A Justice Department official called on Congress to reauthorize three key provisions in the Patriot Act set to expire in May, including one that allows quick shifting of phone taps from one carrier to another. The testimony came Wednesday during a hearing by the House Judiciary Committee’s Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security subcommittee.
Court of International Trade activity
Sony filed a complaint against LG Electronics with the U.S. International Trade Commission, alleging the phone maker committed patent infringement. It also filed a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles, asking that LG not to be allowed to ship cellphones in the U.S. Sony claimed some of LG’s devices use Sony’s patented technology. Allegedly infringing devices include the LG Quantum, the new Windows Phone 7 device available from AT&T, Sony said in its ITC complaint. Other devices mentioned include the Cosmos, Accolade, Encore, enV Touch, Fathom, Glance, GU295, Lotus Elite, LX370, Neon, Rumor Touch, VL600, Vu Plus, and Xenon. Sony wants the ITC or the court to stop LG from importing, selling, marketing, advertising, or demonstrating the infringing devices in the U.S. LG couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.
"Cyberspace is contested” every minute of every day, said Iain Lobban, director of the U.K. intelligence-gathering body Government Communications Headquarters. The government networks receive more than 20,000 malicious e-mails per month, 1,000 of which deliberately target them, he said in a speech Tuesday at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. GCHQ has seen cybertechniques used by one nation against another for economic or diplomatic pressure and massive theft of intellectual property, he said. The government’s strategic defense and security and spending reviews will examine what cybercapabilities Britain needs to develop further and what its priorities are, he said. The government wants to get its services online, but that must be done without jeopardizing people’s privacy and opening up payment systems to fraud, he said. Good information security practices such as keeping patches updated will solve 80 percent of the cyber issues, he said: The remaining 20 percent of the threat is complex, not easily addressed by building security walls higher and higher, and must be fought in cyberspace itself. The “growth of e-crime is disturbing” because it appears to be a low-risk, potentially high-profit avenue for the creative criminal, Lobban said. Tackling it means developing the same kind of holistic approach now used against the drug trade, with strategic intelligence, identification of groups, pursuit of criminals through the courts and making it easier for citizens to report incidents, he said. The potential for cyberattacks against critical national infrastructure “is a real and credible one” that could benefit from real-time information from systems operators as they're being attacked, he said. This points to a different relationship between the national security agencies and key industry players, he said. “Our systems will need to be more interconnected.” Fighting cyberattacks also means renewed international commitments, Lobban said. It’s necessary to reaffirm the proper norms of behavior for responsible countries in cyberspace and what they can expect from each other, he said. It may be possible to use military cybercapabilities as deterrents, he said, “but a casual parallel with nuclear deterrence and Mutually Assured Destruction is clearly wrong” because small cyberattacks happen every day. Getting cybersecurity right will also allow continuing U.K. economic prosperity, Lobban said.
Motorola said Apple infringed its wireless patents, in complaints filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. District courts in Chicago and Miami. The three complaints involve 18 patents, including wireless communication technologies WCDMA, GPRS, 802.11 and antenna design, and wireless e-mail, proximity sensing, software application management, location-based services and multi-device synchronization. Motorola wants the ITC to issue an exclusion order barring Apple from importing the allegedly infringing products, prohibiting further sales of already-imported products, and halting the marketing, advertising, demonstration and warehousing of the products. In court actions, Motorola wants an order stopping Apple from using the patents, and damages for past infringement. “After Apple’s late entry into the telecommunications market, we engaged in lengthy negotiations, but Apple has refused to take a license,” said Kirk Dailey, corporate vice president of intellectual property at Motorola Mobility. Apple didn’t return a request for comment.
Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday after mobile phone maker HTC filed a countersuit against it with the U.S. International Trade Commission to stop imports of iPhones, iPads and iPods to the U.S. and sales in the country. In March, Apple filed complaints against HTC with the ITC and in a U.S. District Court in Delaware claiming that HTC infringed 20 Apple patents related to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture and hardware. In filing its countersuit, HTC claimed it was “the innovator of the original Windows Mobile PocketPC Phone Edition in 2002 and the first Android smartphone in 2008.” HTC sued Apple “to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly our customers that use HTC phones,” said Jason Mackenzie, HTC’s vice president for North America.
Most of those who've expressed a view believe it’s a bad idea to allow outside parties to see data on local telephone competition and broadband connections that carriers must file using Form 477, Verizon and Verizon Wireless said in a joint filing at the commission. But Free Press said it’s asking only that the data be available to parties that sign confidentiality agreements. Outside groups could provide important insights if allowed to analyze the information, it said.
Companies large and small, public interest groups and trade associations offered a divided FCC very different takes on whether proposed net neutrality rules would stifle or spur competition, in replies in the net neutrality proceeding. The biggest change from the first comment round, in January, is that many filers focused on the Comcast decision and the complicated question of whether the FCC has authority to proceed with new net neutrality rules or first would have to change the way broadband is classified to gain clear authority.
Alternative dispute resolution services for format plagiarism or the unauthorized copying of TV formats used for game, reality or talent shows and sitcoms will be provided by the World Intellectual Property Organization and the Format Recognition and Protection Association. Trade in TV formats, which is the general idea and content of a TV show, like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, is growing, WIPO said, as are competition and the number of disputes over unauthorized use of formats owned by third parties. Resolution in court can be difficult to achieve because of different national laws, WIPO said. “Delays, costs and burdens of litigation can be damaging,” said Ute Biernat, the association’s chairman. Mediation and arbitration can help format owners, producers and broadcasters resolve disputes out of court in a more flexible, confidential and efficient way, Biernat said. WIPO will use the association’s existing mediation activity and will administer TV format-related disputes filed under its mediation and expedited arbitration rules for film and media. The groups expect to train and appoint specialists from a dedicated international WIPO panel of film and media mediators, arbitrators and experts.
Verizon Communications is trying to block imports of some Cablevision DTV set-top boxes. The telco filed patent-infringement complaints with the U.S. District Court in Delaware and the International Trade Commission, a federal agency, court documents said. Verizon said the patents violated relate to digital set-tops and other network and system components used in digital broadband distribution networks. The patents involve technologies to facilitate the delivery of video and other data over networks and to offer next-generation services, Verizon said. A Cablevision spokesman said it’s “becoming increasingly clear that Verizon is having difficulty competing on the merits in the marketplace, so they are resorting to filing lawsuits and pursuing regulatory bailouts.” The cable operator plans “a vigorous defense,” he said.
Alcatel-Lucent agreed to pay $137.4 million and change its procedures to avoid U.S. prosecution on charges involving bribe payments in Costa Rica, Taiwan and Kenya, the company said in an SEC filing. Its management has adopted strong compliance and training programs to prevent any recurrence, a spokeswoman said. Within months of becoming CEO, Ben Verwaayen announced that “we will no longer conduct our business through the use of sales and marketing agents and consultants,” she said. Three subsidiaries -- Alcatel-Lucent France, Alcatel-Lucent Trade and Alcatel Centroamerica -- will plead guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’s anti-bribery provisions, the filing says. The company is cooperating with U.S., French and Costa Rican authorities. Under an agreement in principle, the Justice Department would defer prosecution of Alcatel-Lucent on charges that it violated the internal controls and the books and records provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The company would be on probation three years and agree to work with a French anti-corruption monitor. The company is still working on final agreements, the spokeswoman said. “There can be no assurances, however, that final agreements will be reached with the agencies or accepted in court,” according to the filing. Under the Justice Department agreement, the company would pay a $92 million criminal fine over three years. It also would enter into a consent decree with the SEC and pay $45.4 million.