Apple, Broadcom ordered to pay $1.1bn for patent infringement

Yahoo – AFP, January 30, 2020

Both Apple and Broadcom indicated they planned to appeal the verdict finding
they infringed on a California university's patent (AFP Photo/Loic VENANCE,
JUSTIN SULLIVAN)

Los Angeles (AFP) - A Los Angeles jury on Wednesday ordered Apple and Broadcom to pay $1.1 billion to a California university for infringing wifi technology patents in what is thought to be one of the largest patent verdicts ever.

Apple was ordered to pay $837 million and Broadcom must pay $270 million to the California Institute of Technology.

Caltech had sued both tech giants in 2016, alleging that Apple products including iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches used Broadcom components that infringed on its patents related to wireless data transmissions.

While Broadcom made the chips at issue in the trial, jurors may have hit Apple with a bigger tab by because it makes billions of dollars selling iPhones and other devices that incorporate the technology.

"Think of the patented technology as a piece of property that was stolen and sold to someone else," said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group.

"It doesn't matter if they had a go-between steal it for them, they were not allowed to benefit from a theft even if they were downstream."

Tangled past

The analyst, who did not attend the trial, wondered whether an Apple relationship with Broadcom strengthened years ago during legal brawling with US chip giant Qualcomm played into the jury's decision.

Some industry insiders believe Apple supported Broadcom's failed bid to buy Qualcomm in a hostile takeover campaign.

Broadcom in 2018 abandoned efforts to take over US smartphone chipmaker Qualcomm after its bid was blocked by President Donald Trump over national security concerns.

Qualcomm had rejected the unsolicited offer from Broadcom, which makes an array of chips for wireless communications, set-top boxes and electronic displays.

Broadcom last year moved its headquarters from Singapore to California.

Meanwhile, Apple and Qualcomm agreed in early 2019 to "dismiss all litigation" against each other worldwide in what had been a sprawling battle over royalty payments.

Repercussions?

Both Apple and Broadcom planned to appeal the verdict.

"While we thank the members of the jury for their service, we disagree with the factual and legal bases for the verdict and intend to appeal," Broadcom said in response to an AFP inquiry.

In court documents, Apple and Broadcom had said Caltech's claims "are based solely on the incorporation of allegedly infringing Broadcom chips in Apple's iPhone, Mac, and other devices."

"Broadcom manufactures the accused chips, while Apple is merely an indirect downstream party whose products incorporate the accused chips," court filings argued.

Broadcom was the main target of the lawsuit but Apple was also named as it is one of Broadcom's biggest customers.

Caltech welcomed the ruling.

"As a nonprofit institution of higher education, Caltech is committed to protecting its intellectual property in furtherance of its mission to expand human knowledge and benefit society through research integrated with education," the institute said.

Analyst Enderle expected repercussions from the ruling to go beyond Apple to other Broadcom customers who used the chips at issue.

"Caltech will go down the list of Broadcom customers and look for out-of-court settlements with anyone who used the compromised technology," Enderle said.

The analyst wondered whether the jury award signaled a new onslaught of patent battles in the tech industry.

"Typically, we go through waves of patent wars," Enderle said.

"I think it's a case where, after a period of time, people age out or forget that there are significant penalties for this stuff."

EU announces strict 5G rules, but no Huawei ban

Yahoo – AFP, Damon WAKE, January 29, 2020

The EU commission's middle road 5G recommendations give cover to European
capitals to resist US pressure (AFP Photo/JUSTIN TALLIS)

EU countries could ban telecoms operators deemed a security risk from critical parts of 5G infrastructure under guidelines issued Wednesday, amid US pressure to shut out Chinese giant Huawei.

The EU plan, which closely mirrors rules set out Tuesday by Britain allowing a limited role for Huawei, stops short of barring the company from the next-generation communications network designed for near-instantaneous data transfers.

It leaves member states with the responsibility to ensure the safe rollout of 5G and warns them to screen operators carefully, saying security of the network will be critically important for the entire EU.

The so-called "toolbox" outlined by the European Commission avoids naming Huawei and does not call for an outright ban on any supplier.

But it urges countries to "assess the risk profile of suppliers (and)... apply relevant restrictions for suppliers considered to be high risk" accordingly, including shutting them out of "key assets defined as critical and sensitive".

It also recommends EU states avoid "major dependency on a single supplier" and "dependency on suppliers considered to be high risk".

