Lawsuits

Nokia, Qualcomm head to court this week over CDMA patents

Lynnette Luna — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:57:07 -0400

The simmering battle between Qualcomm and Nokia is heating up again as the two technology giants head to court on Wednesday to determine whether Qualcomm's charges of royalties for CDMA are too high. While the trial won't likely settle the dispute the two have over a patent agreement that expired in April 2007 pertaining to royalties Qualcomm charges for WCDMA chips, it could offer the winner of this trial some leverage in that dispute.

At issue on Wednesday in a Delaware court is whether, as Nokia contends, Qualcomm forfeited its right to seek injunctions in lawsuits to enforce patents because it promised European standards-setting bodies to license its patents under fair and nondiscriminatory terms. Nokia also claims that it is paid up on Qualcomm's key patents while the rest should be valued much less when taking Nokia's own patents into consideration.

Of course, Qualcomm says Nokia is wrong about the worth of those other patents and its "fair and nondiscriminatory" agreement with standards bodies. It contends that Nokia extended their existing license agreement by default by using Qualcomm inventions after the agreement expired.

Vendors have long grumbled about the amount of royalties Qualcomm charges for CDMA-based patents. Nokia and Qualcomm have been filing a number of lawsuits in the U.S. and Europe against each other over patents since 2005.

For more:
- read the WSJ (sub. req.)

Related stories:
Qualcomm-Nokia lawsuits continue to fly. Lawsuit story
Nokia sues Qualcomm in Europe. Nokia-Qualcomm story

Verizon Wireless faces another credit lawsuit

Brian Dolan — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:45:44 -0400

A Verizon Wireless subscriber is suing the carrier and TransUnion in an Alabama federal court for continuing to try to collect $1,000 that the plaintiff says he does not owe the carrier. Johnny Howard said that the carrier and its agent TransUnion have falsely reported the disputed debt on his credit reports. Howard believes he is the victim of identity theft, but followed the carrier's instructions to fill out a police report and send it to the carrier, according to the suit.

"This wrongful conduct has drastically impacted plaintiff's credit score and credit worthiness and has caused him past and future monetary loss, past and future emotional distress, and other damages that will be presented," the lawsuit states.

Verizon Wireless and Alltel both faced class-action credit lawsuits last month, but those suits were over credit privacy.

For more on the suits:
- read this article from RCR News

Analyst: Qualcomm and Nokia to settle soon

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:59:55 -0400

American Technology Research analyst Mark McKechnie expects that Qualcomm and Nokia would resolve their patent dispute within three to 18 months, but in the end Nokia will pay upwards of 2 percent royalties to Qualcomm. McKechnie argued that this would drive Qualcomm's earnings higher in 2009 and 2010 both because of the royalty payments and because of the decreased legal expenditures.

For more on the Qualcomm/Nokia licensing spat:
- read this article from AP

Related Articles:
ITC upholds ruling favoring Nokia over Qualcomm Article
Qualcomm-Nokia, lawsuits continue to fly Article

U.K. gives Nokia another win against Qualcomm

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:59:57 -0500

After losing a ruling from the ITC in the U.S. last week, Qualcomm has lost another bid to prove Nokia infringed on its patents in the U.K. The U.K. High Court ruled that Nokia had not infringed on two of Qualcomm's patents that relate to GSM technology standards. Qualcomm filed 11 lawsuits around the world against Nokia during the past two years, but has yet to win any legal action against the company, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

"We are pleased with the Court's decision that the patent claims are invalid and believe it is consistent with and supported by the facts," said Nokia CFO Rick Simonson. "This is the second court to conclude that Qualcomm does not have relevant and valid GSM patents."

For more on the court decision:
- read this article from the WSJ

Microsoft settles up with Visto

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:59:55 -0500

Unlike the very public and well-documented mobile email lawsuits of the past (remember RIM vs. NTP?), Microsoft and Visto have settled a suit that launched nearly two years ago but has yet to go to trial. Visto accused Microsoft of violating its mobile email patents, which Visto had successfully sued Seven Networks over in 2006 and won about $7.7 million in damages. The settlement with Microsoft includes both cash and "non-cash consideration" according to the company's press release. The case would have gone to trial next week.

Now the pressure is on Research In Motion, which Visto alleges has infringed on four of its patents. That case will proceed to trial in July if the parties don't reach a settlement beforehand.

For more on Visto vs. Microsoft:
- read this article from CNET

Related Article:
RIM countersues Visto. Article

Nokia: Qualcomm licensing spat continues

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:59:55 -0500

Nokia announced today that even though it forged an agreement with Qualcomm to not file additional lawsuits until a Delaware court rules on an ongoing licensing disagreement, this does not mean the licensing spats are over. The companies decided to lump their arbitration case in Los Angeles with the case in Delaware in an attempt to expedite the process, which began in April of last year.

