Department of Justice

Macmillan CEO: No, we won’t settle with the DOJ in the ebooks case

Macmillan CEO John Sargent said Wednesday that the publisher does not plan to follow Penguin’s lead and settle with the Department of Justice in the ebooks lawsuit. However, Macmillan voluntarily entered new retailer contracts that conform with many of the requirements in the original settlement.

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Apple bashes Amazon and proposed ebook settlement

Apple says the DOJ’s proposed settlement with three publishers is unlawful because it requires Apple — which is not settling — to terminate its contracts with those publishers. A trial is needed, Apple says, as well as more scrutiny of Amazon’s role in the lawsuit.

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Booksellers, Barnes & Noble to weigh in on Apple ebooks case

The American Booksellers Association and Barnes & Noble say the DOJ’s proposed ebook pricing settlement is so harmful to booksellers and consumers that they want to file their own brief in the case. Presiding Judge Denise L. Cote has said they may do so by August 15.

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Jimmy Wales rallies Britain over TVShack extradition

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales is spearheading a fresh attempt to block the extradition of British student Richard O’Dwyer to the United States over copyright infringement charges brought against him for running the video search site TVShack.

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Apple defends its e-book pricing as “perfectly proper”

In the latest court filing in the ongoing Justice Department e-books price-fixing suit, Apple says it did not conspire to fix the prices of digital books to hurt competitors and its business strategy around pricing was “perfectly proper,” according to a Reuters report.

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Two burning questions about the Verizon-Cable deal

A Senate subcommittee pressed Verizon and Comcast on two big questions Wednesday: Are they colluding to drive up broadband prices? And does Verizon really need the spectrum it’s buying from the cable operators, or is it just placing it out of competitors’ grasp?

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The Mega empire: Details of the MegaUpload indictment

You can’t make this stuff up: The indictment of the popular file hosting site MegaUpload reveals a hugely profitable business run by people whose Mercedes novelty license plates included “GUILTY” and “MAFIA.” Also included are numerous juicy internal emails between MegaUpload employees and executives.

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AT&T-Mo deal on hold for the holidays

The judge hearing the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against AT&T’s planned takeover of T-Mobile has agreed to give the two parties a month to figure out if they can salvage the $39 billion deal. The court will revisit the case on Jan 18.

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AT&T backs off the T-Mobile fight

Following the FCC’s decision to send the $39-billion proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA to an administrative hearing, AT&T has withdrawn its application to combine its spectrum with T-Mobile’s from the regulatory agency. Additionally, it said it will take a $4 billion charge against earnings.

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Is AT&T-Mo now DOA?

The attorneys general of seven states joined the Justice Department’s suit today to block AT&T’s proposed buy of T-Mobile, citing worries about competition. Together these state represent a third of the American population. So what does that mean for the deal?

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Sprint sues to stop AT&T-Mo takeover

Not content to let the Justice Department stand in the way of the proposed AT&T buy of T-Mobile, Sprint sued AT&T, Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile on Tuesday under provisions associated with the Clayton Antitrust Act, the operator said.

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DOJ Jams AT&T: What the Web is saying

The Department of Justice move to block the AT&T-T-Mobile merger has thrown a major wrench in the $39 billion acquisition, which is far from derailed. The deal is much more uncertain now that the DOJ is suing to stop the deal. Here’s what the web is saying.

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AT&T to FCC: With T-Mo, We’ll Be Better. Promise.

AT&T’s strategy for pushing through its $39-billion purchase of T-Mobile, thus consolidating further the majority of the mobile subscribers, 4G-capable spectrum and revenue in the U.S. is fantastic. Let’s take a look at the promises, the changes in strategy and the continuing issues.

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AT&T, T-Mobile Merger: A Regulatory Quagmire?

AT&T’s announcement that it would buy T-Mobile for $39 billion in cash and stock is by no means a forgone conclusion, despite the assurances in the press release that it would close within the next 12 months. Sources are divided on the likelihood of regulatory interference.

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DOJ Investigates MPEG LA’s WebM Patent Pool

The Department of Justice and the California State Attorney are looking into MPEG LA’s formation of a patent pool for Google’s WebM video format. Regulators are trying to figure out whether the patent pool is meant to stifle competition for the established video format H.264.

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So You Want to Stream NBCU Shows Online?

Conditions imposed on Comcast and NBC Universal by the FCC and DOJ will require the companies to make their cable content available to new online video distributors. But those over-the-top distributors have some hurdles to jump before the regulatory agencies will enforce those conditions.

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DOJ Settles With Apple, Adobe, Google Over Hiring Collusion Charges

The U.S. Department of Justice has reached a settlement with Adobe Systems, Apple, Google, Intel Corp., Intuit and Pixar, which will prevent them from signing no-solicitation agreements for employees. It’s been widely rumored that high-tech companies entered these agreements to eliminate competition for skilled employees.

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How to ID a Market Primed for Speed

We hear often that speed is a virtue in the startup trade. Mike Cassidy thinks speed is the highest virtue, in fact.…

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