LightSquared Drops Lawsuit Against Trimble After Settlement Similar to Deere Deal

LightSquared has dropped GPS receiver maker Trimble from the list of defendants in its 2013 lawsuit brought against Deere, Garmin and Trimble and the U.S. GPS Industry Council (see 1311040060) after they raised concerns that LightSquared's LTE network could interfere with GPS signals in adjacent spectrum space. Those concerns led to the FCC's revoking LightSquared’s terrestrial spectrum license, ultimately forcing it into bankruptcy. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman of Manhattan on Monday signed an order granting LightSquared a stipulation of voluntary dismissal without prejudice. The court filing gave no details about the confidential agreement with Trimble, except that each side will bear its own costs. The Trimble agreement follows an agreement between LightSquared and Deere that has LightSquared foregoing use of 1545-1555 MHz in its LTE plans (see 1512080022). In a joint statement Tuesday, LightSquared and Trimble said they "agreed to work together with the relevant government agencies to implement a mutually acceptable compromise approach to resolution of the outstanding issues relating to use of New LightSquared’s spectrum. Pending further discussions with the agencies, the parties have agreed to maintain confidentiality with respect to the details of the proposed compromise approach.”