The guidelines are the fruit of months of agonising within the EU, which has struggled to find a middle way to balance Huawei's dominance in the 5G sector with the security concerns pressed by Washington.

Any bans on Huawei will now ultimately be up to individual member states, but the commission's middle road recommendations give cover to European capitals to resist pleas from Washington.

Huawei welcomed the guidelines, saying they would allow it to continue playing a role in Europe's 5G rollout.

"This non-biased and fact-based approach towards 5G security allows Europe to have a more secure and faster 5G network," the company said in a statement.

"Huawei has been present in Europe for almost 20 years and has a proven track record with regard to security. We will continue to work with European governments and industry to develop common standards to strengthen the security and reliability of the network."

Thierry Breton, the EU commissioner for the single market, said the bloc would not target any company, stressing that the new system was based on "objective criteria".

"We in Europe accept everyone but we have rules -- these rules are clear and exacting," he told reporters.

'No safe option'

London's announcement on Tuesday of a limited role for Huawei infuriated Washington, which says the company cannot be trusted with such important infrastructure because it is too close to the Beijing government.

Britain, like the EU, plans to exclude risky operators from "sensitive" locations such as nuclear sites and military bases, but US officials insist there was "no safe option" for Huawei to control any part of the network.

The US has said the possibility of China using its commercial presence to spy on Britain -- or even shut down the network -- could force Washington to stop sharing intelligence with London.

"Our view of Huawei is putting it in your system creates real risk. This is an extension of the Chinese Communist Party with a legal requirement to hand over information to the Chinese Community Party," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday during a visit to London.

"We'll evaluate what the United Kingdom did.... But our view is we should have Western systems with Western rules and American information should only pass across a trusted network. We'll make sure we do that."

Huawei is widely viewed as providing the most advanced alternative for super-fast data transfers behind technologies such as self-driving cars and remotely operated factory robots.

Along with European telecom companies Nokia and Ericsson, it is one of the few suppliers capable of building 5G networks.

The commission warned that 5G will offer "more potential entry points" for cyber attacks -- a growing threat as more and more critical services such as hospitals and power grids depend on data networks.

"5G will be a ground-breaking technology but it cannot come at the expense of the security of our internal market," commission vice-president Margaritis Schinas said in a statement.

"The toolbox is an important step in what must be a continuous effort in the EU's collective work to better protect our critical infrastructures."

Doubts about Huawei come amid a more general anxiety about Beijing's growing presence in the EU, where a growing number of countries in the east are opening the door to Chinese investment in infrastructure.

With the job of vetting prospective 5G suppliers left to member states, there will be questions about whether all have the capacity or political willingness to carry out the job thoroughly, particularly if it might involve embarrassing a major partner such as China.

UK approves restricted 5G role for China's Huawei

Yahoo – AFP, Roland JACKSON, January 28, 2020

Huawei has been given a limited role in the roll-out of Britain's 5G network
(AFP Photo/DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS)

London (AFP) - Britain on Tuesday gave the green light to a limited role for Chinese telecoms giant Huawei in the country's 5G network, in a decision that left the United States "disappointed" after it called for a total ban.

Even though London decided that "high risk vendors" would be excluded from Britain's "sensitive" core infrastructure, a US official insisted there was "no safe option for untrusted vendors to control any part of a 5G network", which offers almost instantaneous data transfer.

Washington has banned Huawei from the roll-out of the fifth generation mobile network because of concerns that the firm could be under the control of Beijing, an allegation it strongly denies.

The announcement came as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo prepared to meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week for talks in London likely to focus on Huawei and as Britain looks for a trade deal with Washington after Brexit.

The United States had threatened to limit intelligence-sharing with London in the event of Huawei winning a UK role.

But Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told parliament: "Nothing in this review affects this country's ability to share highly sensitive intelligence data over highly secured networks.

"GCHQ (Britain's cybersecurity agency) have categorically confirmed that how we construct our 5G and full-fibre public telecoms network has nothing to do with how we share classified data."

Johnson spoke to US President Donald Trump and "underlined the importance of like-minded countries working together to diversify the market and break the dominance of a small number of companies", the British government said.

Balancing act

London's decision -- following a meeting of the National Security Council chaired by Johnson -- came shortly after Brussels said it would also allow Huawei a limited 5G role in the European Union.

Brussels and London are both grappling to find a middle way to balance Huawei's huge dominance in the 5G sector with security concerns, as they look to improve connectivity.

Britain's Digital Secretary Nicky Morgan insisted: "High risk vendors never have been and never will be in our most sensitive networks."

