Ina Fried

T-Mobile is trying to walk a fine line as it touts the gains it is making as an independent company while still arguing that further consolidation would benefit consumers.

T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Braxton Carter and marketing chief Mike Sievert said that a potential combination with Sprint or another entity would allow the company to take its “un-carrier” approach to more consumers.

“We believe this is a scale industry,” Sievert said. “It would allow a disruptive player to become even more disruptive.”

Carter said it would be kind of like putting the un-carrier “on steroids.” Regulators in Washington, though, seem opposed to a Sprint-T-Mobile deal, although Sprint and SoftBank have been making the rounds in DC trying to put forward their case for why it could be a good thing.

The jury weighing the Apple-Samsung patent case heard more than 50 hours of testimony, but still has some questions they wish had been answered.

In a series of notes to the court, the deliberating jurors asked for more details on how Apple and Samsung chose the patents they sued over in this case, as well as what Steve Jobs said when Apple first decided to pursue its patent case against Samsung and whether Google was mentioned. They also asked what Samsung’s reaction was when it learned Apple believed it was infringing.

The jury is still out on the latest Apple-Samsung patent trial, but Samsung has already won the larger battle.

When the iPhone was introduced in 2007, Samsung’s US smartphone market share was about 10 percent. By mid-2010 it had dropped to about half that level. By 2013, Samsung had more than rebounded, nabbing nearly a third of the US market in some quarters.

For all Apple’s legal victories, including a roughly $1 billion verdict in the last patent trial, Samsung has continued to grow its share of the smartphone market, both in the US and globally.

Apple has twisted Samsung’s words to make it appear that it was looking to copy the iPhone, but that wasn’t the case, lawyers for the Korean electronics giant argued in closing statements in the companies’ patent infringement case.

The iPhone, Samsung argues, doesn’t even employ at least three of the specific patents for which infringement is claimed in the case.

“You can’t copy if it’s not there,” said Samsung attorney Bill Price, one of four lawyers that will tag-team the company’s closing argument. In the case, Apple has accused a number of Samsung phones and tablets of infringing five patents and argued it is due more than $2 billion in damages.

The pursuit of that large amount is what prompts Apple to talk about copying and stealing, Price said. He also made the case that all Samsung did is what most other phone makers did -- start using Google’s Android to compete with the iPhone. “The Android platform is the world’s alternative to iOS,” Price said.

The latest Apple-Samsung patent megatrial is nearing its end, with the final witness testimony scheduled to take place.

The two sides have just a few minutes remaining in the 25 hours granted to each to present its case. The jury will get to start early, with the lawyers and Judge Koh sticking around to hash out a bunch of details including final jury instructions and the form that the jurors will use to decide the case.

Judge Lucy Koh released a proposed jury form, but both sides objected to it, saying it could lead to confusion. Each side submitted proposals of their own in early April.

Apple is seeking more than $2 billion in damages, while Samsung says that figure is a “gross exaggeration” and is looking for only a few million dollars on its counterclaim.

Ahead of testimony, the lawyers in the case and Judge Lucy Koh are discussing the impact of a new ruling from the Federal Circuit in a related case involving Apple and Motorola. In particular, that case deals with one of the patents in this case -- the ’647 patent related to “quick links”.

A Google lawyer testified that the company, pursuant to its contractual obligations, agreed to take over defense of some of the claims in Apple’s current patent lawsuit as well as to indemnify Samsung should it lose on those claims.

Apple played deposition testimony from Google lawyer James Maccoun, who verified emails in which Google agreed to provide partial or full indemnity with regard to four patents as well as to take over defense of those claims.

Of the four patents Google over which offered to cover at least some costs, two were dropped from the case before the trial began. The two patents that remain in the case, the ’414 and ’959 patents, cover background synchronization and universal search, respectively.

Although Google was seen as a shadow figure in the case -- most of the patents in this trial have to do with functions of Android or Google’s apps -- this was the first evidence shown to the jury that Google is playing a central role in the defense.

Microsoft said that it expects its deal to acquire Nokia’s phone unit to close soon -- with a couple minor changes. Under the revised deal, Microsoft will no longer acquire Nokia’s Korean manufacturing plant.

Instead, it will take on 21 people working in China that had been part of Nokia’s chief technology office, the rest of which is sticking with Nokia. Microsoft will also manage Nokia.com and Nokia’s social media presence for up to a year following the deal’s close.

With several states and municipalities considering various mandatory “kill-switch” laws for mobile devices, the wireless industry announced a voluntary commitment to include new anti-theft technology on phones starting 2015.

The commitment has the backing of the five largest US cellular carriers as well as the key players in the smartphone device and operating system markets, a list that includes Apple, Google, HTC, Huawei, Motorola, Microsoft, Nokia and Samsung.

Those signing the pledge agree that devices going on sale after July 2015 will have the ability to remotely wipe data and be rendered inoperable, if the user chooses, to prevent the device from being reactivated without the owner’s permission. Lost or stolen devices could later be restored if recovered. The carriers also agreed they would facilitate these measures.

EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes gave an impassioned plea for Europe to use the Edward Snowden revelations as a wake-up call and to make offering a more secure Internet something of a competitive advantage.

She also said European regulators should find ways to guarantee more consumer protections while at the same time avoiding rules that would make Europe isolationist. Afterward, Re/code caught up with Kroes to get a few more details on how she imagines that taking shape.

“We are talking about an open Internet, and I am a great believer (in that),” Kroes said in an interview on the sidelines of the CeBit Global Conference. “We need to be absolutely certain that it is not ruled by other ones and in ways that are not fitting in our culture.” Trust, security and privacy are key European values that must be ensured, she said.

Given the vast amounts of data that will be collected by the cars of the future, strict protections are needed to prevent government intrusion, the chairman of Volkswagen Group said.

“The car must not become a data monster,” Martin Winterkorn said, at the start of the CeBit trade show in Germany. Car makers already protect drivers from hydroplaning, fatigue and traffic. They must also protect against government misuse of data, he said. “I clearly say yes to Big Data, yes to greater security and convenience, but no to paternalism and Big Brother,” Winterkorn said, according to an English translation of his prepared remarks. He called for a voluntary commitment from the car industry to protect customer data and said his company stands ready to join such an effort.

The data protection concerns voiced by Winterkorn were echoed by government and industry speakers including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron. Merkel called on international efforts to ensure data is protected.

“We are only at the beginning of that road,” she said. “National policies will not suffice.” Winterkorn reassured the car-loving German audience that drivers will retain control, but that autonomous vehicles can play a big role when driving is less than pleasurable, such as when stuck in traffic or looking for parking. Winterkorn stressed that computer giants and automakers need to work together on the technical, logistical and regulatory challenges ahead.

[March 10]