The European Union has temporarily suspended antitrust review of Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility. The EU is requesting more information about the deal. Once the antitrust authority receives additional documentation, the review will continue. The deal is expected to closed in 2012. [Bloomberg]

German government officials have declared Facebook’s facial recognition technology illegal under German and EU data protection laws. The Atlantic Wire reports that data protection official Johannes Caspar said that with the facial recognition running, “the right to anonymity is in danger.” Germany has previously threatened legal action against Facebook for other privacy issues with events pages and the Friend Finder feature.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was given 24 iOS Design Patents that relates to various icons that includes utilities. The patent includes Apple icons like the calculator, iBooks, Numbers, World Clock, Mail, FaceTime, Camera, Rentina display, Messages, iTunes Store, and iMovie. [Patently Apple]

When you search for a local venue, hotel, information about a city, or even a health condition on Google.com, you may find a result from Google.com itself at the very top. TripAdvisor, Yelp, CitySearch, and WebMD are not happy with the way that the links are displayed. With Google.com being the top result, it makes it even more of a challenge for the aforementioned websites to compete for ad revenue.

The European government recently brought an anti-trust case against Google and now they want them to delete the Google Street View service in Europe. Google Street View went live in the U.K. last year and allows map users to zoom in to the street level. One of the problems that people have with Street View is that some of the images that are captured by Street View may be incriminating.

Apparently the European Union believes that this is a “data-protection” issue. “I expect that all companies play according to the rules of the game,” stated EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding.

What I like best about Google Street View is that the service has captured some of the funniest pictures that I’ve ever seen. Last month I put together a top 100 list of some of the best Google Street View pictures. Check ‘em out here.
[ComputerWorld]

Intel Corporation has been taking a bit of heat from the government lately, both domestic and abroad.  In May, the European Union fined Intel $1.45 billion over anti-competitive practices.  And two months ago Intel received a letter last week that PCs in Cuba contain Celeron processors even though there is an embargo.

Dealing with the European Union
Interestingly ombudsman P. Nikiforos Diamandouros criticized the EU for not recording the case file in the decision against the chipmaker.  And a Dell executive cited AMD’s performance being poor as the reason why the PC manufacturing company chose Intel as their supplier.  This makes the verdict of the decision to penalize Intel seem a bit off.  More details to follow as discussions arise on this topic.

Dealing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
The SEC sent Intel a confidential letter on June 4th stating the following:
“We are aware of a May 2008 news report that PCs in Cuba contain your Celeron processors. Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria are identified by the State Department as state sponsors of terrorism, and are subject to U.S. economic sanctions and export controls.”

In addition, the SEC wrote “We note that your Form 10-K does not include disclosure regarding contacts with Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria. Please describe to us the nature and extent of any past, current, and anticipated contacts with the referenced countries, whether through distributors, resellers, licensees, or other direct or indirect arrangements.”

The Cubans have PCs that have Intel Celeron processors with 80GB hard drives and 512MB of RAM.  They also have the Windows XP operating system.  Intel responded with the following letter:

“Intel has no business contacts with the Subject Countries, either directly or indirectly through tacit agreement with its customers. Intel does not provide products or technology to the Subject Countries….”

To be honest, perhaps it is a good thing that all the Celerons are ending up in Cuba.  They should even take computers marked with “dual-core” processors.  And let’s give the Americans more Core 2 Duos!

In less than a few days after Intel was fined for having unfair prices and for giving rebates to PC makers by the European Union, Nvidia decided to give their opinion on the chip maker company.  The European Union decided to investigate Intel after AMD filed a report against them.

Jen-Hsun Huang, the CEO of Nvidia said that Intel chip pricing was unfair but said that they are not planning to file an antitrust action lawsuit against Intel for now.  Intel sells Atom chips for $45 for a single unit, but sells three-chip sets for $25.  The extremely discounted price for bulk units lures customers away from AMD.  “That seems pretty unfair,” stated Huang. “We ought to be able to compete and serve that market.”

“We compete fairly. We do not force bundles on any computer makers and customers can purchase Atom individually or as part of the bundle,” responded Intel spokesman Bill Calder. “If you want to purchase the chip set, obviously there is better pricing.”

[via Reuters]

Microsoft’s favorite government agency the European Union is no longer watching over the software giant full-time.  The European Commission stated that they no longer need a full-time trustee to make sure Microsoft is obeying the EU’s antitrust orders.  Microsoft has been sharing technical information with rivals that helps make their products compatible with Microsoft servers.

Neil Barrett, a computer science professor was appointed by the EU to assess Microsoft data.  Microsoft lost a legal battle in 2007 to the EU.  Microsoft had to give I.P. to rivals as a result.  Microsoft stated that they will remain committed to complying with the EU’s antitrust orders.

[via AP]