A Canadian company said Thursday that it has filed suit against Acer, Apple, Lenovo, LG Electronics, Sony, Toshiba and 14 other top technology firms, accusing them of patent infringement.
Ottawa-based WiLAN Inc., which describes itself as a technology innovation and licensing company, filed the suit on Wednesday against the 20 US and Asian companies in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
WiLAN accuses them of violating a patent its holds on Bluetooth technology, a wireless communications system that allows for hands-free calling among other uses.
The firms named in the lawsuit are Acer, Apple, Atheros, Belkin, Broadcom, D-Link, Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Lenovo, LG Electronics, Marvell Semiconductor, Motorola, Personal Communications Devices, Sony, Texas Instruments, Toshiba and UTStarcom.
They were accused of making personal computers, mobile phones or other devices that allegedly infringe on a Bluetooth patent held by WiLAN since 1996.
WiLAN, which claims a portfolio of 800 patents and has filed a number of infringement lawsuits in the past against leading technology firms, is asking for unspecified damages.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
FCC plans to move forward with broadband plan soon
The FCC needs that authority to push ahead with many parts of the broadband plan, which it released last month. Among them: a proposal to expand broadband by tapping the Universal Service Fund, which subsidizes telephone service in poor and rural areas.
The FCC laid out its 2010 "broadband action agenda" without indicating how it will proceed in light of the court ruling. But the agency says it will ensure it has the legal authority it needs for its sweeping plan to increase broadband usage and Internet speeds.
"Does the FCC still have a mission in the Internet area?" FCC General Counsel Austin Schlick wrote in a blog post following Tuesday's court decision. "Absolutely."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled Tuesday that the FCC lacks authority to impose so-called "network neutrality" obligations. Those require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all traffic flowing over their lines. Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable company, had challenged the rules in court after the FCC ordered it to stop blocking its subscribers from using an online file-sharing service called BitTorrent.
Although the FCC could appeal the decision or ask Congress to give it the authority it needs, many public interest groups are instead calling on the agency to impose "common carrier" regulations on broadband providers. Those rules, which have traditionally applied to phone companies, prohibit carriers from discriminating against certain types of traffic, among other things.
But even as the agency contemplates its next move on that front, it made clear Thursday that the broadband plan remains a top priority. The FCC said it will focus on a number of major proposals in the plan this year. Those include:
- reforming the Universal Service Fund by phasing out subsidies for phone service and instead using the program to pay for broadband.
- freeing up more wireless spectrum to deliver mobile broadband services, with much of those airwaves potentially coming from television broadcasters.
- establishing a nationwide wireless network for public safety that will help firefighters, police officers and other emergency workers communicate.
- seeking ways to drive more competition in the market for network connections used by business customers, cellular towers and other big bandwidth users.
©2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The FCC laid out its 2010 "broadband action agenda" without indicating how it will proceed in light of the court ruling. But the agency says it will ensure it has the legal authority it needs for its sweeping plan to increase broadband usage and Internet speeds.
"Does the FCC still have a mission in the Internet area?" FCC General Counsel Austin Schlick wrote in a blog post following Tuesday's court decision. "Absolutely."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled Tuesday that the FCC lacks authority to impose so-called "network neutrality" obligations. Those require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all traffic flowing over their lines. Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable company, had challenged the rules in court after the FCC ordered it to stop blocking its subscribers from using an online file-sharing service called BitTorrent.
Although the FCC could appeal the decision or ask Congress to give it the authority it needs, many public interest groups are instead calling on the agency to impose "common carrier" regulations on broadband providers. Those rules, which have traditionally applied to phone companies, prohibit carriers from discriminating against certain types of traffic, among other things.
But even as the agency contemplates its next move on that front, it made clear Thursday that the broadband plan remains a top priority. The FCC said it will focus on a number of major proposals in the plan this year. Those include:
- reforming the Universal Service Fund by phasing out subsidies for phone service and instead using the program to pay for broadband.
- freeing up more wireless spectrum to deliver mobile broadband services, with much of those airwaves potentially coming from television broadcasters.
- establishing a nationwide wireless network for public safety that will help firefighters, police officers and other emergency workers communicate.
- seeking ways to drive more competition in the market for network connections used by business customers, cellular towers and other big bandwidth users.
©2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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