Yahoo is threatening to sue Facebook for allegedly infringing more than a dozen patents covering how to personalise websites, serve adverts and run a social network.

A Chinese firm which claims that it owns the iPad trademark in China is to ask customs officials to block shipments of Apple's iconic device in a move that could potentially disrupt the technology giant's supply chain.

Three productions clash with the DiCaprio blockbuster – so which will end in tragedy?

Wikipedia blacked out the English language version of its website today in protest at anti-piracy laws being considered by the US government.

On the last day of 2011, the 70th anniversary year of his death, James Joyce's work finally passed out of copyright. It was the dawn of a new age for Joyce scholars, publishers and biographers who are now free to quote or publish him without the permission of the ferociously prohibitive Joyce estate.

Changes to intellectual property (IP) systems, including copyright, could add up to £7.9 billion to the UK's economy, according to a review.

An independent review that could lead to a dramatic overhaul of copyright law in Britain is finally scheduled to be released next week. The Hargreaves Review into the country's intellectual-property framework, launched by the Prime Minister in November, had been due for publication in April but was delayed until after the local elections. However, The Independent has learned that Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, will tomorrow join the academic Ian Hargreaves, who chaired the inquiry, at a briefing for key industry figures. The review's findings will then be formally made public next week.

In his excellent obituary of John Barry (1 February), Spencer Leigh stated: "When the music of Gilbert and Sullivan came out of copyright in 1962...", writes John Crisp. This is wrong. In those days copyright lasted for 50 years after the death of the composer or the author. Sir Arthur Sullivan died in 1900 so his music came out of copyright on 1 January 1951, a fact celebrated by John Cranko and Charles Mackerras by creating a ballet, Pineapple Poll, using Sullivan's music. Sir William Gilbert died in 1911 and so only after 1 January 1962 could his words of the operas be used for other purposes – which resulted in The Cool Mikado.

The Government is to save £600,000 a year by axing four more business quangos, it was revealed today.

Oracle Corp has filed a suit against a little known rival that provides low-cost software maintenance services, in a case similar to one that Oracle is fighting against rival SAP AG.

Have you ever bought a font? Within minutes of this question being addressed on our blog this week, I received a stern dressing-down for misusing the word font, when I actually meant "typeface". (I blame both Windows and Mac OS for storing typefaces in a folder named "Fonts".) But the real issue is one of copyright; while the sharing of software applications, music and video receives untold publicity, few people consider humble fonts. The minuscule size of these font files means that they have been swapped with impunity for decades, with no copy protection, serial numbers or reminders that we haven't paid. The only thing stopping them being shared and copied is our sense of guilt.

The intellectual property company IP2IPO said yesterday it is to invest £2m in a group that commercialises technology spun out of research at the University of Leeds.

XAAR, the ink jet printing group, yesterday issued a profit warning after it failed to sign any new licences for its technology in 1998. However, the disappointment was tempered by the news that Calcomp, a US rival, had ceased shipments of printers which Xaar claimed were infringing its patents.

Guinness ad 'was stolen'