U.S. judge rules Qualcomm owes Apple nearly $1 billion rebate payment

(Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge has issued a preliminary ruling that Qualcomm Inc owes Apple Inc nearly $1 billion in patent royalty rebate payments, though the decision is unlikely to result in Qualcomm writing a check to Apple because of other developments in the dispute.

Judge Gonzalo Curiel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on Thursday ruled that Qualcomm, the world’s biggest supplier of mobile phone chips, was obligated to pay nearly $1 billion in rebate payments to Apple, which for years used Qualcomm’s modem chips to connect iPhones to wireless data networks. The payments were part of a business cooperation agreement between the two companies amid the peculiar patent licensing practices of the consumer electronics industry.

In general, the contract factories that built Apple’s iPhones would pay Qualcomm billions of dollars per year for the use of Qualcomm’s patented technology in iPhones, a cost that Apple would reimburse the contract factories for. Separately, Qualcomm and Apple had a cooperation agreement under which Qualcomm would pay Apple a rebate on the iPhone patent payments if Apple agreed not to attack in court or with regulators.

In a lawsuit filed two years ago, Apple sued Qualcomm, alleging that the chip supplier had broken the cooperation agreement by not paying nearly $1 billion in patent royalty rebates. Qualcomm in turn alleged that it stopped paying the rebate payments because Apple had broken the agreement by urging other smartphone makers to complain to regulators and making “false and misleading” statements to the Korean Fair Trade Commission, which was investigating Qualcomm over antitrust allegations. Apple responded that it was making lawful responses to regulators in an ongoing investigation.

Judge Curiel sided with Apple, ruling that Qualcomm owed the missed rebate payments. “Qualcomm’s illegal business practices are harming Apple and the entire industry,” Apple said in a statement. Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and general counsel of Qualcomm, told Reuters in a statement, “Although the Court today did not view Apple’s conduct as a breach of Apple’s promises to Qualcomm in the 2013 Business Cooperation and Patent Agreement, the exposure of Apple’s role in these events is a welcome development.” The decision will not become final until after the trial in the case, which begins next month. And it is unlikely that Qualcomm will make a new payment to Apple.

Apple’s contract factories, which under normal circumstances would pay Qualcomm for patent royalties owed on iPhones, have already withheld the nearly $1 billion in payments to Qualcomm. Qualcomm’s Rosenberg said those withheld iPhone payments have already been accounted for in Qualcomm’s existing financial statements. “Apple has already offset the payment at issue under the agreement against royalties that were owed to Qualcomm,” Qualcomm’s Rosenberg told Reuters.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-qualcomm/u-s-judge-rules-qualcomm-owes-apple-nearly-1-billion-rebate-payment-idUSKCN1QV3EV?il=0

Ethiopian Airlines flight reported trouble soon after takeoff: NYT

(Reuters) - The Boeing 737 Max 8 that crashed in Ethiopia on Sunday killing 157 people requested permission to return to Addis Ababa airport three minutes after takeoff as it accelerated to abnormal speed, the New York Times reported. All contact between air controllers and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 to Nairobi was lost five minutes after it took off, a person who reviewed air traffic communications told the newspaper. Within a minute of the flight’s departure, Captain Yared Getachew reported a “flight control” problem as the aircraft was well below the minimum safe height from the ground during a climb, the Times reported, citing the person. After being cleared by the control room to turn back within three minutes of the flight, Flight 302 climbed to an unusually high altitude and disappeared from the radar over a restricted military zone, the person added.

The investigation of the crash is still in its early stages and black boxes with details of the flight’s final moments arrived in France on Thursday for analysis. Experts say it is too early to speculate on what caused the crash or whether it is related to the Lion Air 737 Max 8 crash in Indonesia five months ago. Accident reports show most are caused by unique combinations of technical and human factors. Ethiopian Airlines was not immediately available for comment.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-airplane-takeoff/ethiopian-airlines-flight-reported-trouble-soon-after-takeoff-nyt-idUSKCN1QW0CT?il=0

>>5694625

Indeed, he wasn't a favorite of Potus at one time.

Suspect In Kavanaugh Confirmation Doxxing Has Feinstein Ties, Allegedly Possessed Senate Data. DOJ May Hide The Details

The former Senate aide accused of doxxing Republicans during Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing allegedly possessed troves of information, including Senate data, court proceedings indicate.

