Piracy charges against Ibrahim and five other defendants were dismissed [JURIST report] earlier this month when federal Judge Raymond Jackson ruled that the definition of piracy as defined by the law of nations under 18 USC § 1651 [text] does not include violence or aggression committed on the high seas. He rejected the government's argument for an expanded reading of the statute, stating the government's definition would, "subject defendants to an enormously broad standard under a novel construction of the statute that has never been applied under United States law, and would in fact be contrary to Supreme Court case law." Several other suspected Somali pirates have faced charges in federal court this year. A Somali man charged with piracy pleaded guilty [JURIST report] in May to charges of hijacking, kidnapping and hostage-taking related to an April 2009 attack on the US container ship Maersk Alabama [GlobalSecurity backgrounder]. Somali officials have criticized [BBC report] the US for exercising jurisdiction over suspected pirates, insisting that piracy prosecutions should be conducted by an international tribunal. They have also asked that Somali pirate suspects be returned to Somalia, which lacks a functioning central government to address the piracy problem. Piracy remains an issue of international concern, as few countries have been willing to prosecute suspected pirates. The few that have attempted to do so include Kenya, Seychelles, the Netherlands, Mauritius, Yemen, Somalia and Spain [JURIST reports].

Allen's suit comes as several of the named companies face unrelated litigation alleging misappropriation of intellectual property. Connecticut company XPRT Ventures LLC sued [JURIST report] eBay last month claiming the infringement of six patents for online auctions and payment systems. In April, a federal appeals court found that eBay is not required to actively monitor its website [JURIST report] for the sale of counterfeit goods. The ruling followed shortly after a French court ordered [JURIST report] the company to pay LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) [official website] damages for paying search engines to direct consumers to counterfeit LVMH products. LVMH previously secured a $63 million judgment [JURIST report] in 2008 for failing to prevent the sale of counterfeit luxury goods that infringed on registered designs. Patent holding company NTP filed suit [JURIST report] last month against Apple and Google, amongst other smart phone makers, related to the use of e-mail systems utilizing technology patented by NTP. The US International Trade Commission (ITC) [official website] launched an investigation [JURIST report] in June into allegations made by HTC Corp [corporate website] accusing Apple of patent infringement on certain portable electronic devices. In October, Finnish telecommunications company Nokia [corporate website] filed suit [JURIST report] against Apple alleging that the company infringed 10 of its patents since the first iPhone was released in 2007. The patents cover wireless data transmission, speech coding and security/encryption.

During al-Bashir's visit to Chad last month, ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile] pledged that he would eventually face trial before the ICC [JURIST report]. Earlier in July, the ICC charged al-Bashir with three counts of genocide [warrant, PDF; JURIST report] in relation to the Darfur conflict [BBC backgrounder]. The genocide charges were added to seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity that were filed against al-Bashir [JURIST report] in March 2009. Al-Bashir has eluded arrest since the issuance of the first warrant. The warrant has been controversial, with Egypt, Sudan, the African Union and others calling for the proceedings against Bashir to be delayed, and African Union leaders agreeing [JURIST reports] not to cooperate with the warrant.

Madagascar has been embroiled in political crisis since last year, as Rajoelina's regime has not been recognized by the international community. Earlier this month, the country's political parties gave proposed names [AFP report] for the country's next prime minister to Rajoelina. The parties also reached an accord calling for a constitutional referendum to be held on November 17, parliamentary elections in March and a first round of presidential polls next May. Rajoelina, the former mayor of Madagascar's capital city of Antananarivo, was fired as mayor [BBC report] in January 2009 following his declaration that he was in charge of Madagascar and his failed efforts to impeach Ravalomanana. Much of the public unrest stemmed from criticisms that Ravalomanana failed to alleviate poverty, as well as his unpopular decision to shut down a television station [BBC report] owned by Rajoelina after the station aired an interview with one of Ravalomanana's former adversaries.