For more on Nokia and Qualcomm's spat:
- read this article from WSJ

Related story:
Expect Qualcomm and Nokia to remain miles apart. Opinion

Motorola vs. RIM: patent war begins

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 06:59:57 -0500

Motorola and Research In Motion exchanged three lawsuits over the weekend regarding a series of cross-licensing deals that never came to fruition. RIM filed a suit in Texas that claims Motorola is infringing on its patents and "is demanding exorbitant royalties." Meanwhile, Motorola filed two similar lawsuits: one in Texas and another in Delaware, which charge RIM with infringing its patents while challenging the validity of some of RIM's IP. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the patent dispute can trace its roots to a botched renewal of terms for a 2003 licensing pact.

In the fall of 2006 Motorola acquired push email software company Good Technology, which certainly heightened tensions between Motorola and RIM.

For more on the patent war:
- read this article from the WSJ (sub. req.)

SPOTLIGHT: USPTO grants generic smartphone patent

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 06:59:52 -0500

A company has won a patent for "a mobile entertainment and communication device" then, at 12:01 a.m. the next day sues Apple, Nokia, Sprint, RIM, AT&T, HP, Helio, Motorola, HTC, Sony Ericsson, UTStarcomm, Samsung and a number of lawsuits. Article

2007: Not a Typical Year for Wireless

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 14:31:58 -0500

By Andrew Seybold

Those who write for organizations such as FierceMarkets are generally expected to write two columns at the end of each year-the first is a look back at the previous year and the second is about what lies ahead for the next year. This is the first part of my requisite two-column sequence.

2007 was a year of change for the wireless industry. There was the iPhone and the fanfare with which it was introduced, the almost instant price drop and the bragging rights about how many were sold in what period of time. Regardless of what you think of the iPhone and the AT&T deal, I believe that its introduction has already changed the wireless landscape for the better. Suddenly, real user interface improvements are coming from every wireless device vendor in the industry.

Next, of course, is Google's foray into wireless, first calling for open access, then saying it will bid in the 700 MHz auction. Google also introduced its free, open source operating system, Android, which is scheduled to be delivered on real devices sometime in late 2008. If Google does nothing more, it has changed the wireless industry. Verizon Wireless said it will be more open with its network starting in 2008 and Sprint and AT&T then said they were already open. The industry is still trying to define what open really means and how network operators can offer open access and still protect the integrity of their networks for the benefit of all of their customers, not just for the few with their demands. One thing is for sure: Open does not mean FREE! We will continue to pay for our access to these networks though, in fact, pricing models will change to reflect this new open access era.

No review of 2007 would be complete without a discussion of the multitude of lawsuits either settled or ongoing. Nokia, Qualcomm, Broadcom, RIM and many others are spending tons of money in legal fees in disputes about intellectual property rights, prior art, who is infringing upon whom and how much is a fair price to charge to license IP from the patent holder. This will spill over into 2008 and probably beyond. In the end, decisions about highly technical issues will be made by a non-technical judge and/or jury, based not on what they have come to understand about the technologies in question but rather whose attorneys can provide the least technical and understandable description of the issues.

2007 also saw more notebook computers built-in EV-DO and UMTS wireless data modems, and Qualcomm announced the Gobi world chipset for notebooks that provides all of these technologies in a single chipset. Notebook vendors can now build a single model, ship it anywhere in the world and know that there will be a wireless broadband network available for the customer.

Some realism began to creep into the Muni-Wi-Fi craze this year. EarthLink downsized and got rid of most of its muni-Wi-Fi team, San Francisco's muni-WiFi network was put on hold and several other cities cancelled their plans. Finally, the realities of muni systems using unlicensed spectrum with no sustainable business model are being acknowledged.

Meanwhile, in WiMAX land, 2007 ends with a real question mark in the United States. The Sprint/Clearwire nationwide partnership fell apart. Sprint has a new CEO, Dan Hesse. And Sprint's WiMAX network is in question. Are we or aren't we? Spin off? Continue to build? Build only to meet FCC build-out rules? Sell it off? Or what? Intel has to be very nervous. Its poster child for WiMAX may decide not to operate a WiMAX network after all, which could certainly affect the uptake in the rest of the world. But it will be up to Hesse to figure it all out, and my bet is that his package will be heavily incented to stop the bleeding, right the ship, cut churn and add more subscribers to the CDMA core network.

Clearwire and WiMAX had an IPO, the stock opened in the mid $20s, went up to a high in the low $30s and is now sitting at around $13 per share. After the IPO, they put into place a line of credit for yet another $billion in funds, and the uptake on their networks has not been great.

