Author Archives: Kevin Maher

About Kevin Maher

Cards on the Table in Star Wars Lawsuit

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

A mobile game developer has been dealt a bad hand after naming one of their card games apps after a fictional Star Wars property. The lawsuit was filed by Disney and Lucasfilm in the state of California and seeks to protect its intellectual property and trademarks. The app is modeled after a game called “Sabaac”, which is how Harrison Ford’s character Han Solo came about winning his infamous ship, the Millennium Falcon. The app maker is a company called Ren Ventures, which happens to be named after a character in 2015’s Star Wars movie The Force Awakens. Disney recently released Star Wars Episode IX The Last Jedi in the theaters, and is also gearing up for a new film revolving around a “young Han Solo”. Rumors are that the card game could play a pivotal part in the plot of that movie. Read More

No California Love for NFL’s Rams

Feeling sheepish

The National Football League is no stranger to off the field issues, and it looks like they’re going back to the courtroom. The City of St. Louis claims that the Rams, who have moved from Missouri to Los Angeles, have violated their own “relocation guidelines”. A group of about 100 plaintiffs is upset about how the Rams went about the process and are looking for their pound of flesh. Not only was the football franchise named, but also the NFL itself, plus it’s 32 league owners. St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Christopher McGraugh ruled that the lawsuit would not be dismissed or brought to arbitration, which is a win for the football fans in the mid-west. Ironically, the Rams have returned to prominence since going back to Los Angeles, on the strength of top draft pick Todd Gurley and 31-year-old head coach Sean McVay. Read More

Amazon Named in Facebook Lawsuit

Out of the box thinking?

Amazon.com Inc was named in a lawsuit involving super-specific targeted advertising on the popular social media platform, Facebook. The lawsuit accuses Amazon of trying to show ads to a certain age group, those younger than 38, which is within Facebook’s targeting capabilities. While Facebook is not named in the lawsuit, this has been seen as an example of age discrimination, limiting the number of “older” people who would be able to apply for those open positions. Many ad platforms allow segmented targeting options, including age and gender. Also named in the lawsuit were 2 large scale internet/TV/phone providers, T-Mobile and Cox Communications. Read More

Woman Charged for Bad Hotel Review

Negativity never pays

We have all had sub-par experiences at a restaurant or hotel, and some of us may have even gone online and left a negative review. What happens when a hotel threatens legal action over your feedback? Katrina Arthur of Indiana saw an additional $350 charge on her debit card after posting a bad review about a hotel, and also received a letter from the hotel’s lawyer, threatening legal action. The Indiana Attorney General’s office caught wind of the charge and legal threat, and fired back with a lawsuit against the hotel itself. The AG claims that a $350 charge would violate the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act. Read More

Cryptic: IRS Sues Bitcoin Exchange Portal

BTC vs IRS

With Bitcoin becoming a hot button issue over the last few months, the IRS was recently awarded some good news. Cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase was ordered to turn over the data for all US consumers who purchased Bitcoin and other currencies between 2013 and 2015. The belief is that many of these people did not pay any tax on potential earnings. This would make them subject to potential auditing, as a Judge in California has ruled. Information for more than 14,000 people was handed over from Coinbase to the IRS. Bitcoin is the main form of cryptocurrency, a digital asset that is openly bought, sold, and held online with an ever-changing dollar value. Read More