April 2011

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a lower court's ruling that Dish Network must disable its DVRs -- found to have infringed on a key patent owned by TiVo -- and must pay sanctions for violating prior injunctions to disable the equipment, as the parties' seven-year legal fight appears to be nearing an end. However, the court -- which considered the appeal en banc, as opposed to by a three-judge panel -- vacated the Texas district court's finding of contempt of the infringement provision of the permanent injunction, and vacated in part the damages awarded to TiVo for EchoStar's continued infringement.

"Faced with an imminent shut-down of millions of DVRs (the precise number has never been disclosed), we believe Dish will be faced with a gun-to-the-head settlement requirement," Sanford Bernstein senior analyst Craig Moffett wrote in a research note. Analysts have previously estimated Dish would be forced to pay a licensing fee of $1.75 to $3 per DVR in a settlement with TiVo. The total cost to Dish of disabling and replacing the infringing DVRs could run as high as $3 billion, according to Moffett, although he added that it's possible Dish has replaced some of the infringing DVRs already which would lower that figure.

In the effort to sell Congress on its proposed takeover of T-Mobile, AT&T has just landed a big-name lobbyist: former Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA).

The Louisiana Republican will be jumping into the heated debate over an industry he once helped regulate: Tauzin served as chairman of the House Commerce Committee, and earlier headed the House telecommunications subcommittee. He is now with the law firm Alston & Bird. Tauzin joins a team of AT&T lobbyists as a skeptical Congress gears up to scrutinize the proposed merger. He brings some unique advantages. Tauzin began his 25-year career in Congress as a Democrat and finished as a Republican. He served on the leadership teams of both parties. "I built some great relationships that continue to this day," he said. A member of Congress in 1984, when AT&T was forced to break-up, Tauzin says that for all the competition that move fostered, "I'm not sure that divestiture and breaking the Bell system was the greatest thing we could have done. There's great advantage, obviously, in size and capability in terms of international communications."

Kansas City (KS) beat out 1,100 cities, largely because Google officials believe it can build efficiently, and "develop relationships with local government and organizations that can serve as a template for the use of this next-generation infrastructure," says Dan Martin, Global Communications and Public Affairs for Google.

As a result, Google plans to build a fiber broadband service in KCK, starting next year. It also plans to let other Internet service providers (ISPs) use their pipes to provide service. At the first community meeting to discuss the project, Google representatives told government officials and residents more about why their city was picked for the demonstration project. The company's interest, in part, was because the fiber optic infrastructure in Kansas City was overbuilt, the Kansas Health Institute reported. At the meeting, Matt Dunne, Google's head of community affairs, said that the overbuilding of pipe showed a great deal of foresight. The pipe dates back to the city's railroad heritage. Once construction begins, Dunne continued, the company expects minimal inconvenience to residents because Kansas City also has great utility poles. Mayor Joe Reardon told Bloomberg News his community won because it focused on the fundamentals and on their strengths, which include the combined Kansas City and Wyandotte County government (called the Unified Government), its consolidated control of the city and county's utilities and its solid public-private partnerships.

Amazon announced Kindle Library Lending, a new feature launching later this year that will allow Kindle customers to borrow Kindle books from over 11,000 libraries in the United States.

Kindle Library Lending will be available for all generations of Kindle devices and free Kindle reading apps. Customers will be able to check out a Kindle book from their local library and start reading on any Kindle device or free Kindle app for Android, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone. If a Kindle book is checked out again or that book is purchased from Amazon, all of a customer's annotations and bookmarks will be preserved. Amazon is working with OverDrive, the leading provider of digital content solutions for over 11,000 public and educational libraries in the United States, to bring a seamless library borrowing experience to Kindle customers.

For publishing as a whole, it marks yet another sign that in an industry of paper and hardcovers -- even those stored in the basements of old, dusty institutions like libraries -- the transition to the digital age is all but inevitable. How are libraries going to cope with this transition? According to a recent report by Library Journal, libraries across the U.S. are gearing up for this transition by licensing e-books just as they would purchase print copies for their collections. The survey of 781 US libraries found that 72% of public libraries offer e-books, with more their 1,500 on average in their digital circulations. Of the other 28% that do not offer e-books, roughly a third plan to make them available in the coming year. What's more, when asked why they're supporting e-books, 64% libraries cited patron request, and 77% cited projected usage.