Anti-Piracy Patents for Cell Phones Pooled
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AMSTERDAM  - A film and music technology firm saidon Thursday it had grouped together all the patents needed toprotect digital film and music on mobile phones against piracy,the first time digital rights have been pooled.
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Arguments were heard today in a case whose outcome could require software companies to pay fines for patent-infringing software assembled in other countries.
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(InfoWorld) - Hackers who unlock Apple's iPhone from the AT&T network and share the method with 10 million of their closest Internet friends are inviting a lawsuit from the two companies, several intellectual property (IP)Â lawyers said Monday. Apple and AT&T may have a legal case against unlockers under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), especially if they try to sell software code or devices that unlock the iPhone, the lawyers said. But the legal landscape gets a bit complicated -- there's a legal exception to the DMCA's anticircumvention provisions that allows individual mobile phone users to unlock their devices for use on other networks. So figuring out how to unlock the iPhone yourself is not likely to be a DMCA violation, most of the IP lawyers said. But posting instructions or code online, even for free, may earn you a cease-and-desist letter from an unfriendly lawyer, and selling software or a device that unlocks the phone is inviting trouble, most of the lawyers said. But there's plenty of disagreement among IP lawyers about the interpretation of the DMCA. "It's an extremely grey [area], because I don't think the exemption was altogether clear," said Bart Showalter, an intellectual property lawyer in Dallas with the Baker Botts LLP law firm. "The idea of trying to use copyright to, in a sense, establish exclusivity in a service contract ... is going to be an interesting thing to watch." John McLaughlin, founder of Uniquephones, based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, had planned to release software Saturday that wouldÂ allow users to unlock their iPhone. But early Saturday morning, McLaughlin said he received a phone call from a man saying he was from a law firm representing AT&T. The caller saidÂ McLaughlin could be sued for copyright infringement. Two other groups have claimed to have unlocked the iPhone. Representatives of both AT&T and Apple declined to comment Monday on possible legal actions against unlockers. Showalter suggested that unlocking the iPhone and posting code or instructions for free would likely fall under the exception to the DMCA's anticircumvention provisions, thus protecting the unlocker from legal action. The exception allows circumvention of device controls "for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network," according to language from the U.S. registrar of copyrights. So if a hacker unlocks the iPhone, then posts the unlocking code for free, he's engaging in a legal activity and enabling others to engage in the same legal activity, said Michael Lewis, an IP lawyer with Fox Rothschild LLP. If that hacker is sued, he could probably argue that posting of the unlocking code is protected by free speech provisions in U.S. law, according to Lewis. Other IP lawyers disagreed. Movie studios have successfully sued Web site operators for distributing the DeCSS DVD-copying code, noted Carole Handler, an IP lawyer with Foley and Lardner LLP. The unlocker of the iPhone who posts code online could be held liable for secondary copyright infringement, she said. "I don't see that [Apple and AT&T] have a choice," Handler said. "They have to do something. If you don't protect your intellectual property, it's gone." Lewis' colleague, Gerry Norton, agreed, saying the unlocking exception was narrowly written. "The exception was just for the end-user," he said. Most of the lawyers agreed that selling software to unlock the iPhone, as McLaughlin was planning to do, would invite a lawsuit under the DMCA. "The courts seem to have less sympathy for people who are doing things to make a buck," Lewis said. But there wasn't even unanimous agreement on the legal liability of selling unlocking software. If the software being distributed targeted only the network lock on the iPhone, the developer could have a defense, Showalter said. "It does seem a little unusual to me that they say somebody can unlock their phone, but if someone tells them how to do it, that's a violation of the DMCA," he said. "If the software that's being sold is only doing the minimum amount that's necessary to allow it to interoperate with other services, you may have some support in the DMCA exception." Beyond the legal questions about unlocking the iPhone, Apple and AT&T could face their own legal challenges, Handler said. The exclusive contract between the two companies could lead to an antitrust lawsuit if a competitor or customer could successfully argue there's no other device like the iPhone available on the market, she said. "Consumers want new technology," she said. "This is the era of the consumer controlling the media. When the consumer is told he or she can't do something, they get pretty upset, and they start claiming conspiracy, antitrust, and the whole bit."
