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Court awards TiVo $200 million, not $1 billion, in Dish/EchoStar damages

Publié: septembre 4, 2009, 10:25pm CEST par Scott M. Fulton, III

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

It is no secret that Dish Network and partner EchoStar lost to TiVo in a ruling concerning whether the satellite companies' video recorders infringed on TiVo's patents. What was amazing was the possibility of an unprecedented $1 billion in legal sanctions that TiVo sought against the former sister companies. Today, a US District Court Judge in Eastern Texas did award TiVo a sizable contempt sanction sum of $200 million, which by most rational measures is still huge.
TiVo had requested treble damages -- three times the estimated base value of the infringement -- under the theory that EchoStar and its then-subsidiary Dish willfully infringed upon TiVo's technology. That much was apparently rejected today.
However, the $200 million damages sum will be lumped together with the $104 million principal judgment against TiVo last October, plus attorneys' fees, for a prize package that TiVo this afternoon estimated at around $400 million. That could go higher, TiVo said today, should Dish be unsuccessful on its latest appeal -- it said the court will entertain the notion of "enhanced sanctions," perhaps including interest on unpaid existing sanctions. This for manufacturing and distributing a digital program recorder that the court found infringed upon TiVo's patented "Time Warp" technology.
But the huge ray of hope for Dish -- one which could literally lead to a complete reversal of fortune for it and EchoStar -- still shines brightly this afternoon, even though the US Supreme Court flat-out refused to hear the companies' original appeal. This time, they have new ammunition in their favor: a preliminary rejection of the "Time Warp" patent by the US Patent Office.
Dish Network does not deny it was aware of TiVo's patent from the very beginning; in fact, it continues to contend that its original technology is a "Time Warp" workaround. This despite Dish's promises last year to deploy a different workaround. The key passage from Dish's statement today is this: "While we disagree that any amount of sanctions was warranted, the decision confirms our belief that we designed around TiVo's patent in good faith."
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009
Google makes a quick U-turn on Books privacy amid FTC inquiry

Publié: septembre 4, 2009, 9:43pm CEST par Scott M. Fulton, III

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

A mere three days after explaining to the Federal Trade Commission in an open letter (PDF available here) that it could not draft a complete privacy policy for its Google Books site since the services such a policy would protect have yet to be invented, Google issued its first privacy policy update specifically for Google books.
But the policy addendum itself actually questions its own need to exist. "Google Books operates a lot like Web Search and other basic Google web services, so there are relatively few privacy practices that are unique to the Google Books product," reads the actual text of the policy statement.
The privacy issue at hand with regard to Google Books deals with whether records of consumers' reading habits can or will be made available to anyone else besides Google, even on an automated level. This is important because Google's main business is advertising. At some level, users should expect that promotional content pertaining to something related to what the user is reading (or appears to be reading, or to a phrase borrowed from something on screen) will be used to summon a contextually relevant ad, on behalf of Google's advertising clients.
What's more, the proposed settlement between Google and representatives of major publishers would enable them to receive some portion of the fees collected from Google Books-related services including e-book sales, as a substitute for outright royalties. Those publishers will not know how much to expect, or to bill for, unless it knows how many readers its titles -- even those that were officially out of print just months earlier -- will generate. So some information will need to be shared at some point.
The very sharing of that information may be illegal in many countries.
In this morning's revelation of the Google Books privacy policy -- which Google maintains is still under construction -- we learn that the company may share the titles of e-books published through its system with credit card companies, and will probably do so by default. However, customers may "opt out" of this communication by specifically instructing Google not to share the titles of purchased material with financial institutions -- only the amount, and perhaps quantity. Google Accounts will be necessary for individuals to purchase titles, but not to view books scanned into the system -- an especially important requirement for countries that mandate that individuals may use public libraries, and the public computers housed within them, without registration.
The posting of the Google Books policy comes mere hours after its global privacy counsel, Jane Horvath, received a letter from the director of the FTC's Consumer Protection Bureau, David Vladeck (PDF available here), urging her company to come forth with its policy on how it plans to use information collected from Google Books users in conjunction with its behavioral advertising system.
"As we have discussed, we recognize that Google Books offers consumers access to numerous publications that currently are difficult to obtain," Vladeck wrote. "At the same time, however, we have concerns about Google gaining access to vast amounts of consumer data regarding the books consumers search for, purchase, and read. Given these concerns, we asked that, to the extent Google will use consumer data collected through Google Books to deliver targeted advertising, Google publicly commit to complying with the FTC's self-regulatory principles for online behavioral advertising. Additionally, we requested that Google disclose the nature and extent of any secondary uses, outside of behavioral advertising, of data collected through Google Books."
Horvath stated in her letter that it's not Google's current intention to use behavioral advertising in conjunction with Google Books, but should it plan to do so in the future, it will adhere to the industry standard principle of "self-regulation."
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009
Kindle users get Amazon offer for returned deleted books, gift certificates

