The business of Internet, wireless, and telecom law.

Skype Trademark Squabble with an Analyst

Posted by Barlow Keener

The blog Skype Journal  reported that Skype attorneys sent a cease and desist letter to Skype reporting blog, Skype-watch.com    Jan Geirnaert had been reporting on and analyzing Skype using the URLs’ Skype-Watch and Skype-Gadgets.  The reports were favorable to Skype and Geirnaert apparently participated in Skype panels and conferences for several years as reported by [...]

Unlicensed 700MHz: More Revenue, More Competition, More Innovation

Posted by Barlow Keener

On April 17, 2007, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial team weighed in against proposals by Cyren Call, led by Nextel founder Morgan O’Brien, and by Frontline Wireless, led by Reed Hunt former FCC Commissioner, relating to the FCC’s up coming rulemaking decision about what to do with the upper 700MHz spectrum that will remain after [...]

Right + Left = Communication

Posted by Barlow Keener

This is a great quote about “communication” posted by Robert Cannon in Cybertelecom“It is one if the greater ironies of computer history that the vision of the hippies had to be married to the technology funded and fostered by the Pentagon, before the world of integrated information and communication became possible.” Stephen Segaller, NERDS2.0

VoIP Patents - Light at the End of the Tunnel

Posted by Barlow Keener

Om Malik has a great post today about prior art for the VoIP patents.   There is also a good Wiki site scratchpad summarizing the claims.   One of the papers identified by Om was published on January 13, 1997, describes the process of using a gateway server to translate a VoIP call into a number to be used to [...]

Running and Winning

Posted by Barlow Keener

Every day we run to win.    Today in Boston Kenyan Robert Cheruiyot won the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:14.   If you take a look at this photo you can see the Robert Cheruiyot with the #1 in orange shirt at mile 23 in on Beacon Street in Brookline  with 1:58 into the race by [...]

VoIP Prior Art

Posted by Barlow Keener

The Court in Verizon v Vonage (see the Feb, 12, 2007 Order) found one of three Verizon patents to be infringed was U.S. Patent No.  6,282,574.  Verizon Patent No. 6,282,574, filed on February 24, 2000, provides in Claim 26:
“A method comprising:  
+receiving a name translation request at a server coupled to a public packet data network;
+translating a name included [...]

The VoIP Wars Part II

Posted by Barlow Keener

The surprising Verizon v Vonage patent order already seems like old news. 
Most VoIP pundits and VoIP businesses are sitting on the sidelines like England and France did before World War II hoping and smiling and not believing that an aggressor was on the offensive and would soon occupy and destroy most of Europe.   (”Peace for [...]

The VoIP Patent Wars

Posted by Barlow Keener

We have entered the time of the VoIP patent wars.  Verizon Services Corp. v. Vonage Holdings Corp., No. 1:06-CV-00682 (E.D. Va.) (See, Verizon v Vonage Feb 12, 2007 Order) delivered the first tenative, but not final, results.   The positive about this case, according to comments made by Bingham McCutchen telecom patent attorney Ed Pennington  at VON [...]