European Union

Federal Court Rules Against Qualcomm in H.264 Video Compression Patents Case, Broadcom Says

admin — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 13:52:15 +0000

Broadcom Corporation announced that a federal district court adopted a unanimous jury finding that Qualcomm Incorporated violated its duty to disclose patents to an industry standards body and thereby waived its rights to enforce two patents Qualcomm alleged covered the H.264 video compression standard.

Qualcomm filed suit against Broadcom in San Diego federal court in October 2005 alleging that Broadcom® products infringed the two patents, and on January 26, 2007, a unanimous jury found that Broadcom did not infringe the patents. The jury also rendered advisory verdicts that Qualcomm committed inequitable conduct before the USPTO, and that Qualcomm knowingly violated a duty to disclose its patents to the Joint Video Team, or its parent organization, during the JVT's preparation and eventual adoption of the H.264 video compression standard.

In a 34 page opinion, the Court found:

* "Qualcomm waived its rights to enforce the '104 and '767 patents against H.264 products by its silence in the face of a "clear duty to speak" to identify to the JVT its IPR related to the development of the H.264 standard" » read more »

Abuse of Interconnect Obligations by EU Mobile Networks

admin — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 13:31:58 +0000

Edinburgh, Scotland, 7th March 2007 -- Telecommunications regulation has come a long way over the years but has regulation actually been effective? In Europe, we have some compelling words on paper that provide a framework for regulation, yet progressive mobile messaging companies still find that they face what amounts to anti-competitive behaviour from a number of European mobile network operators (MNOs).

This anti-competitive behaviour is clearly seen in the area of interconnect in the mobile market. Interconnect between networks is essential for 3rd party network operators, such a mobile messaging company HSL, to deliver new or competing services to mobile subscribers and it is here that stronger and firmer regulation is essential. Based on HSL’s experience when attempting to obtain interconnect in Europe there are a large number of MNOs in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom that HSL believes are behaving in an anti-competitive manner. » read more »

GSME calls for UHF band to be opened up to mobile and fixed telecoms service

admin — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 07:57:30 +0000

GSME calls for UHF band to be opened up to mobile and fixed telecoms service

26th February 2007 - Brussels: GSM Europe has called on the European Commission to define a harmonised sub-band within the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) band, which is currently used for broadcasting analogue television, to be used for fixed and mobile telecoms applications. This is one of the options set out in the Radio Spectrum Policy Groupâ€™s (RSPG) Opinion on â€˜EU Spectrum Policy Implications of the Digital Dividendâ€™, which examines how UHF spectrum could be used once television broadcasting has become entirely digital within the European Union. The RSPG advises the European Commission on spectrum policy. » read more »