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Cell phone owners can now break locks to use their handsets with competing carriers, while film professors have the right to copy snippets from DVDs for educational compilations, the U.S. Copyright Office said Wednesday.
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Alcatel has accused Microsoft of infringing seven of its U.S. patents. The patents describe how to implement fast-forward and rewind functions in digital video streams, among other things.
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NTP Inc, which won a $612.5 million settlement from the maker of BlackBerry last year, has sued four of the top U.S. mobile service providers for infringing eight patents related to wireless e-mail.
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A group of cellular operators have announced an initiative that they claim will help prevent distribution of child pornography using mobile phones.
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InterDigital claims that some of Nokia's 3G phones use technology that it has patented.
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Patent cross-licence deal cover all but cutting-edge techs
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Firms finalize a quick settlement in a patent infringement claim over VoIP technology.
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A company finds a sneaky new way to silence security researchers: Claim that defeating its products infringes on patents. Commentary by Jennifer Granick.
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SAN FRANCISCO - Aerospace manufacturer Honeywell International Inc. has filed suit against 34 PC and mobile phone companies that it says are infringing on its patents for LCD (liquid crystal display) technology.ADVERTISEMENTSBC Case Study: Crate & BarrelWhat sold them on improving their network? A system that could cut management costs from the get-go. Find out more.
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Ongoing legal disputes over mobile phone patents between Nokia Corp. and Qualcomm Inc. are consuming much executive management time, generating substantial lawyer fees and, if they escalate, could affect handset development and prices, experts warn.
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NTP Inc, which won a $612.5 million  settlement from the maker of BlackBerry last year, has sued  four of the top U.S. mobile service providers for infringing  eight patents related to wireless e-mail.
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Aruba Networks&#160;countersued two divisions of Motorola&#160;Wednesday, adding a new twist to a wireless LAN (local area network) patent-infringement case that affects some of the biggest vendors in the business.Symbol Technologies and Wireless Valley Communications, both of which are now&#160;owned by&#160;Motorola, sued Aruba&#160;in August. They claimed Aruba knowingly used technology covered by several patents they own, and are seeking an injunction and damages.But in its response to their complaint, filed Wednesday, Aruba claimed Symbol knew enough about Aruba&#39;s products in 2003 to say they might be infringing Symbol&#39;s pending patents. Aruba also argues both Symbol and Wireless Valley withheld information they were required to give to patent examiners. As a result, the patents are invalid and Symbol and Wireless Valley&#39;s complaints should be dismissed, the company said.Aruba also countersued, seeking declaratory judgments that it didn&#39;t infringe and that the patents are invalid and unenforceable. Aruba wants Symbol and Wireless Valley to pay the costs of the suit and its attorney fees.In 2003, when Symbol was an independent company, it came close to buying Aruba, according to the filing. Throughout the first half of that year, as the companies discussed the proposed deal, Symbol had &quot;essentially unfettered access&quot; to information about how Aruba&#39;s products were designed and made, Aruba said. Among the engineers inspecting its technology was the inventor on two of the patents involved in the suit, they said. The talks eventually broke off because the companies couldn&#39;t agree on terms, the filing said.Aruba argued that Symbol never warned it might sue over the patents, leading Aruba to infer that it didn&#39;t intend to enforce any patent rights. The company waited for four years after that inspection and then sued without warning on the eve of an Aruba quarterly earnings announcement, Aruba said. In addition, both Symbol and Wireless Valley knew about Aruba&#39;s business for years and should have known about the activities it sued over, yet only sued after Aruba had invested tens of millions of dollars in designing and testing its products, the company said.&#160;
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Deal masks interest in controversial digital distribution patents?
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Samsung and Sony have signed a five-year cross-licensing agreement covering a wide range of patents for digital products. The agreement should reduce the potential for disputes