Publié: septembre 4, 2009, 6:48pm CEST par Scott M. Fulton, III

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

While the distributor of several e-books was wrong to assume that the "classic" nature of certain titles allowed them to be sold under the public domain license, there's been considerable concern over Amazon's right to "undo" the sale of those titles through its electronic Kindle Store. Last July, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos issued a mea culpa, saying the unannounced deletion of various titles including George Orwell's 1984 was "stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles."
This morning, as first noted by Gizmodo's Rosa Golijan, individuals affected by Amazon's unannounced deletions are now receiving e-mails that appear to be from Amazon, offering customers the opportunity to the company to deliver legitimate copies of their books free of charge, or alternately to receive $30 gift certificates or refund checks from Amazon.
The e-mail as quoted there is curious as it only mentions 1984, which was not the only deleted title. Last June, the retailer deleted illegitimate copies of Ayn Rand novels, including Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, and The Virtue of Selfishness, one month prior to the deletions of Orwell's novels also including Animal Farm. Amazon has yet to confirm the legitimacy of the e-mails now being trafficked around the Web, nor is there evidence of similar e-mails regarding other deleted titles than the one that generated the most controversy because of its irony.
Many blogs and a few YouTube videos poked fun at the irony of, as they put it, a distributor "burning" books about book burning from a device called Kindle. Though some were confusing the title in question with Ray Bradbury's classic Fahrenheit 451, others accurately invoked Orwell's metaphorical "memory hole," which in his novel was a depository for all modern literature deemed irrelevant to the maintenance of the state.
From a technical and legal standpoint, however, Amazon may have been within its rights to do what it did, although it certainly turned out to be politically inconvenient for the retailer. Some distributors have been operating under the mistaken belief that since book distribution contracts historically have pertained only to printed material, the rights to distribute works electronically are up in the air, "jump balls" -- this was part of Google's original defense of its Google Books scanning project.
But the electronic version of a book is software. On the one hand, that qualifies it for copyright protection as one of "any and all forms" of publication, under book publishers' contracts; on the other, it gives book publishers the right to determine how, or if, they will distribute a copyrighted work as software. So if someone does that job for them and Amazon facilitates the sale, Amazon could be liable for copyright infringement -- a punishment which certainly made the retraction of the book urgent.
How Amazon went about that task in this case was perhaps ill-advised, especially since owners of Kindle and other e-book readers think of their electronic libraries as sacrosanct as their printed ones. The notion that they are purchasing software -- essentially, the limited right to use media in electronic form, as prescribed by the distributor -- may conflict with their feelings of books as possessions, and their equation of e-books with books from a moral standpoint.
Writing last month on behalf of the Free Software Foundation, Harvard University Law Professor John Palfrey argued that even though e-books are software, they hold the same sacred place in readers' hearts and should be protected as such: "The level of control Amazon has over their e-books conflicts with basic freedoms that we take for granted. In a future where books are sold with digital restrictions, it will be impossible for libraries to guarantee free access to human knowledge."
But that's for the reader of classic novels. One of the most lucrative platforms for e-book publishing in recent years has been technology books, far more so in some cases than for classic literature. And as it turns out, in a recent survey of 2,000 e-book customers, as O'Reilly publisher Joe Wikert reported last week, 81% of respondents use laptop computers to read their O'Reilly downloads, versus 29% on the iPhone, 14% for the Amazon Kindle, and 11% for the Sony Reader.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009
YouTube UK lifts blackout of 'premium' music videos

