FCC to Look into Text Messaging Discrimination
Added on 2008-01-16 05:46:00
by Tanya Palta
 Federal Communications Commission recently announced their decision to look into the matter of carrier text messaging discrimination. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise since a number of public interest and consumer groups have asked the FCC to decide if mobile phone text messages and short codes are covered by non-discrimination provisions of the telecom act.
“We are grateful to Chairman Martin and his colleagues for starting the public debate on what rights consumers will have in an increasingly complex technological future. These inquiries will go a long way to setting out a road map for determining who will control the Internet, and whether texting will be seen in the same light as wireless voice services,” said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge.
[Via RCR News]
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Qualcomm has Limited Licence for infringed Broadcom Patents
Added on 2008-01-02 16:09:00
by Tanya Palta
 Qualcomm Inc has been ordered by a federal judge in California to stop selling 3G WCDMA cellular chips that infringe on the Broadcom Corp patents. Qualcomm will also pay royalties to Broadcom for the chips it will sell during the "sunset period" ending January 31, 2009.
In a statement, Broadcom General Counsel David Dull said the company was "pleased”.
"Broadcom should not have to compete against companies that use Broadcom's own patented technology against us, and this injunction puts a stop to Qualcomm doing just that," Dull said.
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Bidders Listed by FCC in 700 MHz Spectrum Auction
Added on 2007-12-23 11:23:00
by Tanya Palta
A list of companies which intend to bid in the 2008 auction for the rights to the 700 MHz wireless spectrum has been released by the FCC. For now 96 applications have been accepted by the FCC which also include bigwigs like AT&T, Google, Verizon Wireless, Alltel, Cox, and Frontier Wireless. Sprint and T-mobile have decided to stay out from the 2008 auction.
[Via Brighthand]
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Judge keeps Qualcomm vs. Broadcom verdict
Added on 2007-11-24 18:43:00
by Tanya Palta
Two new interesting developments took place in the Qualcomm vs. Broadcom legal tussle. While the federal judge affirmed a jury verdict that Qualcomm Inc infringed Broadcom Corp patents however he also chose to overturn the award of double damages.The damages for infringement were reduced to $19.6 million and Broadcom accepted the reduce damages in order to avoid a new trial.
[Via Reuters]
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Verizon To Pay $1 Million As Settlement
Added on 2007-10-25 04:43:00
by Tanya Palta
 Verizon had to loosen its purse strings as the case of the limited "unlimited" EVDO was finally settled. Verizon will fork out $1 million to its customers whose services were terminated for overuse of its high-speed data service which Verizon has marketed as “unlimited”.
"This settlement sends a message to companies large and small answering the growing consumer demand for wireless services. When consumers are promised an 'unlimited' service, they do not expect the promise to be broken by hidden limitations," said Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in a statement. "Consumers must be treated fairly and honestly. Delivering a product is simply not enough—the promises must be delivered as well."
[Via Ars Technica]
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Family Sues Virgin Mobile
Added on 2007-09-21 07:26:00
by Tanya Palta
 A Dallas family who claim that Virgin Mobile Australia have used their daughter’s picture from Flickr without the family's consent has sued the company. Alice Chang is the teen in question and her photo was part of a Virgin Mobile Australia campaign called "Are You With Us Or What?" It features pictures downloaded from Flickr superimposed with the company's ad slogans.
In the ad, Virgin Mobile printed one of its campaign slogans, "Dump your pen friend," over Alison's picture. The ad also says "Free text virgin to virgin" at the bottom.
The Chang family have filed a lawsuit in state district court in Dallas which names virgin Mobile USA LLC, its Australian counterpart, and Creative Commons Corp., a Massachusetts nonprofit that licenses sharing of Flickr photos, as defendants.
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Import ban On Qualcomm On Hold
Added on 2007-09-13 05:30:00
by Tanya Palta
Qualcomm today announced that it was granted a stay by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. If you jog your memory cells you will remember that ITC had imposed an importation ban on request by Broadcom on June 7th.
In granting the stay, the Federal Circuit agreed that the third parties demonstrated “a substantial case on the merits and that the harm factors weigh in their favor.”
“We are pleased that the Court of Appeals recognized the undeserved harm to parties who were not named in the lawsuit, and that our customers will continue to be able to introduce new products into the U.S. marketplace during the appeals process,” said Alex H. Rogers, senior vice president and legal counsel, Qualcomm.
