Amending the Protect America Act to address complaints about it would suit the U.S., said Justice Department Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein in Tuesday testimony to the House Judiciary Committee. The number of “overheard” American conversations and other details can be given in closed session, National Intelligence director Mike McConnell testified. McConnell clarified statements he made in August to the El Paso Times (CD Aug 24 p7). Judiciary was not alone is discussing the issues Tuesday; earlier, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence also held a hearing.
Adam Bender
Adam Bender, Senior Editor, is the state and local telecommunications reporter for Communications Daily, where he also has covered Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. He has won awards for his Warren Communications News reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists, Specialized Information Publishers Association and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. Bender studied print journalism at American University and is the author of dystopian science-fiction novels. You can follow Bender at WatchAdam.blog and @WatchAdam on Twitter.
T-Mobile joined other majors’ rural acquisition party, scooping up SunCom Wireless for $2.4 billion in cash and assumed debt. The price is largely on a par with the recent acquisitions of Dobson Cellular by AT&T and Rural Cellular by Verizon. Rural acquisitions have picked up, but analysts disagreed over whether more are on the way.
A MetroPCS-Leap Wireless merger remains likely, despite Leap’s public rejection of the deal, analysts said Monday. MetroPCS probably will increase its bid, and 700 MHz spectrum considerations may prompt the companies to combine before Thanksgiving, they said. On Sunday Leap rejected MetroPCS’s “surprise” merger proposal, citing concerns with Metro’s valuation of Leap, MetroPCS’s uncertain future and the bid’s “opportunistic” timing. “While our two companies may share the same basic business model, Leap is better positioned to execute and capitalize on industry growth opportunities,” Leap CEO Douglas Hutcheson said in an open letter.
Two large online directories will merge, and there could be a ripple in mobile. InfoSpace sold SwitchBoard.com and its other online directory assets to Idearc for $225 million, the companies said Monday. Idearc publishes Superpages.com and the Verizon Yellow Pages. Idearc said it will take on Switchboard.com’s existing distribution network. The companies hope to complete the deal at year-end, after shareholders and regulators sign off, InfoSpace said.
The U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit sent back to a district court a patent infringement complaint against Sprint Nextel by Alfred McZeal and his business, International Walkie Talkie. The court vacated and remanded for further proceeding an order by the U.S. District Court for southern Texas dismissing McZeal’s complaint for failure to state a claim. McZeal “met the low bar for pro se litigants to avoid dismissal,” Judge Glenn Archer wrote in the majority opinion. Judge Timothy Dyk dissented in part. Sprint didn’t comment by our deadline.
A precedent-setting court order staying the International Trade Commission Qualcomm chip ban for third parties is “very good news” for T-Mobile but a long term “concern” for the ITC and patent holders, officials told Communications Daily Thursday. Late Wednesday, the U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit ordered a partial stay of the ITC limited exclusion order against Qualcomm chips that infringe Broadcom patents. The ruling could be a “harbinger for a favorable final decision” for Qualcomm, a Stifel Nicolaus analyst said.
The SEC added four former Nortel executives to a fraud complaint against colleagues, it said Wednesday. The SEC wants an injunction, a civil fine, a ban on the defendants working as officers or directors of public companies, and relinquishment by them of profits from the fraud, it said in an amended SEC v. Dunn complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for New York’s Southern District.
Atheros Xspan chips infringe ArrayComm patents, ArrayComm alleged in a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas. ArrayComm wants the court to award damages, an injunction and attorney’s fees for “willful” infringement of three patents related to multiantenna signal processing, it said. “ArrayComm’s intellectual property is being “knowingly, willfully, and unfairly exploited,” said ArrayComm President Stephen Sifferman. His company said it had tried to resolve the dispute “amicably.” Company representatives met in January to discuss ArrayComm’s patents, the complaint said. ArrayComm said it “specifically advised Atheros” of the three patents and “focused on particular claims of those patents.” The companies again met Aug. 20 to discuss licensing of ArrayComm patents, but Atheros asserted that there was no infringement, ArrayComm said. When ArrayComm asked for evidence, Atheros “refused to provide any explanation,” it said. Going to court was ArrayComm’s only option, the complaint said: “ArrayComm is not aware of any further practical or reasonable testing that would definitively confirm” the infringement, it said. An Atheros spokesman downplayed the suit: “Though we have not yet had adequate opportunity to fully digest the complaint, we have reviewed the claims during our previous discussions with ArrayComm and we believe those claims are totally without merit.”
The top four U.S. wireless carriers just got more patent infringement lawsuits to worry about. NTP filed four separate complaints in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia, suing AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless on allegations of infringing eight patents related to radio-frequency transfer of e-mail to mobile devices. NTP wants damages, an injunction and attorney’s fees. Last year, patent-savvy NTP won a $612.5 million settlement with BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion over five of the same patents, but a Patent & Trademark Office reexamination of NTP patents could influence the new cases.
Vacate and find illegal an FCC order dismissing a petition to assess wireless towers’ impact on migratory birds, the American Bird Conservancy urged the D.C. Circuit Appeals Court in an oral argument Tuesday. The conservancy is appealing a 2006 FCC order denying the petition to conduct an environmental impact statement (EIS) on Gulf Coast towers. But an FCC attorney said the commission was well within its legal rights to reject the request. Judges Judith Rogers, Merrick Garland and Brett Kavanaugh heard the case. Decisions are typically reached in about three months.