Jul 24, 2008
Qualcomm and Nokia Call Truce In Patent Battle
Wireless communications leaders Qualcomm and Nokia have announced that they're burying the hatchet in their long-standing, trans-Atlantic patent dispute. The companies have signed a 15-year licensing deal that, according to a Qualcomm news release, will "result in settlement of all litigation between the companies, including the withdrawal by Nokia of its complaint to the European Commission."
Specific financial terms remain confidential, but Nokia received a license enabling it to use all of Qualcomm's patents in its mobile devices and infrastructure equipment. In turn, Nokia agreed to allow Qualcomm to use Nokia's technology in its chipsets.
Businessweek columnist Steve Wildstrom, emcee for Tech Policy Summit '08, interviewed Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs at the 2008 Summit earlier this year and his opening question for Dr. Jacobs was about the company's patent litigation. You can hear a podcast of that interview in the Media Vault.
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Tags: European Commission, intellectual property, Nokia, patents, Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm, Steve Wildstrom, Tech Policy Summit
International News
Jul 24, 2008
British ISPs Agree To Landmark Copyright Enforcement Deal
Following negotiations brokered by the United Kingdom's Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), six major Internet service providers in the UK have signed a memorandum of understanding with British music industry group BPI and the Motion Picture Association to curb illegal peer-to-peer file sharing significantly within two to three years.
The agreement is particularly significant because it marks the first time that ISPs will be "required to work with music and other rights holders" to fight digital piracy. The ISPs, which include BSkyB, BT, Virgin, Carphone Warehouse, Orange and Tiscali, will launch a pilot program that begins by sending warning letters to individuals that have been identified as suspected copyright infringers.
British telecom regulator Ofcom has been charged with overseeing the process and working with the parties to develop and approve a Code of Practice within four months that determines what actions should be taken against alleged "repeat offenders," i.e. suspension or cancellation of users' Internet accounts or criminal prosecution.
Meanwhile, while the British government says it prefers voluntary industry-led efforts, BERR is continuing to explore what it calls a co-regulatory approach that could lead to legislation. Among the regulatory options being considered by the government are:
- Requiring ISPs to provide personal data relating to a given IP address to rights holders on request, without them needing to go to Court.
- Requiring ISPs to take direct action against users who are identified by the rights holder as infringing copyright through file sharing.
- Requiring that ISPs allow the installation of filtering equipment that will block infringing content, or requiring ISPs themselves to install such filtering equipment.
- Allocating a third party body to consider evidence provided by rights holders and to direct ISPs to take action against individual users as required, or to take action directly against individual users.
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Tags: BPI, copyright, Europe, File Sharing, MPAA, Ofcom, P2P, piracy, UK
Intellectual Property
Jul 24, 2008
Qualcomm and Nokia Call Truce In Patent Battle
Wireless communications leaders Qualcomm and Nokia have announced that they're burying the hatchet in their long-standing, trans-Atlantic patent dispute. The companies have signed a 15-year licensing deal that, according to a Qualcomm news release, will "result in settlement of all litigation between the companies, including the withdrawal by Nokia of its complaint to the European Commission."
Specific financial terms remain confidential, but Nokia received a license enabling it to use all of Qualcomm's patents in its mobile devices and infrastructure equipment. In turn, Nokia agreed to allow Qualcomm to use Nokia's technology in its chipsets.
Businessweek columnist Steve Wildstrom, emcee for Tech Policy Summit '08, interviewed Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs at the 2008 Summit earlier this year and his opening question for Dr. Jacobs was about the company's patent litigation. You can hear a podcast of that interview in the Media Vault.
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Tags: European Commission, intellectual property, Nokia, patents, Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm, Steve Wildstrom, Tech Policy Summit
VoIP
Jul 24, 2008
President Signs E-911 Bill Into Law
President Bush signed the New and Emerging Technologies 911 Improvement Act of 2008 yesterday, enacting into law several measures designed to ensure better Enhanced-911 services for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) customers and to work toward a national IP-enabled emergency network.
VON coalition founder Jeff Pulver, who's been a long-time backer of IP technologies for voice and video, celebrated it as "hugely important legislation" in a post on his blog. Below is an excerpt that explains the bill's impact on the VoIP industry and what Pulver believes it means for 911 services going forward:
This is the first major piece of telecommunications legislation signed into law this year -- and it happens to be a bill designed to help advance VoIP.
The bill provides tools that the FCC failed to provide 3 years ago when first adopting rules for VoIP 911. Even without these tools, VoIP providers have made extraordinary efforts and now provide E911 to a greater percentage of subscribers than any other kind of voice service. Its been the fastest and broadest onetime implementation of E-911 in the history of public safety. As a result of these unprecedented effort by VoIP providers, Americans who dial 911 using interconnected VoIP services can now rest assured they can reach help in an emergency. It is a particularly remarkable achievement considering that no underlying network connectivity provider can yet offer VoIP providers the ability to connect to all selective routers nationwide. This bill now gives VoIP providers a chance to expand their base, and VoIP consumers assurances that they can be safe and secure using a dependable VoIP service.
But more importantly, thanks to the work of the VON Coalition, the bill also recognizes that when we put VoIP at the heart of the 911 network itself, we can achieve breakthrough new advancements in emergency service for all Americans -- regardless of the type of service you use. It's no secret that America's 911 network is still providing 911 and E911 today using 1960s-era technology. The bill calls for a new national strategy for upgrading the nation's entire 911 network from 1960s era technology to 21st century IP and VoIP technologies at its core to help make Americans more safe and secure.
You can read more of his post here, and the text of the legislation is available here.
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Tags: E911, enhanced 911, IP, Jeff Pulver, public safety, VoIP, VON Coalition
Convergence
Jul 23, 2008
Public Interest Groups File Opposition to MPAA Petition
As we wrote about last month, members of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) are interested in making high definition movies available for in-home viewing ahead of the typical release dates for DVDs, and MPAA is seeking permission from the Federal Communications Commission to use selectable output control (SOC) technology to prevent consumers from recording those films.
Despite MPAA's assertions that the arrangement would not only benefit its members by protecting their intellectual property but that it would also help consumers get access to high definition content and major theatrical releases earlier than usual, a number of public interest groups have banded together to voice their opposition to the FCC.
In a document filed with the Commission on Monday, seven organizations including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge, New America Foundation and Media Access Project urged the FCC to reject MPAA's petition on grounds that it's "unnecessary and contrary to the public interest." They argue that MPAA hasn't provided evidence that use of SOC technology would in fact curb copyright infringement; that it would frustrate consumers who wouldn't be able to use their electronics equipment as expected and that it would give "MPAA members unprecedented and undesirable control over consumer device design."
The full 25-page document is available for download.
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Tags: consumer electronics, copyright, Electronic Frontier Foundation, FCC, MPAA, Public Knowledge, SOC
