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Nokia files further complaint against Apple alleging major patent infringement
Mar 30th
[March 30, 2011]
Nokia files further complaint against Apple alleging major patent infringement
(Canadian Press DataFile Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) HELSINKI, Finland _ Nokia is suing Apple in the United States for allegedly infringing patents in “virtually all” of its mobile phones, portable music players, tablets and computers, the Finnish company said Tuesday.
The complaint, filed with United States International Trade Commission, ITC, is the latest in a string of lawsuits by Nokia and comes as the world’s largest handset maker struggles to keep up with smartphone rivals like Apple.
Nokia said the seven patents in the new complaint relate to its “pioneering innovations” that Apple allegedly is using “to create key features in its products, including in multitasking operating systems, data synchronization, positioning, call quality and the use of Bluetooth accessories.” Last week, the ITC found no violation in an earlier complaint. Nokia said it “is waiting to see the full details of the ruling before deciding on the next steps in that case.” Last year, Nokia Corp. also sued Apple Inc. in Britain, Germany and the Netherlands for allegedly infringing its patents with technology used in the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Those followed earlier lawsuits by Nokia claiming that a broad swath of Apple products violate its patents. Apple had earlier responded with its own infringement claims against Nokia.
“Our latest ITC filing means we now have 46 Nokia patents in suit against Apple, many filed more than 10 years before Apple made its first iPhone,” said Paul Melin, vice-president of intellectual property at Nokia.
“Nokia is a leading innovator in technologies needed to build great mobile products and Apple must stop building its products using Nokia’s proprietary innovation.” Nokia said that in the past two decades it has invested some C43 billion in research and development to build “one of the wireless industry’s strongest and broadest IPR portfolios,” which includes more than 10,000 patent families.
The legal disputes, which generally don’t stop products reaching markets, come amid increasing competition in the fast-growing smartphone market. Tech companies are scrambling to win over the growing number of consumers buying handsets that come with email, Web surfing, cameras, videos and scores of apps for checking the weather, updating Facebook and other tasks.
Nokia has been struggling against stiff competition, especially from the iPhone and RIM’s Blackberry.
In addition to the two ITC complaints, Nokia said it has filed cases on the same patents and others in Delaware, and has further cases proceeding in Mannheim, Dusseldorf and the Federal Patent Court in Germany, the UK High Court in London and the District Court of the Hague in the Netherlands. Some of them will come to trial in the next few months.
Nokia stock closed almost unchanged at C6.17 ($8.68) on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.
Online: http://www.nokia.com (c) 2011 The Canadian Press
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From www.tmcnet.com
Drivers warned against internet use
Mar 19th
Increasing numbers of motorists are using Facebook and Twitter while driving with potentially “catastrophic consequences”, a south west police force has warned.
Devon and Cornwall Police said it was catching more and more people using mobile phones with internet capability while behind the wheel, creating a high danger of crashing.
It urged drivers to show greater care, saying that rules banning the use of mobile phones while driving had now been in place for a “long, long time”.
Inspector Richard Price, from the force’s roads policing unit, said: “With the new mobile phones, it is becoming more commonplace for people to use them to access social media than for texting while driving.
“The availability of information is sometimes too tempting to drivers and often they will be picking up the phone and updating their (Facebook) site.”
The force has launched Operation Vortex to clamp down on “complacent and arrogant behaviour” by drivers.
It said research by the RAC had shown one in five motorists in the south-west had admitted to checking social media alerts whilst driving, making this a particular focus of the campaign alongside speeding, drink-driving and failing to wear a seatbelt.
Devon and Cornwall Police used unmarked vehicles to target bad driving on the counties’ roads.
Insp Price told the BBC: “A minority of drivers have a complacent and sometimes arrogant attitude to driving.”
He added: “Our intention is to make everyone think constantly about their driving behaviour, not just when a marked police car, static camera or speed detection van is in sight.”
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2011, All Rights Reserved.
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From www.armleytoday.co.uk
MTN wins round ONE against SPTC
Mar 3rd
MBABANE-The sale of the Swaziland Post and Telecommunications Corporation (SPTC) mobile phones has been stopped by the High Court once again.
