The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld an International Trade Commission determination that some Motorola Mobility smartphones are infringing patents held by Microsoft, in violation of Section 337 of the Tariff Act (http://1.usa.gov/1gGAUAq). The ITC findings had resulted in imposition of a limited exclusion order in June 2012 banning imports of certain Motorola smartphones. Customs and Border Protection ruled in April that a design-around by Motorola allowed entry of products formerly subject to the exclusion order, which provoked an ongoing lawsuit from Microsoft at the U.S. District Court in Washington. Motorola Mobility is “disappointed with this decision but pleased with the overall outcome,” said a spokesman for the company that’s now a unit of Google. “Microsoft lost on 8 of its ‘best’ patents, and this lone opinion does not impact our ability to build great products that people love.” The ITC had no comment on the Federal Circuit’s ruling, decided Monday. “Even after a closer look by the Federal Circuit, it’s clear Google is using patented technology Microsoft worked hard to invent,” said Microsoft Deputy General Counsel David Howard.

Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile agreed to a spectrum swap involving AWS-1 and PCS licenses. The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment on the proposal Wednesday. The companies are set to exchange 5 to 20 MHz of PCS spectrum in 153 counties across 47 cellular market areas, the document states. In 11 counties in Texas, Verizon would assign 20 MHz of PCS spectrum to T-Mobile, and would receive 10 MHz of PCS spectrum in return. Verizon would also assign 5 to 10 MHz of PCS spectrum to T-Mobile in another 34 counties. “Preliminary review of the applications indicates that, post-transaction, Verizon Wireless would hold 67 to 149 megahertz of spectrum and T-Mobile would hold 30 to 100 megahertz of spectrum in the 518 counties covering parts or all of 133 Cellular Market Areas,” the bureau said (http://bit.ly/1bdMlHJ). Petitions to deny are due Jan. 6, oppositions Jan. 16, and replies Jan. 24. “There will be no loss of an existing service provider in any of the market areas subject to these transactions,” the companies explained in a public interest statement filed at the FCC. “The VZW Licensees are using some of their Exchange Licenses to provide service to customers. The VZW Licensees will continue to provide service on exchanged spectrum or other spectrum currently held by Cellco [a Verizon subsidiary]. Similarly, the T-Mobile Licensees are currently using some of their Exchange Licenses to provide service to customers. The T-Mobile Licensees will continue to provide service on exchanged spectrum or other spectrum currently held by the T-Mobile Licensees or their affiliates."

Roll out of devices designed to use the unlicensed spectrum in the unused TV bands known as the TV white spaces may ramp up beginning in 2015, said Microsoft Principal Group Program Manager Amer Hassan at a Microsoft panel on unlicensed spectrum Tuesday. Silicon vendors are already starting to design microchips to take advantage of the spectrum, Hassan said. The TV white spaces will become increasingly important as more devices become available that use Wi-Fi connectivity, said several panelists. The Internet of Things, in which everyday devices such as refrigerators and toothbrushes will share data and applications over the Internet, “will be dominated by unlicensed spectrum,” said Richard Thanki of the University of Southampton Institute of Complex Systems Simulation. Thanki said such technology will also have industrial applications, leading to manufacturing equipment and warehouses that take advantage of wireless connectivity. Since the devices don’t need to exchange huge amounts of data, the TV white spaces are particularly suited to their use, Thanki said. All the panelists said the number of devices that take advantage of the white spaces is on the rise. It’s possible that the incentive auction could reduce the amount of available unlicensed spectrum, said New America Foundation’s Wireless Future Project Director Michael Calabrese. The incentive auction has created “uncertainty” about how much of the white spaces will be left in the wake of the repacking process, Calabrese said.

Several lawmakers praised Monday’s ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that National Security Agency phone surveillance likely violates the Fourth Amendment (CD Dec 17 p3). Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Mark Udall, D-Colo., praised the ruling on Monday. But Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., pointed to other legal support for surveillance and said the Supreme Court must resolve the question. “Clearly we have competing decisions from those of at least three different courts (the FISA Court, the D.C. District Court and the Southern District of California),” Feinstein said in a statement Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/19QvjQn). “I have found the analysis by the FISA Court, the Southern District of California and the position of the Department of Justice, based on the Supreme Court decision in [1979’s Smith v. Maryland], to be compelling.” Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., author of the original Patriot Act and the surveillance overhaul the USA Freedom Act, said the decision “highlights the need to pass” his legislation, according to his office (http://1.usa.gov/1bMrU8n). “I am encouraged by the district court’s ruling,” Sensenbrenner said. “It will add to the growing momentum behind the USA FREEDOM Act, which has garnered support from a large, diverse bloc of my colleagues and the business community. The Executive Branch should join Congress to institute meaningful reform.” Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Tom Udall, D-N.M., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., support the ruling and back updates to surveillance law. The ruling “hits the nail on the head,” Wyden said (http://1.usa.gov/1gD2yOA), in particular highlighting the ruling’s emphasis on the ineffectiveness of the surveillance. “This ruling dismisses the use of an outdated Supreme Court decision affecting rotary phones as a defense.” Paul said the ruling is “an important first step in having the constitutionality of government surveillance programs decided in the regular court system rather than a secret court where only one side is presented,” calling phone surveillance an abuse (http://1.usa.gov/18Oxu6G). “Today’s ruling is an important first step toward reining in this agency but we must go further,” Sanders said (http://1.usa.gov/IRlBX6). “I will be working as hard as I can to pass the strongest legislation possible to end the abuses by the NSA and other intelligence agencies.” Blumenthal backed congressional action, “creating greater transparency and a special advocate whose client is the Constitution to advocate on behalf of Americans’ liberty and privacy,” he said (http://1.usa.gov/1hYbYEO). Tom Udall said he hopes Monday’s “ruling will prove to be an important milestone on the path toward increased transparency and comprehensive reforms to our surveillance programs, including an end to bulk phone record collection and the creation of a new privacy advocate within the secretive FISA court” (http://1.usa.gov/18SLmQl). Privacy advocates and Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor responsible for the surveillance leaks earlier this year, also hailed the ruling.

