Legal threats were made last week against Time Warner after the company began to stream TV channels to iPad owners. Typically Viacom and Scripps Networks get paid for companies to have the right to stream TV channels to televisions–the question here is should they get paid more for devices like tablets.

Time Warner launched a campaign that promoted “more freedom to watch on more screens.” The debate is very akin to the book publishing world, which grew contentious around the subject of the iPad. It seems to be shaking up traditional media and publishing.

One immediate concern for the TV networks is that the additional screens will quite possibly lead to increased, overall usage–and to offer the service without paying an additional fee to the networks is a contract violation. Additionally, the networks may be concerned that users may also gain access to premium content without paying an equitable portion for that content.

Google decided to purchase 76 Ninth Ave in New York City for $1.9 billion. Currently, Google occupies a couple floors of the building through a lease (approximately 500,000 sqft). The building is one of the largest buildings in NYC. This move reflects Google’s larger ambitions to expand operations within NYC… Googleplex East, Google’s New York City Headquarters may expand upon the 500+ Google engineers, salespeople, and support staff that currently work in the building.

A federal jury in the United States District Court in Oakland, California awarded $1.3 billion to Oracle in the largest case ever for copyright violation. SAP was found guilty of stealing software from Oracle to pull customers from the tech titan. Ultimately, the dispute, in this case, was not over whether the executives and their staff did the wrongdoings–as they admitted their guilt in the matter. The dispute, however, centered around how much money should be awarded. This was a landmark victory for both Oracle and for copyright protections.

A new web and graphic design directory offers huge discounts for companies willing to be first into the listings. The directory focuses on US graphic and web design firms. Free directory listings are available as well.

The directory was re-launched with a country wide focus after being halted in project development for quite some time. Now the site was re-launched with a wider focus and more interactive features for B to B listings.

Visit: Web design portal for the US

Bloomberg LP has confirmed it’s acquisition of Businessweek. Bloomberg will be paying $2 million to $5 million in cash.

“We are not buying BusinessWeek to gut it. We are buying it to build it” Bloomberg stated.

Businessweek.com has 20 million unique users and 100 million pageviews. It generates $60 million in revenue. It has not been decided what Bloomberg will do with the web operations.

Online video sites saw traffic soar by 41% in the month of August. Nielson Online just released figures to prove industry expectations correct.

The month-over-month growth for August was 2.40% and the year-over-year growth was 18.00% for unique web-video users.

Youtube was by far the industry leader, followed by Hulu, Yahoo, MSN/WindowsLive/Bing, and Nickelodeon Kids and Family Network respectively.

Italian regulators began an investigation into Google News after Italian newspaper publishers made a claim that their content was unfairly used to generate profit for the search giant. One argument the publishers claim is that having their content circulated within Google News is a forced contribution. The newspaper say that inclusion in Google’s news service hurts readership and the ability to generate revenue.

This investigation has now expanded into Google’s primary search business.

The Italian newspaper publishers have also expressed anger over their rankings in Google’s traditional search results. Italian Federation of Newspaper Editors alleged that any organization that refused to have content displayed in Google News Italy was immediately excluded from Google’s main search.

Youtube is the largest video website on the internet. Currently, Youtube is in the progress of negotiating a deal with Holly executives from Lionsgate Entertainment, Sony and Warner Brothers to offer full-length movies for rent on its site. Currently Youtube offers its content for free and makes an income from paid advertising–much in the same way as it’s owner does: Google. If negotiations are successful, Youtube would be directly competing against Netflix, Amazon and Apple for the paid, streaming media market.

Youtube is completely a dominant figure in the world of online video. In July of 2009 for example, nearly nine billion video clips were accessed through Youtube in the United States, which is about 10 times the amount of its closest competitor ( reported by ComScore ).

Investigative units of the National Advertising Review Council, Attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission are seeking to build more requirements for blogs to clearly differentiate between sponsored content and and regular content.

The Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program is an an investigative unit of the National Advertising Review Council for the e-commerce industry. The Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation programs are voluntary, but should the offending company refuse to comply then the complaints are forwarded to the Federal Trade Commission who will then potentially sue the offending company for violating guidelines.

The F.T.C. is close to updating its guidelines on endorsements and testimonials for the first time since 1980.

Apple and Google have created an unofficial agreement not to compete for each other’s employees. Supposedly no formal written agreement exists for the deal.

The Justice Department has looked into whether companies such as Apple and Google have violated antitrust laws by arranged the recruitment of each other’s workers.

Human capital is a prime resource for tech companies–perhaps the most important resource tech companies possess. That is why Microsoft sued Google in 2005 after it hired Kai-Fu Lee away from Microsoft.