High Court Judge, Bheki Maphalala, issued an order yesterday that not only should the sale of the mobile phones be stopped but the corporation should also not proceed with connecting new buyers of the phones to its fixed wireless network. This order is to be operational pending finalisation of the matter which has been brought before court by MTN Swaziland Limited.
The order states that “pending the finalisation of this application, respondents are forthwith interdicted and ordered to stop connecting new customers to the fixed wireless network,” the judge said.
The judge issued this order after MTN Swaziland filed an urgent application where they wanted SPTC to be stopped from selling the fixed wireless phones.
MTN also wanted Elijah Zwane to be arrested and kept in custody for allegedly violating a court order which was issued by the same judge on June 4, 2010. That court order barred SPTC from selling the phones pending all negotiations between the two service providers.
Argued
When the matter appeared yesterday, Advocate Patrick Flynn who represented SPTC argued that it was not possible for him to argue the matter as he was served with a replying affidavit by MTN on Tuesday at 7 pm.
He also informed the court that the same replying affidavit was served before the court yesterday before the court resumed and as such, he pointed out that it would be impossible to argue the matter. He requested for more time to read the answering affidavit before he could be in a position to argue the matter.
However, lawyer Mangaliso Magagula argued that the matter was not just a matter of commercial consideration as Adv. Flynn had alleged.
“It is also a matter of contempt of a court order. The respondents should comply with the court order if they need time to reply to the application,” Magagula said.
Judge Maphalala then postponed the matter to Tuesday March 8, 2011 for arguments. The judge ordered counsels to prepare heads of arguments before the matter comes to court. He then issued the order that SPTC should not continue selling the phones pending the finalisation of the application.
Urgency self created by MTN – Advocate
MBABANE-Advocate Patrick Flynn told the court that the urgency in the application that has been filed by MTN is self created.
Adv. Flynn told Judge Bheki Maphalala that MTN knew three months ago that SPTC would be launching the phones.
He was making a submission that there should be no interim order which the court has to issue while the matter was pending. Judge Maphalala had asked Adv. Flynn as to whether it would not be fair to stop SPTC from connecting customers on the fixed wireless network.
“There should not be an interim order which the court should issue while this matter is pending. The applicant knew in November that we would be fixing the phones. The urgency is self created,” said the advocate.
The matter would be argued on Tuesday.
‘Dispute not resolved’
MBABANE – MTN Swaziland has alleged that the dispute over the introduction of the SPTC mobile phones has not been resolved as alleged by SPTC.
In his replying affidavit filed at the High Court in response to SPTC’s answering affidavit, MTN Swaziland Chief Executive Officer, Ambrose Dlamini told the court that the dispute between the companies has not been resolved.
“The applicants have demonstrated in the founding affidavit and are demonstrating in this affidavit that the dispute between the parties has not been resolved and that the basis of the court order has not fallen away. It remains enforceable. The first respondent is accordingly obliged to comply with the court order and its failure to do so is contemptuous,” Dlamini alleged.
From www.times.co.sz
Bulgaria Consumers Rally against Mobile Operators Weak
Feb 21st
The rallies will be held every month until concrete measures, defending the interests of consumers, are adopted, organizers said. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency
Only a dozen people turned up at a rally in Sofia to protest against what they see as unfair and unfavorable practices of the Bulgarian mobile phone and telecommunications companies.
The protest was organized by two consumer rights structures – the Associations of Telecommunications and Internet Users and Active Consumers Association.
The rally was much smaller than expected as over hundreds of people had supported the cause in Facebook. The procession started at the St. Alexander Nevsky cathedral and culminated at the building of the Communications Regulation Commission.
The protesters declared themselves against several business practices of the Bulgarian mobile phone companies – M-Tel, Globul, and Vivacom. These include the automatic extension of subscription contracts, and large sanctions when contracts are terminated.
The two consumer associations insist on the creation of an ethical code of the mobile phone operations and new legislation to create a consumer board to “discipline” the companies.
They also slammed M-Tel, Globul, and Vivacom for sending automatic Text Messages with promotions and offers at any time of the day or night.
The rallies will be held every month until concrete measures, defending the interests of consumers, are adopted, organizers said.
