Thursday morning, GPS specialist Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) said it lost a patent dispute with Japanese firm Pioneer Corp. The District Court of Dusseldorf in Germany found that two patents owned by Pioneer were infringed by a certain functionality in Garmin's software.

However, Garmin says it has already worked out "minor software revisions that eliminate the narrow functionality at issue in the litigation." As a result, the company doesn't expect any significant impact on its ability to import and sell its navigational products.

In the 2004 counterfeit goods lawsuit brought against online auction giant eBay (EBAY) by Tiffany & Co. (TIF), a New York appeals court has ruled in favor of eBay. The suit stemmed from an independent investigation conducted by Tiffany, where an investigatory sampling determined that more than 70% of supposed Tiffany items on eBay were found to be fakes. Tiffany maintains that eBay bears responsibility for cleaning out those counterfeit items.

Yes, eBay bears some responsibility in this matter, but that responsibility begins and ends at the removal of offending listings when they are reported or discovered. Any random examination of listings by eBay for potential rule violations or illegal activities falls under the heading of good faith, not due diligence.

Viacom is now being blamed for secretly uploading copyright infringing content by YouTube's chief counsel, Zahavah Levine. This announcement comes as the court prepares to render a decision in the $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit Viacom (VIA) brought against Google's (GOOG) Internet video giant, YouTube.

Attorney Levine has stated in a blog post: "For years, Viacom continuously and secretly uploaded its content to YouTube, even while publicly complaining about its presence there."

Late Tuesday, Synovus Financial (SNV) confessed that it's facing an informal inquiry by the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). In a regulatory filing, Synovus disclosed that the SEC is attempting "to determine whether any person or entity has violated the federal securities laws." The financial firm was first informed of the informal investigation in a letter from the SEC dated Dec. 15, 2009.

Synovus said it intends to cooperate fully with the SEC's inquiry, but declined to provide further information on the matter. "We cannot discuss any details of the informal inquiry," explained spokesman Gregory Hudgison. "As stated in our public filings, the SEC has not asserted that Synovus or any person or entity has committed any securities violations."

Monday morning, mobile phone firm Motorola (MOT) found itself on the lips of lawyers and judges. The first reason is that a lawsuit commenced in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on behalf of MOT stock purchasers who made their purchase from December 6, 2007 through January 22, 2008.

The lawsuit alleges that Motorola and "certain of its officers and directors" violated federal securities laws by "intentionally and knowingly misstating the 2007 fourth quarter earnings projections and sales demands for the RAZR2 during the 2007 holiday shopping season." The suit states that Motorola's RAZR2 did not attract buyers thanks to its $299 price tag and the fact that it had not improved enough from the RAZR. Nevertheless, Motorola made positive statements all while losing "significant market share" to its competition. The defendants claim that Motorola senior execs knew that Motorola was not on track to hit their profit forecast of 12 cents to 14 cents per share, and would like a bit of compensation.

Eastman Kodak (EK) is grabbing headlines after the film firm filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), alleging that Apple's (AAPL) iPhone and Research In Motion Limited's (RIMM) BlackBerry camera phones infringe on Kodak's patents. Kodak is asking the ITC to block Apple and RIMM from importing the offending devices.

Additionally, the iconic photography company filed two suits against Apple in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. Kodak is claiming infringement of patents "related to digital cameras and certain computer processes."

Interesting little battle shaping up in the fast-food realm, and it isn't between restaurants -- it is within one. According to the Associated Press, Burger King (BKC) franchisees are suing the company over its recent $1 double cheeseburger promotion.

The reason for the lawsuit is that the franchisees are losing money on the deal because the company is setting maximum menu prices, which Burger King is not allowed to do. The National Franchise Association (NFA), which represents more than 80% of Burger King's U.S. franchise owners, says that the promotion is forcing restaurant owners to sell the quarter-pound burger at a 10-cent loss. One Burger King franchisee said that the burger in question typically costs franchisees $1.10.

Even with the ringleader in jail, the pursuit of Bernie Madoff doesn't seem to be finished. Sunday night, the trustee who's winding down the Madoff company said on 60 Minutes that Madoff's two sons (Mark and Andrew), brother (Peter) and niece (Shana) will be slapped with a $198 million suit. They are alleged to have known about the Ponzi scheme, according to the trustee, Irving Picard and his chief counsel, David Sheehan.

Sheehan and Picard are also working under the assumption that there is still some money hidden, quite a lot of it, in fact. Picard told the show, "We'd assume it's millions and millions of dollars." Yet, this probably wouldn't help with the task in front of them.

A judge in Texas has ordered Microsoft (MSFT) to stop selling some versions of its Word software in the United States within two months. This follows a May decision that found Word infringes on a Canadian tech firm's patent.

The offending programs are Word 2003 and Word 2007, which seem to have borrowed technology on how to encode and display information. In addition, MSFT was ordered to pay $290 million to the Canadian firm i4i for damages and interest. The judge also issued an injunction that will take effect in 60 days, this move will not allow MSFT to sell Word products including the patented technology.

The verdict leaves Abbott stock in a tenuous position. The healthcare sector has been in the crosshairs lately as concerns about costly medical reform swirl, with the SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals (XPH) ETF down slightly year-to-date, compared to the nearly 5% gain on the S&P 500. Abbott Labs has underperformed both comparables, and is down 10% year-to-date.

In yesterday's online edition of The Wall Street Journal, it was reported that MBIA (NYSE: MBI) is facing lawsuits from a group of 18 different financial institutions. The lawsuit was filed in New York State court and includes the likes of J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), and UBS (NYSE: UBS).

These banks are claiming that the way MBIA split its municipal bond insurance business earlier this year was "an unlawful attempt to escape" its contractual obligations to cover losses from mortgage securities. In addition to the split earlier this year, MBIA shifted $5 billion to a municipal bond insurance company.