Ethisphere News and Commentary Blog

Intellectual Property Rights

News Corp Subsidiary Allegedly Hired Hacker to Develop Piracy Software

April 28th, 2008

EchoStar Communications, the parent company of DISH Network, filed a corporate espionage lawsuit against News Corp’s NDS Group, alleging that the firm hired one of the “two best hackers in the world” to hack into DISH’s satellite network and steal the company’s security codes, according to a report by Reuters. NDS, which provides various […]

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Naturalized U.S. Citizen Caught Allegedly Attempting to Give Trade Secrets to China

April 4th, 2008

Who says random airport searches don’t work? United States customs officials discovered that Hanjuan Jin, 37, a China-born U.S. citizen, was allegedly trying to leak confidential trade secrets from her former U.S. employer to a China-based rival when they searched her luggage at

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Alpha Mining Systems Wins $19.7 Million from Trade Secret Theft

February 4th, 2008

A Florida man has been found guilty of dishing out company trade secrets from his former employer, Alpha Mining Systems, to competitors. Alpha, a global manufacturer of industrial mining tires, won a $19.7 million judgment against Sam Vance, the company’s former sales and marketing manager. The judge ruled that Vance gave competitors more […]

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You quit. Stock jumps $1.7+ billion. How does that feel? Ask Qualcomm’s GC

August 13th, 2007

Qualcomm Inc. announced today the resignation of General Counsel Lou Lupin. Lupin had been known for his aggressive “take no prisoners” approach. Carol Lam, a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, was named his interim successor. Analysts are thinking that in pushing Lupin out […]

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Johnson & Johnson sues Red Cross over…. Red Cross

August 11th, 2007

After months of closed-door negotiating, pharma giant Johnson & Johnson filed a lawsuit Wednesday against The American Red Cross claiming that the Red Cross violated trademark laws by using the red cross symbol on certain commercial products.
Although the American Red Cross was created in 1881, while Johnson & Johnson started using the trademark in […]

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Newest popular online game in China? Execute the corrupt public official.

August 4th, 2007

The Communist Party Disciplinary Committee of the Haishu district in Ningbo has underwritten the creation of an online multi-player computer game called “The Incorruptible Warrior.”
The game went live last week on July 25th and it has already been downloaded over 100,000 times, with hundreds of players engaging online simultaneously.
Why so popular? Because the […]

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No naked, swearing, smoking avatars please…IBM develops code of conduct for employees’ “online life”

July 29th, 2007

Online virtual worlds like “Second Life” continue to grow at a rapid clip. Commerce, business meetings, and other far racier ‘encounters’ are becoming more commonplace in these virtual worlds.
To help protect its reputation, IBM announced this week that it was establishing a code of conduct to govern its more than 5,000 employees who […]

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Puma wins infringement claim against Chinese supermarket over knock-off sneakers

July 27th, 2007

As reported in China Daily, German sports apparel giant Puma AG won its lawsuit against a Shanghai supermarket for selling fake Puma athletic shoes.
The Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court ruled that Fu-mart illegally sold sneakers bearing logos identical to the Puma logo. The court ruled that the supermarket failed to identify the infringement, and thereby […]

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Ferrari corporate espionage case backfires on Toyota

July 26th, 2007

Two former Ferrari engineers accused of stealing trade secrets have been convicted of industrial espionage and sentenced to jail by an Italian court over charges of stealing confidential engineering data from Ferrari and using it to design cars for motor racing rivals Toyota.
Sensitive data stolen from Ferrari included engineering documents, test data, and other undisclosed […]

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Land O’Lakes fined $15 million over copyrights

July 24th, 2007

Land O’Lakes, Inc. has been ordered to pay a Colorado feed manufacturer $15.2 million after a federal jury found that the company knowingly infringed upon the manufacturer’s trademark.
Cache La Poudre sued Land O’Lakes in 2004, alleging that the company began rebranding its lines of show feed under the brand name “Profile,” the same name which […]

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