From www.novinite.com
‘US discriminating against Chinese equipment suppliers’
Jan 19th
ZTE Corp, the Chinese supplier of telecommunications equipment, is being denied the American Dream in the US, said its top executive for the region.
“Because of miscommunications and misperceptions of politicians in the US, we believe that ZTE is not treated fairly in this marketplace,” Lixin Cheng, chief executive officer of ZTE USA, said in an interview.
ZTE, based in Shenzhen, China, makes mobile phones, data cards and infrastructure for wireless networks. It has boosted revenue in many markets by offering advanced technologies at low prices. To tap into the growth opportunities in the U.S., the company has invested in the latest wireless technology, what’s known as fourth-generation, or 4G, equipment.
Still, US government officials are limiting ZTE’s growth, Cheng said, by treating the company with suspicion and lumping it together with Huawei Technologies Co, which has drawn congressional scrutiny for its efforts to expand in the country. ZTE USA hires more than 80 percent of its staff from the US and has encouraged foreign investment, he said.
“No matter where you come from as a person, if you act locally and follow the law here, you have an equal opportunity to become successful,” Cheng said. “That’s what ZTE wants.”
‘Quiet Giant’
A report this month by the US China Economic and Security Review Commission, an independent 12-member panel that advises Congress, indicated that Chinese telecommunications companies may be conscripted into plans for interfering with or gaining intelligence from the US wireless networks.
The commission said that the majority of ZTE’s shares appear to be owned by government entities and called the company a “quiet giant,” supplying handsets to Western companies often without using its own brand.
“Along with other technology equipment, as the manufacture of mobile-phone handsets and associated software moves to offshore outsourcers, security could be compromised,” the report said. “Although there are no readily available case studies where this has actually happened, there is a potential risk of jeopardizing one of the most widely used forms of communications in the United States.”
Last fall, US lawmakers asked the Federal Communications Commission to review the security risks of domestic companies such as Sprint Nextel Corp. using equipment from ZTE and Huawei. Sprint ultimately ordered gear from other suppliers.
Winning share
ZTE may have legitimate concerns about being stymied by politicians in the US market, said Daryl Schoolar, an analyst at Current Analysis in Phoenix. Still, ZTE has other challenges too, including a language barrier and established competitors such as Ericsson AB and Alcatel-Lucent SA.
“They’re still perceived as a smaller, wireless infrastructure player,” Schoolar said. “Verizon or Sprint or AT&T, when they make these decisions on networks, we’re talking billion-dollar decisions, and they tend to go with companies they already have a relationship with.”
ZTE is winning share of the global market for its devices and network equipment, according to researcher ISuppli. The company was the fourth most popular mobile-phone brand in the second quarter, supplanting Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB by percentage of total units shipped. ZTE also ranked fourth in mobile infrastructure sales worldwide, with 11 percent of the market in the first half of the year, according to ISuppli.
From timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Sony slaps patent violation complaint against LG Electronics
Dec 30th
NEW YORK: Japanese major Sony Corp has filed a patent-infringement complaint against rival and South Korean conglomerate LG Electronics related to certain mobile phones and modems.
The compliant has been filed with the US International Trade Commission , the federal agency that looks into various trade issues including intellectual property rights.
Sony has alleged that LG’s “certain mobile telephones and modems” imported and sold in the US violates various patents held by the Japanese entity.
“The complaint names as respondents LG Electronics Inc of Seoul, Korea; LG Electronics USA, Inc of Englewood Cliffs, NJ; and LG Electronics Mobilecomm USA Inc of San Diego, CA,” the federal agency said in a statement on Wednesday.
Going by reports, the alleged patent violations are related to image and audio technologies used in mobile phones, among others.
The latest legal salvo against LG comes at a time when it is facing stiff competition in the mobile handsets market, especially in the smartphones segment.
Earlier this month, Sony announced plans to invest 100 billion yen (about $1.2 billion) to increase the production of CCD and CMOS image sensors, which are extensively used in digital cameras and smartphones.
Not just LG, many other mobile phone makers including Nokia and Apple are also involved in various patent infringement lawsuits.
