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[JURIST] Apple [corporate website; Bloomberg backgrounder] brought suit against Motorola Mobility [corporate website; Bloomberg backgrounder] in the US District Court for the Southern District of California [official website] on Friday seeking an injunction to stop Motorola from bringing patent claims against Apple in Germany. Motorola's suit in Germany is over patent no. 6,359,898 [text]. Apple contends that Motorola's German suit violates a licensing agreement between Motorola and Qualcomm [Reuters report]. Apple argues that as a customer of Qualcomm it is...

[JURIST] The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] on Friday expressed its concern over the trial of Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon [BBC profile], which involve his investigations of acts that occurred during the Spanish Civil War. Spokesperson for the OHCHR, Rupert Colville, indicated that judges should not be criminally charged for investigations [UN report] performed within the scope of their judicial duties. Colville stated, "judges should not be subject to criminal prosecution for doing...

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] on Friday denied a request [press release] filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) [advocacy website] to hold an en banc hearing to reconsider a challenge to a Texas law that requires doctors to perform a sonogram on women before an abortion [JURIST news archive]. The court's refusal means that the appeals court's original decision [opinion, PDF] that the law is enforceable will stand. The Texas law...

[JURIST] Former Croatian military commander and senior interior minister Tomislav Mercep [official profile, in Croatian] pleaded not guilty Friday for war crimes committed against Serbians during the 1990s conflict in the Balkans. The Municipal Court in Zagreb charged that he was aware of atrocities against civilians [JURIST report] but prevented other officials from mitigating damages against them. Mercep has also been charged with with ordering detentions, torture and executions of Serbian civilians. Mercep was arrested [JURIST report] in December 2010....

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch [official website] Director Daniel Bekele [HRW profile] on Friday urged South Sudan to investigate [HRW report] attacks made on Murle villages in December and prosecute those responsible. In this organized attack [UN News Centre report], thousands of armed Lou Nuer villagers invaded the Murle villages, robbing and burning houses and killing thousands of people. South Sudan's government has claimed repeatedly that it will investigate [South Sudan government news reports] the attacks and punish those who are...

[JURIST] The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] Friday reiterated its call for international action to protect civilians in Syria [JURIST news archive], calling for Syrian officials suspected of crimes against humanity to be tried before the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website]. High Commissioner Navi Pillay [official profile] is now scheduled to address the UN General Assembly [UN News Centre report] on Monday regarding the latest humanitarian developments in Syria, where the ongoing...

[JURIST] The Virginia Senate [official website] approved a bill [text, PDF] Wednesday that would allow private adoption agencies to refuse placement to families if the agency, or anyone affiliated with it, disagrees with the proposed placement based on religious beliefs. Effectively, this bill would allow adoption agencies to refuse to adopt to same-sex couples. It has already been passed [JURIST report] by the the Virginia House of Delegates [official website], and Governor Bob McDonnell [official profile] said he will sign...

[JURIST] Ugandan MP David Bahati announced on Friday that clauses mandating the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality" would be dropped from the controversial bill that would criminalize homosexuality. The bill was reintroduced [JURIST report] to the Parliament of Uganda [official website] on Tuesday in its original form, but Bahati stated that there were plans to remove certain provisions. Bahati said in 2010 that the purpose of the bill was to prevent foreigners from corrupting Ugandan children [YouTube video] by giving...

[JURIST] Amerigo Incalcaterra, the regional representative for South America [official website, Spanish] from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website], expressed concern [press release, Spanish] Tuesday over the violence in prisons in South America after the death of at least three prisoners in Uruguay, two in Argentina, two in Venezuela and one in Chile over the last few days. The OHCHR sets out guidelines for the treatment of prisoners through General Comment No. 9...

[JURIST] James Connell, defense lawyer for suspected 9/11 [JURIST backgrounder] conspirator Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, filed suit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] on Wednesday challenging an order for military officials to read all legal correspondence between the lawyers of the suspected 9/11 conspirators and their clients. Rear Adm. David Woods [official profile] has testified [JURIST report] that the policy balances his responsibilities to facilitate attorney-client communication while also ensuring security, safety, guard protection...

