HP guns for the monochrome market with printer launch

HP celebrates 20 years of the laserjet with reams of new printers. The company says that the 27 new products it is launching will replace '50 per cent of the entire printing industry's monochrome inventory.' Following two decades as market leader Hewlett Packard is keen to scotch rumours of the imminent death of the mono laser. ...more

Dell launches low-priced Latitudes

Pricing starts at just ?399 (excluding VAT and delivery) for Dell's new entry-level notebook, the Latitude 110L. Pitched at ordinary users who only require word processing, e-mail and Internet functionality - as opposed to video editing or high-end gaming, for example - the black cased machine weighs 2.87kg. ...more

Microsoft facing new WGA class action suit

Microsoft is facing yet another class action suit for its use of its WGA counterfeit checking tool. Filed 30 June at the US District Court, Western District of Washington, Seattle, the class action complaint by Engineered Process Controls, LLC, Univex, Inc., Edward Mifsuid, David DiDomizio, and Martin Sifuentes alleges violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Washington State's Consumer Protection Act, Washington's Computer Spyware Act as well as intentional misrepresentation and breach of good faith. ...more

Courts block US record industry bid for P2P names

A US Appeals Court has ruled the US record industry cannot compel ISPs to reveal the names of alleged illegal file sharers. The St Louis court upheld an earlier ruling that the ISPs are merely a 'conduit' for illegally shared files and not directly repsonsible under the terms of the 1988 Digital Millenium Copyright Act. This decision means that the Recording Industry Association of America will have to continue going through courts on a case-by-case basis to identify file sharers, a more time consuming and expensive process. ...more

US government lists 12 countries for detailed scrutiny of intellectual property protection

The US government has placed 12 countries on its Priority Watch List of nations that it believes do not provide adequate protection of US companies' intellectual property. Those countries will now be subject to additional scrutiny with the possibility that they could face economic sanctions if the government decides to take action against them through the World Trade Organization. As expected, China and Russia are among the 12, alongside Argentina, Chile, Egypt, India, Israel, Lebanon, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Venezuela. ...more