There were many other activities during 2007, but I have highlighted here the ones I believe will have the most impact on the industry moving forward. The last of these, of course, has to be the 700 MHz auctions the FCC authorized in August that will be held in January. The "C" block is the "open access block" and will draw the most bidders, the D block is an experiment in combining commercial and first responder networks and services, and the results of these auctions could have a far reaching effect on this industry for a long time.

To my thinking, the saddest thing for wireless in 2007 was that the Internet community did not come any closer to understanding the bandwidth differences between the wired Internet and wireless high-speed networks. Their vision is still for the Internet as we know it to become wirelessly enabled. I believe that the wireless Internet should be a different type of Internet based on smart networks and smart devices and not nearly as dependent on browsers.

2007 was full of surprises, but the demand for wireless continued to grow, as it will well into the future. What will 2008 have to offer? Stay tuned!

Andrew Seybold is an authority on technology and trends shaping the world of wireless mobility. A respected analyst, consultant, commentator, author and active participant in industry trade organizations, his views have influenced strategies and shaped initiatives for telecom, mobile computing and wireless industry leaders worldwide.

Qualcomm's Q4 includes 84% jump in net income

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 06:59:57 -0500

Qualcomm posted a strong fourth quarter as net income rose 84 percent, which is more than the company forecasted in September. Year-on-year revenue growth also enjoyed a 15 percent raise to $2.31 billion, up from $2 billion last year. Qualcomm reported Q4 earnings of $1.13 billion, or 67 cents a share, up from $614 million, or 36 cents a share during the same period last year. Legal fees during the entire fiscal year topped $200 million, thanks to lawsuits and patenting disputes with rivals Broadcom and Nokia, among others. During the company's quarterly conference call, Qualcomm CEO Steve Altman said no progress has been made with either Nokia or Broadcom over the disputes.

Despite the rosy picture for Qualcomm's most recent quarter, the company's stock has suffered from a less than bullish outlook for the year ahead. For the 2008 fiscal year Qualcomm expects earnings between $2.03 and $2.09, below analysts' expected forecast of $2.18. Qualcomm excluded royalty payments from Nokia when it put its estimate together.

For more on Qualcomm's financial outlook:
- read this press release

Locked phones in peril

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 06:59:59 -0400

Ã‚Â

Locked phones in peril

Thanks to the iPhone, the whole issue of locked devices has come to the forefront. Customers are demanding to have a say over how they can use the device, and they keep searching for ways to make sure they do. And Apple keeps coming up with updates to make sure they don't.

The issue has spurred lawsuits. Last week a federal suit and a state suit both accused AT&T and Apple of unfair business practices and violations of antitrust, telecommunications and warranty laws. The suits allege that by not letting consumers modify their iPhones so that they work on other networks, the two companies have conspired to maintain a monopoly. The suits also claim that the companies are unlawfully constraining consumer choice by not allowing users to "unlock" their iPhones and intentionally issuing updates that effectively disable unofficial third-party programs.Ã‚Â

Interestingly, a case involving T-Mobile USA in California could have an interesting impact on the whole issue. T-Mobile lost a California Supreme Court bid last week to end a lawsuit challenging the company's early-termination fees and its practice of locking down phones to work only on T-Mobile's network. The refusal clears the way for the lawsuit that is seeking a court injunction keeping T-Mobile from collecting its $200 early termination fee and to reveal the effect of the software locks it put on its phones. The lawsuit also seeks to have T-Mobile offer to unlock the handsets so consumers can switch to a different carrier without buying a new phone.

If the class action suit against T-Mobile is successful, mobile operators in California could be required to unlock cell phones when customers ask. T-Mobile argued that its service agreement keeps customers from filing class-action lawsuits, but the lower court sided with the plaintiffs--that the matter was in the public interest.

The tide certainly appears to be turning when it comes to locked devices. Not only are we seeing lawsuits, but market forces are coming into play. Sprint Nextel plans to allow any WiMAX device on its network. Nokia and Motorola have begun selling unlocked phones in the U.S.

Of course, the impact of unlocked phones isn't particularly great considering the technology fragmentation of operators in the U.S. There aren't that many alternatives for an unlocked phone. But it may give customers a false sense of security and pave the way for the inevitable: open access. -Lynnette

More lawsuits against Apple and AT&T

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 06:59:55 -0400

AT&T and Apple are fielding two more lawsuits regarding the iPhone: a federal suit and a state suit that both accuse the companies of unfair business practices and violations of antitrust, telecommunications and warranty laws. The suits allege that by not letting consumers modify their iPhones so that they work on other networks, the two companies have conspired to maintain a monopoly. The suits also claim that the companies are unlawfully constraining consumer choice by not allowing users to "unlock" their iPhones and intentionally issuing updates that effectively disable unofficial third-party programs.

