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Sony files ITC complaint about LG, adds another patent infringement lawsuit to the stack
Did the world's tech giants just discover they have lawyers on retainer? That's certainly how it seems, as company after company has decided 'tis the season to target the competition with patent infringement allegations. Sony, the latest, is aiming squarely at LG, claiming that the Korean manufacturer's violating eight patents with its mobile devices -- including the LG Fathom, Xenon, Neon, Remarq, Rumor 2, Lotus Elite and VL600 LTE modem -- claiming that these devices transmit variable-bandwidth audio streams, live-preview camera snapshots, hand off cellular calls and more in ways that infringe Sony's intellectual property. Sony's now filed both an ITC complaint in an attempt to ban new product shipments from the US, and a lawsuit in federal court that will no doubt seek monetary damages. Now, if recent history is any indication, LG will turn around and smack Sony with a patent stack of its own, and we'll all go back to dreaming about LG devices we'd actually care to purchase.
Contest rules reveal LG Rumor 2 coming to Virgin Mobile USA
We guess we can probably start to expect a lot of "synergies" between Sprint's lineup and Virgin's now that the two companies are in the process of uniting in holy matrimony, so here's a little sneak preview of what's to come. The Rumor 2 from LG -- which Sprint has had in the lineup for a few months now -- is coming to Virgin Mobile next, a tidbit revealed only by reading the fine print in its "Twitter Rumors" giveaway. Actually, you really didn't have to read that hard at all; you could've seen the "Twitter Rumor2 Giveaway Description" text at the top or made a simple deduction from the use of the word "rumor" in the contest's name, but anyhow, yeah, it's on the way. No word on price or date, but this particular contest ends on the 29th, so it's conceivable we could see an announcement before the month's out. [Thanks, Stephen]
LG's Rumor 2 escapes rumor phase, goes live on Sprint
Tough luck, guys -- the secret's out. LG's long rumored Rumor 2 has finally launched exclusively on Sprint, bringing with it a slide-out QWERTY keypad, QVGA display, 1.3 megapixel camera, a removable backplate and your choice of Black Titanium and Vibrant Blue shells. As for availability, you can find the Black Titanium at Sprint's website on March 15th, while the Vibrant Blue edition won't hit until March 29th. If you're web-averse, you'll have to wait until April 19th for it to filter out to all Sprint retail channels before dropping your $49.99 (on contract).[Via phoneArena]
Motorola i9, others coming to Sprint this week?
We've seen a number of launch date leaks for Sprint courtesy of partner Brightpoint in the past; generally, they tend to be pretty accurate, so we're going to go ahead and put some weight to this latest one. Looks like we can expect Nextel to pick up the Motorola i9 on Wednesday -- Boost got it a little over a month ago, you might recall -- along with the ancient i580 in yellow. Brightpoint also reels in the Palm Treo Pro a few days earlier than Sprint's official date, while the LG Rumor 2 launches a few days later on the 15th or the 29th; Brightpoint's wording is a little odd here, so it's hard to tell exactly how it'll shake out. Finally, we have a camera-free version of the BlackBerry 8350i in the works, a logical product for RIM to be taking on considering the phone's all-business roots.[Via phoneArena]
Rumor: LG Rumor 2 rumored to replace Rumor
The original Rumor's starting to get along in the years now, and considering the overwhelming popularity both of the genre (cheap texters) and the device specifically, it only stands to reason that Sprint and LG would be hard at work in the labs cooking up a successor. Rumor has it (please, someone stop us) that the Rumor 2 might come along some time this Spring -- and while we don't know much about the technical capabilities of the device, we wouldn't be surprised to see the new model gain EV-DO, maybe a 2-ish megapixel cam, and of course, the envy of every Rumor owner. Or is that "the enV" of every Rumor owner?[Via Unwired View]