In brazen defiance of modern tradition, the U.S. Justice Department appears to attempting to enforce U.S. laws as though they have the authority to do so granted to them by the U.S. Constitution. Less than a month ago, they surprised everyone by actually noticing that AT&T’s attempt to purchase T-Mobile probably runs afoul of U.S. Anti-Trust law, and issued a motion to block the acquisition. And it appears that they’re treating Google’s proposed purchase of Motorola Mobility with similar skepticism. Today, news emerged that the DOJ has made a second request for information about the buyout. (The full document is available online).

Naturally the Google/Motorola Mobility deal isn’t saddled by the same issues as the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile combo. AT&T and T-Mobile offer competing products; a merger would necessarily reduce market competition and give AT&T an unfair edge. Google and Motorola Mobility do not actually compete with one another directly and it’s therefore likely the deal will ultimately be approved. However, Google business practices have come under increased scrutiny as of late, culminating in recent congressional hearings investigating whether the company behaves in a monopolistic fashion. It’s therefore refreshing to see the DOJ continuing that scrutiny after a decade dominated by a less strict approach to business law enforcement.

Just days after pushing Firefox 7 out the door, Mozilla has released the beta version of Firefox 8. It includes some feature improvements, a handful of interface tweaks, and a few goodies for developers. Mozilla has also added features to the Android version of the browser.

Among the new features in Firefox 8 is the addition of Twitter to the list of default search engines that users can access from the browser’s toolbar. The new entry–which is available only in the Mac and Linux versions of the browser–makes searching for hash tags (#firefox, #browser, and such) on the microblogging site easier.

Another improvement: As a security precaution, Firefox 8 will warn you before any third-party add-on launches for the first time. That approach should keep you from being surprised by an unwanted applet’s sudden appearance on the Firefox toolbar.

In this version of the browser, Mozilla has modified tabs in a couple of ways. In the Windows and Mac releases of the beta, you can configure the software so that it restores only the tabs you’ve selected; this tweak can improve startup times in cases when the browser has saved many tabs on exit. Tab animation is also improved, making it easier to “tear off” tabs and move them around.

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Here’s yet another soap opera from Korea, sort of another version of the fame Apple vs Samsung catfight, but in the automobile industry. LG Group has taken up legal arms against both BMW and Audi over a patent dispute, and it’s a funny one actually, lightbulbs. The technology company is reportedly aiming to have the sale of vehicles from both German automakers banned in South Korea over an LED patent dispute.

According to Korea Times, LG Group is claiming that Osram, the manufacturer of LEDs favored by both automakers, is infringing on LG patents. Oddly enough, LG was once behind the patent game and had to pay Osram to use the company’s LED technology in LG products. Now LG has combined its relevant patents with those of a host of smaller companies, allowing it to skip paying Osram and sue the company for infringement.

See the plot here? Wickedly twisted!

Is there any chance of a court outright agreeing to ban such a large section of products from two companies that largely had nothing to do with the dispute? That seems unlikely, but Osram and LG Group may have to sit down and have a nice, lengthy chat with checkbooks in hand sometime in the near future.