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AT&T threatens iPhone hackers with legal action
Added on 2007-08-25 20:09:00
by Alfredo Padilla
 Remember that iPhone software unlock we got all excited about yesterday? Well, it turns out that someone over at AT&T's legal department also got excited about it, excited enough to contact the company and threaten them with legal action if they try to sell the software. Now, officially it's completely legal to unlock your phone, as the U.S. copyright office has ruled that it qualifies as an exemption to the DMCA. Unfortunately that doesn't cover all the bases, especially for someone looking to monetize a software unlock. Even if they could win, it would be a long and expensive process, and let's face it AT&T probably has much deeper pockets than these guys. However, we still hold out hope that either this, or some other, software unlock for the iPhone will eventually be released for free, in which case we can all thumb our noses at AT&T.
[Via: Engadget Mobile]
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FCC boss backs open access in spectrum auction
Added on 2007-07-11 10:32:00
by Randall Bennett
Sounds like FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is open to the idea of open access on the 700 MHz band of the wireless spectrum. The 700 MHz spectrum is the holy grail of wireless, because of its ability to travel longer distances and penetrate thick walls. Currently, the 700MHz spectrum is used by TV signals, and it'll be available to cell-phone and wireless companies after TV's forced move to digital broadcasting happens next year.
If the provision were to be adopted, open access would force whomever owns the 700 MHz band to allow any device or software application to operate on that band, effectively forcing a carrier to operate primarily on an unlocked device principle. Members of CTIA (like Verizon and AT&T) feel like it's a forced regulation, but never mention that it would help consumers.
We feel like the FCC chairman is right in forcing them to allow any device to use the spectrum. We'd love to use the newest iteration of the Chocolate, the Sidekick or any other device on whichever network we feel is best, although of course T-Mobile and Verizon love the fact that we can only use their network by using "approved" phones. We'll see where it goes, but we feel like lobbying efforts might get in the way of these open-access provisions.
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Import ban on Qualcomm chips: It's on.
Added on 2007-06-22 10:13:00
by Randall Bennett
Wow, Qualcomm just can't catch a break as of yet, as the International Trade Comission denied a request to stay an order banning imports of phones sporting Qualcomm chips. Any phone shipping into the US before June 7th can continue to be imported, but any new phone models utilizing Qualcomm's EV-DO chipset (read: most American 3G devices) will not be permitted in the country.
All is not lost yet, however, the ITC was given till June 27th to explain exactly why the Qualcomm ban is necessary. Blech. You might remember this saga has been winding through every conceivable channel, and mobile carriers, especially of the CDMA flavor, are pretty worried.
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New EV-DO phone models coming to the US could be halted
Added on 2007-06-08 09:29:00
by Randall Bennett
 Potential 3G buyers beware, the International Trade Commission imposed a ban on all Qualcomm-powered phones and if President Bush signs it, we could see a shortage of 3G handsets. Why? Apparently chipset manufacturers Broadcom and Qualcomm have been bickering over a patent that Broadcom claims Qualcomm is infringing.
The main problem for US consumers would be a lack of EV-DO, as Qualcomm is the primary manufacturer (Broadcom only makes UMTS / HSDPA solutions.)
We're sure this ruling is just a bump on the road to more argument, as Qualcomm is seeking both an injunction and a presidential veto on the ban. If the ban were to go through, it would mean any handset with EV-DO couldn't be imported into the United States, and we're pretty sure Verizon, Sprint and any MVNO's using EV-DO handsets will be a tad ticked (except Amp'd) and rally to Qualcomm's defense. The CTIA has already come out with a statement against the ban, saying, "today's decision by the International Trade Commission will cause enormous undue harm to tens of millions of American wireless consumers, and urges President Bush to veto the ITC importation ban."
Blech. No matter who is truly right, US consumers probably will be the last party thought of. Yuck.
UPDATE: Just to clarify, the ruling only applies to new models that will be released, and not to models being currently imported. The shortage won't be of handsets currently gracing our shores, but more of a clamp on future models integrating the chips.
[Via EngadgetMobile]
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Nokia and Qualcomm Embark on a Legal Journey
Added on 2007-03-19 22:15:00
by Rusty Weiss
 Nokia is trying to prevent Qualcomm from collecting royalty fees that are too high in their judgment. Nokia’s goal is to prevent Qualcomm from enforcing patents in the European Union.
Qualcomm has countered by claiming that their wireless technology is so valuable that they are entitled to every penny they demand.
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