Google sued over WiFi blunder

Galaxy Internet Services, an ISP in Massachusetts, has filed a class action lawsuit against Google over its sniffing and data capture from unsecured WiFi networks, writes PC World.

Galaxy says Google violated US federal and Massachusetts privacy laws when it captured data, and has filed suit on behalf of its customers.

Galaxy has also requested that Google be forbidden from destroying the WiFi data, to pay damages as determined by a jury, and attorneys' fees.

The US Supreme Court has turned down Microsoft's patent dispute with Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent, states The Straits Times.

The patent covers the entering of data into fields on a screen without the use of a keyboard, with Alcatel-Lucent stating that Microsoft Outlook's calendar and other programs use the technology illegally.

The US appeals court has ordered the trial court to reconsider the $358 million in damages the jury awarded to Alcatel-Lucent.

The release of WebM, the VP8 codec that was open sourced by Google, is bidding to make the underlying intellectual property freely available under permissive terms in order to promote the format, says Ars Technica.

However, there are still questions about its legal status and the MPEG LA, a licensing consortium established as a patent pool for multimedia technologies, is suggesting its members and other parties may hold patents on some of the technology used in VP8.

The MPEG LA says it is exploring the possibility of establishing a patent pool for VP8 licensing, effectively eliminating WebM's status as a royalty-free format; undermining its relevance on the Web.