But that failed to convince Washington, where a senior administration official said the United States was "disappointed by the UK's decision".

The fifth generation or 5G mobile networks will offer super-fast data transfer for 

technologies such as self-driving cars and remotely operated factory robots 

(AFP Photo/Justin TALLIS)

Meanwhile, research group GlobalData said a limited role for Huawei allowed "the UK to bow in part" to the US.

"A total ban would have required massive amounts of infrastructure to be torn out at eye-watering expense, and would have set the UK's 5G roll-out back by years.

"It was simply never a practical option to ban Huawei completely," it added in a note.

Unlike the United States, Britain has been using Huawei technology in its systems for the past 15 years.

Intelligence sharing

Analysts Fitch warned that the US could look to retaliate.

"The US has been putting a lot of pressure on its allies to ban Huawei, and failure to do so will raise questions about its strategy, as we expect it will look to retaliate, with threats to stop intelligence-sharing already made," Fitch said Tuesday.

London's move excludes Huawei from sensitive UK locations, such as nuclear sites and military bases, while their market share will be capped.

Huawei itself welcomed the news that it would have at least a part in building Britain's 5G networks.

"Huawei is reassured by the UK government's confirmation that we can continue working with our customers to keep the 5G roll-out on track," said Huawei Vice-President Victor Zhang.

Brussels also ruled out banning the company. A top EU official said instead it was "a question of laying down rules".

"They will be strict, they will be demanding and of course we will welcome in Europe all operators who are willing to apply them," the official said.

Huawei is widely viewed as providing the most advanced alternative for super-fast data transfers behind technologies such as self-driving cars and remotely operated factory robots.

Existing providers of limited 5G network infrastructure in Britain include Nokia and Ericsson.

A number of UK mobile phone operators, including EE and Vodafone, currently sell 5G services -- but it is so far available only in a handful of cities, notably London and Birmingham.

Hundreds of Amazon employees criticize firm's climate stance

Yahoo – AFP, January 27, 2020

Amazon is frequently criticized over its carbon footprint due to its road transport
network and server farms for its cloud computing activities (AFP Photo/INA FASSBENDER)

San Francisco (AFP) - Hundreds of Amazon employees Sunday openly criticized the online retail giant's environmental record, defying the company's communications policy.

More than 300 signed a Medium blog post by Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ), which is pushing the company to go further in its climate change mitigation plan announced in September.

Group members have publicly criticized the company, and some have been warned that they could be fired.

"The protest is the largest action by employees since Amazon began threatening to fire workers for speaking out about Amazon's role in the climate crisis," the AECJ said.

"As Amazon workers, we are responsible for not only the success of the company, but its impact as well," said Sarah Tracy, a software development engineer at Amazon.

"It's our moral responsibility to speak up, and the changes to the communications policy are censoring us from exercising that responsibility."

It is common for companies to demand restraint from employees when it comes to publicly discussing the firm's activities and even more so when openly questioning them.

While the environment and climate change was the focus of many of the posts on Sunday, Amazon was also criticized for other activities such as providing artificial intelligence capabilities to companies in the oil sector.

Amazon, which in December said its workforce had hit 750,000, is often criticized over its carbon footprint because of the high energy consumption of its huge server farms for its lucrative cloud computing activities.

And it has built its success on the back of a huge road transport logistics network to ensure speedy deliveries, which generates a lot of greenhouse gases, the main culprit in climate change.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on September 19 last year made public environmental commitments, promising in particular that the firm would be carbon neutral by 2040.

The AECJ said this was insufficient and that Amazon should be aiming for a 2030 target.

"This is not the time for silencing voices. We need policies that welcome more open discourse, more problem-solving, and more urgent and concerted action about climate change and its causes," said Mark Hiew, a senior marketing manager at Amazon.

Responding to the letter, an Amazon spokesperson defended its policy on public statements about the company.

"While all employees are welcome to engage constructively with any of the many teams inside Amazon that work on sustainability and other topics, we do enforce our external communications policy and will not allow employees to publicly disparage or misrepresent the company or the hard work of their colleagues who are developing solutions to these hard problems," the company said.

5G radiation ‘within EU limits’ but more research needed: report

DutchNews, January 21, 2020 

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Telecoms supervisory body Agenschap Telecom and health watchdog RIVM have said radiation from 5G mobile networks testing sites in the Netherlands is within European limits but needs to monitored as telecoms providers prepare to activate the new mobile core networks.

