UN and Cambodian officials on Wednesday announced the establishment [press release] of an independent counselor to oversee anti-corruption efforts at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website; JURIST news archive]. The parties mutually agreed to appoint Cambodian Auditor General Uth Chhorn to the position. According to a joint statement by Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Royal Government Task Force on the Khmer Rouge Trials Sok An and UN Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Peter Taksoe-Jensen:
The US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website] on Tuesday enjoined [opinion, PDF] the technology company RealNetworks [corporate website] from selling its DVD copying software, RealDVD. Judge Marilyn Patel held that the RealDVD software violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) [text] and rejected RealNetwork´s fair use defense. Patel did not not entirely dismiss the notion that a fair use defense may prevail in other scenarios, notably individuals making backup copies of DVDs for personal use:
A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas [official website] on Wednesday held [order, PDF] that Microsoft has infringed on a patent of Canadian company i4i [corporate websites] with portions of its Word 2007 and 2003 word-processing software.
The U.K.’s new code to curb the bonus culture that contributed to the global financial crisis heightened the tension the Financial Services Authority faces from the banks it regulates and lawmakers.
The French and German economies both today reported a return to growth in the second quarter, bringing an end to recession in two of Europe´s biggest economies. Both countries reported growth in gross domestic product (GDP) of 0.3 per cent in the three months to the end of June, on the back of more positive net trade figures and higher consumption in the public and private sectors — a scenario that few economists and market-watchers had predicted.
Pakistani police on Tuesday filed charges against former president Pervez Musharraf [official profile; JURIST news archive] alleging that he illegally detained members of the judiciary after declaring emergency rule [proclamation, PDF] in November 2007. Sixty judges, including Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry [official profile; JURIST news archive], were forced to remain in their homes after refusing to swear an oath to uphold the Provisional Constitution Order [text] under which the country was run during the emergency rule. Police in Islamabad said that the house arrest order qualified as an illegal detention [LAT report], and that Musharraf, who is currently in London, could be arrested if he returns to Pakistan. Musharraf´s lawyer Muhammed Ali Saif said that Pakistani law bars charges [Bloomberg report] against current and former presidents.
The Supreme Court of Argentina [official website, in Spanish] ruled Tuesday that individuals cannot be required to submit blood samples to test whether they were abducted as children during the Pinochet regime [JURIST news archive]. The court issued two rulings [Pagina12 report, in Spanish] in the cases of brothers Guillermo Gabriel Prieto and Emiliano Matias Prieto [judgments, PDF in Spanish], finding that genetic material can be collected from personal effects, but that blood samples cannot be required. The brothers were challenging lower court orders compelling them to provide blood samples to compare their genetic identity to a bank of genetic information from families of missing persons and allowing the testing of material samples obtained from a search of their home.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) [official website] President Jakob Kellenberger on Wednesday called for greater compliance [press release] with the Geneva Conventions [ICRC backgrounder], making the documents´ 60th anniversary [press release]. Kellenberger said that the conventions were tested in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with the global "war on terror" posing a "huge challenge":
The mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, on Tuesday pardoned 2,500 people arrested in the city during nonviolent civil rights protests in the 1960s. Announcing the pardons at a city council meeting, Mayor Larry Langford [official website] said that the city had an obligation to ask for forgiveness [video] because it had "wronged so many."
The US District Court for the Southern District of California [official website] on Tuesday dismissed [press release] a consumer class action lawsuit against telecommunications company Qualcomm [corporate website]. Christopher Lorenzo sued Qualcomm in November, alleging that the chipset manufacturer holds patents on technologies necessary for CDMA [industry materials] cellular networks, and has used the licensing of these technologies to adversely affect competition in the CDMA market.
A military tribunal has ruled that lawyers for accused 9/11 co-conspirator Ramzi bin al-Shibh will not be made aware of what interrogation techniques were used on him by the CIA prior to his transfer to Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archives], according to a Monday report [text] by the Miami Herald. Bin al-Shibh´s military defense lawyer, Navy Commander Suzanne Lachelier, had sought to learn the specifics of his interrogations in advance of a September competency hearing. Lachelier argued that interrogation details were relevant to determining whether bin al-Shibh suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [NIMH backgrounder] or a permanent psychological disability, which would in turn affect his competency to stand trial.
RealNetworks, the Seattle-based digital media company, portrays itself as fighting for people’s right to legally make backup copies of the DVDs they own. It appears to have lost at least the first and perhaps most important round of the battle.
A Rio Tinto executive faces seven years in a Chinese prison after prosecutors formally charged him today with bribery and violating commercial secrets.
Immigration files containing a wealth of information collected by American border agents, some of it dating from the late 19th century, will be opened to the public soon and permanently preserved, providing intriguing nuggets about such famous immigrants or visitors as Alfred Hitchcock and Salvador Dalí.
An international search operation was underway Wednesday for a cargo ship which vanished after being involved in what is feared to be an unprecedented incident of piracy in European waters.
Frank DiPascali, formerly the finance chief at Bernard Madoff´s investment advisory business, pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday to 10 charges including securities fraud and international money laundering.
A judge on Tuesday ordered Microsoft to stop selling Word, one of its premier products, in its current form due to patent infringement.
The Burmese democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been effectively ruled out of next year´s elections after being sentenced today to a further 18 months of house arrest.
General Motors Co and eBay Inc are launching a test program in California that will allow consumers to negotiate with dealers and buy new vehicles online, the companies said on Monday.
Flanked by his counterparts from Mexico and Canada, President Obama on Monday reiterated his commitment to pursuing comprehensive immigration reform, despite his packed political agenda and the staunch opposition such an initiative is likely to face.
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