CenturyLink shouldn’t avoid New Mexico regulations, said multiple speakers on behalf of the New Mexico attorney general and the U.S. Department of Defense. They submitted extensive testimony released this week on CenturyLink’s September 2011 petition before the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission. “The Commission should no longer handicap CenturyLink QC as a competitor in the marketplace,” company Regulatory Operations Director Robert Brigham said in May (http://xrl.us/bnnihz). The petition argues that CenturyLink faces effective competition and should be deregulated.
Apple wants a ban on the sale of eight Samsung mobile phones within the U.S., the company said in a filing Monday in the U.S. District Court, San Jose. Apple is seeking a ban on seven phones in Samsung’s Galaxy line, plus Samsung’s Droid Charge, according to the filing, which followed a federal jury’s decision Friday that Samsung infringed on multiple Apple iPhone design and utility patents. The jury awarded Apple more than $1 billion in damages, though that award is not official until U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh renders a final decision on the case at a hearing Sept. 20. Samsung is likely to appeal (CD Aug 28 p6).
Recent news reports suggesting that the FCC may levy a new “tax” on Internet service are sparking a wave of negative reaction from both free market-oriented and public interest groups. Free Press has had longstanding concerns. On Tuesday, the free-market Heartland Institute joined in. But it remains unclear at this point how much support there is at the FCC for contribution reform or a move to broaden the program to place a fee on retail Internet access service.
U.S. negotiators should emphasize quality over speed when working on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) analyst Stephen Ezell said during a teleconference about its new report on the TPP (http://xrl.us/bnnig6). The report says U.S. TPP negotiators should work on decreasing market barriers and increasing intellectual property rights protections among TPP participants. “It’s more important to get the TPP done right than to get it done right away,” Ezell said during the teleconference, saying the terms of the TPP will be seen as a “gold standard” across the world and in the future.
Samsung Electronics vowed to fight on in its legal battle with Apple over allegations of intellectual property violations, saying the company “will continue to do our utmost until our arguments have been accepted” (http://xrl.us/bnnd6h). A jury for the U.S. District Court of Northern California said late Friday that Samsung infringed on multiple Apple design and utility patents related to Apple’s iPhone products, awarding Apple more than $1 billion in damages. The jury did not find for any of the claims Samsung made in a countersuit, in which the company sought $421 million in damages, according to court documents.
A federal appeals court deferred to the Copyright Office’s and lower court’s interpretations of the compulsory license that lets cable operators carry broadcast TV programming without clearing all the rights from individual content owners. The Copyright Office has said consistently that the license does not apply to online video distributors. But ivi.tv had asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review a temporary injunction a federal district judge in New York City imposed last year (CD Feb 23/11 p5) that blocked the service after reaching a similar conclusion. Ivi CEO Todd Weaver said in an email that the company is weighing all its options but declined to comment on whether it would appeal the 2nd Circuit’s ruling. “This is not the final chapter to this story,” he said.
Windstream’s request for a waiver of certain Connect America Fund Phase I rules got broad support from ILECs, but others questioned what they said were attempts to expand the limited Phase I funding beyond its intended scope, when broader Phase II funding is on its way. Wireless carriers questioned the numbers, and said the money would be better spent on wireless buildout. Windstream, which only accepted one percent of the commission’s $60 million offer, sought a waiver of the requirement to connect to one unserved location for each $775 received, and a waiver to let it use funds to deploy second-mile fiber (July 25 p3).
Days before the Tribune Company expects to clear a major hurdle in its long exit from bankruptcy, consumer advocate groups renewed their objections to requests from the company that would let its broadcast-newspaper cross ownership (NBCO) ban waivers survive a change in control of Tribune’s broadcast licenses. Free Press, Media Alliance, the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET/CWA), the United Church of Christ and the Benton Foundation said in a letter Friday (http://xrl.us/bnnd46) that Tribune’s requests for waivers of the ban must be evaluated under the standard adopted with the rule in 1975 because a federal appeals court has remanded the commission’s most recent attempts to change it. Meanwhile, Tribune’s bankruptcy proceeding may finally be approaching an end. Creditors opposing the reorganization plan recently approved by a bankruptcy court have until Wednesday to post a $1.5 billion bond in order to stay it, court filings show.
Dish Networks’ PrimeTime Anytime is an “attempt to camouflage” its copyright infringement of TV programming that occurs every night, Fox Entertainment argued, seeking a court injunction barring the service.
Contract electronics manufacturer Foxconn warned Monday about “challenging economic conditions.” Apple’s main manufacturer of iPhones and iPads reported weaker results for the first half of this fiscal year ended June 30, and said it “remains cautious” about “handset market conditions."