Some 15 licences for testing sites have been granted in the Netherlands and random testing of five sites has not produced worrying levels of radiation, a report published by both organisations said.  It is important, however, to ‘keep a finger on the pulse’. 

The arrival of 5G networks has caused unrest because of uncertainties about the possible harmful effects of radiation on health and in September hundreds of people took to the streets of The Hague in protest. Experts said at the time that no connection has been established between radiation from phones and effects on health. 

The RIVM and the Agentschap Telecom said it is important to continue monitoring and that although there is no proof this type of radiation is dangerous there are no research data in place pertaining to ‘complex, realistic exposure situations’. 

‘Whether or not insights into the effects on health will change will have to become clear with time,’ the report said.The Netherlands does not have a national guideline where radiation limits are concerned although the government is contemplating putting a legal exposure norm in place, the report said. 

Providers KPN, T-Mobile and Vodafone are all planning to roll out their 5G networks in the next few years which, the organisations say, necessitates more research. 

The measures that were done are seen as a starting point and will be the first of many, the RIVM said. In total radiation emitted by 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G is measured  70 times a year.

More Dutch pensioners are active online, desktop computers are out of favour

DutchNews, January 20, 2020 

Photo: Depositphotos.com

The number of pensioners using Facebook and the like has almost doubled since 2014 and over three-quarters of 65 to 75-year-olds now use social media, according to new research by national statistics agency CBS. 

The number of over-75s on social media has also soared from 13% in 2014 to 40% now, the CBS said. 

Smartphones have also taken over from laptops as the most used method of going online. In 2014, 74% of the over-12s in the Netherlands had a smartphone but that has now risen to 92%. 

Desktop computers are also on their way out. In 2014, six in 10 Dutch people had a desktop but that has since shrunk to 54%.

US ambassador confirms pressure to refuse ASML export licence for China

DutchNews, January 17, 2020 

An ASML cleanroom where a euv machine is being assembled. Photo: ASML

The US ambassador to the Netherlands has confirmed earlier reports that the United States wants to discourage the export of chip technology to China, the Financieele Dagblad said on Friday. 

Sources had told the paper earlier that the US was putting pressure on the Dutch government to refuse an export licence to chip machinery maker ASML.

‘We have made it very clear to the Dutch,’ the paper quotes Pete Hoestra as saying. ‘We believe that this is extremely sensitive technology which does not belong in certain places.’ 

ASML has been waiting since June 2019 for an export licence to send a next-generation chip maker to China, which uses technology based on extreme ultraviolet (euv) wavelengths. 

The request is still being dealt with by the foreign affairs ministry. However, behind the scenes, the FD says, the US has been subjecting the Netherlands to ‘heavy political pressure’ to refuse the licence. 

Earlier this week, China’s ambassador to the Netherlands said in an interview with the FD that China did not want The Hague to bow to US pressure.

‘We are concerned that the Netherlands is allowing our trading relationship to become politicised,’ Xu Hong is quoted as saying. ‘If this continues, it will ultimately have a negative influence on our bilateral relationship.’ 

And Reuters said that White House officials shared a classified intelligence report with the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte which highlighted the potential repercussions of China acquiring ASML’s technology. 

The paper said the stakes are high because ASML is counting on realising billions of euros worth of sales in China through the use of euv technology. 

The technology falls under an international treaty, the Wassenaar Arrangement, which was signed by both countries and which stipulates that a licence is necessary because euv technology can also be used for military purposes.

'Invisible computing' startup unveils smart contact lens

Yahoo – AFP, January 16, 2020

Mojo Vision, a California startup, says its smart contact lens is part of a move to
"invisible computing," which allows people to interact more naturally with technology
(AFP Photo/HO)

Washington (AFP) - A startup focused on "invisible computing" Thursday unveiled a smart contact lens which delivers an augmented reality display in a user's field of vision.

The Mojo Vision contact lens offers a display with information and notifications, and allows the user to interact by focusing on certain points.

The rigid contact lens, which the company has been developing in stealth mode for some 10 years, may also be used to help people with visual impairments by using enhanced image overlays, and has obtained US approval for testing it as a medical device.

"Mojo has a vision for invisible computing where you have the information you want when you want it and are not bombarded or distracted by data when you don't," said chief executive Drew Perkins.

In a demonstration to an AFP reporter, company executives showed how the contact lens could enable users to see a virtual teleprompter, navigation instructions or other interactions that appear floating in the field of vision by projecting a micro-LED display to the retina.