[JURIST] The Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] on Thursday voted 11-7 [CSPAN video] in favor of a bill [S 1945 text, PDF] that would allow televising of US Supreme Court [official website] proceedings. Currently, only few citizens can hear the proceedings in person, and audio recordings are released after the proceedings are over. However, the bill would not make televising proceedings mandatory: "The Supreme Court shall permit television coverage of all open sessions of the Court unless the Court decides,...

[JURIST] The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) [official website] on Thursday welcomed the new electoral law [press release, PDF] adopted by the National Transitional Council (NTC) [official website, in Arabic; JURIST news archive]. The draft of the electoral law was finalized on Wednesday after the earlier version [text, PDF; JURIST report] was revised to address criticisms of the public. The new law sets out procedures for the upcoming election to choose a national assembly. After elected, its responsibility will...

[JURIST] Iraq [JURIST news archive] has executed 65 people [press release] so far this year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] reported Thursday. HRW said those executed were convicted of various crimes and counted a total of 51 in January and 14 in February. HRW also called for a moratorium on all future executions, and called for "an overhaul of [Iraq's] flawed criminal justice system." In its statement, HRW also said:Human Rights Watch is particularly concerned that Iraqi courts admit...

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] on Wednesday denied [text, PDF] Ohio's request to put a condemned killer to death, effectively putting the state's executions on hold. Without comment, the court refused [AP report] to allow Ohio to execute Charles Lorraine, a 45-year-old man who was convicted in 1986 of killing an elderly couple. Though Ohio Governor John Kasich [official website] rejected Lorraine's plea for mercy, the execution has been consistently delayed by federal courts over growing concerns that...

[JURIST] US Attorney General Eric Holder, along with Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan [official websites] and 49 state attorneys general announced [press release; official website] Thursday that a $25 billion agreement was reached with the nation's five largest mortgage servicers to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses. This agreement is the largest joint federal-state settlement ever obtained and includes mortgage servicers Bank of America Corporation, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Company, Citigroup Inc....

[JURIST] The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) [advocacy website], a consumer privacy group, filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF; press release] Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] asking that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) [official website] block Google's [corporate website] proposed privacy policy changes [text]. EPIC alleged that the changes to the privacy policy are in violation of a settlement [JURIST report] reached by the FTC and Google in October over a breach of...

[JURIST] The implementation of the rule of law in Haiti is making significant progress [press release], UN Independent Expert Michel Forst said Wednesday. Forst focused on improvements such as the establishment of judicial offices, the adoption of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights [text, PDF] and the recent conviction of eight police officers [JURIST report] in a post-earthquake shooting. He said he was disappointed in the recent decision by Haiti's Investigative Magistrate Carves Jean that former president...

[JURIST] Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed said Thursday he would remain in the country [BBC video] and try to regain his office after reports indicated that a warrant has been issued for his arrest. The specific charges are unclear [BBC report], but Nasheed maintains that the warrant is politically motivated. Nasheed, who resigned on Tuesday [press release; JURIST report], has said that he was forced out of office in a coup. Nasheed told reporters Thursday that he would remain for...

[JURIST] The Spanish Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish] on Thursday convicted [press release, in Spanish] Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] of ordering illegal wiretaps in jailhouses, after a trial lasting less than one month [JURIST report]. The court announced in October that Garzon would stand trial on the charges after the he was indicted in April [JURIST reports] for ordering the placement of wiretaps in jailhouses to record conversations between inmates and their lawyers. Garzon...

[JURIST] A rising crime rate in Caribbean nations is one of the main challenges threatening those nations' economies, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) [official website] reported [text, PDF] Wednesday. According to the Caribbean Human Development Report 2012, the "region is home to 8.5 percent of the world's population, yet it concentrates some 27 percent of the world's homicides. Violence and crime are therefore perceived by a majority of Latin American and Caribbean citizens as a top pressing challenge." Gang-related violence...