Stories by: Philip Willan

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Italian court upholds Apple warranty fine 19 May, 2012 10:53:23

An Italian court has upheld a €900,000 (US$1.2 million) fine imposed on Apple by Italy's competition authority for allegedly violating consumer protection laws, Italian media reported late Friday.The Regional Administrative Tribunal (TAR) of Lazio rejected Apple's appeal against the fine imposed by the Antitrust Authority last December for "unfair commercial practices that damage the consumer."The court found that Apple Italy was not fully applying a two-year guarantee that is obligatory under European law and was providing unclear information on its own additional commercial warranties, the online edition of the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.An Apple Italy spokesman was not immediately available for comment.The Antitrust fine applies to Apple Sales International, Apple Italia and Apple Retail Italia and concerns their alleged failure to inform customers of their right to a 24-month warranty from the vendor under European Union regulations and insufficiently clear information on the company's own AppleCare Protection Plan and its partial duplication of the existing legal warranties.A campaign to force Apple to modify its behavior in Italy was spearheaded by the Milan-based consumer association Altroconsumo.
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Italian court restores Mediaset's .com domain 13 April, 2012 03:14:00

Italy's largest private broadcaster Thursday welcomed the decision of a Rome civil court to restore its right to use the mediaset.com international Internet domain after failing in a bid to recover it from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in February.
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Italy's Mediaset loses its .com domain 28 March, 2012 23:56:01

Italy's biggest private broadcaster has lost its right to use the international Internet domain www.mediaset.com after failing to renew its registration and losing an appeal to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) last month.
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Apple loses first round of appeal against Italian fine for unnecessary warranties 24 March, 2012 03:00:56

A Rome court has upheld a €900,000 (US$1.2 million) fine imposed on Apple last December by Italy's Antitrust Authority for circumventing consumer protection laws, Italian media reported Friday.
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Vatican confirms second hacker attack, Anonymous claims responsibility 14 March, 2012 06:39:02

The Vatican has confirmed that its website suffered a second hacker attack in the space of six days but declined to comment on the event.
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Italian court: Online editors not responsible for reader comments 01 December, 2011 10:27:52

Online commentators Wednesday welcomed a ruling by Italy's highest court that the editors of online publications cannot be held legally responsible for defamatory comments posted by their readers.
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Italian mathematician prepares to challenge Google 19 November, 2011 07:11:05

The Italian mathematician who contributed to the development of Google's search algorithm is preparing to launch his own challenge to the dominant search engine before the end of the year.
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Eyeing fiscal crisis, Italy Internet forum urges digital investment 15 November, 2011 04:05:00

Participants at an Internet forum in the northern Italian town of Trento have written to Prime Minister-designate Mario Monti, urging him to up Italy's investment in the digital economy.
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Italian VAR wants out of Syrian surveillance deal 10 November, 2011 05:18:12

The Italian company criticized for supplying the brutal Syrian regime with telecommunications surveillance equipment has frozen participation in the project and is seeking a way to extricate itself from the contract, Area SpA CEO Andrea Formenti said Wednesday.
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Italian Internet activists protest proposed law 30 September, 2011 03:29:07

Italy's Internet activists gathered in front of Rome's ancient Pantheon Thursday to protest a new law they say will throttle freedom of expression on the Web.
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Italy 4G frequency auction tops €3.7 billion 24 September, 2011 02:46:00

Italy's auction of six blocks of 800MHz frequencies for 4G mobile phone services netted €2.962 billion (US$4 billion) Thursday, taking the total of provisional offers for mobile phone frequency licenses to more than €3.7 billion.