Authentify Patent ended its patent infringement lawsuit and settled with PhoneFactor, Authentify announced Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bnnimc). According to the release, the suit was filed in June in the Western District of Washington over the company’s “Out of Band Authentication” technology, and the terms of the settlement, which include granting limited license of its patents to PhoneFactor, are confidential.
ICON Telecom wants limited designation as an eligible telecom carrier in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, New Hampshire, North Carolina, New York, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, D.C., it said in a petition Monday (http://xrl.us/bnnijn). The carrier buys wireless service on a wholesale basis from Verizon.
An appeals court ruling that online video distributor Ivi doesn’t qualify as a cable system for the purposes of the compulsory license in Section 111 of the Copyright Act (CD Aug 28 p4) bodes well for broadcasters who are fighting a different battle in the same circuit against Aereo, wrote Guggenheim Partners analyst Paul Gallant. “While the statutory interpretation questions in ivi and Aereo are different, we believe it is clearly helpful to broadcasters that the ivi court placed such emphasis on the potential disruption to the broadcast business from unauthorized online streaming,” Gallant wrote. “Broadcasters will undoubtedly stress such potential disruption from Aereo when they appeal” the lower court’s ruling this fall, he said. Rather than retransmitting TV signals as a cable system would, Aereo has argued it is facilitating individuals’ ability to play back recorded over-the-air signals, Gallant wrote. A spokeswoman for Aereo declined to comment.
MTN Satellite Communications said it expanded its Worldwide TV network to the commercial shipping, ferry, oil and gas, and yacht markets. It delivers licensed content, including news, entertainment and sports, to maritime customers regardless of their location, MTN said. The service utilizes overlapping satellite beams “that integrate seamlessly with a vessel’s existing TV receive-only antenna and onboard video distribution system,” it said. The service is available in all ocean regions, MTN added.
Level 3, CompTel, Bandwidth.com and the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association have procedural and substantive concerns regarding the many VoIP provider petitions for direct access to number resources, they told FCC Wireline Bureau officials, an ex parte filing said (http://xrl.us/bnniiy). Granting individual waivers would be discriminatory, and there are no “special circumstances” that would give any of the 15 petitioners precedence over the others, or over the “hundreds of non-petitioning carriers and VoIP providers that would like the same unique advantage,” they said. “The paradigm shift that would be effected by granting direct access to numbers to non-carriers is too important to be addressed in a waiver petition.” Nor will granting the waivers promote IP interconnection, they said. “Promoting the agreements of one or a handful of providers would prejudge the results of that proceeding in a manner that ultimately undermines a logical, well-ordered, and legally sound transition to IP interconnection arrangements.” Numbers should only be directly assigned to carriers, and any alternatives should only be considered in a rulemaking procedure, they said.
Oppositions to Allband’s request for a 15-year waiver of certain USF rules (CD Aug 27 p1) are due Sept. 11 in docket 10-90, a public notice said (http://xrl.us/bnnih7). Allband filed the application for review of the FCC’s waiver order that granted it a 3-year waiver of the $250 per-line per-month cap on total high-cost support. Allband also wants a waiver of the rules establishing limits on reimbursable capital and operating expenses within high-cost loop support. Replies to oppositions will be due Sept. 21.
Comcast’s thePlatform introduced a new version of its white-label video commerce system it calls mpx, it said. “The premium video marketplace is maturing beyond traditional monetization vehicles,” said Marty Roberts, senior vice president-sales and marketing. “Companies are seeking a unified platform … that brings together advertising, subscriptions, rentals, and purchases in one central place,” he said.
The Copyright Office received two notices of intent from SoundExchange to audit the statements of account of the performance royalty payments made by DKCM Inc., a commercial webcaster, and broadcaster Greater Media for the years 2009-2011, a notice in the Federal Register said (http://xrl.us/bnnihr).
Prometheus Radio Project urged the FCC to establish a locally originated programming mandate for new low power FM stations. Prometheus met with Dave Grimaldi, chief of staff for Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, Prometheus said in an ex parte filing in docket 99-25, which involves FCC implementation of the Local Community Radio Act (http://xrl.us/bnnihk). The mandate “would bring LPFM closer in line with the original intention for the service,” it said. Prometheus also urged the commission to allow Prometheus the opportunity “to share its constitutional analysis in the near future,” it added.
The FCC International Bureau will expedite emergency requests from satellite broadcast operations that seek special temporary authority for operations in the areas affected by Hurricane Isaac. Requests “should provide the technical parameters of the proposed operation and a contact point,” the bureau said in a public notice (http://xrl.us/bnnieq).