Latest legal news

A controversial move by on-line photo-sharing web site Instagram to allow advertisers access to user pictures is to be challenged in a California court, claimant lawyers have announced. | 13yrs

Sexual orientation politics and the law recently clashed on both sides of the Atlantic, as a senior English judge attacked plans to legalise same-sex marriage, while a California court lifted a ban on so-called homosexual reversal therapy. | 13yrs

Japanese motorcar manufacture Toyota is to stump up more than $1 billion to settle an action over claims that millions of its vehicles suffered from dangerous acceleration faults. | 13yrs

Nothing warms the heart more at the end of the year than a David-and-Goliath battle that sees the small chap coming out on top -- and a US appeal court has duly obliged with one in the eye to global giant Cleary Gottlieb over costs. | 13yrs

Patent and brand protection in China could soon become easier following an announcement that the Beijing authorities are to crack down on infringements in the jurisdiction. | 13yrs

Lance Armstrong faces further humiliation this week after a leading British newspaper launched a bid to claw back libel damages and legal fees the disgraced cyclist won eight years ago. | 13yrs

Human rights campaigners called at the weekend on the Saudi Arabian authorities to drop apostasy charges against one of the Gulf country's web site editors, who could be executed if convicted. | 13yrs

Canada should not impose a blanket ban on witnesses wearing full face veils in court for religious reasons, with judges instructed to assess each case individually, the country's highest bench ruled last week. | 13yrs

A row involving a US footballer-turned-lawyer is threatening to destabilise one of the American midwest's oldest and largest law firms. | 13yrs

Four international banks were found guilty of fraud and fined a €1 million each by a Milan judge last week in a landmark ruling over complex interest rate swap deals cut during the run-up to the global financial crisis. | 13yrs

Internet giant Google has been given until January to address EU suspicions that its search engine promotes its own products over those of its rivals. | 13yrs

Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Co yesterday agreed to fork out almost $30 million to settle charges that it violated American fraud-busting legislation. | 13yrs

New York Law School has successfully dismissed a class action law suit claiming the institution misled potential students about graduates' success in finding legal jobs. | 13yrs

Frank Abagnale -- the infamous conman who inspired a Hollywood blockbuster -- has claimed that impersonating a lawyer was the easiest scam he ever pulled. | 13yrs

German government lawyers were this week reported to be poring over Ryanair records as allegations swirled around the airline that it dodged millions of pounds of air traffic control charges by falsifying take-off weight information. | 13yrs

Silicon Valley stalwarts Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati expanded its reach in China this week by opening in the capital, Beijing, the firm's third outpost in the jurisdiction. | 13yrs

Boston-based law firm Nixon Peabody is to shut its four-year-old Paris office, it was confirmed yesterday. | 13yrs

A raft of lawyers is licking their lips at the prospect of representing those senior executives at technology giant Hewlett-Packard who played key roles in the bungled purchase of British software firm Autonomy. | 13yrs

Heavyweight global deals will continue to be thin on the ground next year, according to crystal ball gazing specialist lawyers at a magic circle law firm. | 13yrs