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Skype for iPhone Blocked in Canada

by VoIP & Gadgets Blog in March 31st, 2009   
Topics: App Store, Apple, Gadgets, Mobile Phones, VoIP, Wireless, canada, codec, iPhone, iTunes, patent, skype, skype iphone     

skype-iphone-1.jpgI learned that the Skype for iPhone app is unavailable to our Canadian friends across the border in the Apple iTunes App Store. I contacted Skype for comment and their representative told me, “There are some patent-licensing issues which prevent us from offering it there.”

I then asked if other countries were affected or if it was just Canada and was informed it was just Canada. When asked whose patent it was or what category it involved (i.e. mobile VoIP), the representative told me, “I can’t go into many more details other than it’s codec related.”

Sounds to me like their was some sort of patent settlement which Skype can’t talk about. Sorry my Canadian brothers. “No Skype for iPhone for you!”

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Canada Gets Skype for iPhone, Not.

by erik in March 31st, 2009   
Topics: Apple, IP Communications News, P2P VoIP, VoIP, VoIP for the Masses, Wireless, banned, canada, communications, iPhone, mobile sip, mobile voip, patent, pbx, skype, softphone     

Tom does some handy investigative work and finds out that Skype has been banned from use in Canada due to a legal issue around what seems to be a codec related patent.
Excerpt:
I then asked if other countries were affected or if it was just Canada and was informed it was just Canada. When asked whose […]

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Verizon VoiceWing Exits VoIP Business

by VoIP & Gadgets Blog in January 26th, 2009   
Topics: Centre One, Unified Communications, Verizon, Verizon VoiceWing, VoIP, Vonage, customers, patent, voicewing     

verizonlogo.gifVerizon VoiceWing customers received letters in the last couple of days saying, “We regret to inform you that effective March 31, 2009, Verizon will no longer offer VoiceWing. At that time, all VoiceWing service will be terminated”. Rumors of VoiceWing’s demise have been circulating, especially with Verizon FiOS (Voice, Video/TV, data) a much more profitable long-term business than single-play VoIP. I should add that Verizon stopped marking VoiceWing last year.

Verizon VoiceWing uses a locked Linksys PAP2 ATA, but the letter says they don’t want the ATA back, once again fullfilling prediction #2 in my 2005 VoIP predictions.

I wrote:

2) VoIP providers will continue to harp that the government shouldn’t impose any regulations on VoIP and that the industry should be open & free, while simultaneously VoIP providers will continue to alienate their customers by password-protecting and locking the customer’s ATA (analog telephony adaptor), thus preventing customers from easily switching to another VoIP provider and using the same ATA. This is hypocrisy at its worst! Customers will continue to be left with useless ATA “bricks” which eventually will make it the local landfill when they switch to a better VoIP provider.

It would be nice if Verizon included the PIN for the ATAs to allow customers to switch to another VoIP provider. Of course many VoIP service providers offer free ATAs with a one-year contract. Still, do we really need millions of working ATAs sent to the landfills? No very green if you ask me. I should point out that VoiceWing is actually a cooperation service with Deltathree.

Perhaps not so coincidentally to Verizon killing off VoiceWing, is this lawsuit filed on December 5, 2008 by Centre One against VoiceWing for patent infringement. Oh the sweet irony if Verizon, the ones who sued Vonage practically to death, would themselves have given up on the VoIP industry over a patent lawsuit! Still, I’m doubtful the patent litigation was the cause. I think Verizon sees bigger fish to fry in their FiOS fiber-to-the-home offering and single-play VoIP just isn’t that profitable to them.

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Verizon Loses VoIP Patent case to Cox Communications

by VoIP & Gadgets Blog in October 7th, 2008   
Topics: TMCnet, Verizon, VoIP, Vonage, communications, companies, cox communications, large, large companies, patent     

verizonlogo.gifRich Tehrani writes a great story with some historical context on how Verizon lost a VoIP patent case (on all 6 patent counts) to Cox Communications. Unfortunately, a bit too late for Vonage which paid millions to settle their patent case with Verizon.

Really though the large telcos are the winners here and consumers are the losers. The US patent system continues to be a barrier to true innovation and consumers are being hurt — severely so in some cases — by large companies who use the patent system to prevent other companies from succeeding. Instead of competing with better technology alone, these large companies use large amounts of patents at once to scare new entrants into submission. Hopefully, in the IP communications space, Cox Communications will mark a point in time when large companies slow down their IP communications patent infringement onslaught.

