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In a landmark patent infringement case, Dish Network and EchoStar have agreed to pay TiVo a $500 million settlement in a suit about TiVo’s “time warp” technology. The TiVo settlement comes after an April 20th ruling by a federal court that Dish and EchoStar were in contempt of a court-ordered injunction. The TiVo settlement grants Dish Network and EchoStar a license to utilize the technology in their DVR boxes. The companies will be required to pay $300 million to TiVo now, with the other $200 million divided into six payments of $33 million to be paid through 2017, according to The Los Angeles Times....

What is Gluten-Free? A definitive answer to this question appears to be coming soon, with the Food and Drug Administration announcing last week that it plans to regulate gluten-free labeling on food products that contain wheat, rye and barley. This move is particularly important for those 3 million Americans who have celiac disease, which is when the body’s immune system attacks gluten, the protein found in the above-listed grains, causing damage to the small intestine and other health problems....

A federal appeals court has reinstated an Air Force reservist’s challenge to the constitutionality of the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, ordering the lower court to re-examine the case under a stricter standard of review. The suit was filed by U.S. Air Force Major Margaret Witt, an Air Force reserve flight nurse stationed at McChord Air Force Base in Washington State. Witt was suspended from duty after a military investigation and hearing concluded that she had declared her homosexuality, in violation of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy....

Playboy says it coined the phrase for the freelance advice column Fetman wrote for Playboy’s website until July, 2008. Fetman then sought to trademark the title, but was hit with a complaint by Playboy, claiming she is trying to capitalize on the company’s reputation for her own sordid ends. Playboy’s suit claims to have a common law trademark over the phrase in contention and that Fetman gave up any IP rights in her free-lance contract with the company....

First came allegations that cable TV’s “House Hunters” may have been staged, and now possibly “Storage Wars” too, if a new lawsuit is to be believed. Is nothing sacred on reality television anymore? Many of the valuables hidden inside abandoned storage lockers, as seen on the hit A&E program, were actually planted by TV producers to enhance the drama of the show, former cast member David Hester claims. Hester says producers have planted items like a BMW Mini and newspapers chronicling Elvis Presley’s death to make the show more interesting, reports The Christian Science Monitor....

If you haven’t heard it before, it bears repeating: dying without a will can cause unnecessary familial strife and financial strain, to say nothing of the delay in probate for sorting out your estate. And nowhere is that strife, strain, and delay more apparent than after celebrity deaths, with children, exes, and even labels and studios fighting over celebrity estates. Even when a celebrity dies with a will, sorting out the estate can be contentious....

Though the exact definition of stalking varies by state, it’s generally described as the repeated unwanted pursuit of someone. It typically involves a pattern of conduct in which the offender follows, harasses, or threatens the victim, causing the victim to fear for his or her safety. But what does that mean in reality, how do you know if you’re a stalker? Specific acts that count as stalking include, but are not limited to, the following five situations:...

Good news to lift the spirits of anyone currently fighting with their bank. A Florida bankruptcy judge recently spanked Bank of America with a cash penalty for allegedly calling a debtor 38 times after he filed for bankruptcy. The message from the court to BofA was clear: stop harassing debtors or face the consequences. It’s just too bad the amount the banking giant was charged probably wouldn’t be enough to cover its hourly coffee budget....

The Brooke Mueller plea deal is pretty sweet. Charlie Sheen’s ex was arrested in December and charged with felony possession of cocaine under 4 grams, felony possession with intent to distribute, and misdemeanor assault. In exchange for a guilty plea, Aspen, Colo., prosecutors have agreed to drop the last two charges, according to gossip website TMZ. Additionally, the mother of twins will serve no time. Instead, she will spend the next 12 months on probation, The Inquisitr reports....

New rules on airline fees might make air travel more transparent for consumers. The airfare fee rules, set to start on January 26, mandate airlines include mandatory taxes and fees in their advertisements. Currently, fees can be listed separately in the fine print of airfare ads. This can result in a total airfare that is 20% higher than the advertised price. Several airlines, including Southwest, Spirit, and Allegiant, have filed suit in federal court....

