Ignoring lawsuits cheaper

The same federal judge who oversaw the Joel Tenenbaum file-sharing trial earlier this year passed out default judgments this week against other file-swappers who never bothered to show up and they now owe far less than Tenenbaum, according to Ars Technica.

Jammie Thomas-Rasset and Joel Tenenbaum captured the nation's attention when they were defendants in the Recording Industry Association of America's first two trials against accused online infringers.

But here's the mind-warping reality: both defendants would have been far better off monetarily if they had simply ignored the complaint altogether and failed to show up in court.

A bill is expected to be introduced in the US Senate that would repeal the immunity granted to telecommunications companies under the FISA Amendments Act (FAA) passed last year, states Cellular-News.

By including the immunity provision in the FAA, Congress ensured the dismissal of active court cases pending against companies that aided the Bush administration in its illegal, unconstitutional and warrantless wiretapping programme.

The American Civil Liberties Union has challenged the constitutionality of the FAA in federal court.

Samsung Group, Korea's top conglomerate, had the most patent-related lawsuits filed against it among all global companies during the last five years, reports JoongAng Daily.

During a seminar on “patent trolls”, Ha Young-wook, head of Ha & Ha Patent and Law Firm, said Korea's leading business group saw 38% lawsuits filed against it from 2004 to 2008.

A patent troll is a person or company that enforces its patents against others without having any intention of manufacturing the patented product.