Vonage to Pay $120 Million to Verizon
Added on 2007-11-19 06:05:00
by Tanya Palta
 Vonage Holdings Corp has been ordered to pay $120 million to Verizon Communications Inc. after a U.S. appeals court refused to reconsider the case.Vonage had asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to review its ruling but they denied the request.
“We were not surprised, but disappointed that the court denied our request for a rehearing of the case,'' Vonage spokesman Charlie Sahner said in an e-mailed statement. ``We are pleased to continue putting litigation behind us.''
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Company patents texting to, from Maryland, sues 131 companies
Added on 2007-11-15 14:34:00
by Mark Brezinski
 We would like to begin this article by stating that we know nothing about patent law. We would then like to follow up that statement by claiming the following lawsuit is hilariously absurd. Apparently 131 companies are guilty of a patent-infringement most foul. A company in Maryland has stepped forward to assert its newly-awarded patent on the coveted intellectual property, "Sending International Text Messages To/From the State of Maryland". The wronged company, Technology Patents LLC, is asking for a total injunction against all US carriers and also a pile of money so gigantic that it could feasibly flatten a mid-sized sedan.
In an interesting related story, the Supreme Court has passed a ruling on a similar case involving Ebay and a tiny patent-holding company. The tiny company apparently held, but wasn't using, a patent on auctions with fixed, "buy it now", reserve prices. The Supreme Court basically ruled that a total injunction couldn't be upheld. Interestingly, however, the ruling was overturned by a lower court. As is the case, there is still a lot of gray area around patents.
Again, we know nothing of patent law, but it seems rather suspicious that these patents are recent. An uneducated observer might be so bold as to claim this company clearly scoured the earth for widely-used technologies that remained unpatented. One could also say this is one of the more blatant example of patent trolling. Of course, we wouldn't assert any such thing, as a company driven mad by the power of litigation is probably the type of company that would misconstrue a sarcastic opinion with libel.
[Via Engadget]
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Patents for self-defense phones on the rise
Added on 2007-07-18 10:12:00
by Mark Brezinski
 Have you ever looked at your cell phone and thought, "You know, I really wish I could seriously injure someone with this." If you have, then this blog post is for you. Apparently, in Korea, patent applications for adding personal protection features to phones have more than sextupled in number over the past seven years. This doesn't necessarily mean you'll see a Sanyo M80 or Motorola Tazr V3m any time soon, but developers are certainly trying to preemptively corner the market.
Other than the increase in patents, the article (subscription required) also covers some of the planned defense features. Most of these were rather tame, such as sending emergency texts/videos, locating the user by GPS/LBS, or emitting a high-pitch alert sound. Also mentioned is a dazzling flash, presumably to temporarily blind an assailant, and a "strong electric shock". We're not sure what amplitude or voltage a cell phone could be capable of, but we were intrigued by the use of the word "strong". We were also unsure of what kind of safety features these phones will have. Regardless, we're sure within the week of a personal protection phone release the news will be inundated with its wrath: "Child blinds self with iPhone," "Bank robbed with new self-defense Treo," "Phone user misdials, stuns self, immediately assaulted, robbed".
[via Textually, with apologies to David Cronenberg]
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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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Motorola Patents New Solar LCD Technology
Added on 2007-04-24 12:20:00
by Tanya Palta
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Vonage Can’t Find A Way Around Verizon Patents
Added on 2007-04-15 23:55:00
by Robert S. Anthony
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 Vonage Holdings Corp. can’t find a way to provide its broadband phone service without stepping on patents owned by Verizon Communications Patents, according to USA Today.
[Via USA Today]
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Vonage Gets Reprieve
Added on 2007-04-07 03:17:00
by Robert S. Anthony
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Samsung Not Coming Unhinged
Added on 2007-04-06 01:12:00
by Rusty Weiss
 Samsung has been granted a patent for a hinge design on their mobile devices.
The design features a pair of rotary axes, which allow the phone to be opened in any number of directions, with each side capable of rotating 360˚. It would allow any device which employs the new hinge to easily accommodate either a display device or an inputting unit.
The engineering behind this design could enhance the user experience, by opening new possibilities for interacting and modifying Samsung’s mobile devices.
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Court Decision Would Block Vonage Calls to Landlines
Added on 2007-03-23 15:19:00
by Robert S. Anthony
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 Possible bad news for Vonage customers: Your ability to make calls to conventional phones might be suspended in two weeks. A federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia has ordered Vonage Holdings Corp. to stop using technology patented by Verizon Communications Inc. to complete VOIP calls to landline phones. However the judge delayed enforcement of the order pending another court hearing in two weeks.
[Via Bloomberg News]
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