U.S. District Court

Enough with the tweets, the blogs, the Internet searches.

That's the message being communicated by courts across the country as jurors using their portable electronic devices continue to cause mistrials, overturned convictions and chaotic delays in court proceedings.

Last year a San Francisco Superior Court judge dismissed 600 potential jurors after several acknowledged going online to research the criminal case before them.

Apple's patent suit against HTC, filed Tuesday with the International Trade Commission, is just the latest in a string of technology-related complaints filed with the government agency. The trend shows the increasing importance of the ITC.

Apple alleges that Taiwan-based HTC infringes on 20 Apple patents related to the iPhone's graphical user interface, architecture and hardware. The company is seeking a permanent injunction barring HTC from importing infringing phones into the U.S. Apple is also seeking triple damages and maximum interest.

If you think iPhone-like features are showing up on other smartphones, apparently Apple's lawyers agree. The iPhone maker said Tuesday it has filed suit against device maker HTC for violating 10 patents relating to user interface, architecture and hardware.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the company could "sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it." So, he added, Apple decided "to do something about it."

Android and Windows Mobile Devices

If you think iPhone-like features are showing up on other smartphones, apparently Apple's lawyers agree. The iPhone maker said Tuesday it has filed suit against device maker HTC for violating 10 patents relating to user interface, architecture and hardware.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the company could "sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it." So, he added, Apple decided "to do something about it."

Android and Windows Mobile Devices

Apple is one step closer to potentially taking a bite out of Nokia's U.S. market share. The U.S. International Trade Commission on Thursday said it will review the iPhone maker's complaint against the Finland-based mobile-phone giant. The ITC is also reviewing a similar complaint from Nokia against Apple.

A district court judge in Illinois has ordered the owner of a Web-based company to stop selling term papers unless he can prove he has permission from the papers' authors.

The order was based on an earlier ruling in which the provider was found liable of copyright infringement after co-authors of an undergraduate research paper saw their work posted on three of the company's Web sites and sued in 2006.

The patent duel between Apple and Nokia is getting decidedly more aggressive in the new year. Both handset makers took swings over the past few days in a legal battle that shows no signs of simmering down before it gets hotter.

On Friday, Apple filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), an independent federal agency that, among other things, directs actions against unfair trade practices involving patent, trademark and copyright infringement. The commission has the authority to order U.S. customs officials to block goods from entering the U.S.

On Friday, Apple responded to Nokia's patent-infringement suit with a countersuit. Apple charged that Nokia is infringing 13 Apple patents.

"Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours," said Bruce Sewell, Apple's general counsel and senior vice president.

Apple's move comes in the wake of Nokia's Oct. 22 compaint in the U.S. District Court in Delaware alleging the iPhone infringes on Nokia's patents for GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN (WLAN) standards.

Nokia's Case Against Apple

After more than a year of legal wrangling, Apple has come to terms with its Mac cloning nemesis Psystar. On Monday, Apple at least partially settled its copyright lawsuit against the Doral, Fla.-based company that has been building hardware that runs Mac OS X.

The Wall Street Journal reports Apple will dismiss all its trademark, trade-dress and state-law claims against Psystar in exchange for unspecified damages. Other reports set the damages at $2.7 million.

Apple is getting more aggressive against a Mac clone company it has been battling in court. The technology giant asked a federal judge to close Psystar's Mac clone operation and ante up $2.1 million in damages, court documents reveal.

Apple has been silent since U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup ruled in favor of Apple in a copyright suit against Psystar. In his Nov. 13 ruling, Alsup also ruled that Psystar violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by installing Apple's Mac OS X on the cloned computers it sold.