Adam Bender

Vonage’s court cases against Sprint Nextel and Nortel are heating up. Vonage is disputing Sprint’s use of terminology in a Kansas case and a proposed countersuit by Nortel in Texas. Also Monday, a Vonage executive said his company has paid Verizon $77.5 million in royalties for patent claims that Vonage is fighting.

The International Trade Commission voted to investigate whether Nokia’s 3G WCDMA handsets infringe InterDigital patents. The commission has “not yet made any decisions on the merits of the case,” it said in its announcement late Wednesday. A Nokia spokeswoman said the company would defend its rights, products and integrity. Regardless of the outcome, the investigation could hurt Nokia’s effort to persuade the commission to investigate Qualcomm, said Jay Sandvos, a lawyer with Bromberg and Sunstein.

The FBI can’t stop National Security Letter recipients from discussing them, the U.S. District Court for Southern New York ruled Thursday, striking down the Patriot Act’s NSL provision in its entirety. Such gagging is “unconstitutional under the First Amendment because it functions as a licensing scheme that does not afford adequate procedural safeguards, and because it is not a sufficiently narrowly tailored restriction on protected speech,” Judge Victor Marrero said in the order. Since the NSL provision’s gagging aspect “cannot be severed” from the statute, the court found the entire law unconstitutional under the First Amendment and separation of powers doctrine.

Orbital Sciences expects 7.9 percent growth in its number of satellite orders from 2007-2009, Orbital Chief Financial Officer Garrett Pierce said Thursday at the Kaufman Bros. Investors Conference in New York City. Orbital has orders in place for 16 satellites and 12 subsystems to be delivered from 2007 to 2009, he said. Most of the company’s satellite product lines are fully developed and in early stages of expected 12- to 15-year cycles, he said. Over the next three years, annual revenue growth should increase 12 to 14 percent per year; profit margins, 7 to 9 percent, he said. About 31 percent of Orbital’s projected $990 million 2007 revenue comes from commercial and international satellite operators, and 15 percent is from science and defense satellites, he said. Orbital is the market leader in small communications satellites with 50 percent share, and tied for No. 1 in small science and defense satellites with 20 percent, he said. About 5 percent of Orbital’s revenue comes from its GPS-based electronic transportation management systems (TMS), but Orbital wants to sell this business, he said. Though Orbital is the TMS market leader, the business is not allied closely enough to what the company does in satellites and rockets, he said.

Broadcom notched another victory against Qualcomm late Tuesday, winning a reversal of a federal court decision to dismiss two Broadcom antitrust claims against Qualcomm. The U.S. Appeals Court for the 3rd Circuit sent back to district court a claim that Broadcom had monopolized the W-CDMA technology market and another that Qualcomm had engaged in anticompetitive conduct with intent to monopolize. The case goes back to the U.S. District Court for New Jersey. A trial date “depends on various next steps taken by Qualcomm,” but could be at least a year away, a Broadcom spokesman said.

Motorola must cut costs and be “boringly consistent” to fix business problems and gain on competitors, Motorola Chief Financial Officer Tom Meredith said Wednesday at the Citigroup Global Technology Conference in New York City. “Our inconsistency highlights that we were foolish,” he said. “We were accident-prone and need to fix that.”

Covad is working closely with EarthLink and “cautiously optimistic” about its troubled partner’s well-being, Covad CEO Charles Hoffman said Wednesday at the Kaufman Bros. Investor Conference in New York City. In late August, EarthLink laid off 900, closed several regional offices and appointed a new chief operating officer; in late June it named a new CEO and president. But Covad also is keen to sign new partners, said Hoffman. Covad is talking with several companies for wireless partnerships, he said, citing the existence of many companies with spectrum or equipment but no operator. Hoffman expects growth in Covad’s wholesale business, “particularly with AT&T and Verizon,” he said. “The regulatory games are kind of over -- they won -- so they're getting more aggressive and focusing on selling to small [businesses] and consumers, and we're the solution for that outside of their region.”

Tightening Broadcom and Verizon’s business relationship was among reasons that Broadcom signed a licensing deal that excused the Bell from the International Trade Commission’s Qualcomm chip ban, Broadcom Chief Financial Officer Eric Brandt said Tuesday at the Citigroup Global Technology Conference, webcast from New York. Verizon is a “fairly large” Broadcom customer and an “important provider” in the wireless market, he said. The licensing deal gave Broadcom “meaningful economics,” but it was more about developing a better business relationship and future opportunities, he said. Broadcom still is mulling how to deal with Qualcomm, he said. “We need to make sure we do what’s right for our shareholders,” he said. Broadcom hopes to achieve “peace in our lifetime” with Qualcomm, but wants to make sure the legal playing field is level, he said. Broadcom doesn’t want to be in a “position where [its] chips are licensed but customers aren’t,” he said.

The Federal Aviation Administration signed a $1.8 billion, 18-year contract with ITT to deliver satellite based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology to be used in the FAA’s next generation air transportation system, the FAA said Thursday. Under the contract, ITT must have the system ready by 2010, with it enabled to cover the nation by 2013. ITT will build the ADS-B ground stations and own and operate the gear. ITT will use existing infrastructure, including AT&T cellphone towers, and plans to have 300 ground stations in phase one, it said. The FAA will pay subscription charges for ADS-B broadcasts transmitted to aircraft and air traffic control facilities. ITT will use a dual-link frequency architecture comprising 1090 MHz and Universal Access Transceiver, said Vinny Capezzuto, FAA surveillance and broadcast services director. The FAA expects it to cost $50,000 to $70,000 to equip a plane that already has on-board GPS with ADS-B, FAA said. The FAA expects the system to cut delays and enhance safety by using satellite signals instead of those from traditional radar to pinpoint craft locations. Along with air traffic displays, ADS-B also will give pilots graphical weather information, terrain maps and flight data, including temporary flight restrictions and notices to aviators. ADS-B is about 10 times more accurate than radar, giving pilots and controllers precise locations of aircraft, resulting in more direct flight routes and airspace efficiency, FAA said. ITT’s team includes AT&T, Thales, WSI, Science Applications International Corporation, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Aerospace Engineering, Sunhillo, Comsearch, Mission Critical Solution of Tampa, Pragmatics, Washington Consulting Group, Aviation Communications and Surveillance Systems, NCR Corporation, and L-3 Avionics Systems and Sandia Aerospace.

Embroiled in four lawsuits spanning five courts, Vonage attorneys face a nuisance suit and cases that could put the company out of business, industry officials said. A SunRocket suit filed Aug. 23 alleging misuse of a customer list is mere “noise,” VoIP rival Nuvio’s CEO said in an interview. But patent litigation against Verizon, Sprint Nextel and Nortel could put Vonage out of business, an analyst said. Vonage’s legal woes probably go beyond bad luck, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Rebecca Arbogast said. “People make their own luck.”