Michael Liedtke

September 23, 2011 | Legaltech News

Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt sparred with senators during a hearing that repeatedly cast the internet search leader as a greedy monopolist more driven to expand its empire than to steer web surfers to the most helpful information. "Google does nothing to block access to any of the competitors and other sources of information," Schmidt testified.

By Marcy Gordon and Michael Liedtke

5 minute read

September 18, 2009 | Legaltech News

Google is giving 2 million books in its digital library a chance to be reincarnated as paperbacks. The "Espresso Book Machine" has been around for several years, but it figures to become a hotter commodity now that it has access to books scanned from some of the world's largest libraries.

By Michael Liedtke

4 minute read

November 06, 2006 | Legaltech News

Microsoft Corp. has embraced Novell Inc.'s open-source software platform, forming a technological truce between two longtime antagonists who want to make it easier for the still-dominant Windows operating system and the increasingly popular Linux system to work together.

By Michael Liedtke

4 minute read

September 14, 2007 | Law.com

Google Inc. is calling on businesses and regulators throughout the world to adopt international standards for protecting consumer privacy online and offline. The request, to be unveiled in France, comes as the online search leader battles privacy concerns that threaten its plan to buy Internet ad service DoubleClick Inc. for $3.1 billion.

By Michael Liedtke

5 minute read

October 27, 2006 | Legaltech News

Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison posed a challenge to Linux software leader Red Hat Inc. on Wednesday by announcing Oracle would begin offering maintenance services for Red Hat products -- and charge less for it than Red Hat does. Is a takeover on the way?

By Michael Liedtke

4 minute read

October 19, 2006 | Law.com

The chairman of KLA-Tencor Corp. retired Tuesday with a less valuable stock-option package, becoming the latest insider swept up in the computer chip supplier's efforts to clean up an accounting mess expected to cost up to $400 million. Kenneth Levy decided to step down from the board late Monday after KLA acknowledged it improperly booked employee stock options for several years. KLA also accepted the resignation of its GC, Stuart Nichols, and severed its ties with former CEO Kenneth Schroeder.

By Michael Liedtke

3 minute read

December 06, 2007 | Law.com

Saying it went too far in its pursuit of profit, the popular Internet hangout Facebook Inc. is allowing its 55 million users to permanently turn off a new marketing tool that tracks their activities at other Web sites. The privacy control, announced in a Dec. 4 apology by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, will likely limit the reach of an application called "Beacon." The tool is part of a month-old program that the Palo Alto-based startup had hailed as an advertising breakthrough.

By Michael Liedtke

5 minute read

December 09, 2005 | Law.com

Six former and current employees of Best Buy Co. sued the electronics retailer Thursday, alleging the company has purposefully excluded women and minorities from top-paying jobs as part of a sales culture catering to white men. The civil complaint, filed in a San Francisco federal court, seeks to be certified as a class action so it can potentially represent thousands of women, blacks and Hispanics who work in Best Buy's 731 stores nationwide.

By Michael Liedtke

4 minute read

September 29, 2004 | Law.com

Securities regulators are suing the management team behind the rapid rise and fall of online credit card lender NextCard Inc., alleging the company's top executives cooked the books and then scrambled to sell their stock before the ruse unraveled into financial ruin. The civil complaint filed Tuesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission continues the government's effort to clean up one of the dot-com bust's biggest debacles.

By Michael Liedtke

3 minute read

August 04, 2006 | Law.com

Google has agreed to pay The Associated Press for stories and photographs, settling a dispute with a key provider of the copyrighted news that the online search engine finds and displays on its popular Web site. The company has long claimed that it doesn't owe anything for simply pointing out news stories and photographs posted on Web sites -- which Google's lawyers maintain is protected under "fair use" protections under copyright law.

By Michael Liedtke

4 minute read