Sprint, AT&T Settle Credit Law Violation Claims
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Sprint and AT&T will pay nearly $1.5 million in civil penalties to settle government claims that the companies violated federal credit laws for customers seeking telephone service.
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-- Two months ago, Fred Poteet walked into a Sprint store to resolve some technical problems with his cell phone service. When he walked out, he had a new wireless contract _ with Cox Communications Inc., his cable TV operator.
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So long, annoying people Sprint-Nextel has terminated the accounts of its 1,000 most-annoying customers. After a recent internal review, the U.S. wireless carrier gave at least 1,000 people the boot because they've been making far too many calls to the company's customer care centers. Of course, the real shocker is that the company has agreed to waIve their termination fees.â¦
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AT&amp;T Wireless and AT&amp;T Corp. have resolved a dispute over branding and reached a new agreement ahead of Cingular Wireless&#39; planned purchase of AT&amp;T Wireless, the three companies said Monday.
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Sprint Corp. and AT&amp;T Corp. have agreed to pay a total of nearly $1.5 million to settle government charges that they denied or limited phone service to hundreds of thousands of customers
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AT&amp;T filed a lawsuit against VoIP provider Vonage on Friday seeking damages for alleged patent infringement.The lawsuit comes just days after Vonage settled a patent-infringement lawsuit with telecom provider Sprint Nextel.In a filing with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, AT&amp;T alleged that Vonage wilfully infringed an AT&amp;T patent related to telephone systems that allow people to make VoIP calls using standard telephone devices.In the legal filing, AT&amp;T said it tried to reach an agreement with Vonage to license the patent, but failed, which forced the lawsuit.Vonage announced on Oct. 8 that it settled its suit with Sprint Nextel for $80 million. As part of that agreement, Vonage agreed to license VoIP patents from Sprint, including more than 100 patents covering technology for connecting calls from a traditional phone network to an IP network.Vonage is also in the process of resolving a patent infringement dispute with Verizon. Earlier this year, a court found&#160;Vonage infringed on Verizon patents&#160;and ordered an injunction that could have prevented Vonage from signing up new customers.&#160;Vonage won an injunction staying the order&#160;and is appealing the original infringement ruling. Vonage in August said it was close to rolling out workarounds for two of the three patents Verizon claimed.Vonage is one of the largest independent VoIP providers in the U.S. with nearly 2.5 million customers.
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The companies settle a lawsuit in which the software giant was accused of poaching smart-phone trade secrets.
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By DEBORAH YAO  Two months ago, Fred Poteet walked into a Sprint store to resolve some technical problems with his cell phone service. When he walked out, he had a new wireless contract - with Cox Communications Inc., his cable TV operator.
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AT&amp;T, AT&amp;T Wireless, and Cingular Wireless resolved issues relating to the use of the AT&amp;T brand in connection with Cingular&#39;s acquisition of AT&amp;T Wireless.
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Sprint Corp. and AT&amp;T Corp. will pay $1.5 million for using some credit reports to limit or deny telephone service without properly alerting customers, the US Federal Trade Commission said on Friday.
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)&#160;has settled a complaint with a Web-based company it accused of selling people&#39;s telephone records without permission, the agency said Monday.The settlement with CEO Group, doing business as Check Em Out, bars the company and its operator Scott Joseph from marketing or selling phone records, and it requires the company to give up $25,000 of its profits from selling phone records. Selling phone records to third parties is illegal under federal law, the FTC had charged.The FTC in May 2006 filed complaints in U.S. court against five Web-based companies that obtained and sold confidential phone records to third parties. In addition to the settlement with CEO Group, the FTC has settled two other cases and obtained a default judgment against a fourth company. The complaint against the fifth company is still active.The FTC&#39;s complaints came after complaints from privacy groups and members of the U.S. Congress about pretexting, when someone obtains a telephone customers&#39; records without permission under false pretexts. In many cases, companies offering phone records over the Internet were calling telephone carriers and pretending to be the targeted customer. In September 2006,&#160;Hewlett-Packard revealed it had been spying on some of its board members and journalists in an attempt to uncover the source of boardroom leaks, and HP officials later said their investigators had used pretexting to obtain phone records.The Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits customers&#39; phone records from being disclosed unless &quot;upon affirmative written request by the customer.&quot; The FTC charged the five Web-based companies of engaging in unfair business practices.The settlement with CEO Group prohibits it from obtaining, marketing or selling consumer phone records or other consumer personal information except where allowed by law, the FTC said in a news release. The settlement, approved by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, includes a judgment of $222,381, the amount the company earned by selling phone records, but the defendants said they were able to pay only $25,000. If the court finds that the defendants misrepresented their finances, the entire amount will be due, the FTC said.
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Top U.S .phone company AT&T Inc  said on Monday that it was ordered to pay $156 million after losing a jury verdict in a patent infringement case brought by TGIP Inc.
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Shortly after being ordered to pay $58 million to Verizon in a patent suit, voice-over-the-internet phone service Vonage has now been ordered to pay $69.5 million to Sprint Nextel.
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The nation's largest local phone companies won a Supreme Court victory Monday in a lawsuit by consumers alleging anticompetitive business practices.
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The Federal Trade Commission said Friday that it will make Sprint Corp. pay $1.125 million to settle charges that the telecommunications giant skirted federal credit laws.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)Â has proposed fines totaling $2.8 million to three wireless carriers for failing to meet coverage requirements for an emergency dialing service called E911, the agency said Thursday. The FCC levied the fines against Sprint Nextel, Alltel, and U.S. Cellular for failing to meet a Dec. 31, 2005, deadline for having 95 percent of their networks capable of using enhanced 911, an emergency dialing service that gives dispatchers the location of the call. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said public safety is a top priority at the agency. "I recognize that the public expects us to get these issues right," he said in a statement. "Alltel, Sprint Nextel, and U.S. Cellular failed to meet this critical deadline by a significant margin, despite the clear requirements of the Commission and the needs of their consumers." Sprint Nextel would pay a fine of just over $1.3 million under the FCC's proposal, which the carriers can appeal. Alltel's fine would be $1 million, and U.S. Cellular's would be $500,000, an FCC spokesman said. As of the December 2005 deadline, 81 percent of Sprint's network had E911 service capabilities, while 74 percent of Nextel's network did, according to the FCC. The two companies merged in 2005. About 84 percent of Alltel's customers had E911 service, and about 89 percent of U.S. Cellular's customers did. Alltel and U.S. Cellular have since reached the 95 percent threshold, but Sprint Nextel has not, the FCC said. As of December 2005, 15 million Sprint Nextel customers did not have E911 service, the agency said. Martin called the fines "significant and appropriate." "On the wireless side, Americans increasingly expect that dialing 911 also means first responders can pinpoint a callerâs location, even when the caller is incapacitated or does not know where he or she is," he added. "Our actions today underscore the critical importance that 911 services play in the lives of the public."
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AT&T Wireless and  Cingular Wireless say they have resolved the issues relating to Cingular's use of the AT&T brand name once Cingular's acquisition of its former rival is complete. The agreement also includes a provision for the purchase of AT&T network services.