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 Legal news from Monday, October 25, 2010 |
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Chipmaker brings patent infringement suit over Android operating system
Matt Glenn on October 25, 2010 3:24 PM ET
[JURIST] Digital security company Gemalto [corporate website] announced Monday that it has filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF; press release] against HTC, Samsung Electronics, Motorola and Google [corporate websites], as well as some of those companies' US subsidiaries, based on the use and sale of the Android operating system and the Dalvik Virtual Machine [product websites], which Gemalto claims infringe on a patent held by the company. In its press release, Gemalto said that the technology at issue was developed in its Dallas office in the late 1990s. The complaint, filed in the US District Court of the Eastern District of Texas [official website], alleges that the defendants are violating federal law [35 USC § 271 text] by using the Android system, encouraging programmers to use the operating system and selling mobile devices that use applications created by the Android system. Gemalto asked the court to enjoin the defendants from infringing on its patents as well as unspecified damages.
In July, patent holding company NTP sued half a dozen smart phone makers [JURIST report] in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] including Apple [corporate website], HTC, Google and Motorola, over a patent related to delivering e-mail to wireless phones. In June, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) [official website] launched an investigation [JURIST report] into allegations by HTC accusing Apple of patent infringement on its portable electronic devices. HTC filed a complaint with the ITC in May [JURIST report] claiming that Apple had infringed on five of HTC's patents, and is seeking an exclusion order and a cease and desist order, which would ban Apple's importation of iPhones, iPads and iPods. In March, Apple filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against HTC in the US District Court for the District of Delaware [official website] alleging that several of HTC's products infringe 10 patents owned by Apple. Apple also filed a complaint [text, PDF] against HTC with the ITC claiming infringement of 10 other Apple patents, seeking to bar the importation of infringing devices. Last October, Finnish telecommunications company Nokia [corporate website] filed suit [JURIST report] against Apple alleging that Apple infringed 10 of its patents since the first iPhone was released in 2007.
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Ontario court sentences convicted 'Toronto 18' leader to 16 years
John Paul Putney on October 25, 2010 2:13 PM ET
[JURIST] The Ontario Superior Court on Monday sentenced [press release] Fahim Ahmad [JURIST news archive], the leader of the Toronto 18 [CBC timeline, JURIST news archive], to 16 years in prison for his role in the terrorist organization. During the trial, the court heard evidence that Ahmad arranged training camps, produced propaganda videos and helped acquire weapons. Ahmad's sentence was greater than the 12 years suggested by the defense but less than the 18 years requested by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) [official website]. Judge Fletcher Dawson reportedly ruled that, although Ahmad was the leader, he was not very effective and lacked the ability [CBC report] to carry out any of the threatened attacks. In a letter to the court last month, Ahmad said he was living in a "fantasy world," but has since changed his views and is no longer intolerant of other religious or western people. Following the court's practice of giving double credit for time in jail prior to the trial, Ahmad has effectively already served more than eight-and-a-half years of his sentence. He could be eligible for parole in another three-and-a-half years.
The sentence follows an unanticipated change to a guilty plea mid-trial [JURIST report] in May. In February, Toronto 18 member Shareef Abdelhaleem was convicted [JURIST report] after a Canadian judge found [Toronto Star report] that virtually no evidence existed to support his claims of entrapment. In January, Amin Mohamed Durrani was released [JURIST report] after pleading guilty to participating in and assisting a terrorist group. Also in January, a Canadian court sentenced [JURIST report] two members of the group, Zakaria Amara and Saad Gaya [JURIST op-ed], to life and 12 years in prison, respectively, for their roles in the plot. Abdelhaleem was the first adult to be tried among the "Toronto 18," originally arrested and charged under Section 83 [Canadian DOJ backgrounder] of the Anti-Terrorism Act [text], Canada's post-9/11 legislation.
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Morocco terrorism suspects face serious human rights violations: HRW
Ashley Hileman on October 25, 2010 12:32 PM ET
[JURIST] Suspects detained under Morocco's counterterrorism law routinely face serious human rights violations, including illegal detention and torture, according to a report [text, PDF] issued Monday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website]. The 56-page report was created following interviews with seven men detained pursuant to the counterterrorism law. The stories document a pattern of abuse in which suspected terrorists are detained by plainclothes agents, provided no reason for arrest and then transported to secret detention facilities. At the facility, five of the men claim they were tortured and held for an indeterminate length of time. The suspects were then released into police custody only after they agreed to sign a statement, which was later used against them as a "confession" in court. While the counterterrorism law allows for an extension of pre-arraignment detention and an extension of the time a detainee can be denied contact with their lawyer, on many occasions agents reportedly altered the paperwork to fit within permitted limits. HRW contends such violations [press release] stand in the face of legislation Morocco has adopted to defend against infringement of suspects' rights as well as international conventions the country has signed. Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at HRW stated, "While Morocco has demonstrated the political will to adopt enlightened human rights legislation, it lacks the political will to enforce it when it comes to terrorism suspects." The report concludes with suggestions for Morocco to adopt, including ensuring that state officers always show credentials, that they be held accountable for treatment of detainees, and that the acceptable pre-arraignment detention period be shortened.