A user, wearing two lenses which may be fitted with a correction prescription, could "click" by concentrating on an icon -- to launch a music player, for example -- and turn off by looking away.

Mojo said it had no timetable for a commercial launch. But it has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration as a "breakthrough" device to test the contact lens to help people with visual impairments such as macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa.

A smart contact lens prototype developed by California startup Mojo Vision delivers 

an augmented reality display in the user’s field and is being tested to help people with 

visual impairments (AFP Photo/Rob Lever)

"These are people who are underserved by technology today," said Steve Sinclair, senior vice president of the startup based in Saratoga, California.

The company said the contact lens is designed to provide overlays that augment sight for people with "low vision" and may assist in mobility, reading and other functions.

Mojo has raised $100 million and has executives with experience at Google, Apple and other Silicon Valley firms, with opticians and ophthalmologists also working on the project.

The contact lens aims to enable people to move away from physical devices and interact more naturally with technology. It also could have business applications, allowing workers or specialists access to real-time information in their field of vision without a bulky headset.

A challenge has been to pack into the lens the complex circuitry, image sensor, wireless radio and battery needed for the wearable device.

Executives said the current version would transmit and receive information wirelessly through a portable relay box which could be clipped to a belt, but they hope to link directly to smartphones in the future.

The company will be testing its vision-enhancing applications with the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Palo Alto, California.

Google says it will phase out web-tracking 'cookies'

Yahoo – AFP, January 14, 2020

Google says it i s on track to phase out 'cookies' used to track people's online activities
while still offering ways to deliver targeted advertising (AFP Photo/LOIC VENANCE)

San Francisco (AFP) - Google on Tuesday said is making progress in its quest to vanquish third-party "cookies" on its popular browser used to track people's online activities, a focus of many privacy activists.

The online giant said its "Sandbox" program would still allow advertisers the ability to deliver targeted messages, while also sparing people from being tracked by snippets of code called "cookies" when they use its Chrome web browser.

"We are confident that with continued iteration and feedback, privacy-preserving and open-standard mechanisms like the Privacy Sandbox can sustain a healthy, ad-supported web in a way that will render third-party cookies obsolete," Chrome director of engineering Justin Schuh said in a post.

"Our intention is to do this within two years."

The use of cookies to track where people go, what they do, and what they buy online has raised concerns about privacy violations but has also been defended as integral to supporting free online services that survive on advertising revenue.

"Our goal for this open source initiative is to make the web more private and secure for users, while also supporting publishers," Schuh said.

Schuh offered no specifics on what Google would use to replace cookies but said "we are working actively across the ecosystem so that browsers, publishers, developers, and advertisers have the opportunity to experiment with these new mechanisms."

Google said simply blocking cookies was not a good solution because it has encouraged the use of "fingerprinting" techniques to track people which some say are more insidious than cookies.

But it remained unclear if eliminating third-party cookies may give the California-based company more control of online advertising, which it dominates along with Facebook.

Google to stop using ‘double Irish, Dutch sandwich’ tax dodge: Reuters

DutchNews, January 2, 2020 

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Google parent Alphabet is to stop using an intellectual property licensing loophole, known as the ‘Double Irish, Dutch sandwich’, which allowed it to cut its global tax bill, Reuters reports. 

The strategy involves companies moving money from an Irish subsidiary to a Dutch holding company and then back to an Irish holding company located in Bermuda with licensing rights to Google intellectual property. 

Because Bermuda has no corporate income tax it was lucrative for Google to report income there, effectively delaying tax payment on international earnings to the US for years while paying a lower tax rate in Europe. 

After pressure from the EU and the US Ireland closed the loopholes in 2014 and companies were given until 2020 to comply with new tax regulations. 

Dutch filings at the Chamber of Commerce and seen by Reuters showed that in 2018 Google moved €21.8bn through its Dutch holding company to Bermuda, up from €19.9bn in 2017. 

Reuters said the filing did not give a definite end date but that Google management expected the termination to take place ‘as of 31 December 2019 or during 2020′. 

The scheme was in place for over a decade and allowed the tech giant to cut its tax bill by hundreds of billions of euros, the Guardian estimates. 

The Netherlands does not currently tax royalties, but is planning to change this as part of a package of measures to crack down on tax evasion in 2021. 

Some 10,000 shell, or letter-box, companies are based in the Netherlands and are primarily used to shift corporate earnings and obscure ownership. Google has used its Dutch affiliate to move money since 2004.