In International Custom Products, Inc. ("ICP") v .U.S., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the holding of the Court of International Trade, as the CAFC found a lack of jurisdiction, remanding the case with instructions for dismissal.
AT&T asked the FCC to reject the National Exchange Carrier Assn.’s average schedule formulas for July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2008, saying the “immensely costly ’transition payment’ plan” proposed would benefit rural carriers but harm others. AT&T said the agency should ignore NTCA and OPASTCO’s support, since the plan would only help “their respective constituencies.” The rural trade groups’ comments “simply parrot NECA’s purported justification for the transition plan and fall equally short of providing any valid basis for the Commission to adopt those proposed modifications,” AT&T said. But NECA said in replies the rural telcos are pointing to a problem the Commission must address. “Comments filed by NTCA and OPASTCO show… that the proposed transition is necessary to assure average schedule companies are not harmed by sudden reductions in interstate access settlements that may occur if the new formulas are implemented on a flash-cut basis,” NECA said: “The Commission itself has recognized the importance of introducing average schedule formula reductions gradually by approving, and in some cases mandating, similar settlement transitions in the past.”
The RIAA tiptoed a fine line, telling an Okla. federal judge he was wrong to rule that the trade group must pay an innocent defendant’s attorney fees in Capitol v. Foster (WID Feb 8 p3). The group has filed a motion for reconsideration in the case, demanding Judge Lee West reexamine his reasoning. RIAA used defendant Debbie Foster’s subscriber agreement with Cox Communications to claim she’s liable for any file-sharing, an explicit rejection of West’s ruling that simply holding an Internet account doesn’t establish liability. It requested West change the date from which Foster can claim attorney fees, trying to limit its own liability.
Qualcomm and Broadcom withdrew several key patent complaints among many the wireless-chip makers have filed against one another in recent years, the companies said late last week. The compromise means dismissal of 2 federal court cases in San Diego, one set to go to trial next week. Other cases between the companies aren’t affected. Meanwhile, Qualcomm said that earlier this month a federal judge in Tex. dismissed an antitrust suit against it and other major companies by small vendor Golden Bridge Technology.
Alcatel-Lucent’s patent victory over Microsoft is only the first in a string of cases the company filed when it was just Lucent over patents that the original Bell Labs had developed. This year will see 3 more cases involving Microsoft, Dell and Gateway over various digital audio-visual technologies. A jury in the U.S. Dist. Court, San Diego gave Alcatel-Lucent a $1.52 billion award against Microsoft (WID Feb 23 p1). Alcatel-Lucent wouldn’t comment on the outcome’s effect on future suits. Microsoft denied the decision would have any effect.
Alcatel-Lucent’s patent victory over Microsoft is only the first in a string of cases the company filed when it was just Lucent over patents that the original Bell Labs had developed. This year will see 3 more cases involving Microsoft, Dell and Gateway over various digital audio-visual technologies. A jury in the U.S. Dist. Court, San Diego gave Alcatel-Lucent a $1.52 billion award against Microsoft (CD Feb 23 p1). Alcatel-Lucent wouldn’t comment on the outcome’s effect on future suits. Microsoft denied the decision would have any effect.
The MPAA announced a new round of lawsuits Thurs. against unauthorized file-sharers. Several films nominated for this Sun.’s Academy Awards, such as Sideways and The Incredibles, are mentioned in the group’s lawsuits.
An RIAA motion to dismiss without prejudice in the best- known P2P infringement case (WID Dec 20 p5) has met fiery opposition from the defense, which accused the trade group’s lawyer of physical intimidation to extract damning testimony from the defendant’s daughter. RIAA also inexplicably added a new charge against defendant Patricia Santangelo, whom it said wasn’t the “primary” infringer in the house, lawyer Jordan Glass told U.S. Dist. Court, White Plains, N.Y., Judge Colleen McMahon. An RIAA spokeswoman declined to comment.
BERKELEY, Cal. -- The Supreme Court EBay v. MercExchange ruling of last year has district judges enjoining competing manufacturers for patent infringement, but not other kinds of defendant, said Gen. Counsel Mark Chandler of Cisco, owner of Scientific-Atlanta and Linksys. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a unanimous opinion but concurrences varied, Chandler said Fri. at a Federal Circuit Bar Assn. symposium here. The concurrence generally being followed is Justice Anthony Kennedy’s, not Chief Justice John Roberts’s, he said. Chandler agrees with the ruling to make injunctions more discretionary, he said: “Equity has to be done can only be done on a case by case basis, looking at the 4-factor test” long assumed to govern the area.
In January 2007, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that it was providing the trade with a grace period for entries filed during the February 3 - 20, 2007period regarding the World Customs Organization (WCO) 2007 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) changes that became effective on February 3, 2007.