judge

Italian judge: Google profit prompted guilty verdict

Profit was the motive behind Google keeping online a video of an autistic teen being bullied, according to the Italian judge who convicted three company executives over it.

In a court document (PDF) released Monday, Judge Oscar Magi explained his rationale behind the guilty verdict earlier this year for three Google employees whom he said were responsible for the company keeping the video online. Magi said he found them guilty because he felt Google was trying to make a profit by selling ads on the site where the video appeared.

"In simple words, it is not the writing on … Read more

Viacom, YouTube inch toward courtroom showdown

Google and Viacom are preparing to throw legal blows at each other as part of Viacom's $1 billion copyright lawsuit against YouTube, according to documents filed with a federal court last month.

Both parties have requested a meeting with the judge to discuss the individual motions for summary judgment that each plans to file. In summary judgment, a court decides enough evidence exists for for him or her to rule without sending the case to trial.

Viacom accuses YouTube of encouraging copyright and profiting when users upload unauthorized TV and movie clips. That the two sides are preparing for … Read more

The 404 420: Where we're wearing white

Plenty of news to talk about, but first we recap our weekends. We all used the holiday weekend differently: Jeff sailed a boat (in the sun!) on the Potomac river; Wilson became the only Asian Agent Double Oh Nothing for Her Majesty's Secret Service, and I had the unfortunate experience of actually laboring at work on Labor Day. Hear all the juicy details on the first half of the show.

Next up, we talk about Google's latest product, a version of the popular Monopoly real estate game that uses Google Maps as a giant playing board! Turns out that this isn't the first role-playing game to incorporate the popular online mapping Web site: users found a way to play RISK using Google Maps when it first debuted in 2005!

Speaking of things to come, we always like taking a look into the future, so this week in time travel, we bring you Boondock Saints 2! Every male born after the year 1970 should be well aware of the original Boondock Saints, which featured two brothers on a mission to cleanse their city of scumbags--classic story, but something about the theatrical gunfights and archetypal characters made it into a cult classic. We're excited about the new one, even though it doesn't feature Willem Dafoe.

Finally, in typical Monday show fashion, we delve off into a trip down memory lane and rediscover our love for Beavis and Butthead, who recently made a short comeback to promote Mike Judge's latest film "Extract." Surprise! Wilson hates it. All that and more on today's episode of The 404!

EPISODE 420 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Judge issues extension in Google Book Search settlement

Update at 3:11 p.m. PDT: This story now includes a comment from Consumer Watchdog.

A federal judge has granted authors worldwide four more months to decide whether to participate in a settlement involving Google's online Book Search service.

Absent the ruling, made by Judge Denny Chin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, authors would have had until May 5 to decide whether to join the settlement or opt out.

But according to a law clerk in Chin's court, as well as one of the lawyers in the case, the … Read more

Twitter in the court: Federal judge gets it

U.S. District Judge Thomas J. Marten gets it. He's the judge who has allowed a reporter to Twitter court proceedings in a trial of six Crips gang defendants taking place in his Wichita, Kan., courtroom.

"The more we can do to open the process to the public, the greater the public understanding," Marten told the Associated Press. And when asked about lawyers' concerns that jurors might be influenced by the tweets, he said that jurors are always told to avoid broadcasts, newspaper, and online reports.

The tweets are from Ron Sylvester, a reporter from the Wichita … Read more

The 404 263: Where Comic Sans is a poor excuse for a font

Comic Sans really is a terrible look for a font. It might've been cool to write an essay about Christopher Columbus in it in third grade, but now it makes you seem uneducated. Do like Obama and stick with Helvetica or Georgia. Anyway, on today's show we tackle the hard issues and correct a few mistakes, like coming down too hard on Obama for screwing up the Presidential Oath. Also, a rather large helping of Calls from the Public calling Wilson out on his b.s.--no surprise there! (Wilson's note: Just because Jeff and Justin don'… Read more

Ruling against Rambus highlights tactics

In a U.S. District Court patent ruling against Rambus, the judge highlighted some of the company's aggressive tactics for targeting and suing memory chip manufacturers.

On Friday, Judge Sue L. Robinson, in the U.S. District Court in Delaware, ruled that Rambus' patent suit against Micron Technology is "unenforceable," citing "spoliation," defined as the "destruction or alteration of evidence." This occurs when a party has "intentionally or negligently breached its duty to preserve potentially discoverable evidence," Judge Robinson wrote in her opinion.

As a result, 12 Rambus patents are not … Read more

The 404 124: Where Fox News is giving us something good to talk about

In a follow-up to our newest "It came from Fox News" segment, actual Fox news anchor Clayton Morris drops by the studio today and dishes out his views on digital privacy in the workplace, making the switch, the perpetual woes of iPhone ineptitude, and the ancient practice of group shaving. If that isn't enough, we also conclusively prove that living well is the best revenge. EPISODE 124 Download today's podcast

The 404 116: Where two Wongs make a right

Since Jeff's still partying in New Orleans, we invite CNET Labs Technician Joseph Kaminski into the studio today to chat about the imminent 3G iPhone release, its arch-nemesis, the Samsung Omnia, and the Green Lantern's epic battle with the color yellow. We also watch a video of a wild office rampage in Russia and warn America about the perils of being "Wilson-ed." EPISODE 116 Download today's podcast

Should software patents have shorter life spans than other patents?

There are a lot of strong opinions with respect to software patents. Many people are highly critical of them because they feel that copyright alone is enough protection for software. The argument goes that copyright is a better fit than patent law.

For example, copyright is self-executing. That means that you get a copyright in your program as soon as you write it. In contrast, a patent is obtained only after filing and prosecuting - and in the process spending a lot of money on - a patent application.

Moreover, copyright is supposed to protect a specific expression - not broader ideas found in that expression. One major argument against software patents is, that in order to maintain the lightning pace of software innovation, developers must to be free to use general concepts pioneered by others so long as they don't copy the actual code.