July 2013

A federal appeals court denied a petition from television broadcasters to reconsider a decision that allows Internet video service Aereo to continue operating.

The TV networks argue that Aereo is stealing their copyrighted content and should be shuttered immediately. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled against the broadcasters in April, rejecting their request for an injunction against the Internet start-up. The TV stations then asked the full Second Circuit Court to review the decision, but 10 of 12 judges declined to reconsider the case. The underlying lawsuit against Aereo, however, will proceed to a trial in U.S. District Court.

In a speech at the American Enterprise Institute, Federal Communications Commission member Ajit Pai proposed to establish a student-centered E-Rate program.

His plan focuses on five key goals:

1. Simplify the Program: Reduce red tape for fewer delays, more predictability, and no need to hire consultants
2. Fairer Distribution of Funding: Allocate E-Rate budget across every school in America; Schools receive money on a per-student basis; funds follow students when they change schools
3. Focus on Next-Generation Technologies for Kids: End funding for telephone service and eliminate disincentive to spend money on connecting classrooms
4. More Transparency and Accountability: Create website where anyone can find out exactly how any school is spending E-Rate funds; enables parents, schools boards, press, and public to conduct effective oversight
5. Fiscal Responsibility: Schools given fixed amount of money and must contribute at least one dollar for every three E-Rate dollars they receive; Cap overall USF budget before any increase in E-Rate budget.

Just days after T-Mobile launched a program enabling customers to upgrade their wireless devices more frequently, AT&T announced a similar plan. But details of the two companies’ plans vary considerably.

AT&T’s offering, dubbed AT&T Next, enables customers to upgrade their smartphones or tablets as frequently as once every 12 months. Under AT&T’s plan customers do not make a down payment on their device. Instead the cost of the device is spread over 20 equal monthly payments. There are no financing charges. If people want to upgrade after 12 months, they essentially reset the clock, beginning again with paying off the device over a new 20-month period. Their monthly payment decreases if they do not upgrade for 21 months or more.

T-Mobile’s plan, dubbed JUMP!, enables customers to upgrade more frequently. But according to information on the company’s website, customers do make an initial down payment. If you do the math, T-Mobile, like AT&T, does not have a financing fee. Instead, customers pay the balance of the cost of the device over a 24-month period. If the customer upgrades after six months, the T-Mobile website indicates he or she would make a new down payment and continue to pay for the remainder over the next 24 months – unless he or she upgrades again, in which case there would be another down payment and the counter would be re-set again for a new 24-month period.

A court's decision not to prevent multiple Samsung handsets from being sold in the United States despite their being found to infringe Apple patents will go before an appeal's court in early August.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington (DC) said it will hear 15 minutes of oral arguments in the case from Samsung and Apple attorneys on Aug. 9. The hearing comes almost a year after a jury at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose rejected arguments from Samsung and found that the company willfully set out to copy elements of Apple's iPhone when designing hardware and software for 26 of its phones and tablets.