Abuse of detainees, especially those accused of terrorist activities, is a significant human rights issue in multiple countries. Earlier this month, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] announced that it would review the involvement [JURIST report] of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in the extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] and torture of Khaled El-Masri [JURIST news archive] by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website]. In September, HRW urged the Zambian government to investigate the inhumane treatment of prisoners [JURIST report] in that nation's jails and to hold those implicated accountable. In July, the ECHR blocked a proposed rendition [JURIST report] of terrorism suspects from the UK to the US.
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Khadr pleads guilty to terrorism charges
Eryn Correa on October 25, 2010 11:14 AM ET
[JURIST] Former Canadian Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Omar Khadr [DOD materials, JURIST news archive] on Monday pleaded guilty [press release] to all five charges against him, including conspiracy, murder and aiding the enemy. Under the terms of the agreement, Khadr will serve up to eight more years in prison [NYT report] in addition to the eight he has already spent in detention. At least one of those years will be spent at Guantanamo Bay. One other purported condition of the plea is that the US will support Khadr's eventual application for transfer to Canada, a bargain that has been agreed to by the US and Canada [Toronto Sun report] through a series of sealed diplomatic notes. The guilty plea marks a reversal from Khadr's original stance, voiced by one of his attorneys, that he would not accept a plea deal [JURIST report]. Khadr's sentence will be determined by a panel of seven senior military officers at a hearing that will begin Tuesday.
Khadr's guilty plea makes him the fifth person, and first child soldier, to be convicted of war crimes at Guantanamo Bay. Khadr's trial was postponed earlier this month [JURIST report] while lawyers for both sides attempted to reach a plea agreement. In late August, the military judge rejected Khadr's claim that his confession was a byproduct of torture [JURIST report]. Earlier in August, the same judge ruled that Khadr's confession was admissible at trial [JURIST report]. Canada, which has agreed to accept a transfer after Khadr's sentence is imposed, had previously declined to seek Khadr's repatriation [JURIST report]. Khadr was charged after he was captured following a firefight in Afghanistan in 2002 in which he threw a hand grenade that killed one US soldier and wounded another.
10/26/10 - A signed stipulation of fact [text, PDF] confirms that Khadr was an al Qaeda member, that he threw the grenade and that the felt "happy" when he learned an American soldier had been killed.
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US, Iraq governments urged to investigate reports of detainee abuse
Carrie Schimizzi on October 25, 2010 8:36 AM ET
[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] called Saturday for the Iraqi and US governments to launch an investigation [press release] and prosecute those responsible for alleged detainee abuse [JURIST news archive] after thousands of previously classified documents detailing torture by US and Iraqi forces were posted on WikiLeaks [website]. The group said the leaked reports detail the US military's failure to prevent abuses, including beatings, burnings and lashings, of Iraqi detainees at the hands of their captors. HRW also claimed the US may have violated international law by transferring detainees into Iraqi custody despite being aware that torture and abuse was a common practice. The documents also allegedly reveal that US forces failed to investigate reports of alleged torture and often ignored the "extensive abuses" of detainees by Iraqi security forces over a six-year period. HRW deputy Middle East director Joe Stork called for an investigation into the abuse, which he claims the released documents reveal is "rampant and goes completely unpunished. It's clear that US authorities knew of systematic abuse by Iraqi troops, but they handed thousands of detainees over anyway." HRW's request for an investigation comes almost six months after the group reported on the repeated torture [JURIST report] of Iraqi detainees in a secret prison in Baghdad.
UN Special Rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak [official website] also responded to the WikiLeaks documents last week, calling for the Obama administration to launch an inquiry [JURIST report] into the role of the US forces in the alleged human rights violations. He stated that the US is party to UN human rights treaties that compel the investigation of such allegations and the criminalization of any form of torture. He also claimed that the incidents documented in the release may constitute violations of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment [texts and materials]. In July, Nowak's predecessor called for a similar investigation regarding an additional WikiLeaks release [JURIST report]. The request involved war crimes allegedly committed by Taliban [CFR backgrounder], US and British forces in Afghanistan. In addition to the HRW reports, Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] released a similar report in September on the abuses of thousands of Iraqi detainees [JURIST report]. The report, "New Order, Same Abuses: Unlawful Detention in Iraq" [text, PDF] estimates that more than 30,000 detainees are currently being held in Iraqi prisons where they are tortured and mistreated, have no access to legal representation and are held indefinitely without visits from family members.
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