Judge allows usage of BlackBerry to continue, for now
 
In the US., owners of BlackBerry wireless e-mail devices can continue to use them, at least for now.

The New York Times reports (25 February) that a federal judge Friday declined to immediately stop the service, which is at the heart of a long-running patent dispute. That gave another reprieve to the company that makes the BlackBerry, Research in Motion, and its estimated 3.2 million customers in the United States.

Judge James R. Spencer of Federal District Court in Richmond expressed disappointment that Research in Motion and the company that is accusing it of infringing on its patents, NTP, had not been able to reach a settlement.

"I am absolutely surprised that you have left this incredibly important and significant decision to the court," he said toward the end of an almost four-hour hearing on whether to issue an injunction, which would halt the use of the service in the United States. "I have always thought that this decision, in the end, was a business decision."

According to the newspaper, the judge did not give a timetable for ruling on the injunction, nor did he indicate which way he might be leaning, saying only that any legal decision would be imperfect. He said he would first rule on damages owed by Research in Motion stemming from a jury verdict in 2002 that found that it had infringed on NTP's patents.

The hearing capped a week of verbal jousting between the companies. It came on the same day that Research in Motion, which is based in Ontario, said that it had received a final rejection notice from the United States Patent and Trademark Office covering one more of the NTP patents at the centre of the case. That decision, the company said, means all three NTP patents that are still related to the lawsuit have been found invalid.

The NYT says that NTP plans to appeal its findings to the Patent Office Board of Appeals. If the company disagrees with that body's finding, it can take the issue to the federal court. The appeal process could continue for months, if not years.

{mospagebreaktitle=US government dangles internet control contract}US government dangles internet control contract

The US government has taken the extraordinary step of dangling the contract for control of the internet above the heads of the world, according to The Register in a 24 February report.

The Register says that, in a "Sources Sought Notice put out by the Department of Commerce (DoC) late on Tuesday and only just noticed by the internet community, it is asking for "potential respondents" for the contract to run the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).

The IANA "function" is the maintenance of the main root file of the internet, the internet's directory. It decides who runs all the branches of the internet, including all the world's country codes such as .uk for Britain or .de for Germany.

However, according to The Regisater, by not stating the process as a "rebid", which the US government is entitled to do, the notice has been widely seen by the industry as a stark warning to internet overseeing organisation ICANN to pull its socks up.

The Register says that ICANN derives much of its real power from the fact that it holds the IANA contract and has frequently been accused of abusing that control to push its own agenda. Despite the fact that in public the US government is forced to praise ICANN, the two remain entwined in an unhappy marriage.

To make matters all the more complicated, the DoC actually retains control over ICANN and a memorandum of understanding between the two companies is due to expire later this year, says The Register.

{mospagebeaktitle=Nokia must be alert to acquisitions-incoming CEO}Nokia must be alert to acquisitions-incoming CEO

The world's top mobile phone maker Nokia Oyj must keep an eye out for possible acquisitions, the company's incoming Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo was reported as saying on Friday.

``Nokia has to consider acquisitions and cooperation scenarios pragmatically also in the future,'' Kallasvuo said on the web site of Finnish business magazine Talouselama.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (24 February) that earlier this month, Nokia completed its acquisition of US wireless messaging and e-mail company Intellisync, and said it had agreed to form a CDMA mobile phone joint venture with Japan's Sanyo Electric.

Kallasvuo, who is Nokia's chief operating officer and will take over as CEO from Jorma Ollila on 1 June, said the company's Multimedia and Enterprise Solutions units were investing heavily in innovative products.

{mospagebreaktitle=Ericsson files vs Samsung, alleges patent violation}Ericsson files vs Samsung, alleges patent violation

Mobile network equipment giant Ericsson has filed suit against mobile phone maker Samsung Electronics alleging patent infringement, Ericsson said on Friday.

``We have filed a lawsuit against Samsung for patent infringement in the US., UK, Germany and the Netherlands,'' said Ericsson spokeswoman Ase Lindskog.

Reuters reports in The Neww York Tikmes (24 February) that the Ericssson spokesman said: ``The reason is that we have had extensive negotiations with Samsung over a renewal of licences because their agreement with us expired on December 31 last year. They are using mobile phone patents which no longer have licences.''

A spokeswoman for Samsung in Seoul declined to comment.

According to Reuters, patent infringement and other legal battles can be quite common in the tech sector, where companies spend heavily on research and development.

Ericsson was among companies which last year complained to the European Union about Qualcomm, which they said was stifling competition in the mobile phone chip market. Qualcomm later filed a GSM patent suit against Nokia Oyj.

{mospagebreaktitle=Ruling may undercut Google in fight over book scans}Ruling may undercut Google in fight over book scans

A recent federal court decision in California might undermine a pillar of defense for Google in its dispute with publishers and authors who are challenging the company's right to scan books that are still under copyright.

