Italian court fines Facebook for copying features

An Italian court has ordered Facebook to pay €3.8m to an Italian company for copying a feature

The Italian judge not only ruled that Facebook had copied the feature of the plaintiffs’ app, but also imposed a new fine – ten times the original amount after Facebook tried to appeal the original ruling (the plaintiffs, Business Competence originally demanded €350,000 from the US corporation).

At issue is the Business Competence-owned app Faround. The app was released in October 2012 and Facebook launched its own version, Nearby Places, just two months later.