-making process, and could help people avoid lawsuits in the future. We offer these documents as a public service.

"March 20, 2007 - CINCINNATI (AP) - Procter & Gamble Co. has won a jury award of $19.25 million in a civil lawsuit filed against four former Amway distributors accused of spreading false rumors linking the company to Satanism to advance their own business. "

A lawsuit in Silver Spring, Maryland is focusing fresh light on a growing problem: Real estate agents are failing to disclose whom they represent in transactions — even where state laws require them to do so in writing at their first subs...

A tattoo artist from Argentina is facing a lawsuit after drawing a penis on the back of an Argentinean football fan

In 1929, asbestos manufacturers faced the first lawsuit. Afterwards there was a deluge of lawsuits against employers and manufacturing for neglecting the safety regulations.

Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed a civil rights lawsuit in defense of the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of a seventh grader who was ordered by Maryland middle school officials to stop reading her Bible during free time at school or face disciplinary action. Institute attorneys have asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland to declare that prohibiting students from reading Bibles or other religious texts during their free time is unconstitutional.

Lawyer Phil Berg has filed a federal RICO lawsuit against President Bush and others for complicity in 9-11