Check out the full story.

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No, Seriously: Microsoft Patents Page Up & Page Down

by Om Malik in August 27th, 2008   
Topics: Asides, Microsoft, patent     

Put this in the category of “you gotta be kidding me.” Microsoft has applied for and received a patent (U.S. Patent #7,415,666) that essentially patents “Page Up/Page Down” functionality. The patent (Timothy D Sellers, Heather L. Grantham, Joshua A. Dersch) that was filed in March 2005 is yet another proof that our patent system is […]

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Oh No! Don’t Spoil Our Fun! Wii Gets Slapped with Patent Infringement

by VoIP & Gadgets Blog in August 21st, 2008   
Topics: Gigaom, Hillcrest Labs, Nintendo Wii, Video Games & Gaming, hillcrest, infringement, patent, patent infringement     

chair.gif Hillcrest Labs has apparently filed a complaint for patent infringement with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in Washington, D.C., and a separate patent infringement suit in the U.S. District Court in Maryland, against Nintendo, related to the Wii video game system.

At issue are Hillcrest’s U.S. Patent Nos. 7,158,118, 7,262,760, and 7,414,611, which relate to a hand-held 3-D pointing device, and U.S. Patent No. 7,139,983, which relates to a navigation interface display system that graphically organizes content for display on a television.

Since 2001, Hillcrest Labs has pioneered technology that allows consumers to interact with digital media on television using motion-control and pointing techniques. The company holds 29 patents in this area worldwide and has filled for more than 100 related patents.

Let’s see how far this one goes. And why didn’t they file it when the product first came out — don’t ya think …

GigaOM has more.

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Nintendo Goes Holographic! Wow Wii!

by VoIP & Gadgets Blog in August 6th, 2008   
Topics: Nintendo, Video Games & Gaming, Video Hardware & Software, Wii, holographic, holographic storage, inphase technologies, patent, storage     

nintendo_wii[1].jpg Nintendo, the maker of the market-leading Wii videogame console, has reportedly co-signed for a patent on holographic storage and may be gearing up for development of this ultra high-capacity storage concept.

Nintendo signed the patent with Inphase Technologies, but bringing holographic storage to market won’t be easy. (Inphase has been at this a looong time.)

Nintendo, one of the world’s top three videogame console and handheld device makers, apparently is preparing to invest some big money into developing holographic storage.

A patent for holographic storage was recently co-signed by the Japanese entertainment hardware and software company, which is a clear indication that the console manufacturer is investigating new methods of data storage for future projects. (And that a leap in storage capacity!)

Holographic storage is a sector of the solid-state disk market with interesting potential, but development appears to have come to a plateau; only a couple of companies have been working on trying to bring it to market.

Inphase Technologies is by far the largest single developer of holographic storage, but it has recently suffered some setbacks and had been laying off staff, according to industry insiders.

Inphase and Nintendo filed jointly for the patent in March 2007. The patent describes the use of “miniature flexure-based scanners for angle multiplexing” as the key component in developing holographic storage. The patent was issued in February by the U.S. Patent Office.

Get more at eWeek.

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8×8, Inc. Awarded New VoIP Patent

by VoIP & Gadgets Blog in July 2nd, 2008   
Topics: 8x8, AT&T, Packet8, TMCnet, Time Warner, VoIP, Vonage, broadband telephony, distributed local, distributed local gateways, local gateways, packet island, patent, telephony     

8×8, Inc. the provider of the Packet8 broadband Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), videophone and mobile VoIP communication services, today announced that it has been granted U.S. Patent No. 7,394,803 entitled “Distributed Local Telephony Gateway.” The patent was issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office yesteday on July 1, 2008.

Interestingly, the patent relates to Internet Protocol (IP) communication systems and, more particularly, to broadband telephony services having “distributed local gateways”. Don’t all broadband telephony services use “distributed local gateways”? After all, you need distributed local gateways to help get cheaper rates. So Does this mean Packet8 can go after Vonage, AT&T, Time Warner, and all the other providers of broadband telephony for patent infringement? Patent troll license fees are looking good!

I’ll have to contact my sourcs at 8×8 and find out exactly what this patent entails. Stay tuned…

Relatedly, since its establishment in 1987, 8×8 has been awarded seventy-three (73) United States patents covering a variety of voice and video communications, processing and storage technologies.

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