This digital photography fad isn’t great for companies that built their empires on film, so Kodak seems to be grasping at legal straws to generate some revenue. The company filed a image-previewing patent claim to force smartphone makers such as Apple and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Limited to pay it royalties. The United States International Trade Commission ruled that the phones don’t violate the patent. [More]
Government Policy
HCG Diet Products Are Fraud, Says FDA
By 1.24.11
There are tons of diet pill pages on the internet prosthelytizing the wonders of the miracle diet drug HCG, or “human chorionic gonadotropin.” You have the usual “before” and “after” pictures where you get to play that fun game of trying to figure out if they’re actually two different people, and the promises of losing 30 pounds in 4 weeks. Only problem is that HCG doesn’t work for weight loss, and an FDA exec says they may even be illegal and fraudulent. Quelle surprise! [More]
8 Tips For Picking The Right Tax Preparer
By 1.24.11
You know that I love you all and would just love to prepare every last one of your 1040s this year. But between my existing clients and that centipede I can’t seem to catch, I’m booked solid through tax day. [More]
Lawsuit: Taco Bell Ground Beef Is Really Just "Meat Filling"
By 1.24.11
To be beef, or not to be beef, that is the question in a lawsuit against Taco Bell for what one Alabama law firm claims is the company’s dubious pronouncements of ground beef. The suit says the fast food purveyors are misleading customers by advertising its ground beef offerings as such. [More]
IRS Goes After Executive Whose Pay Is Too Low
By 1.24.11
Targeting executives who pay themselves too little in order to shield some of the money they make from taxes, the IRS is focusing its sunshine-concentrating magnifying glass on potential offenders. [More]
Chipotle Fires Hundreds Of Undocumented Workers, Faces Protests
By 1.21.11
Following an audit of employees’ legal statuses, Chipotle fired between 350 and 700 undocumented employees at its Minnesota restaurants. [More]
Verizon Sues Over FCC's Net Neutrality Rules
By 1.21.11
Unhappy with the FCC’s net neutrality rules that have yet to take effect, Verizon filed suit in a federal appeals court. in December, the FCC ruled that while wireless providers can throttle internet use based on what kind of content users are attempting to access, they can’t block access to competitors. Non-wireless ISPs generally aren’t allowed to throttle internet use. [More]
Texting Woman Who Fell Into Fountain May Sue Mall
By 1.20.11
A woman who was so focused on texting that she fell into a fountain is suing is hinting that she may sue the mall after leaked security footage of the incident went viral. [More]
Woman Finds $280K Worth Of Drugs In Vacuum
By 1.19.11
A Wisconsin mother received a vacuum from her children as a Christmas present. The gift quickly lost its dull nature when she opened it up to discover a stash of drugs encased inside. [More]
8 Ways Your 1040 Is Different This Year
By 1.19.11
Once January hits it’s a good time to start getting ready for your taxes. To help you prepare, here’s 8 ways your 1040 is going to be different this year: [More]
Guy Allegedly Tunnels Into GameStop To Swipe Video Games
By 1.19.11
In a heist that was probably narrated by Morgan Freeman, a determined Tennessee man is accused of tunneling into a GameStop in order to pilfer its sweet, unguarded wares in the dark of night. [More]
Will The Strings Attached To Comcast/NBC Deal Be Effective?
By 1.19.11
Both the FCC and the Justice Department have effectively cleared the way for Comcast (aka, that cable company from Philadelphia) to own a majority of NBC Universal, but the regulators did so with several strings attached to the deal. But the question remains: Will these rules do anything to protect consumers? [More]
FCC Approves Comcast/NBC Deal
By 1.18.11
It’s time to break out your favorite wedding clothes. The FCC has given its blessing to the marriage of Comcast — the reigning Worst Company In America — and NBC Universal. [More]
$100 Bribe Gets Mysterious Package On JetBlue Plane
By 1.18.11
Here’s a deal you won’t see JetBlue advertising on its website. All you need to get a mysterious package unaccompanied onto a JetBlue flight is a $100 bill in the hands of a JetBlue ticket agent. [More]
Johnson & Johnson Recalls Even More Tylenol, Benadryl, Sudafed & Sinutab
By 1.18.11
The new year isn’t starting well for Johnson & Johnson. First, the OTC drug giant gets sued by the state of Oregon over allegations of a phantom Motrin recall. And now its McNeil Labs division has issued the latest in a lengthy list of actual recalls. This time, it’s for certain lots of Tylenol 8 Hour, Tylenol Arthritis Pain, Tylenol upper respiratory products, Benadryl, Sudafed PE, and Sinutab products distributed in the United States, the Caribbean, and Brazil. [More]
Citigroup Still Selling Mortgages That Violate Quality Standards
By 1.18.11
15% of the mortgages Citigroup sold to government-owned Freddie Mac from the second half of 2009 and the first part of 2010 were riddled with flaws, according to an internal report obtained by Bloomberg. The error rate should be about 5%. The mistakes included missing insurance docs, missing appraisals and income miscalculations. [More]
Treasury Dept. To Offer Tax Refunds On Pre-Paid Debit Cards
By 1.18.11
We’ve been warning readers for years against “refund anticipation loans,” where tax preparers like H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt give you a pre-paid debit card now loaded with your expected return (minus fees and interest). And yet, these cards have continued to appeal to some lower-income taxpayers who don’t have bank accounts for direct-deposit of their returns. Now the federal government is providing these people with an alternative — a debit card that will accept the direct deposit. [More]
Bigwig Tax Cheats Next On WikiLeaks Hitlist
By 1.18.11
An ex-Swiss banking exec has given Wikileaks data on what he says are over 2,000 high-level people and companies involved in tax evasion and other potential crimes. At a news conference where he passed the discs to Julian Assange in front of reporters, the man refused to name names, but said that roughly 40 politicians and “pillars of society” were on there. Assange said that Wikileaks would vet the information and publish it, along with names, in just two weeks. [More]
