Court case

A class action suit has been filed alleging that AT&T pumped up the subscriber count for its DirecTV Now streaming service (since rebranded to AT&T TV Now) to mask "serious technical problems due to premature roll-out." AT&T has recently reported subscriber losses across multiple platforms, including AT&T TV Now. The complaint claims that AT&T and "Executive Defendants," which includes CEO Randall Stephenson, "falsely depicted DirecTV Now as a fast-growing product with increasing subscribers and strong margins that would offset declining subscriber levels in AT&T’s o

Silicon Valley doesn’t just have to worry about antitrust action in Washington. States are becoming an important and perhaps more formidable force when it comes to addressing competition in the technology industry. “There’s been a tendency to just rely on the federal government to play the lead role,” said Gene Kimmelman, a senior adviser at Public Knowledge.

Waiting. That’s the name of the game for those anticipating the DC Circuit’s decision on the Federal Communications Commission's Restoring Internet Freedom order repealing Title II rules for broadband. The case was argued on Feb 1, 2019, so the Court could hand down a ruling any day now. But regardless of whether the decision is uphold or overturn, Americans deserve action on network neutrality from Congress. Statutory permanence for internet openness is the only way to end the ongoing uncertainty shrouding the internet ecosystem due to ever-changing rules.

AT&T has reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over a 2014 lawsuit related to the carrier’s data throttling practices and disclosures. A court filing shows AT&T has approved final terms of the deal, and the parties are requesting a 90-day stay through November 21 so FTC Commissioners can vote on the settlement.

Backed by the Justice Department, the Federal Communications Commission as told the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that it knew what it was doing when it deregulated pole attachments, and had the authority to do it. The FCC voted in Aug 2018 (unanimously, though with one partial dissent) to adopt various reforms related to new broadband attachments on utility poles. The petitioners, a group of electric utilities companies, challenged the FTC's authority to undertake the reforms in Oct.

A years-long legal battle between Domino's Pizza and a man who is blind named Guillermo Robles over whether the pizza chain is required by law to make its website accessible to the disabled could make it all the way up to the Supreme Court in 2019. Should the case go that far, its outcome could forever change the way the internet is regulated — and determine how accessible the internet will be in the future for the roughly 20% of Americans with a disability. Domino's is petitioning the Supreme Court to take up the case after a federal appeals court sided with Robles in 2016.

T-Mobile US and Sprint have taken the first, albeit small step to launch settlement discussions with a group of state attorneys general who threaten to potentially derail their $26 billion merger. Officials at T-Mobile and Sprint have begun exploring possible settlement ideas both internally and with the state AGs. 

Verizon has sued the City of Rochester (NY) in order to avoid paying fees for deploying 5G equipment and fiber lines. Verizon's lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the Western District of New York on Aug 8, claims that the fees are higher than those allowed by federal law. As proof, Verizon points to a Federal Communications Commission preemption order from 2018 that attempts to limit the fees and aesthetic requirements cities and towns impose on carrier deployments. Rochester imposed its new fees in February.

Turns out the race to 5G can't run roughshod over the landscape, at least as the Federal Communications Commission has proposed it. In a partial defeat for the FCC and a victory for localities trying to retain their authority over cell tower placement and impact, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has ruled that the FCC did not justify its deregulation of small cell site reviews and has vacated that part of a larger wireless deployment deregulation order. 

Every Tuesday and Friday morning at 10 am (Eastern), scores of journalists, activists, and lawyers stare at the website of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s “Opinions” page, rapidly refreshing their browsers. They are waiting for the court’s opinion in the challenge to the Federal Communications Commission’s 2017 decision repealing its own Obama-era network neutrality rules.