Adam Bender

Atheros Xspan chips infringe ArrayComm patents, ArrayComm alleged in a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas. ArrayComm wants the court to award damages, an injunction and attorney’s fees for “willful” infringement of three patents related to multiantenna signal processing, it said. “ArrayComm’s intellectual property is being “knowingly, willfully, and unfairly exploited,” said ArrayComm President Stephen Sifferman. His company said it had tried to resolve the dispute “amicably.” Company representatives met in January to discuss ArrayComm’s patents, the complaint said. ArrayComm said it “specifically advised Atheros” of the three patents and “focused on particular claims of those patents.” The companies again met Aug. 20 to discuss licensing of ArrayComm patents, but Atheros asserted that there was no infringement, ArrayComm said. When ArrayComm asked for evidence, Atheros “refused to provide any explanation,” it said. Going to court was ArrayComm’s only option, the complaint said: “ArrayComm is not aware of any further practical or reasonable testing that would definitively confirm” the infringement, it said. An Atheros spokesman downplayed the suit: “Though we have not yet had adequate opportunity to fully digest the complaint, we have reviewed the claims during our previous discussions with ArrayComm and we believe those claims are totally without merit.”

Vacate and find illegal an FCC order dismissing a petition to assess wireless towers’ impact on migratory birds, the American Bird Conservancy urged the D.C. Circuit Appeals Court in an oral argument Tuesday. The conservancy is appealing a 2006 FCC order denying the petition to conduct an environmental impact statement (EIS) on Gulf Coast towers. But an FCC attorney said the commission was well within its legal rights to reject the request. Judges Judith Rogers, Merrick Garland and Brett Kavanaugh heard the case. Decisions are typically reached in about three months.

Vonage’s court cases against Sprint Nextel and Nortel are heating up. Vonage is disputing Sprint’s use of terminology in a Kansas case and a proposed countersuit by Nortel in Texas. Also Monday, a Vonage executive said his company has paid Verizon $77.5 million in royalties for patent claims that Vonage is fighting.

Orbital Sciences expects 7.9 percent growth in its number of satellite orders from 2007-2009, Orbital Chief Financial Officer Garrett Pierce said Thursday at the Kaufman Bros. Investors Conference in New York City. Orbital has orders in place for 16 satellites and 12 subsystems to be delivered from 2007 to 2009, he said. Most of the company’s satellite product lines are fully developed and in early stages of expected 12- to 15-year cycles, he said. Over the next three years, annual revenue growth should increase 12 to 14 percent per year; profit margins, 7 to 9 percent, he said. About 31 percent of Orbital’s projected $990 million 2007 revenue comes from commercial and international satellite operators, and 15 percent is from science and defense satellites, he said. Orbital is the market leader in small communications satellites with 50 percent share, and tied for No. 1 in small science and defense satellites with 20 percent, he said. About 5 percent of Orbital’s revenue comes from its GPS-based electronic transportation management systems (TMS), but Orbital wants to sell this business, he said. Though Orbital is the TMS market leader, the business is not allied closely enough to what the company does in satellites and rockets, he said.

The International Trade Commission voted to investigate whether Nokia’s 3G WCDMA handsets infringe InterDigital patents. The commission has “not yet made any decisions on the merits of the case,” it said in its announcement late Wednesday. A Nokia spokeswoman said the company would defend its rights, products and integrity. Regardless of the outcome, the investigation could hurt Nokia’s effort to persuade the commission to investigate Qualcomm, said Jay Sandvos, a lawyer with Bromberg and Sunstein.

The FBI can’t stop National Security Letter recipients from discussing them, the U.S. District Court for Southern New York ruled Thursday, striking down the Patriot Act’s NSL provision in its entirety. Such gagging is “unconstitutional under the First Amendment because it functions as a licensing scheme that does not afford adequate procedural safeguards, and because it is not a sufficiently narrowly tailored restriction on protected speech,” Judge Victor Marrero said in the order. Since the NSL provision’s gagging aspect “cannot be severed” from the statute, the court found the entire law unconstitutional under the First Amendment and separation of powers doctrine.

Covad is working closely with EarthLink and “cautiously optimistic” about its troubled partner’s well-being, Covad CEO Charles Hoffman said Wednesday at the Kaufman Bros. Investor Conference in New York City. In late August, EarthLink laid off 900, closed several regional offices and appointed a new chief operating officer; in late June it named a new CEO and president. But Covad also is keen to sign new partners, said Hoffman. Covad is talking with several companies for wireless partnerships, he said, citing the existence of many companies with spectrum or equipment but no operator. Hoffman expects growth in Covad’s wholesale business, “particularly with AT&T and Verizon,” he said. “The regulatory games are kind of over -- they won -- so they're getting more aggressive and focusing on selling to small [businesses] and consumers, and we're the solution for that outside of their region.”

Motorola must cut costs and be “boringly consistent” to fix business problems and gain on competitors, Motorola Chief Financial Officer Tom Meredith said Wednesday at the Citigroup Global Technology Conference in New York City. “Our inconsistency highlights that we were foolish,” he said. “We were accident-prone and need to fix that.”

Broadcom notched another victory against Qualcomm late Tuesday, winning a reversal of a federal court decision to dismiss two Broadcom antitrust claims against Qualcomm. The U.S. Appeals Court for the 3rd Circuit sent back to district court a claim that Broadcom had monopolized the W-CDMA technology market and another that Qualcomm had engaged in anticompetitive conduct with intent to monopolize. The case goes back to the U.S. District Court for New Jersey. A trial date “depends on various next steps taken by Qualcomm,” but could be at least a year away, a Broadcom spokesman said.

Tightening Broadcom and Verizon’s business relationship was among reasons that Broadcom signed a licensing deal that excused the Bell from the International Trade Commission’s Qualcomm chip ban, Broadcom Chief Financial Officer Eric Brandt said Tuesday at the Citigroup Global Technology Conference, webcast from New York. Verizon is a “fairly large” Broadcom customer and an “important provider” in the wireless market, he said. The licensing deal gave Broadcom “meaningful economics,” but it was more about developing a better business relationship and future opportunities, he said. Broadcom still is mulling how to deal with Qualcomm, he said. “We need to make sure we do what’s right for our shareholders,” he said. Broadcom hopes to achieve “peace in our lifetime” with Qualcomm, but wants to make sure the legal playing field is level, he said. Broadcom doesn’t want to be in a “position where [its] chips are licensed but customers aren’t,” he said.