Apple ordered by court to produce agreement with HTC

A court in California has ordered Apple to produce without delay an unredacted version of its recent patent agreement with HTC, after Samsung Electronics said the agreement was relevant to its patent infringement dispute with Apple.

The document will, however, be made available only for viewing by the attorneys in the patent lawsuit, Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose division, wrote in an order on Wednesday.

HTC had earlier agreed to produce a version of its Patent License and Settlement Agreement (PLSA) with Apple, provided it was redacted to exclude the terms disclosing the consideration paid under the PLSA, including how the amounts were calculated. The redacted document was also to be marked "Highly Confidential --Attorneys' Eyes Only" as provided under a protective order entered by the court.

The compensation terms it seeks to redact are highly "competition-sensitive," HTC wrote in the filing.

Apple and HTC said earlier this month that they had settled all their outstanding patent disputes in a settlement that includes a 10-year agreement under which the companies will license current and future patents from each other. The terms of the settlement were kept confidential and not disclosed.

Samsung asked the court to compel Apple to produce a copy of its settlement and patent license agreement with HTC, as it almost certainly covers at least some of the patents in the suit. Apple's willingness to license patents in the suit may undermine its claim of irreparable harm and demonstrate that monetary remedies are adequate, Samsung said in a filing last week.(

The South Korean company asserted during a hearing that the financial terms of the agreement support its argument that a royalty is a more suitable alternative to a permanent injunction. The court has scheduled a hearing in December to decide on Apple's plea for a permanent injunction on the sale of some Samsung phones.

"Many third parties to this case have had their licensing agreements disclosed -- without any redaction of financial terms -- subject to an Attorneys-Eyes-Only designation because the confidential financial terms were clearly relevant to the dispute between Apple and Samsung," wrote Judge Grewal in his order. HTC is not entitled to special treatment, particularly as it has recognized the general sufficiency of the protective order and the integrity of Samsung's outside counsel, he added.

The court also agreed to Samsung's moves to compel further depositions of three of Apple's experts whose declarations accompany Apple's reply brief in its motion for a permanent injunction against Samsung. It also allowed Apple's request for two additional depositions if the court were to grant Samsung's request.

Chinese Twitter user detained for posting political joke

Chinese authorities have detained a Twitter user in the country for posting a political joke in the run-up to the government's leadership change earlier this month, according to backers of a petition demanding his release.

The user, Zhai Xiaobin, was detained on Nov. 7 likely for a Twitter post he made two days prior that made fun of China's 18th Communist Party Congress, said Wen Yunchao, a blogger who authored the petition. His family was told that he was being detained for spreading false and terrible information.

In his post, Zhai likened the party congress to the horror movie series "Final Destination," this time with the country's politicians stalked by Death and gradually killed off.

"Final Destination 6 has arrived. The Great Hall of the People collapses and the over 2000 people at the meeting are dead, except for seven of them. But afterwards, the seven die one after another in bizarre ways. Is it a game of God, or the wrath of Death? How will 18, the mysterious number, unlock the gate of Hell? Premieres globally on November 8th to bring you an earthshaking experience!" the Twitter message reads when translated into English.

Zhai is being held at the Miyun County detention center, north of Beijing, according to the petition. Calls were made to the detention center on Thursday, but the persons answering the phone declined to answer questions and promptly hung up. Beijing's Public Security Bureau did not immediately respond for comment.

China has previously detained Internet users for allegedly spreading rumors online. The country censors Internet sites strictly, and early last year, authorities were on high alert after an online call for China to stage a "Jasmine Revolution" began to appear on foreign sites, including LinkedIn.

Twitter itself is blocked in China. But users in the country with virtual private networks (VPNs) can bypass the country's censors to access the site.

Authorities probably believed Zhai's post was a warning of a terrorist attack on China's leader, even though it was a clearly a joke, Wen said in an interview.

"China can't continue detaining people this way, and so I hope people pay attention to this issue," he said. So far, more than 520 people have signed the petition, he added.

One of Zhai's friends, named Pu Fei, also said authorities went too far in their actions, given that political jokes are always posted online.

"They detained him for his joke. If authorities used this as their standard, then they would have to jail millions in China," he said.

Stop the ITU taking over the Internet, warns the European Parliament

Control of the Internet must be stopped from falling into the hands of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the European Parliament has warned.
The European Union's elected representatives loudly called for negotiators to block attempts by the ITU to gain ultimate control over the Internet at a conference in Dubai next month.
The World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) will attempt to revise international telecommunication regulations, which have not been updated since 1988. A resolution approved by an overwhelming majority of Members of the European Parliament on Thursday warned that some of the proposals presented ahead of WCIT could result in the ITU itself becoming "the ruling power of the Internet," something the parliament is determined to prevent.
"The ITU, or any other single international institution, is not the appropriate body to assert regulatory authority over the Internet," said the resolution, drawn up by Dutch parliamentarian Marietje Schaake.
The resolution calls on the E.U. member states to prevent any changes to the International Telecommunication Regulations that would be harmful to the openness of the Internet, net neutrality and freedom of expression.
The ITU is the United Nations industry body for telecommunications operators. Its original brief was to allocate global radio spectrum and satellite orbits, and to develop technical interoperability standards for telecommunication networks. However, the Internet as we know it did not exist when the international telecommunication regulations (ITRs) were drawn up.
All 27 member states of the E.U. are signatories of these ITRs and as a result can negotiate as a bloc. The parliament's resolution calls on the Council and Commission, which will represent the E.U. in Dubai, to ensure that any changes to the ITRs "will further the E.U.'s objectives and interests to advance the Internet as a public place, where human rights and fundamental freedoms, particularly freedom of expression and assembly, are respected, as well as free market principles, net neutrality and entrepreneurship are ensured".
The Parliament also said that it is concerned that some of the ITU reform proposals would set up charging mechanisms, which could seriously threaten the open and competitive nature of the Internet by driving up prices and hurting innovation.
Meanwhile search giant Google has invited users to "pledge your support for the free and open Internet," warning that governments working behind closed doors in Dubai should not direct its future.

Nokia updates Windows Phone 8 public transport app

Nokia has launched a new version of its Transport application, which presents directions in a new way and counts down to when the bus or train will leave.

Navigation is one of the tools Nokia hopes will convince consumers to pick up the Lumia 820 or the Lumia 920, the company's new devices running Windows Phone 8. The Transport application, also known as Transit, is part of that.

Version 3.0 of the application, which helps users find ways to travel by public transport, has been redesigned with a more intuitive interface, Nokia wrote in a blog post on Thursday.

The interface has a new segmented map that provides a detailed view of each leg of the journey. Users can tap or swipe on the screen to see each one up close, according to Nokia.

Users can also plan in advance by entering the date and departure time to view their route options, and choose to see how many minutes are left until a train leaves, instead of just seeing at what time it leaves.

Transport is available in over 550 cities and 53 countries, Nokia said. The new version can be downloaded from Windows Phone Store.

On Thursday, Nokia also introduced a new beta version of Nokia Transport for Windows Phone 7, which has a similar feature set and design, and an update to Nokia Transport for Symbian.