Publié: septembre 4, 2009, 6:28pm CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

YouTube UK has lifted the six-month long "premium" music video blackout after arriving at a deal with the Performing Rights Society for Music over royalties.
The description of "premium" music videos included those that have been uploaded, or claimed as property, by record labels. The blackout only prohibited UK YouTube viewers from watching these videos, fan-uploaded copies were not included in the sanction.
The new licensing agreement will bring back these videos and pay royalties to songwriters, composers and publishers that PRS for Music represents every time one of the videos is streamed.
"It is important that those who are creating music -- the writers and composers we represent -- be rewarded when their works are used. YouTube is a popular online video destination, and this new licence continues to support musical talent. This is an achievement for songwriters, composers, and the YouTube community alike and it reinforces the value of our members' work," said Andrew Shaw, Managing Director of Broadcast and Online at PRS for Music.
Though the terms of the deal were not disclosed, Jamie Dolling, Community Manager of YouTube UK said it is "a mutually acceptable deal," and that both parties are happy with the result.
"This is good for songwriters and composers, music fans, and YouTube," Dolling said yesterday. "In the coming days, premium music videos will begin to come back to YouTube in the UK and we intend to celebrate with a series of guest editorships from some of the foremost artists and magazine shows on the site."
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009
How the updated Market in Android 1.6 will change everything

Publié: septembre 4, 2009, 5:18pm CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Google's App store for the Android mobile operating system is called the Android Market; for nearly a year, it's looked like a beta build. All of the critical elements are in place, but generally with a lack of presentability and polish. It uses a white-on-black color scheme (not good for reflective mobile phone screens); its application profiles lack screenshots, and it features user reviews a little too prominently to be beneficial to sales; the featured apps are little more than the application's logo on the top of the first page; and overall, its navigability is mediocre.
Developers who have recently made their sales figures public blame the Market's unfinished appearance on the overall sluggishness of sales when compared to the multi-million selling iTunes App Store. While I maintain that the two mobile app markets should not be compared (if only for the fact that the iTunes app store evolved out of the six-year old iTunes MP3 shop ecosystem, and all of its progenies have been designed to be mobile app stores from the ground up), Android Market definitely needed to be re-thought.
Yesterday, Google Mobile Platform Program Manager Eric Chu posted a video in the Android Developer's official blog which showed that the Market has been redesigned, and most of the design shortcomings appear to be fixed.
The new features include an easier-to-read black, white, and "Android Green" color scheme, the ability for developers to post app screenshots in the description of their products, and a redesigned classification system which lets the user browse apps in a method more like the iTunes App Store.
Currently, when a user clicks on the Android Market, he is taken to a list where he must choose to start browsing Applications, Games, Search, or "My Downloads." The only apps present are the featured ones that cross the top of the screen in a scrollable marquee. In the new Market, the first page keeps the marquee, but has replaced the list of browsing options with the day's featured apps. The filters for Applications, Games, and My downloads has moved to the top of the screen. It's a much more app-centric use of screen real estate. The apps or games can then be filtered by the top paid and top free in their category; currently, it can only be sorted by the most popular of all time and the most recently added. For repeat users of the Android Market (read: every user) the most popular tag is wholly useless because the same apps have been listed there since the Market opened.
With a more appealing design, more ways to show off apps to users, and improved filtering, the new Market gives developers better tools to sell their wares.
The new Android Market will be packaged with Android 1.6 (a.k.a., "Donut"), which currently has no clear date of availability. Though there have been rumors that Donut will not be supported on the currently available Android devices (G1, myTouch3G), curious users can still experience some of the features that will come with the update. The Cyanogen mod on rooted G1s, for example, is built on the Cupcake 1.5r3 build, but includes parts of the Donut tree that are currently available, such as the homescreen settings widget, the "app fuel gauge" and the power widget, and support for PPTP/L2TP VPNs and WPA Enterprise support.
As cyanogen himself said on Twitter yesterday, "Remember.. 1.6 is a minor upgrade. Some really good stuff, but this isn't going to steal your wife or wash your car. Eclair maybe :)"
For users it may be a minor upgrade, but with the improvements to the Market, this will be an absolutely major release for the Android ecosystem.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009
Appeals court stays Microsoft Word injunction

