HTC is hailing the decision of a British appeals court lifting an injunction that has kept HTC phones from shipping in the U.K. amid allegations that they infringe a Nokia European patent (EP 0 998 024). As a result of the decision, “we will immediately resume shipment of all of our devices into the UK, including the entire HTC One family,” HTC said in a statement. “Similarly, our customers should feel confident in their ability to promote and sell all HTC devices. Even though we plan to aggressively appeal the validity decision of Nokia’s EP 0 998 024 patent, we will continue to work with our chip suppliers on alternative solutions to ensure minimal disruption to our business in the future.” Nokia hasn’t commented on the court’s decision. Although the patent at issue is full of high-level math, it boils down to a simple aim -- simplifying the filters used to get rid of interference noise in a multi-band cellphone designed for use in different countries, our patent search found. Conventionally, Nokia wrote in 1998 when the patent was first filed, many filters were used to cope with the varied frequency bands used by mobile networks in different countries. Nokia’s patent describes a single, switched, filter early in the signal path, so the phone can be made smaller and still work reliably on all frequencies in all countries. In the patent, Nokia claims very broad legal monopoly to this basic idea. This strategy makes it easier for Nokia to argue that competitors are infringing. However, the broad claim also makes it easier for Nokia’s competitors to argue that what the patent claims was not truly new when the patent was first filed in Finland in October 1998, thereby rendering the patent invalid.
The person who replaces Gen. Keith Alexander as National Security Agency director will also be commander of U.S. Cyber Command, the White House said Friday. “Following a thorough interagency review, the Administration has decided that keeping the positions of NSA director and Cyber Command commander together as one, dual-hatted position is the most effective approach to accomplishing both agencies’ missions,” a White House spokeswoman said in a statement. Alexander had lobbied for the same person to hold both positions. The head of U.S. Cyber Command must be in the military, but some critics have argued that a civilian should lead the NSA to provide more sensitivity on civil liberties issues after the leaks about controversial NSA surveillance programs. Retaining control of U.S. Cyber Command in the hands of the NSA director will also ensure NSA’s continued “unique role” in supporting U.S. Cyber Command through “critical support for target access and development, including linguists, analysts, cryptanalytic capabilities, and sophisticated technological infrastructure,” the White House spokeswoman said. “These capabilities are essential in enabling [Department of Defense] cyberspace operations planning and execution."
Former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Todd Dickinson, executive director of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, is one of several patent stakeholders set to testify Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee (http://1.usa.gov/1bMsZOb). The hearing is set to focus on the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720), which committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced in November (CD Nov 20 p20). Other witnesses from the communications industry are Dana Rao, Adobe associate general counsel, Harry Wolin, Advanced Micro Devices general counsel, and Philip Johnson, Johnson & Johnson’s chief intellectual property counsel, speaking on behalf of the Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform. The hearing is set for 10 a.m. in 226 Dirksen.
Aereo’s decision not to oppose broadcasters’ attempt to seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court of their case against the streaming TV service increases the possibility that the court will review the case, said Stifel Nicolaus analysts. Broadcasters filed a cert petition asking the high court to overturn a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that rejected a preliminary injunction against Aereo (CD Oct 15 p15). “We believe the justices are generally reluctant to review appeals of preliminary injunction decisions and so far there is no circuit split, which can invite high court review,” Stifel said in a research note (http://bit.ly/1jY0Hnl). This may change if the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals soon upholds a district court decision to grant broadcasters a preliminary injunction against FilmOn X, an Aereo-like service, said the analysts. These actions could spur retransmission consent changes next year, they said. If the broadcasters don’t shoot down Aereo’s service in court, “they could start to push hard for Congress to write new legislation to ensure they receive Internet video provider payments for their programming,” they said. The “largely-unaddressed ‘copying’ element of broadcasters’ lawsuit makes this case too early-stage for Supreme Court review,” said Guggenheim Partners analyst Paul Gallant. The courts have barely begun addressing broadcasters’ argument that Aereo’s system makes unlawful copies of broadcasters’ shows, he said in a research note. If the Supreme Court is going to rule on Aereo next year, “it probably needs to announce by January that it will hear the case,” he said. If broadcasters win, the Aereo threat is extinguished, he said. “If broadcasters lose, they can seek legislative change by Congress, where they would likely have the upper hand.” FilmOn X asked the 9th Circuit to overturn a preliminary injunction against it (CD Aug 29 p5). A similar appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit also is pending (CD Sept 13 p22). Public Knowledge, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Engine Advocacy urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to overturn a decision by the U.S. District Court in Washington. The law doesn’t grant copyright holders complete control over the distribution and quality of their works, they said in a friend-of-the-court brief (http://bit.ly/1dxK5hx). “Fair use allows the public to make copies of varying quality in many circumstances, including home recordings of TV programs.” The existence of a service like FilmOn X “does not appreciably increase the risk of a broadcast program being redistributed illegally on the Internet by third parties,” it said. In a separate brief, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, Center for Democracy and Technology and other groups asked the court to approach the case in a way that preserves the holding and principles of the Cablevision case, during which an appeals court found that Cablevision doesn’t infringe copyright by launching a DVR service. The court should avoid any legal theories “that would cast a pall over wide swaths of the modern technological landscape, including the burgeoning cloud computing industry,” they said. CTIA, USTelecom and the Internet Infrastructure Coalition filed along with CCIA and CDT. The groups aren’t taking a stance on either party, they said.