Is that 5-hour ENERGY drink just not working for you? You may be drinking a counterfeit. In a first of its kind case, the U.S. District Attorney’s recently charged 11 people with conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods, conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, and conspiracy to introduce misbranded food into interstate commerce. Here is what you need to know: Fake 5-hour ENERGY The counterfeiting scheme began in 2009 as a legitimate business arrangement between Joseph and Adriana Shayota and 5-hour ENERGY’s parent company, Living Essentials....

Handgun owners sued the District of Columbia yesterday, charging that although D.C. requires “a permit to carry a handgun in public,” it regularly refuses “to issue such permits and refuses” to allow the possession of any handgun that would be carried in public." Two plaintiffs in the case initially had their applications to carry their handguns initially denied by D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier, but these were later approved. The lawsuit did not explain the subsequent reversals of their initial ‘carry permit’ denials....

A federal appeals court has denied Fox’s bid to shut down the Dish Anywhere streaming platform. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of TV streaming just three weeks after the Supreme Court shut down Aereo for streaming TV over the internet without permission. So why did a California federal court give the green light to Dish to continue selling a service so similar to Aereo? Fox had argued that Dish “engages in virtually identical conduct when it streams Fox’s programming to Dish subscribers over the Internet–albeit also in violation of an express contractual prohibition–has repeatedly raised the same defenses as Aereo which have now been rejected by the Supreme Court....

What is a DUI habitual offender? Ronald Witt of Tigard, Oregon, may be able to answer that question for you, as the habitual offender was recently sentenced to 27 months behind bars, Portland’s KATU-TV reports. Witt, who’s had prior DUI convictions, wasn’t even drunk when he caused a crash that killed a 52-year-old man from Washington state in August, police say. But at a court hearing last week, Witt showed up reeking of alcohol, which the judge did not find amusing, according to KATU....

The February 26 shooting death of Trayvon Martin has shaken Sanford, a small city near Orlando, Fla. The 17-year-old was shot by George Zimmerman, the white neighborhood watch captain of a local gated community. His only crime was walking from a 7-Eleven to a nearby home in the pouring rain. Martin’s parents and black community members are outraged at the way Sanford Police have handled the investigation. There have been no charges in the neighborhood watch shooting, and there are accusations of police misconduct and witness contamination....

Like many other crimes, identity theft is a wobbler. Depending on the state and the severity of the crime, identity theft can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony. Sometimes, it’s not even called identity theft, but rather impersonation, or fraud. Generally, an identity thief will gain access to a person’s bank or credit card information, or enough personal information to open a new credit card, and use the credit to make purchases or cash withdrawals or cash transfers....

Your gun, your rights, your problem? It’s pretty common in America to let someone borrow, use, try, or otherwise handle a firearm. Hunters do it in the woods, shooters at the range, purchasers at trade shows, and kids at summer camps. Put those scenarios to one side, then consider the other side: criminal defendants arguing about who used whose gun to shoot so-and-so, or an otherwise responsible owner having to explain how his gun ended up in a kid’s backpack at school....

Democratic New York Rep. Anthony Weiner’s Twitter hack has him running to an attorney. As part of the Twitter hack on Weiner, a lewd photo of a man wearing bulging boxer briefs was sent to a female college student in Seattle, reports Reuters. Weiner dismisses the incident as a prank. The college student in question, Gennette Cordova, is one of his Twitter followers, but she says that she has never met the congressman before....

Advances in technology have made life easier and allowed people to be more connected. Unfortunately, technological advances also open a new avenue for crimes. Generally referred to as cybercrimes, these types of crimes are committed online or with the help of computer networking technology. A common example of a cybercrime is identity theft, where hackers access a computer to seek out personal information that can then be used to steal the person’s identity or access bank accounts....

Scammers are now targeting low-income and elderly churchgoers, according to the Internal Revenue Service. The tax agency has increasingly encountered the church tax scam during the last year, particularly amongst taxpayers in the South and Midwest. Fraudsters promise churchgoers “free money,” but really end up filing fraudulent tax returns. They claim taxpayers can obtain Social Security refunds and tax rebates, reports CNN Money. However, victims don’t actually qualify under any of the rules....