In May a federal jury held [JURIST report] that Google's use of the application programming interfaces was not an infringement of Oracle's patents. Earlier that month the jury found itself deadlocked [JURIST report] on the issue of whether Google's use could be considered "fair use" making it difficult for Oracle to win a large damage award. The case went to trial [JURIST report] in April after settlement negotiations broke down.

Egypt is still working on investigating corruption allegations against former officials under Mubarak's 30-year regime. In August the former secretary for the Mubarak's political party, Safwat El-Sherif, was referred to a criminal court [JURIST report] on corruption charges. He was accused of having abused his office by obtaining real estates at discounted prices and illegally obtaining $49.2 million. In July an Egyptian court rejected pleas to release [JURIST report] Mubarak's two sons while they await trial. Their lawyer argued that his clients are detained unlawfully because they were arrested for a misdemeanor and not for a felony which would allow authorities to detain an individual only up to six months, a term that the Mubaraks already served. Gamal and Alaa Mubarak, along with seven others, were charged [JURIST report] with stock market fraud and using unfair trading practices and illegally manipulating the market. Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life [JURIST report] after an Egyptian court found him guilty of complicity to kill protesters during the Arab Spring protests [JURIST news archive]. During the protests that resulted in the overturning of Mubarak's 30-year regime, Mubarak ordered government officials to use gunfire and other violent measures to subdue protesters, causing over 850 deaths [JURIST report]. Mubarak's ended in February with the chief prosecutor asking the court in his closing remarks to issue a death sentence [JURIST reports] against the former ruler.

In June Sunde and Neij filed appeals [JURIST report] in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] challenging their convictions. The appeals came after the Swedish Supreme Court [official website, in Swedish] rejected [JURIST report] their appeal in February. In November, the Swedish Svea Appeals Court [materials] upheld [JURIST report] the convictions against the TPB founders. In June 2009 several Hollywood production companies filed suit [JURIST report] in Sweden against the operators of TPB, seeking an injunction. The US companies, including Disney, Universal and Columbia Pictures, filed a writ to sue in the Stockholm District Court, requesting that the court order the owners to cease and desist operations.

Ending discrimination and equal access to justice have recently been key goals for the UN. Last month UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that ending discrimination against women is necessary to fix the problem of global poverty [JURIST report]. Speaking before the World Congress of Global Partnership for Young Women in Seoul, South Korea, Ban declared that while women around the world have made tremendous advances in fields such as business, law and government, laws and policies that discriminate against women hamper not only women's rights but prevent nations from climbing out of poverty. In 2011 the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Gabriela Knaul called for integration of a gender perspective [JURIST report] into countries' criminal justice systems on. The annual report "addresses the need to consider and integrate a gender perspective in the criminal justice system as a fundamental step towards allowing equal access to justice for women and men and in respect of the role to be played by judges and lawyers."

Malaysia has taken measures to repeal and replace old colonial laws with new ones. In July a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights praised [JURIST report] an announcement by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak of plans to repeal the country's 1948 Sedition Act [text, PDF]. In April, the lower chamber of the Malaysian Parliament passed a law [JURIST report] that will replace the Internal Security Act of 1960 (ISA) [text, PDF; HRW backgrounder] that allows indefinite detention of terror suspects, dissidents and political opponents. A day earlier, the prime minister had pledged to review the ISA after the country's parliament announced [JURIST reports] that it was considering repealing and replacing the controversial law.

Earlier this year, the UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission [advocacy website] said the UK tribunals had ruled properly [BBC report] on the cases, but may not have given sufficient weight to Article 9 in Ladele and McFarlane's cases. In 2010, the UK passed the Equality Act, which combined the country's anti-discrimination legislation including the Equal Pay Act 1970, Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Race Relations Act 1976, Disability Discrimination Act 1995, Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003[4] and the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. In November 2009, a UK heterosexual couple whose civil partnership [Directgov backgrounder] application was denied [BBC report] by their local town council announced they planned to challenge the refusal [JURIST report] in court. Tom Freeman and Katherine Doyle are the first heterosexual couple to apply for a civil partnership in the UK, where same-sex couples may obtain legal recognition with rights akin to those of a married couple. They allege that the denial constitutes discrimination based on sexual orientation, and that such a distinction amounts to segregation in matrimonial law.

Tension between Bahrain's government and protesters has persisted since government forces clashed with protesters in February 2011 during pro-democracy demonstrations. During the protests the country's Shiite majority sought greater political rights from the Sunni monarchy. At the end of August a Bahraini appeals court overturned the conviction [JURIST report] of prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab [JURIST news archive]. Bahrain's government attributed the ruling [AP report] to "uncertainty regarding the evidence submitted to support the lawsuit." In July Amnesty International [advocacy website] urged the government [JURIST report] of Bahrain to release all prisoners of conscience [press release] immediately. The Bahrain Information Affairs authority announced in July that they had brought charges against 15 police officers [JURIST report] for alleged "mistreatment of inmates in custody." In June the government announced that it would pay $2.6 million in restitution [JURIST report] to citizens who lost family members during the violent protests to comply with recommendations of an independent commission who concluded that Bahrain authorities had used excessive force and tortured detainees involved in the pro-democracy demonstrations.