Well, look at Ma Bell now, wishing it’d all just go away. Tied up in lawsuits, the company has filed motions to dismiss the two complaints brought by Sprint and C Spire Wireless (formerly Cellular South), which seek to block AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile. In the filings, it’s argued that the two providers represent their own interests, rather than that of the public. AT&T further reveals that C Spire had pursued private negotiations prior to the lawsuit, where the regional provider agreed to support the merger “if AT&T would agree not to engage in facilities-based competition in Mississippi.” Ma Bell goes on to state, “This inappropriate proposal confirms that what Cellular South fears is competition, not lack of competition.” Given the latest maneuver (which smacks heavily of PR spin), there’s no doubt that lawyers for Sprint and C Spire will have a bit of homework for the weekend.

AT&T asks court to dismiss lawsuits filed by Sprint and C Spire Wireless originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like the US government isn’t the only party looking to stand in the way of AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile. Sprint today announced that it has filed suit in federal court in the District of Columbia against AT&T, Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile. The filing outlines the carrier’s concern that the proposed deal would harm consumers, corporate customers and carriers (such as, you know, Sprint), while transforming AT&T-Mobile and Verizon into a “duopoly.” Of course, this isn’t the first time the carrier has let the world know that it’s not particularly pumped about the whole proposal. See the full litigious press release after the break.

Continue reading Sprint files suit to stop AT&T / T-Mobile merger

Sprint files suit to stop AT&T / T-Mobile merger originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The latest twist in the on-going Apple / Samsung patent soap opera is a doozy, particularly for Android fans Down Under. Samsung will not be advertising or selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia, at least until the Korean company gets court approval to do so — or until the suit is resolved. Due to differences between the US and Australian versions of the Android tablet, Samsung is required to present the device to Apple at least seven days before its planned launch. Apple claims that the US version of the tablet infringes on ten of the company’s patents.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales halted in Australia by Apple suit originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Personal Audio sues Apple again, targets iPhone 4, iPad 2 and newer iPods originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jul 2011 01:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ah, the Eastern District of Texas. Home to tumbleweeds, free range cattle and boatloads of patent trolls. Personal Audio, a patent licensing company with a highfalutin’ facility in Beaumont, Texas has become the latest outfit to claim victory over a major CE company, with Apple being asked to hand over $8 million to settle a tiff involving iPod playlists. Bloomberg reports that a federal jury in the Lonestar state found that Cupertino’s iPod players infringed on patents for “downloadable playlists,” right around two years after Personal Audio initially filed the claim for a staggering $84 million. We’re told that the inventions cover “an audio player that can receive navigable playlists and can skip forward or backward through the downloaded list,” and while Apple unsurprisingly stated that it wasn’t actually using those very inventions, that hasn’t stopped the courts from disagreeing just a wee bit. Now, the real question: are Sirius XM, Coby and Archos — also named in the original suit — going to be facing similar circumstances?

Apple coughing up $8 million to Personal Audio in iPod playlist settlement originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jul 2011 16:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Back in April, Samsung slapped back at Apple’s claims of patent infringement with a healthy helping of ten claims of its own. Now Bloomberg is reporting that Samsung quietly dropped its counter suit against the Cupertino-based company on June 30th, in an attempt “to streamline the legal proceedings.” Of course that doesn’t mean the saga is over: Apple’s smartphone infringement accusations stand, as do legal battles in South Korea, Japan, Germany, and the UK Samsung says it will also continue to fight Apple’s accusations in the US in the form of a counter-claim. One down, one to go?

Samsung drops counter suit against Apple — Apple’s still got a bone to pick originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Jul 2011 13:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Back in April, Samsung slapped back at Apple’s claims of patent infringement with a healthy helping of ten claims of its own. Now Bloomberg is reporting that Samsung quietly dropped its counter suit against the Cupertino-based company on June 30th, in an attempt “to streamline the legal proceedings.” Of course that doesn’t mean the saga is over: Apple’s smartphone infringement accusations stand, as do legal battles in South Korea, Japan, Germany, and the UK Samsung says it will also continue to fight Apple’s accusations in the US in the form of a counter-claim. One down, one to go?

Samsung drops counter suit against Apple — Apple’s still got a bone to pick originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Jul 2011 13:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Score one for the little guy. An East Texas jury recently awarded a relatively small computer firm a pretty hefty settlement in a patent infringement suit that named Google, Yahoo, Amazon, AOL, and Myspace as defendants. The jury awarded Bedrock Computer Technologies LLC $5 million for a patent concerning the Linux kernel found in the software behind Google’s servers. The patent in question is described as a “method and apparatus for information storage and retrieval using a hashing technique with external chaining and on-the-fly removal of expired data.” It appears Google is the first of the defendants to face a judgement, but we have a feeling this decision might have set a precedent. Of course, no infringement suit would be complete without a healthy helping of appeals — and considering the decision came from a district court, we can almost guarantee this case is no exception. You didn’t expect the big guys to stay down for the count, did you?

Google ordered to pay $5 million in Linux patent infringement suit originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 22:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone: in the latest chapter of the Apple-Samsung dispute over their smartphones’ resemblance, the latter company has just retaliated by filing lawsuits against Apple in three countries. Sammy’s load of ammo include five patent infringements in South Korea, two in Japan, and three in Germany, though we’ve yet to hear more details about these claims. Now we just sit back and enjoy the show — popcorn, anyone?

[Thanks, Jake L.]

Samsung strikes back at Apple with ten patent infringement claims originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 23:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cyberdyne’s HAL (Hybrid Assistive limb) robotic suit has been kicking (stumbling?) around for years now, and at this year’s Cybernics International Forum, the company demoed a couple of new iterations of the technology. We’ve seen the heavy-duty version of the technology scale a Swiss peak, but the new demo showcased a lighter and leaner lower-body suit (not unlike Lockheed’s HULC system) meant for helping those with muscle diseases remain ambulatory. The differences between the new rig and previously seen full-body exoskeleton — meant for use by health care professionals and factory workers to aid in heavy lifting — are less robust servos and a slimmer profile allowing wearers to worry less over their looks and more over living their lives. Peep the bipedal bionics in action after the break.

Continue reading Cyberdyne demos lower-body HAL exoskeleton for helping the disabled, not eradicating mankind (video)

Cyberdyne demos lower-body HAL exoskeleton for helping the disabled, not eradicating mankind (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Mar 2011 07:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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