DVDO announced a WirelessHD adapter, which it called the first to deliver full “1080p60” HD content from HDMI, DVI and MHL-enabled smartphones and tablets to a TV. The $199 DVDO Air3 is targeted to gamers and home entertainment enthusiasts for playing videogames or watching streamed HD content from a mobile device “without stringing a cable across the room,” said a news release. WirelessHD, based on the Silicon Image Gen3 60 GHz chipset, transmits up to roughly 30 feet in-room with no interference from Wi-Fi and enables HD video with “no visible lag,” said DVDO. The Air3, based on Silicon Image’s Gen3 60 GHz WirelessHD chipset, transmits HD content up to 10 meters in-room without interference from Wi-Fi, and features RF beam forming, auto-input sensing, auto standby and auto rate negotiation “to deliver cable-like reliability and performance,” the company said. Additional features include 7.1 HD audio support for surround-sound receivers, 3D video format support, CEC passthrough and low power consumption, the company said.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association asked the Supreme Court to clarify when software should be eligible for a patent, in an amicus brief Monday asking the court to review the patent case WildTangent v. Ultramercial (http://bit.ly/16FaS7n). CCIA said it hopes a decision in the case would resolve a division within the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on patent eligibility of software. “About half of the court has been following the Supreme Court’s guidance from the recent cases Bilski v. Kappos and Mayo v. Prometheus,” which distinguish between patentable software and unpatentable abstract ideas, said CCIA. “But several members of the Federal Circuit are still using a test that results in nearly any software being able to obtain a patent.” Public Knowledge filed a similar brief recently (CD Sept 23 p17).

The FCC should “expeditiously” award returned Auction 901 funds to “next-in-line” bidders, U.S. Cellular said in a filing at the FCC. The Wireless and Wireline bureaus could take that step acting on delegated authority, the carrier said. “As we approach the one year anniversary of Auction 901, at least $66 million of the $300 million originally made available for funding mobile broadband investments in unserved areas remains unclaimed due to winning bidders defaulting on their bids,” the filing said (http://bit.ly/16oalMO). “These defaulted amounts can and should be awarded to the next in line bidders who remain ready, willing and able, to meet the goals of the program and expand the reach of mobile broadband into areas that remain unserved and which were eligible for funding under the rules of Auction 901."

Some models of HTC smartphones and tablets violate portions of two Nokia U.S. patents (Nos. 6,393,260 and 7,415,247), said ITC Administrative Law Judge Thomas Pender in a partial notice of initial determination published Monday by the International Trade Commission (http://1.usa.gov/1b0lHF4). A complete public version of the initial determination will be released “when all the parties have submitted their redactions and I have had an opportunity to review the redactions,” Pender said. He said HTC didn’t violate a third patent (5,884,190) held by Nokia and Intellisync, the supplier of data synchronization software for mobile devices that Nokia acquired in 2006. Nokia’s complaint had named HTC of Taiwan and its U.S. subsidiary as respondents. HTC representatives didn’t immediately comment.

If companies can’t forecast what impact their investment plans for next year will have on their high-cost loop support revenue, Sacred Wind and other rural providers serving tribal lands “face significant uncertainty and risk with continuing to build out networks to serve unserved and underserved remote areas,” the telco told an aide to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Friday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/16wc4ca). Even though some of the FCC’s “short-term fixes” of the quantile regression analysis (QRA) have helped Sacred Wind continue to provide services in additional remote areas, “the long-term impact of the unpredictability of QRA is still a significant concern for Sacred Wind and the industry,” it said.

AT&T is concerned about delay in obtaining answers to technical and process questions about the national Lifeline database from the Universal Service Administrative Co., it told FCC Wireline Bureau officials Thursday (http://bit.ly/18SEFPD). Delay will make it difficult to undertake the “significant and time-consuming” programming work needed to submit subscriber information to the database, AT&T said. The carrier can’t complete the work until it fully understands all the database’s requirements, and it will be very difficult to meet the commission’s 4Q 2013 timeline for Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, the three states where AT&T provides wireless Lifeline service, it said.

"Call detail” identified in the rural call completion rulemaking notice is “commercially and competitively sensitive” and should be treated as “presumptively confidential,” Comcast told FCC officials Friday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/16w8ui8). Comcast asked the commission to exclude calls irrelevant to assessment of a carrier’s completion performance, such as toll-free calls. Comcast also cautioned against small sample sizes that might not provide a “reliable snapshot” of a provider’s performance. Comcast also recommended adoption of reporting obligations for terminating carriers. The circulating order would apply reporting requirements to the initial long-distance party that determines the call-routing path, FCC officials have said (CD Sept 18 p1).