For more on the lawsuits:
- read this article from the AP

No fast track for VZW's open access suit

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 06:59:55 -0400

According to a report from RCRNews, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has decided not to fast-track the Verizon Wireless lawsuit against the FCC's open access provisions in the upcoming 700 MHz auction. The carrier argued for an emergency motion on the suit, claiming that the matter needed to be settled before the auction takes place on January 16. Both the FCC and Frontline Wireless argued that other lawsuits related to the auction are probably in the works, and all pertinent suits should be handled together.

Also, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin broke his silence regarding reports that he was trying to rescind the open access provisions of the auction, following a meeting with Verizon Wireless: He says he wasn't trying to rescind them.

"I don't think that in any way I'm moving away from the open-access requirement that prohibits the network operator from discriminating against content or applications," Martin said. Instead, the chairman said his maneuverings were an effort to clarify the open access stipulations to reflect the views of the Media Access Project. The group said it never asked for a clarification and that none was needed.

For more on the ruling:
- read this article from RCRNews

Related articles:
Martin tries to scale back open access provisions
AT&T supports Martin's plan; Verizon: It's "rigged"

Guess who's back--again?

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 06:59:59 -0400

Ã‚Â

Guess who's back--again?

NTP is back. The patent holding firm that successfully squeezed Research In Motion for more than $612.5 million in the spring of 2006, is now suing the big four mobile carriers in the U.S. as well as Palm. NTP brought each of the lawsuits to the same court in Virginia, which originally handled the RIM case.Ã‚Â

When NTP sued Palm late last year, the court stayed the case until the USPTO finished its review of the patents. So far, the USPTO has rejected all of NTP's patents that relate to the case, but it is now reviewing an appeal from the company. It is likely, therefore, that the court will stay this most recent suit that NTP has brought against the four big carriers in the U.S.: AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA. If the court does decide to stay the case, then this suit will only be a temporary nuisance for the carriers, because the USPTO is likely to (once again) throw out the NTP patent claims.

Unfortunately, RIM was not so lucky. The case NTP brought against it dragged on for nearly half a decade and culminated with a widely reported threat that the court would shut down BlackBerry services across the U.S. The reports panicked RIM shareholders as well as the many enterprises that relied on the popular email device, and RIM ended up settling with NTP for hundreds of millions--just months before the USPTO threw out the last of NTP's patent claims. RIM CEO Jim Balsille said he offered to pay more than the $612.5 million if NTP agreed to a contingency clause that the USPTO had to uphold NTP's patents. NTP wasn't interested in the extra money for the clause, indicating they knew the patents would not hold up.

So, unless NTP finds a way to drag this new set of lawsuits out for a number of years and convinces Wall Street that it will shut down the wireless carriers' email services, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint and T-Mobile have nothing to worry about. And take some advice from RIM: If by some unlikely set of circumstances you have to settle, make sure you get that contingency clause. -Brian

P.S. For more information on NTP, read our Special Report.

More: Qualcomm's 'benchslap' from Judge Brewster

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:59:55 -0400

As we mentioned earlier in the week, a federal judge ruled that Qualcomm engaged in "aggravated litigation abuse" and waived its rights to enforce certain video transmission technology patents related to the H.264 video compression standard used in some high definition products. A new post over at the WSJ's Law Blog has more details and quotes from the judge's 54-page ruling filled with harsh words for QualcommÃ‚Â about its lawyers' conduct.

The judge put down Qualcomm's "constant stonewalling, concealment and repeated misrepresentations" during discovery, reprimanded the company's "presentation of numerous witnesses who steadfastly testified falsely" and condemned its lawyers, who "adamantly denied the obvious, and then, when the truth was discovered and exposed by the document production, sequentially contended denial of relevance, justification, mistake, and finally non-awareness."

The court ordered Qualcomm to pay all of Broadcom's fees and costs in defending the patent infringement case.

For more on the case:
- read this post from The Law Blog (WSJ sub. req.)

Samsung, Ericsson settle two-year patent dispute

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 06:59:57 -0400

Samsung and Ericsson have agreed to a cross-licensing deal on wireless technology patents, ending a legal battle that began when the companies failed to renew a pact that expired at the end of 2005.

Under the agreement, which Samsung disclosed in a South Korean filing, mobile-phone maker Samsung and wireless infrastructure vendor Ericsson will allow each other to use their respective patents for 2G and 3G technologies. The filing specifically states that Ericsson will let Samsung use its patents for GSM, GPRS, EDGE, TDMA and WCDMA technology.Ã‚Â

In the filing, Samsung said the companies are withdrawing all patent-related lawsuits against each other.Ã‚Â

Ericsson, based in Stockholm, had sued Samsung in 2006, saying the South Korea-based company had violated 11 patents, the aftermath of the deal that expired in 2005.Ã‚Â

For more on the filing and brief details from a Samsung spokesperson:
- read the AP article here