The suspect is the son of a wealthy family with ties to Dianne Feinstein, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat. Republicans suggested she timed a leak about sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh to harm his confirmation chances.

The court barred the media from hearing details about the alleged breach, and now a plea deal that could prevent the truth from ever emerging appears to be in the works.

A former Senate aide charged with doxxing Republican senators and extorting a witness comes from an elite family with ties to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. Prosecutors signaled Tuesday that they might give the aide, Jackson Cosko, a plea deal that would prevent the facts of the case from ever being learned publicly.

During Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s September 2018 confirmation hearing, Cosko — a former IT aide who once managed Democratic New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan’s office computer accounts — allegedly posted to Wikipedia the home addresses of Republican senators who supported the Supreme Court justice. “I own EVERYTHING,” Cosko told a Hassan aide who caught him in the act, according to prosecutors. “If you tell anyone I will leak it all. Emails signal conversations gmails.” Information revealed in court since then suggested that might not have been a bluff. U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan on Jan. 24 said Cosko allegedly possessed terabytes of information, including Senate data so sensitive that it could not be discussed in open court. “He downloaded more information than was originally understood. There is no combination of conditions that could ensure the safety of the community,” Hogan said in December 2018. Prosecutors underscored that he was a flight risk and that they had concerns he would engage in obstruction of justice.

Cosko — a supporter of Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders — is the son of an enormously wealthy and politically connected California family with ties to Feinstein. Republicans suggested the California Democrat leaked a letter soon before Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing that alleged the Supreme Court justice sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford. The suspect’s father, Greg Cosko, is the CEO of Hathaway Dinwiddie, a massive construction company that built a university building named after Feinstein’s husband. He serves on the board of San Francisco State University alongside Willie Brown, the California politician who said he helped make the career of California’s other Democratic senator, Kamala Harris, with an illicit affair.

As former chairman of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, Greg Cosko hobnobbed with then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Feinstein and others. The elder Cosko’s adult son appears to have made inroads in Washington via an internship with Feinstein.

Jackson Cosko appeared to have absconded with vast troves of data months before the confirmation hearing, and even allegedly had Senate letterhead. Even after he was caught, he continued to make threats, Hogan said. “There’s been some complex discovery with terabytes of information. The defendant is cooperating but the government isn’t convinced that he is fully cooperative. Some of what was provided under discovery is Senate information. The Senate is subject to a privilege called speech and debate,” he said at a January court date before closing the proceedings to the public. The speech and debate clause gives congressmen a form of limited immunity against lawsuits and criminal prosecution, and congressmen sometimes use it to try to prevent their information from being used as evidence in court cases. At December and January court dates, Hogan barred The Daily Caller News Foundation from the courtroom as lengthy proceedings went on, even though Cosko’s mother was allowed to stay. The judge assured that what was said would become public eventually.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2019/03/14/kavanaugh-doxx-feinstein-doj/

Zuckerberg’s Right-Hand Man Unexpectedly Quits Following News Of Fed Investigation

One of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s top lieutenants unexpectedly quit Thursday following news that federal prosecutors are investigating the company’s use of private data. Chris Cox was put in charge of some of Facebook’s most important features, including Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp — which together have over 2.7 billion users worldwide. Cox, who has been with the company for 13 years, announced his departure in a blog post Thursday without explaining what led to his exit.

“It is with great sadness I share with you that after thirteen years, I’ve decided to leave the company,” Cox wrote in his post. “Since I was twenty-three, I’ve poured myself into these walls. This place will forever be a part of me.” Zuckerberg said in a separate blog post on the same day that the veteran executive had considered moving on several years ago but stayed around after 2016. “For a few years, Chris has been discussing with me his desire to do something else. He is one of the most talented people I know and he has the potential to do anything he wants. But after 2016, we both realized we had too much important work to do to improve our products for society, and he stayed to help us work through these issues and help us chart a course for our family of apps going forward,” Zuckerberg wrote.

News of Cox’s departure comes after a grand jury in New York subpoenaed records from two smartphone developers. Both companies entered into large and complex data deals with Facebook, allowing all the firms involved in the partnership to collect vast troves of information on millions of users. News of Cox’s departure comes after a grand jury in New York subpoenaed records from two smartphone developers. Both companies entered into large and complex data deals with Facebook, allowing all the firms involved in the partnership to collect vast troves of information on millions of users.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2019/03/14/facebook-zuckerberg-chris-cox/