Part of a settlement for a class action lawsuit At&t will provide unlock codes for their device. The customer must have been an active subscriber for 90 days, and be able to provide proof of purchase for the device. There are two exceptions to this; devices that At&t will have exclusively for longer than 10 months will not be unlocked at all. Devices with an exclusivity period of less than 10 months will have to wait for the 10 month period to expire before AT&T will provide the unlock code.
Showing posts with label lawsuits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lawsuits. Show all posts
Former iPhone customer and San Francisco woman Charlene Gallion is suing Apple claiming that their warranty is "ilusory". Apple places (as does many companies) small litmus strips in their devices that change color with the presence of humidity over manufacturers specifications or liquid. Gallion claims that she was denied servicing on her iPhone due to a false positive in the liquid indicators. Gallion further claims that she was unable to verify Apple's claim of a positive indicator.
verizon Wireless is taking Sprint to task over their recent "Most Reliable Network" claim. After a complaint filed by Verizon Wirelss a national advertising group recommended that Sprint pull its "Most Dependable 3G Network" advertsing. This comes just a few month after a similar battle between Verizon and At&t, and amidst another battle that has flared up between the two carriers over an ad campagn launched by Verizon. The NAD (National Advertising Division) of the Better Business Beureau looked over the most recent Nielson drive test data and discovered that Verizon Wireless actually had fewer dropped calls and performed better durring the tests in terms of session reliability.
Matthew Sullivan, a Sprint spokesman said that Sprint would appeal on the basis that the NAD did not take signal strength information into their desicion. Sprint claims the signal strength is "the most effective criteria for determining indoor use." Sprint stands behind their claim, and is confident that the appeals process will produce the results they are looking for.
Klausner Technologies has finally found more companies to sue over their visual voicemail patent. Motorola and RIM have already licenced visual voicemail from Klausner after the last round of lawsuits. Klausner is alledging that RIM and Motorola failed to license the Motorola CLIQ, and the Blackberry 9700 Bold(RIM). There was no indication as to damages being specified or not. We will have to wait and see how this one settles out.
Verizon has finally responded to At&t's lawsuit. In the response Verizon filed a 53 page document with federal courts in Georgia. The filing reveals that Verizon feels pulling the ads from public view would cause greater harm to the public that it would to At&t. "At&t did not file this lawsuit because Verizon's "There's A Map For That" advertisements ar untrue; At&t sude because Verizon's ads are true and the truth hurts", Verizon outlined in the document. The document went on further to say that At&t is at fault for not investing in the proper infrastructure for the growth in data that was caused by the iPhone on their network. As a result the usefulness to smart phone users has suffered.
"At&t may not like the message that the ads send, but this court should reject its efforts to silence the messenger."
At&t has decided to ammend its lawsuit against Verizon Wireless. Prompted by Verizon's newest commercial "Island of Misfit Toys". At&t claims this commercial in particular is misleading to customers. At&t feels that with the heavy Christmas handset season rapidly approching that this advertisement could irreparibly damage their company. At&t has pushed for the advertisements to be pulled from air, and will most likely try to seek an injunction against the entire ad campaign.
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I'm sure by now you have seen the Verizon commercial that pokes fun at At&t's lack of 3G coverage. The advertisement has earned Verizon Wireless a lawsuit from At&t. The under-served 3G Competitor claims that the ads are misleading to non-technical users. Verizon even went as far as adding disclaimers to their ads stating "Voice coverage is available outside of 3G coverage". Alas, this is not enough to keep the hungry At&t lawyers at bay. You would think that the lawyers would be getting tired still fighting with Google, trying to figure out net neutrality, and figuring out how they are going to keep mass iPhone fan base happy with only 2G internet speeds in the majority of the United States. I hope they are getting paid overtime!
Verizon Settles Visual Voice Mail Patent Suit With Klausner Technologies
Friday, October 24, 2008
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Verizon Wireless was recently sued by Klausner Technologies for violation of a patent that they hold on the visual voice mail system recently adopted by the wireless giant. Verizon and Klausner have signed a license agreement to end the lawsuit and allow Verizon use of this technology. Other defendants in similar infringement cases with Klausner Technologies are expected to follow suit. Some of these companies have already begun the negotiation process.
[Reuters]
T-Mobile was granted an injunction against prepaid cell phone traffickers. With the assistance of Judges in Houston, and Dallas Texas both Phone Xchange, and ASPAC Inc have been required to stop trafficking T-Mobile's Prepaid cellular phones. T-Mobile was further awarded $6.5 million in damages along with the injunction. T-Mobile believes that Bulk purchasing, unlocking, and reselling their phones hurts customers. Since these phones may still carry T-Mobiles brand, customers may become confused about the origin, and the warranties associated with their phones. Part of T-Mobile's commitment to their customers "safety" has lead to six other lawsuits that are still pending.
“We are pleased by the result in these cases, and expect similar successes in our other pending and planned lawsuits" Said Doug Chartier, vice president, retail partner sales, T-Mobile USA. No criminal charges have been directly handed down in any case, however, one man was jailed for criminal contempt of court, when he violated a similar injunction. Violation of this injunction also carriers a penalty of $1 Million to be paid to T-Mobile for "damages".
[T-Mobile]
A California judge declared that Sprints termination fee policy violates California state law for business practices, and ordered Sprint to pay 18.3 Million to their former customers, as well as credit another $54.8 Million to customers that would not pay their fees. This is going to cause a major stir in the industry as there are many other courts reviewing very similar cases. I personally do not understand how the judge could have come to such a bogus desicion. The customers knew that they were signing an agreement. When another business breaks a contract the other business in awarded damages based on loss to the company as a result of breaking the contract, or are made to pay the remainder of the agreed upon service. Customers are not going to like buying their phones starting at $300. There are a good number of customers that do not buy a phone unless they get it FREE! Cellular companies as of now loose money on the equipment to make it on the service. The subsidise the phones so customers are assured that they get phones that are network compatible, and can get them for a reasonable price. You can bet that the outlaw of early termination fees will result in customers buying their phones ABOVE retail value. Customers are going to cry foul when they are greeted with the new phone prices. After all they are used to buying a phone for between $0.99 to $350. The sale of smart devices will plummet, and its very possible unless someone comes up with another way to subsidise these phones cellular technology is going to stand still until the cost of technology falls again. Congratulations judge you may have single-handedly ruined the cellular industry for everyone!
More Via Yahoo! News
Motorola has filed a lawsuit in Chicago, I'll against former employee Michael Fenger. Fenger is accused of breaking a non-compete clause in his employment contact . The clause forbids him from working in a competing company for 2 years after leaving Motorola. Fenger broke the agreement by going to work for Apple as their VP of global Iphone sales. Motorola is seeking over $1 Million in damages and a ban against fenger to keep him from working at another handset manufacturer for the 2 years retroactive to the date of his departure. Fenger was allegedly privy to multi-year product development plans, pricing, and strategy. This may prove to be important for Motorola as their handset business continues to struggle.
Sprint and IPCS are at it again. You may remember IPCS from the Sprint Nextel Merger debocle. IPCS is again claiming that a deal involving Sprint is going to violate their non-compete clause. Sprint and Clearwire are currently working together to build a nation wide WiMax network as a joint venture. Sprint has also filed a suit of their own against IPCS in Deleware.
