IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 7 August
07-08-2007
by Sylvia Leatham
US court throws out USD1.53bn award against Microsoft | Online advertising to overtake newspaper advertising in US
The Irish Independent says that a Dail deputy has called on satellite technology to be used in the war on drugs. After the latest drugs find off the Galway coast, John O'Mahony of Fine Gael is convinced that unless the technology is introduced, drugs will continue to be smuggled into the country via the coastline. "It's just not possible to police the entire coastline 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and it's time we looked at how satellite technology can assist our defence forces," said the Mayo TD.
The paper also reports that Rugby World Cup organisers have warned consumers and companies against buying bogus tickets from rogue traders online. Officials have already issued a warning to online auction site eBay about allowing illegal auctions of the coveted tickets to take place.
The Irish Times says that mobile phone maker Nokia is to start using Microsoft's copy protection software in its handsets. Nokia will license Microsoft's PlayReady digital rights management technology and build it into its S60 mobile software platform.
The paper also notes that market research firm Gartner has said that PC shipments in Western Europe totalled 11.2 million units in the second quarter of 2007, an increase of 9.3 percent compared with the same period in 2006. Gartner said demand for notebooks and other mobile computers remained the major driver of PC sales, as the consumer mobile PC changed from being a "nice-to-have" device to a "must-have" device.
According to the Financial Times, a USD1.53 billion award against Microsoft, the biggest patent infringement judgment ever handed down by a jury, was thrown out by a US trial court judge on Monday. The case stemmed from Microsoft's use of the MP3 digital music format. Alcatel-Lucent, the French telecoms equipment company that had prevailed in the first round of the case earlier this year, quickly denounced the decision as "shocking and disturbing" and said it planned to appeal. Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, called the latest ruling "a victory for consumers of digital music and a triumph for common sense in the patent system".
The paper also says that the rapid growth of online advertising is expected to see the sector overtake US newspaper advertising in terms of size by 2011. The findings are from an annual research report on the media sector by Veronis SuhlerStevenson (VSS). In the 2007 study, VSS forecasts that online advertising will grow by more than 21 percent per year to reach USD62 billion in 2011, making it bigger than newspaper advertising, which is expected to total USD60 billion in 2011.
The paper also reports that the battle over flat-panel TV technology intensified on Tuesday, with Sharp filing a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics for allegedly infringing the Japanese company's LCD patents. Sharp alleges that Samsung infringed five of its LCD-related patents and is seeking compensatory damage and the prohibition of sales of Samsung's products that allegedly violate the patents. The legal wrangling between Samsung and Sharp, the second- and third-leading LCD TV makers in the US market, could escalate as the South Korean electronics giant said it may countersue Sharp.
The Wall Street Journal reports that a trade association representing major music publishers has signed on as a plaintiff in an existing lawsuit accusing YouTube of copyright infringement. Members of the National Music Publishers Association in the US own copyrights to lyrics and melodies for songs, separate from the rights to specific recordings of those songs, which are controlled by record labels. Technology and media companies that want to use music typically must secure separate licences from publishers and record labels.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 