Publié: septembre 4, 2009, 5:09pm CEST par Scott M. Fulton, III

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

Late yesterday afternoon, as first reported by the Seattle P-I, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, DC issued a stay of last month's Texas District Court injunction against the sale of Microsoft Word in the US, about one month before that injunction might have taken effect.
The stay will give Microsoft time to formally appeal its case, after having filed papers there two weeks ago. In what some are calling a clear display of brinksmanship, the company is pulling out all the stops, demonstrating it may be willing to forego the usual settlement if it can set precedent. Since the founding of this country, inventors have been granted legally protected monopolies in the markets generated by their inventions; and the US, unlike almost any other country in the world, considers the first inventor -- not the first to patent an invention -- as the proper title-holder of a patent.
A "first-to-file" provision in patent reform legislation still being debated in Congress would change that -- and Microsoft is on record as supporting that legislation. But in the meantime, the company intends to demonstrate that a viable market in the field of word processors and text editors that stored markup language code separately from content code within their binary files, even though that's not how the code appears on-screen. Microsoft was a part of that market, it will contend, along with other long-time competitors including WordPerfect.
The original plaintiff in this case, one-time Microsoft partner i4i, defends its patent for separating markup from content in the context of the market it serves: the pharmaceutical industry. Microsoft's arguments, judging from the appeal, will very likely include that i4i cannot claim patent legitimacy for a limited application of a concept that very obviously existed prior to the filing -- a bit like patenting the idea of driving a car to a hospital.
The Appeals Court's grant of Microsoft's motion comes one day after the company's Deputy General Counsel, Horacio Gutierrez, argued on his company's blog in favor of the creation of "a harmonized, global patent system" that would bring national patent offices together worldwide to jointly recognize the legitimacy of inventions. Gutierrez made the case that it's costing businesses too much to apply for various patents worldwide, knowing it could take as long as five years for the various nations' patent offices to reach a common conclusion about an idea.
"In today's world of universal connectivity, global business and collaborative innovation, it is time for a world patent that is derived from a single patent application, examined and prosecuted by a single examining authority and litigated before a single judicial body," Gutierrez wrote. "A harmonized, global patent system would resolve many of the criticisms leveled at national patent systems over unmanageable backlogs and interminable pendency periods."
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009
Toshiba's $249 Blu-ray player vs. $299 PS3: The choice is obvious

Publié: septembre 4, 2009, 12:30am CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Just about a month ago, Toshiba confirmed it had applied for membership in the Blu-ray Disc Association, and announced its intention to launch both standalone Blu-ray players and BD-equipped notebooks this year.
Today, the company that was formerly responsible for Blu-ray's sole opposition in the high definition disc market unveiled the first details about its Blu-ray hardware.
Toshiba's BDX2000 will be launched in the holiday shopping season, and will support BD-Live, Toshiba Regza-link (HDMI-CEC), Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD audio, and both DiVX HD and AVCHD files can also be played back on the device. Expected to come to retail in November, the BDX2000 will cost $249.99....just $50 less than the Blu-ray equipped PS3 Slim.
Think they'll sell many when they're facing that sort of competition?
At least the The Toshiba Satellite P500 notebook stands a fighting chance. The hefty 18.4" notebook is equipped with an embedded DVB-T TV tuner and "Resolution+" DVD upconversion software and HDMI outs for media enthusiasts "who want to have the creme de la creme," Toshiba said today. It runs on Intel Core2 Duo processors and can offer as much as 8 GB of DDR2 RAM, and can be equipped with either an Nvidia GeForce G210M with 512 MB VRAM or a GT230M GPU with 1GB of VRAM. There's space for 2 HDDs, three USB ports, Express Card, 5-in-1 Bridge Media port, 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR, and the touchpad supports multi-touch gestures.
Toshiba today said the Satellite P500 will be launched in the fourth quarter of this year in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. There is no word on a baseline configuration cost or whether it will be released in the United States.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009