Sony files phone patent complaints against LG
Dec 30th
SEATTLE (AP) — Sony Corp. has filed a patent infringement complaint against LG Electronics Inc. and its U.S. subsidiaries with the U.S. International Trade Commission, saying LG’s mobile phones and modems step on proprietary technology including photo-based caller ID.
Among the seven patents Sony cites is one that describes how phones associate photos with phone numbers, so that when someone calls a friend, for example, the caller’s photo pops up on the friend’s phone, according to commission documents made public Wednesday.
Sony also filed a lawsuit against LG in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The filing was not available online Wednesday and it was not known whether Sony made identical claims.
LG did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
The complaints are the latest in a long string of patent disputes among phone makers trying to stake a claim on a slice of the rapidly growing smart phone market. Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Nokia Corp. and HTC Corp. and others have taken legal action to protect intellectual property in the last few years.
In the International Trade Commission complaint, Sony also said LG infringes on patented technology for encoding and transmitting audio in ways that adjust to available bandwidth capacity; delaying the start of audio recording for a set amount of time so that the recording doesn’t pick up inadvertent noises; and technology for using the images streaming through a device’s camera as a real-time viewfinder, then switching to saving better-quality files when the user decides to snap a picture.
The other patents in question involve ways of divvying up bandwidth and handing off phone calls from one base station to another to make the best use of network capacity.
Sony listed LG’s Fathom and Xenon phones and the LG VL600 modem, which can be used to connect a computer to the Internet using a cellular data connection, among other phones and devices.
In the commission filing, Sony said Nokia, Samsung Electronics Co. and Sony Ericsson, an LM Ericsson and Sony joint venture, license the patented technology in question.
Sony asked the International Trade Commission to block imports of products made with contested technology, but that doesn’t mean sales of LG products are immediately threatened. Patent cases can take months or years to resolve, and agreements over licensing and royalty payments often emerge.
NACC drops charges on SMS case against PM and Finance Minister
Dec 24th
BANGKOK, Dec 24 — The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) on Thursday decided to dismiss the complaint on SMS case against Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij for wrongfully requesting three mobile phone companies to send out mass text messages to 17.2 million numbers free of charge when they first took office in 2008.
The petition, filed by opposition leader Chalerm Yoobamrung, Puea Thai MP chairman and 158 MPs, seeks the removal from office of both Mr. Abhisit and Mr. Korn, accusing them of violating Article 103 of the NACC Act.
NACC Secretary-General Apinan Israngura Na Ayuthaya said in a statement issued on Thursday that the anti-graft agency has decided at its meeting on Thursday to drop the case, as the SMS were sent as a cooperation request from the government and the mobile telephone operators cooperated voluntarily for public benefit.
The NACC also did not find that the move was malfeasance and the three mobile phone companies have not made any gains from doing as asked.
Mr Abhisit and Korn formulated a policy to communicate with citizens before the royal appointment of the prime minister on December 17, 2008.
On December 16, 2008, Korn called a meeting of three mobile phone operators, AIS, Dtac and True Move, asking for their cooperation in provide the SMS messages as a public service.
The SMS were sent out after the government came to power and all messages were screened and approved by Abhisit and Korn. The three operators signed the SMS as sent by UR PM, an abbreviation for your prime minister.
In the message Mr Abhisit asked people to help him solve the country’s crisis. Interested mobile phone users were asked to send back their postal codes, at a cost of Bt3.
The three mobile phone operators confirmed they had cooperated in sending out SMS as the public service on several occasions in the past, such as publicity related to the APEC Summit in 2003, the royal ceremonies, tsunami crisis, power seizure and the Bangkok gubernatorial race.
Unlike other short messages sent out as the public service which had no replies, people responded by replying to the SMS sent out by Abhisit and Korn. Each reply generated a Bt3 revenue for the operators.
However, the NACC ruled that the reply of SMS was done by mobile users voluntarily and the operators have paid income tax from the replied SMS in accordance with the law.
Meanwhile, the NACC also dropped the case in which Mr Abhisit was accused of abuse of power by giving Kasit Piromya the foreign minister’s post even though Mr Kasit was allegedly involved in the airports seizure by the ‘Yellow Shirt’ People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD).