The FCC Media Bureau is seeking comment on what expenses would be eligible for reimbursement from the $1.75 billion TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund established by the Spectrum Act, said a public notice released Monday (http://fcc.us/16CqgkV). The bureau wants input on a preliminary “Catalog of Eligible Expenses,” which contains categories and descriptions of costs broadcasters and multichannel video program distributors are most likely to incur as a result of broadcaster channel reassignments, said the PN. The proposed catalog -- issued with the PN as an attachment -- lists a wide range of possible costs, including new receiver antennas, paying attorneys to complete relocation paperwork, and renting interim facilities during the repacking. The catalog is an “initial summary of common expenses broadcasters and MVPDs may incur,” and the bureau wants commenters to “identify any additional expense categories that they believe should be eligible for reimbursement.” Along with kinds of expenses, the bureau is looking for “specific price information” for the relocation costs -- the catalog doesn’t include any dollar amounts. The PN also seeks comments on the possibility of mitigating channel reassignment costs through bulk purchasing and economies of scale. “Are there ways to encourage manufacturers and service providers to establish prices with built-in discounts that reflect the volume of business that channel reassignments will generate?” asks the PN. The bureau is also looking for comment on whether companies seeking reimbursement from the fund should be required to obtain competitive bids for costs over a certain threshold. “Should the Commission require competitive bids any time a broadcaster requests reimbursement from the Fund for a particular type of equipment or service (such as for the construction of a new tower)?” asks the PN. The bureau is also seeking comment on “ways in which broadcasters can incorporate interim equipment into their permanent facilities, thus saving the expense of potentially purchasing the same equipment twice,” the PN said. Comments on the public notice are due Oct. 31, reply comments Nov. 14, the PN said. The commission will also hold a public workshop to discuss cost and cost mitigation issues associated with relocation on Sept. 30.

Computer and Communications Industry Association Patent Counsel Matt Levy criticized the Business Software Alliance and more than 100 other companies Monday for signing a letter last week to the leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees that urged the committees not to expand the covered business method (CBM) patent program originally created in the America Invents Act (http://bit.ly/1dDZ7mG). The letter warned that an expansion of the program, as has been included as a provision in several recent patent bills aimed at addressing patent assertion efforts, would “unnecessarily undermine the rights of patent holders” (CD Sept 20 p9). The companies opposed to expanding the program are “concern trolls” who are incorrect in their claims that an expansion would harm innovation, Levy said in a blog post. “Remember, if your patents are valid, then you have nothing to worry about,” he said. “The PTO won’t review a patent under CBM review unless it decides that the patent is likely invalid... The signers of this letter aren’t worried about stifling innovation. They're worried that their junky patents won’t be as easy to sell to trolls. My heart bleeds."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., released a second discussion draft to address patent litigation issues Monday. The draft, which was updated from a discussion draft released in May (CD June 3 p7), includes new provisions that would offer protection to end-users purchasing devices or other patented goods from patent litigation suits. The new draft also includes language that would expand a Patent and Trademark Office program, the covered business method review, that allows for easier challenges to patents that might be too broad. The latest draft maintains provisions from the first discussion draft that would require the plaintiff in a patent infringement lawsuit to provide detailed information on the claims in the suit and information on the identities of the patent’s owner and any real parties in interest. It would also allow defendants to bring companies that sell a patent but that maintain a financial interest in the patent into any lawsuits involving that patent. Like the first discussion draft, it would also require each party to be responsible for core evidence discovery costs and it would include a more aggressive “loser pays” provision that shifts fees to the party that loses the infringement suit. Matt Levy, patent counsel at the Computer and Communications Industry Association, said the bill is similar to the Patent Abuse Reduction Act, introduced by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, in May (http://1.usa.gov/14AvM9Z). “It has a little more than that, and they actually revised it to make certain parts of it more like the Cornyn bill,” Levy said. He said the draft was relatively comprehensive, and addressed most of the revamp ideas up for discussion among the patent community. Levy said the bill was a “definite improvement” over the first draft. He had not heard of any timeline for introducing the draft as a bill or holding a hearing on the subject, he said. “I know the plan is to discuss. This is a discussion draft, not a bill, so they're still going to be accepting input and they'll introduce the bill after they're more comfortable with it,” he said of Goodlatte’s office. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has said he’s following Goodlatte’s discussion drafts and is working on his own so-called patent troll legislation. His office had no immediate comment. Goodlatte’s latest draft comes after several groups, including the Application Developers Alliance, the Internet Association and the National Retail Federation, have launched campaigns against what they call abusive patent litigation, both in Washington and around the country (CD Sept 5 p8).