Hasta La Gadget!

We never had any doubt that Comcast’s anti-net-neutrality court victory would prove to be more of a defeat in the long run, and that’s exactly how it’s shaping up: some 74 Democratic members of Congress have voiced concerns about the FCC’s plan to re-classify broadband as a more highly-regulated “telecommunications service” instead of as an “information service” in letter sent to FCC chairman Julius Genachowski today, and a group of Democratic senators and representatives are planning a series of meetings in June with the goal of revamping US telecommunications law in general. According to Senate staffers who spoke to the Washington Post, the idea isn’t to pre-empt the FCC’s plan, but rather to bring the law into alignment with the modern market instead of trying to fit a round peg into a square hole — our current telecom law was enacted in 1996 and is based on law written in 1934, so a more modern revamp could bring sweeping changes to the way broadband providers are able to sell and manage their services.

We don’t know what the specific agenda is yet, but we’d bet the FCC’s recent finding that there’s no “effective competition” in the wireless industry is sure to play a big part in these discussions, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see some serious talk about cable providers and set-top hardware as well. Whatever happens, we’ll be keeping a sharp eye on these meetings — this is the first time we’ve seen the government take up the issue of modern telecommunications policy with this level of interest and momentum, and we’ve got a feeling some big things are afoot.

Congress investigating general revamp of telecommunications law originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 May 2010 18:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google might be trying to shake up video on the web by releasing the WebM video format and VP8 codec under a royalty-free open-source license, but we’ve already heard the format’s uncomfortably close relationship to H.264 might cause some patent concerns, and the MPEG-LA, which licenses the H.264 patents, doesn’t seem to be sitting still. CEO Larry Horn told All Things Digital that MPEG-LA is looking into forming a patent pool in order to license vendors who want stay clear of any patent disputes while using WebM — the idea would be to avoid any patent liability down the road by simply paying for a license now, especially since Google doesn’t seem to be promising anything when it comes to protection from lawsuits. We’d wager all this means WebM will go from royalty-free to patent-encumbered just as soon as MPEG-LA gets its paperwork in order — the same thing essentially happened to Microsoft when it tried to release the VC-1 format royalty-free — and that means video on the web might soon be right back where it started. We’ll see what happens.

Google’s WebM video format might not be so free after all, says MPEG-LA originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 11:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When the U.S. Department of Justice brought an antitrust suit against PC memory manufacturers in 2002, the RAM you see above wasn’t even a twinkle in an engineer’s eye… but seven years after Micron revealed the existence of a price fixing cartel and four years after Samsung sent three executives to jail and paid a $300 million penalty, the European Commission has slapped DRAM manufacturers with yet another fine. Those who ‘fessed up early were partially let off the hook, but Infineon and Hynix will shoulder €57 million and €51 million respectively, while Samsung owes Europe a cool €145 million for its role in the scandal. Of course, for a company that counts a quarterly $459 million in profit during an off year, we’re talking about another slap on the wrist.

DRAM cartel settles with European Commission, will pay €331 million fine originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 May 2010 02:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Okay, we’ve just gotten the full complaint HTC filed with the International Trade Commission this morning, alleging that the iPhone, iPad, and iPod infringe five of its patents and asking for sales and imports to be halted. What’s odd here is that HTC hasn’t yet filed a lawsuit in federal court, which could mean a lot of things — HTC could just be banking on the ITC’s somewhat faster process to force Apple’s hand, or it could be less sure of its patent claims and avoiding the harsher scrutiny of a courtroom in favor of an administrative decision. We can’t say for sure what the reasoning is — but we can read the ITC complaint and break down the claims, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. It’s all after the break, grab the PDF or check out the gallery and follow along.

Continue reading HTC’s complaint against Apple examined

HTC’s complaint against Apple examined originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 May 2010 18:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The term of Apple and AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity deal has long been a mystery — although USA Today reported a five-year arrangement when the original iPhone came out in 2007, that number has never been independently confirmed, and it’s been looking suspect in recent weeks as Verizon iPhone chatter has gotten louder. But we’ve been doing some digging and we can now confirm that Apple and AT&T entered into a five-year iPhone exclusive in 2007, based on court documents filed by Apple in California. Read on!

Continue reading Confirmed: Apple and AT&T signed five-year iPhone exclusivity deal — but is it still valid?

Confirmed: Apple and AT&T signed five-year iPhone exclusivity deal — but is it still valid? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 May 2010 17:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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