In a tiny company's fight, big communications stakes
Article Abstract:
A small communications equipment manufacturer, Interdigital Communications Corp, is embattled in a patent suit with Motorola involving wireless communications technology. In a federal trial that began in Mar 1995, Interdigital is claiming that it holds royalty rights to a time-division multiple access (TDMA) technology that is being used for wireless communications. Motorola counters that Interdigital cannot make claim to the technology and is seeking to get the company's patents revoked. Other firms, including AT&T, Siemens and Matsushita, paid Interdigital a total of $50 million in early 1995 to keep the company from filing similar actions against them. The present trial is expected to last several weeks and the final outcome will have grave consequences for Interdigital. A favorable outcome could potentially help Interdigital earn hundreds of millions of dollars in royalty payments, while a less favorable decision could return the small manufacturer to obscurity.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1995
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Auction seen for satellite TV license: Tele-Communications' plan hits FCC wall
Article Abstract:
Tele-Communications (TCI) will have to outbid rivals such as MCI in an FCC auction for a satellite broadcasting license the company thought it already controlled. The license represents one of the last unclaimed spaces for a satellite that can reach the entire continental US, and TCI had agreed to pay the former owner $40 million for it. Urged by Congress and MCI, the FCC decided the license was worth more and declared that an auction would be the most equitable way to award the license. The auction will take place Jan 18, 1995, and MCI pledges an opening bid of $175 million on a license it values as high as $700 million. The FCC set the Jan date because it wants competition in the direct-satellite-TV market and believes the date gives TCI enough time to develop its satellite service by its Jun delivery date. TCI sought to hold off the auction by offering to pay for the license and return several less-important licenses.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1995
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Chaos for an industry; in overhaul of communications law, lower prices may follow initial jolts
Article Abstract:
Industry analysts contend that if the US Senate's telecommunications legislation becomes law, the likely effect would be new marketing deals, outlandish prices, hostile takeovers and bankruptcies. In the long run, however, the result would be advanced services based on satellite and fiber optics technology and lower prices overall. The analysts are considering what happened when the government broke up the Bell System in 1984. The immediate result was difficult for consumers but eventually became a benefit. The Senate's legislation has a good chance at becoming law by the end of 1995 and would radically alter not only the telecommunications industry but every form of electronic communications. The bill's supporters say that it would eliminate monopolies and let a number of industries move into each other's markets.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1995
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