Oral arguments were heard today at the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Verizon v. Vonage. Specifically, the appeals panel heard arguments about why an injunction against Vonage should or should not be imposed — if the court upholds the injunction, Vonage could go out of business entirely.
Brief background: Verizon successfully sued Vonage for infringing upon its patents in using certain technologies that are central to VoIP. Moreover, Vonage has been enjoined from using those technologies, although the VoIP pioneer succeeded in temporarily staying the injunction until the appeals court rules on the validity of the ban.
Today’s arguments focused on whether the injunction is enforceable. CNET’s Anne Broache says that at least one of the judges, Timothy Dyk, seems loathe to enforce the injunction because it would shut down Vonage.
In conveying that sentiment, Judge Dyk unintentionally (I think) said something funny. Dyk seemed to be seeking a middle ground resolution that would allow Vonage to continue surviving and suggested that one option is to give the company more time to devise a work-around. In so doing, Dyk said “I’m not sure Verizon has an interest in putting Vonage out of business.”
Ha ha ha ha…that’s so funny. Because, of course, that’s exactly what Verizon wants to do with this patent litigation. Stay tuned.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 2:03 PM | Print | Comments (0)This fun item landed in my inbox this morning. It seems that online betting site BetUS.com has some wagering going on related to the iPhone. Here’s a table of odds regarding the likelihood of various iPhone-related developments. My favorite bet: the odds (20:1) that someone will get trampled while trying to buy an iPhone.
| BetUS.com posts odds on the iPhone: |
| Consumers are reported camping out waiting for an iPhone - 3/1 |
| Initial iPhones get recalled - 30/1 |
| iPhone sells at least 12 Million units in 2008 - 5/6 |
| Apple’s stock jumps at least 10% in value in regards to the price on 6/30/07 - 1/2 |
| Consumers pay at least three times the original price ($1500) on ebay - 2/1 |
| The screen breaks/cracks like first generation nano - 150/1 |
| There are mass reports of the battery life being less than the promised 8 hours -10/1 |
| Someone is trampled while trying to get an iPhone - 20/1 |
| iPhone spontaneously combusts - 150/1 |
| How many iPhones will Apple sell in the first month? |
| Over 1.2 Million Units - 5/6 |
| Under 1.2 Million Units - 5/6 |
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 10:20 AM | Print | Comments (0)
The New York Times’ Laura Holson has this piece today about how Hollywood is shifting its perception of mobile video on the eve of Apple’s iPhone debut. Because the iPhone allows users to access the Internet via Wi-Fi, the possiblities of increased viewership for web-based TV shows and movies on mobile handsets are tantalizingly close.
But, one barrier to increased mobile video consumption is the gatekeeper role that mobile carriers play in deciding what kinds of video get consumed via their networks.
For years, mobile phone carriers like AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint have closely controlled what cellphone users watch, when they watch it, and on what kind of screen they watch it — much the way the networks did with television before new technologies loosened their grip. Many in Hollywood and Silicon Valley hope the iPhone’s multimedia features will make it easier for any mobile-crazed consumer to do the same things they do on the Web: watch their favorite television shows, download maps, send e-mail messages to friends and swap videos.
But, and we won’t really know this until Friday, will the iPhone’s Wi-Fi capabilities allow viewers to watch video from any source of content, not just YouTube (Apple has developed a special application so that iPhone owners can watch YouTube via Wi-Fi and AT&T’s Edge network). Will AT&T allow all kinds of video, not just YouTube, to work over its Edge network on the iPhone?
Nobody has the answers to these questions, which I find kind of weird at this late stage of the game and given all the excitement surrounding the iPhone. No matter how cool the iPhone is, AT&T has the ability to block content on the device.
“The iPhone is a fantastic device, but they don’t control the network,” said Craig Shapiro, head of content strategy and acquisition for Helio, the mobile phone maker and service company. “For these things to work, though, everyone has to get with the program.”
And AT&T isn’t exactly going out of its way to discuss this issue either. Neither is Apple. This is, to quote Tony Soprano, the 500-pound elephant in the mobile video room.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 8:36 AM | Print | Comments (1)
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