The New York Times reports (25 February) that representatives of publishers and authors who have filed lawsuits against Google over its Book Search program said they believed that the decision raised questions about a case that Google had cited in its defense of the Book Search program.

In the recent case, Judge A. Howard Matz of United States District Court for the Central District of California, said Google's use of thumbnail-sized reproductions in its image search program violated the copyright of Perfect 10, a publisher of X-rated magazines and web sites, because it undermined that company's ability to license those images for sale to mobile phone users.

The newspaper says that the Perfect 10 decision went against an earlier ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which includes California. That ruling, in Kelly v. Arriba Soft, said the use of thumbnail images in an internet search engine did not violate the copyright of the producer of the original work.

Rather, the appeals court said, the thumbnail reproductions should be considered a "fair use" of copyrighted material because they were transformative in nature and provided a public service by allowing users to easily search the internet.

The NYT says that the court noted that because there was no market for the low-resolution, postage-stamp-size images, they did not affect the potential value of the actual-size images.

{mospagebreaktitle=Teen downloads billionth iTunes song}Teen downloads billionth iTunes song

Alex Ostrovsky got more than he bargained for when downloading Coldplay's ''Speed of Sound'' from the iTunes Music Store.

The Associated Press reports in The New York Times (25 February) that the 16-year-old's purchase was the one billionth song bought from the online music service that Apple Computer kicked off three years ago, charging 99 cents for most tracks. Ostrovsky's selection was from Coldplay's ''X&Y'' album.

The youth, who lives in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield Township, was showered with prizes: a 20-inch iMac, 10 fifth-generation iPods and a US$10,000 iTunes gift card.

AP says that Apple also said it would establish a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music in his name.

''Over one billion songs have now been legally purchased and downloaded around the globe, representing a major force against music piracy and the future of music distribution as we move from CDs to the Internet,'' Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, said in a statement.

AP reports that besides more than 2 million songs from the major music companies and independent record labels, the iTunes Music Store also features music videos, Pixar and Disney short films, TV shows, podcasts and audiobooks.

The growing popularity of purchasing songs by the track shows in declining CD sales. A total of 618.9 million CD albums were sold during 2005, down from the 762.8 million in 2001, according to Nielsen Soundscan, reports AP.

{mospagebreaktitle=MPAA strikes in Europe, targets search engines}MPAA strikes in Europe, targets search engines

The Motion Picture Association of America has struck in Europe - forcing the closure of what it described as the largest eDonkey P2P file sharing network.

The Register reports (24 February) that the Razorback2 network, with over a million users at any one time, was hosted at Zaventem, near Brussels, and Swiss police arrested its owner.

"We are very grateful to the Swiss and Belgian authorities for their cooperation and effective action in dealing with this particularly egregious enterprise and the individual profiting from it," said Chris Marcich of the MPAA's European office, in a statement.

According to The Register, the MPAA followed up with a new barrage of lawsuits aimed at nine more file sharing services, including search engines.

These include Usenet hosts NZB-Zone.com, BinNews.com and DVDRs.net; eDonkey network Ed2k-It.com; and five BitTorrent indexing sites owned by one individual.

{mospagebreaktitle=Swiss Army knife combines MP3 player, storage device}Swiss Army knife combines MP3 player, storage device

The famous Swiss Army Knife has added yet another tool to its roster of multi-use capabilities -- MP3 player.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (25 February) that the SwissMemory s.beat from Swissbit and Victorinox is an all-in-one, flash memory-based digital audio player and USB storage device built into a full-metal Swiss Army Knife. The detachable player supports all major file formats, includes a time-shifting FM tuner and features eight hours of playback time.

The s.beat also includes standard Swiss Army Knife tools such as scissors, nail file, screwdriver and a blade. An airline-friendly version sans tools is also available.

Reuters says that the 1GB version retails for US$170. Pricing for the 2GB and 4GB versions is not yet available.

{mospagebreaktitle=California wants green iPods}California wants green iPods

California Democrats have introduced legislation to the state assembly tightening the rules on the manufacture and disposal of toxic substances used in electronics. Super-hazardous heavy metals like mercury, cadmium, lead and chromium would be covered by regulations that would come into force in 2008, if passed.

The Register reports (24 February) that if such nasties get into the water table they can cause serious nervous damage, kidney trouble, cancers and birth defects.

Current California law enforces the phasing out of heavy metals in devices with video displays. The new bill, extends that to cover all electronic and battery-operated kit.

The Register reports that Green lobby group Californians Against Waste is sponsoring the bill. Executive director Mark Murray said: "Cell phones, iPods, computers and many other modern electronic devices have a useful life of maybe a year or two before they become obsolete. It doesn't make sense to use hazardous materials in these disposable devices."

According to The Register, the US Federal Environmental Protection Agency estimates that Americans dump 2million tons of hi-tech trash annually. Big manufacturers Dell, Apple and HP already have schemes encouraging consumers to recycle their obselete electronics.

The EU has passed similar legislation which comes into effect this year