legal

If you want to listen to better-quality digital music, then FLAC files are a great way to do it. They typically use half the storage space of uncompressed music files and should sound identical to music played from a CD. And yes, you can use apps like FLAC Player to listen to them on iOS devices.

Like MP3s, there are two main ways to get FLACs legally: rip them from CDs, or buy them directly. While we cover how to rip your own music to FLAC format here, there are several sites that offer FLAC album downloads for less than the price of a CD, and yet offer the same level of quality. You'll find that most of these sites are independent and that's because major labels have yet to embrace fully lossless downloads, presumably because of the ever-present "piracy concerns."

Below are the best five stores that sell the FLAC format. If you're interested in higher-than-CD quality, some of the following sites also offer 24-bit "HD" downloads for an extra charge.… Read more

Apple's exploits in the world of software patents are under close scrutiny, and with good reason. Every few weeks new applications are unearthed providing possible clues to future products, or insights into what's already been released.

In recent years though, the focus has been less about products and more about how Apple can use these patents in court -- or to avoid it entirely. Case in point, just a handful of patents (seven to be precise) were enough to set the stage for a dramatic U.S. court battle between Apple and Samsung, a fight that already has is sequel lined up. … Read more

Facebook has asked a federal court to dismiss a $15 billion privacy lawsuit because the Facebook users suing the social network didn't specify how they were injured by the company's actions, Bloomberg reported today.

The suit, filed in May, accuses Facebook of violating user privacy by tracking which Web sites the users visit even when they're logged out of Facebook.

Matthew Brown, a lawyer representing Facebook, told a U.S. district judge in court in San Jose, Calif., that the plaintiffs haven't said which sites they've visited, what kind of data was collected, or whether … Read more

Score one for Motorola Mobility in the company's ongoing legal battle with Microsoft.

The Google subsidiary today was found to not be infringing a patent Microsoft holds related to applications running on different devices without having to write separate code for each product. The ruling came down in the Mannheim Regional Court in Germany, which has become a hotbed of patent lawsuit activity.

Reuters was first to report on the news.

Motorola's victory today comes less than a week after a federal appeals panel in San Francisco upheld an earlier ruling that stopped the mobile company from blocking … Read more

Samsung has filed an injunction against LG, its main rival in the television and display technology sector, over technology leaks, the Yonhap News Agency reports.

Samsung Mobile Display, an subsidiary affiliate of Samsung, submitted documents to the Seoul Central District Court against LG Display, about 18 "confidential technologies" for OLED screens and 21 other details, the news agency reports. 

The court documents seek compensation of 1 billion won ($880,500) where each leak was passed on to a third party or where LG used the technologies, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Earlier this year, 11 … Read more

Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg will be deported from Cambodia, according to a report.

A Cambodian police official today announced that Warg will be deported "based on our immigration law." Reuters, which was first to report on the story, said the representative, Kirth Chantharith, claimed the decision was made after holding discussions with officials in Sweden.

Warg was arrested Thursday by Cambodian police in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital. The arrest is believed to relate to his trouble with Swedish courts, which found him, along with his three Pirate Bay cohorts, guilty in 2009 of creating 33 … Read more

Updated 3:40 p.m ET.

Reports that veteran Hollywood actor Bruce Willis is reportedly looking to take on Apple in a bid to pass on his vast music collection to his children after his death have been disputed. The claims, which were originally reported by The Daily Mail have been debunked by Willis' wife via Twitter.

Emma Hemming has taken to Twitter to pour cold water on the claims made by British media earlier today that her husband Bruce Willis was considering legal action against Apple over the rights to his iTunes account after his death. She said in … Read more

Samsung is working to modify its products to ensure they don't get caught up in an injunction, a new report claims.

The Korea Times reported yesterday, citing sources, that it spoke with Samsung officials who said that the company is in talks with U.S. carriers, including Verizon Wireless, to determine the best way to modify designs across its Galaxy line. The products it plans to modify were cited as infringing in last week's landmark patent loss to Apple.

According to the Korea Times' source, Samsung and carriers will "jointly develop modified design technology," though the … Read more

The U.S. Department of Justice has taken aim at three sites that allegedly pirated Android apps.

According to the Justice Department, it seized three Web sites -- applanet.net, appbucket.net, and snappzmarket.com -- that were allegedly offering copies of copyrighted Android apps. It marked the first time that sites were seized over allegedly pirating copyrighted mobile apps.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the sting operation by downloading "thousands of copies of popularity copyright apps" from the sites, the Justice Department said. The agency didn't specify the apps, but the servers hosting them were … Read more