The Austin City Council approved free Google Fiber links for 100 “community connections” sites Thursday evening, said the company in a blog post (http://bit.ly/18H0QUp). These sites include cultural institutions, two universities, workforce education centers, the Austin Independent School District, public libraries, and social and health services. For these sites to get Google Fiber, the surrounding area, or the fiberhood, needs to qualify for service first, said the company. “So when you sign up for Google Fiber next year, you're also helping these local community organizations get one step closer to getting Fiber, too,” said the company. It will probably “be over a year” before these sites starting getting connected, said Google Fiber. The company agreed to give 100 approved community institutions free service for 10 years as part of its contract with the city.
T-Mobile filed a report at the FCC making its case for spectrum aggregation limits in the TV incentive auction. Spectrum Aggregation Limits in Auctions with Spectrum below 1 GHz: the European Experience was written by Achim Wambach of the University of Cologne, and economists Stephan Knapek and Vitali Gretschko. The study “examines the use of aggregation limits in European auctions of sub 1 GHz spectrum,” T-Mobile said (http://bit.ly/1csfekv). Researchers found “that every European spectrum auction since 2010 has included limits on spectrum concentration and find no evidence that these limits on market power diminished expected revenue,” T-Mobile said.
Enrollment in the federal Lifeline program is expected to grow among Florida residents based on current economic conditions, said the Public Service Commission in an annual report to the Legislature and governor Friday (http://bit.ly/1cGMqs4). On June 30, more than 918,240 eligible Florida customers participated in the Lifeline program, it said. Many Florida residents qualify for Lifeline through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which grew by 4.8 percent in the 52 weeks to June 30, 2013, said the PSC. Twenty-four telecom companies, including four wireless carriers, participate in the federal Lifeline program in Florida, which offers a discount of at least $9.25 per month or a free Lifeline cellphone and monthly minutes from certain wireless providers, said the PSC.
Representatives from about a dozen public interest groups, meeting with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and media and wireless and other aides, expressed the need for a diverse agency. Wheeler should “include a wide diversity of backgrounds in FCC staff,” because “at both the FCC and in the media industry, diverse inputs lead to higher quality outcome,” a Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights official told the gathering, an ex parte filing on the gathering said. The meeting included Special Counsel-External Affairs Gigi Sohn, media aide Maria Kirby and wireless aide Renee Gregory. There’s “collective and strong support for the Lifeline program” and backing for the FCC’s enforcement actions this year against carriers from the American Civil Liberties Union, Consumers Union, Free Press, Leadership Conference, National Urban League, National Hispanic Media Coalition, Public Knowledge (headed by Sohn before Wheeler recently hired her), and other groups at the meeting, said the filing posted Friday in docket 09-182 (http://bit.ly/IKdnzY). “Both old and new networks” are important, said an official of the National Urban League, recounted the filing. “The civil rights community is looking for proactive policies to increase diversity in ownership in all technologies.” A “critical barrier to broadband adoption remains cost and education levels,” and Wheeler should expand Lifeline to include broadband to help “address the persistent adoption gap,” the filing recounted the league official saying. Wheeler was said to have shown a direct style in an introductory meeting last month with association officials and another with public interest representatives (CD Nov 22 p4).
Wireless microphone maker Sennheiser said CTIA is wrong to oppose the company’s request that TV incentive auction winners be required to partially reimburse wireless mic users for the cost of replacing equipment made unusable by reallocation of the 600 MHz band. “At the outset, CTIA has mischaracterized the request,” the company said in a filing at the FCC (http://bit.ly/1dbItJR). “Sennheiser does not seek reimbursement to wireless microphone manufacturers, as CTIA states, but rather to wireless microphone users -- not only professional broadcasters, filmmakers, theaters, and concert promoters, but also churches, schools, community organizations, political groups, and countless others -- people who lack meaningful input to the Commission’s spectrum policies, yet stand to suffer financial damage from the reallocation.” Contrary to CTIA’s characterization, owners of wireless mics are not secondary users of the spectrum, Sennheiser said.
Time Warner Cable petitioned to be exempted from municipal-video rate regulation in six California communities. The Media Bureau should find the operator’s systems in Indio, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage and elsewhere face sufficient video competition because of rival services from both U.S. DBS companies and Verizon, said the request posted Thursday in docket 12-1 (http://bit.ly/1kGQV6H). It said the communities had about 90,000 occupied households total as of the 2010 census.