The NACC said the case dropped for lack of solid evidence. (MCOT online news)
Motorola retaliates with lawsuit against Microsoft
Nov 11th
IDG News Service – Motorola’s mobile phone subsidiary has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft alleging the world’s largest software maker has infringed 16 of its patents in PC, mobile and server software, as well as Xbox products.
The lawsuit comes just a day after Microsoft filed its second lawsuit against Motorola in recent months. Last month, Microsoft took aim at Motorola for the alleged infringement of nine patents in Motorola handsets that use Google’s Android mobile software. On Tuesday, Microsoft filed suit against Motorola over licensing terms for technology Microsoft uses in its Xbox game machines.
Motorola Mobility filed the current lawsuit in the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of Florida and the Western District of Wisconsin, it said in a statement Wednesday. The patents are related to a number of technologies, including digital video coding, e-mail technology including in Exchange, Messenger and Outlook, and Windows Live instant messaging software. Motorola also directly attacked the Xbox patents in question in the recent Microsoft case, which are related to video coding and Wi-Fi technology.
“Motorola Mobility has requested that Microsoft cease using Motorola’s patented technology and provide compensation for Microsoft’s past infringement,” Motorola said. “Motorola has invested billions of dollars in R&D to create a deep and broad intellectual property portfolio and we will continue to do what is necessary to protect our proprietary technology.”
Motorola also noted the lawsuits filed by Microsoft, calling the actions “unfortunate,” because, “Microsoft has chosen the litigation path rather than entering into comprehensive licensing negotiations, as Motorola has mutually beneficial licensing relationships with the great majority of technology companies industry-wide.”
Microsoft could not immediately be reached for comment.
Motorola has been involved in a lot of high profile litigation recently. The company also recently sued, and has been sued in return by Apple over technologies in a range of products, including smartphones and touchscreens.
Analysts say much of the lawsuit activity is competitive and aimed at Android because the mobile software has gained popularity so quickly.
Motorola’s smartphone sales rose to 3.8 million in the third quarter from 2.7 million in the second quarter, partly due to the success of its Droid X smartphone, an Android-based handset.
The NPD Group recently noted that Android-based smartphones outsold iPhones in the U.S. by almost two-to-one in the third quarter. The market researcher said Android handsets accounted for 44 percent of all consumer smartphone sales in the period, while Apple’s iOS, the software in the iPhone, took 23 percent. Research in Motion’s portion of the market was 22 percent.
Oracle Calls HP’s Lawsuit Against Hurd ‘vindictive’
Sep 8th
Oracle called Hewlett-Packard’s lawsuit against its former CEO “vindictive” and said it threatened the companies’ close relationship.
The lawsuit followed Mark Hurd’s resignation from HP last month and Oracle’s announcement on Monday that it had hired Hurd as one of its co-presidents. HP said Hurd’s employment at Oracle violated the terms of his severance agreement with HP and raised confidentiality issues.
“Oracle has long viewed HP as an important partner,” Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said in a statement. “By filing this vindictive lawsuit against Oracle and Mark Hurd, the HP board is acting with utter disregard for that partnership, our joint customers, and their own shareholders and employees. The HP Board is making it virtually impossible for Oracle and HP to continue to cooperate and work together in the IT marketplace.”
Hurd resigned from HP in early August following a charge of sexual harassment by a contractor and alleged improprieties with expense reports. He walked away with a severance payment of US$12.2 million plus hundreds of thousands of shares of HP stock, worth an additional tens of millions of dollars.
“Despite being paid millions of dollars in cash, stock and stock options in exchange for Hurd’s agreements to protect HP’s trade secrets …. HP is informed and believes and thereon alleges that Hurd has put HP’s most valuable trade secrets and confidential information in peril,” HP alleged in its lawsuit, filed Tuesday in a Santa Clara, California, court.
According to the suit, Hurd agreed to notify HP within a year of his departure whether he plans to take a job with a competitor and offer HP enough details about the job to determine if it would lead to a violation of the confidentiality agreement. Hurd didn’t do so prior to Oracle’s Monday announcement, HP says.
HP is asking the court to prevent Hurd from taking the job.
Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @idgnancy. Nancy’s e-mail address is Nancy_Gohring@idg.com
