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Microsoft hits Motorola, Google with EU complaint
Microsoft on Wednesday lodged a formal complaint with the European Union’s competition regulator against Motorola Mobility and its soon-to-be owner Google, saying Motorola’s aggressive enforcement of patent rights against rivals breaks competition rules. The complaint follows a similar step by Apple against Motorola last week.
Motorola is in the process of being taken over by Google for $12.5 billion. Microsoft fears that Google will continue Motorola’s tight hold on key patents.
Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have been hit by legal cases in Europe and the United States, with Motorola claiming that the companies’ products are using key patents it owns without permission.
Apple and Microsoft argue that Motorola is overcharging for the use of these patents, which cover technologies necessary to connect wirelessly to the Internet or stream video online.
Associated Press
T-Mobile and other groups are asking the federal government to block Verizon’s proposed purchase of spectrum from cable companies for $3.9 billion. Verizon also announced that it will start a video streaming service in cooperation with Redbox.

Verizon-cable deal raises fears

T-Mobile, others ask FCC to block spectrum purchase

– T-Mobile USA, which just had its acquisition by AT&T blocked by regulators, is urging the federal government to block another deal in the wireless world: Verizon’s planned purchase of spectrum from cable companies for $3.9 billion.

In a filing late Tuesday, T-Mobile USA said the Federal Communications Commission should stop the deal between Verizon Wireless, Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc., Bright House Networks and Cox Communications because it would place an “excessive concentration” of wireless spectrum in Verizon’s hands.

With more wireless spectrum, a phone company can raise download speeds and serve more data-hungry devices like smartphones and laptops with cellular broadband.

Verizon Wireless, the country’s No. 1 cell phone company, already has a relatively large amount of spectrum, while T-Mobile, the No. 4, does not.

MetroPCS Communications Inc., the fifth-largest cellphone company, also urged the FCC to block the deal. It said the parties had not provided enough information to prove that the acquisition was in the public interest.

Ten public-interest groups filed their own motions to block the deal on Tuesday, ahead of a filing deadline on Wednesday.

Sprint Nextel Corp., the No. 3 carrier, took a more measured stance. It didn’t ask the FCC to block the deal outright but said the agency should look closely at the wider implications of the deal, including the provision that Verizon Wireless and the cable companies market each other’s products in their stores.

The cross-marketing has already started in some areas, with Verizon Wireless stores selling Comcast cable service and Comcast stores touting Verizon cellphone plans.

Analysts hailed the co-marketing agreement as a historic shift, because phone companies and cable companies are usually bitter rivals. Verizon Communications Inc., the New York-based majority owner of Verizon Wireless, still competes with the cable companies in providing pay-TV and broadband service.