ViaSat’s Exede Evolution satellite Internet plan will offer unlimited access for email and webpages using download speedus of up to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 3 Mbps. The service “eliminates data usage caps for these essential online services and provides a fixed cap for other activities, such as video streaming,” ViaSat said in a press release (http://bit.ly/18xcdDJ). ViaSat is offering the plan in 30 states, “which includes much of the Exede national footprint,” it said. The expansion of the service plan represents the second phase of its introduction earlier this year, ViaSat said.

The Telehealth Modernization Act was introduced Tuesday by Reps. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, to “provide principles that states can look to for guidance when developing new policies that govern telehealth,” said a joint news release from the members. The release did not say to which committee the bill, which has yet to be given a number, will be referred. Johnson and Matsui serve on the House Commerce Committee, which oversees healthcare and technology issues, the release said. “The Telehealth Modernization Act will create a nationwide telehealth definition to provide clarity regarding the scope of healthcare services that can be safely delivered via telehealth,” said Matsui. “Having worked in the IT industry for over 30 years, I know first-hand the benefits associated with technological innovation,” Johnson said. He cofounded Johnson-Schley Management Group, an information technology consulting company, and helped form J2 Business Solutions, where he provided IT support as a defense contractor to the U.S. military. “In rural districts such as my own, telehealth can increase access to quality care and lower costs,” he said. All 50 states have varying telehealth regulations, the release said. “Telehealth is a central component for creating a technology enabled healthcare system that will increase access to care and lower costs,” said Joel White, executive director of the Health IT Now Coalition, in the release. White supports the bill.

L-3 Communications renewed its contract with XTAR for $5.6 million. XTAR will provide X-band satellite connectivity “to the U.S. Army for manned airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission support,” XTAR said in a news release. XTAR will deliver space segment capacity on multiple XTAR-Eur beams, including the Middle East and global beams, XTAR said. “The satellite will support connectivity to Army-operated King Air 350 and Dash 8 aircraft.” Located at 29 degrees, the satellite provides commercial X-band coverage from eastern Brazil across the Atlantic Ocean, it said.

Dish Network and Sprint plan to develop and deploy next year a fixed wireless broadband service trial in Corpus Christi, Texas, the companies said Tuesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1jeRERc). Depending on a customer’s location, Dish will install either a ruggedized outdoor router or an indoor solution, they said. Both solutions will feature built-in high-gain antennas to receive the 4G test-driven development long term evolution signal on Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum, they said. The companies plan to expand into additional markets in the future, they said.

A House bill asks for better disclosure from the intelligence community. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., introduced HR-3779 Monday, and it was referred to the House Intelligence Committee. His co-sponsor is Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a backer of surveillance law updates. Both are members of the Intelligence Committee. The bill text is not yet posted online, and neither the office of Himes nor Schiff was able to provide it to us Tuesday. The bill’s long title said the legislation would “require the Director of National Intelligence to annually submit reports on violations of law or executive order by personnel of the intelligence community, and for other purposes.” Members of Congress have debated intelligence community violations in their examination of surveillance law this session.

President Barack Obama discussed surveillance with top technology and telecom CEOs Tuesday. They met for two-and-a-half hours, according to the White House press pool report. Eight tech companies -- AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo -- released an open letter to the White House and Congress last week outlining principles for an aggressive surveillance law revamp they desire. All those companies with the exception of AOL were scheduled to attend the meeting, according to a list of 15 CEOs and other top executives the White House provided us. “We appreciated the opportunity to share directly with the President our principles on government surveillance that we released last week and we urge him to move aggressively on reform,” a spokesperson for the companies that signed reform principles last week told us. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden both were scheduled to attend, as were AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts. “This was an opportunity for the President to hear from CEOs directly as we near completion of our review of signals intelligence programs, building on the feedback we've received from the private sector in recent weeks and months,” the White House said in a readout of the meeting after its conclusion. “The President made clear his belief in an open, free, and innovative internet and listened to the group’s concerns and recommendations, and made clear that we will consider their input as well as the input of other outside stakeholders as we finalize our review of signals intelligence programs.” According to White House guidance submitted to reporters Monday night, the meeting was scheduled to “address national security and the economic impacts of unauthorized intelligence disclosures.” There were also executives from Netflix, Etsy, Dropbox, Salesforce, Zynga and Sherpa Global. AT&T, Comcast and Google declined comment. White House pool reports relayed that all 15 invited executives attended. They also said Obama joked with the executives about the Netflix show House of Cards during a group photograph but provided no additional details of the chatter.