A patent feud between IBM and Amazon.com took a new twist this week as the e-commerce giant countersued Big Blue for infringement and blasted its earlier accusations as "meritless and misleading." In Thursday filings with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the Seattle-based Internet retailer denied infringing on five IBM patents and claimed that just the opposite situation was occurring. CNET News

The "Tonight Show" host and NBC Studios have sued humor editor Judy Brown and her publishers in U.S. District Court, claiming that her collection of joke books has profited from material filched from his standup routines. Leno and other comics, including Rita Rudner, are seeking unspecified damages and a permanent injunction against Brown's 19 books -- mainly compilations of jokes by comedians including Ellen DeGeneres, Joan Rivers and Jerry Seinfeld, according to the lawsuit. The New York Times

On a company blog, Simon Phipps said that existing work towards GPLv3 had been "extraordinary and effective" and that he is "frankly amazed by the criticisms." Phipps' comments may be surprising, given Sun's decision last month to release Java under version 2 of the GPL, which governs Linux and many other open-source products. They are also noticeable because of Phipps' senior position at a commercial software vendor. CNET News

U.S. wireless technology firm Qualcomm Inc. warned on Wednesday a long-running spat with Nokia could escalate and lead to a legal action if the Finnish firm halted royalty payments. The U.S. firm is locked in talks with Nokia over extending licensing agreements carrying an April deadline, but the Finnish phone giant wants Qualcomm to charge less -- a stalemate analysts say could prompt Nokia to cease payments of some $500 million to Qualcomm annually. Reuters

Alarmed by New York City’s status as a global center of film and video piracy, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has embraced a proposal that would criminalize unauthorized recording in movie theaters. The New York Times