A jury in the US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled Friday that Samsung Electronics violated several smartphone and tablet technology related patents held by Apple , awarding $1.05 billion in damages. The dispute covers everything from the shape and design of the competing companies’ tablets and smartphones to the technology employed [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Friday upheld the life sentence imposed on a former Osama bin Laden aide after he stabbed a prison guard in the eye in 2000. Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, 54, is a Sudanese-born Iraqi who at the time of the stabbing was awaiting trial for an al [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday rejected an appeal of a lower court decision that dismissed a challenge to federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research. The three-judge panel found no error in the July 2011 decision of the US District Court for the District of Columbia [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Friday that tobacco companies do not need to print graphic warnings of the dangers of smoking on cigarette packages. In a 2-1 decision, the DC Circuit struck down a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation that requires tobacco companies to display graphic images [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday called on China to stop forcibly returning thousands of Kachin refugees to northern Myanmar . HRW reported that Chinese authorities repatriated more than 1,000 Kachin refugees to Myanmar last week and plan to deport another 4,000 in the near future. HRW claims that the refugees are at risk from [...]

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach filed a lawsuit on Thursday in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas challenging a policy directive to defer the deportation of young illegal immigrants. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 10 agents of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and named US Secretary [...]

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to expedite its hearing of the challenge to the state’s new voter ID law . The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court declined to issue an injunction against the law last week. The decision prompted the challengers, 10 voters and several rights groups including the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania [...]

A South Korean court ruled Friday that Apple and Samsung Electronics infringed on certain patents of the other, and the court banned the sales of some of the companies’ products in the country. The Seoul Central District Court held that Apple violated two Samsung patents related to mobile-data transfer technologies, and Samsung infringed one Apple [...]

The US Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it is shutting down three of the most highly trafficked Android piracy websites. This marks the first time the DOJ has seized website domains involving cell phone apps. The DOJ acted in conjunction with the FBI and Dutch and French agencies. FBI Special Agent in Charge Lamkin [...]

Germany’s Justice Ministry has introduced legislation that would grant several additional marriage rights to couples in same-sex civil unions. The move has reignited the same-sex marriage debate in Germany which legalized same-sex unions in 2001 but reserved several rights to heterosexual married couples. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s junior coalition partner, the Free Democratic Party, was the [...]