But Can Your Phone Make a Deli Sandwhich?

Possibly. That is if you have an iPhone and Apple has anything to say about it. According to PC Magazine, a new Apple patent application published last month describes a system by which you order something (say a deli sandwich) with your iPhone, which is then prepared and ready for your pick up when you arrive. Assuming this patent application is not merely Patent Lawyer bait, we might see some embodiment of this system this month MacWorld Expo 2008.

Although, truthfully, I am actually looking forward to the copy and paste function a little more than a ham on rye.

Brett Trout

Apple iPhone patent MacWorld

Get Your $100 iPhone Rebate

Assuming you are young enough to be able to read the serial number on the back of your iPhone, you can register here for your iPhone rebate!

Brett Trout

$299 iPhone

I don't hustled products or run ads on this blog, but this was too cool to pass up. That's right, for only $299, you can be a cool as your friendly neighborhood patent attorney (or at least have a phone like his). Seems Apple is dropping the price of 8GB iPhones to $399 and discontinuing 4GB iPhones which, while they last, are only $299.

I paid $599 for mine and was happy to do it. I love it (except for the mandatory two cans and a string AT&T service). While you are free to play with mine, $299 seems like a mighty small price to pay for the Patent Attorney Free option.

Brett Trout

iPhone Apple 4GB

Don't register your iPhone if you want to unlock it

You might not have considered it, but unlocking your iPhone is a steeplechase of information technology, intellectual property and contract law. Failure to consider these issues could lead to big problems. If you are not careful, you could find yourself looking at RIAA-sized settlement demands or even criminal charges. Let's take a look at the law:

In 1997, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Repeat-O-Type Stencil Mfg. Corp. Inc., 123 F.3d 1445 (Fed. Cir. 1997), that refilling a patented toner cartridge was not a violation of the seller's patent, even if the seller specifically warned against such refilling. The Federal Circuit held that with the original sale was an implied license to exploit any patent right of the seller to further any reasonable use of the product sought by the purchaser. So you are looking good on the patent end of things.

In 2004, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc., 387 F.3d 522 (6th Cir. 2004), that cracking software on a toner cartridge to circumvent the seller's restriction on refilling the cartridge was not a violation of copyright or the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). So you are probably okay on copyright.

According to Jennifer Granick, executive director of the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society, there is even a specific exemption in copyright law, that lasts until 2009, which allows you to circumvent technological measures controlling access to copyrighted works, like digital cell phone locks. Notwithstanding, Professor Granick feels hacking the iPhone to use a carrier other than AT&T may open you up to breach of contract claims for violation of the terms of service you signed with AT&T.

The good news is that penalties associated with breaching the AT&T agreement are not criminal and are far less than the potential damages associated with copyright, DMCA or patent infringement. The better news is that avoiding activation with AT&T would appear to put you in the clear with regard to any breach of contract claim by AT&T.

At least I only have 22 more months left on my AT&T contract . . . (sigh)

Brett Trout

iPhone copyright DMCA hack patent ATT

iPhone Legalease

So you have your iPhone. If you are like me, never having owned an iPod before, you are still in awe of the audio/video features, but awkwardly adjusting to using your phone as a divining rod trying to locate the nearest ATT network. Between watching Grindhouse and trying to make a call, you probably have not had time to give carefully considered review to your ATT contract. And I would assume like a heroin addict outside the methadone clinic, you did not sit down and review the entire contract before activating your precious bundle of joy.

No worries. If you did not read the contract, or even if you did read the contract only to discover it made you feel like a Golden Retriever proofing the Magna Carta, Telecom Analyst Bruce Kushnick has done all of the heavy lifting for you and has unearthed some interesting bits of lawyer speak deep within the fine print. Here are just a few of his discoveries:

Customers Are Billed for “Network Errors” and “Network Overhead".

One analyst wrote ”’Network overhead’ means all the bits used for any purpose whatsoever. If you resend a packet because best efforts wasn't good enough then you are charged.”

Billed Even Though the Call Doesn't Go Through.

According to AT&T, after 30 seconds it becomes a call, even if it didn’t connect to the called party. And in some cases, the network itself may take up the time to make the call a chargeable event.

Bogus Fees Added to the Bill: Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge

The “Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge” is a made-up charge that should have been included in the cost of service instead of a separate line item. Most carriers are charging this fee, even though it is not government mandated or a legitimate tax. By making it a separate line item, the phone company gets more money and doesn’t have to include this line item in the advertised cost of service. According to ATT:

"The Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge is a charge assessed by ATT and is not a tax or government-mandated charge. This charge is subject to change from time to time as the cost of compliance changes. [] The purpose of the charge is to defray ATT's costs associated with payment of fees and compliance with various initiatives imposed by the government. Please note that costs may be incurred and charged prior to initiation of any of the respective services."

From my lawyerly vantage, it looks like the worse the service is, the more money ATT makes. Perhaps I should buy some ATT stock to offset my monthly overage charges.

Brett Trout

iPhone ATT

Des Moines Iowa a technology paradise

Fast Company has just released its lists of cities dubbed High Tech Hot Spots. Selection is based upon technology, talent and tolerance. Des Moines just missed being named a "Fast City," but did qualify as one of two "Cities on the Verge". Des Moines just missed being named one of the top three High Tech Hot Spots due to its lack of diversity.

Personally, I do not know what they are talking about. We have both types of people here in Des Moines: Country and Western. (Thank you, thank you. Remember to tip your wait staff before you leave). Actually, that one was just for Cowboy Steen. According to the Des Moines Register, the news comes at the perfect time, getting techies to notice Des Moines right as tech jobs in the city are expanding at an exponential rate.

Another interesting Des Moines related technology story showed up on eBay. Upset that his iPhone is merely a shiny fragile paperweight until AT&T gets its poo together, a West Des Moines non-working iPhone owner (I wonder if he was standing in line with me) has set up an iPhone eBay auction for this functional equivalent. Those wacky West Des Moinians. I wonder if he has a patent on that?

Thanks to Martha for the lead.

Brett Trout

iPhone Des Moines Fast Company High Tech Hot Spots

My iPhone

Trying to be sly, I figured I would pick up my iPhone at the out of the way AT&T store in the strip mall, as opposed to the Apple store in the posh mall. Well, it would have been a great plan, except for the fact that Apple only gave the AT&T store a tiny fraction of the iPhones they gave the Apple store.

Instead of acknowledging to me that they could count (understandably, they would have had to count both the number of phones available AND the number of people in line and subtract) and telling the fifty-first person in line and every one behind him not to waste their evening, they thought it would be amusing to make their loyal of fans wait. I see how poking hoi poloi in their collective doe-eyes would be more than mildly amusing, but only when I am the poker. Much, much less amusing, however, when I am the gullible rube with the finger in his eye.

I know you are saying "Why did you wait until 5:55 to start waiting in line?" but I had asked the AT&T employees multiple times over the last six months how many phones there would be in town (remember, this is Des Moines, Iowa) and they continually reassured me there would be plenty. That is up until 6:55 when they told me they were out.

Luckily, I still had time to run over to the Apple store and pick one up. The bottom line is that I got the phone, but I am a little bitter that had they provided me with the information they had in hand, I would have not wasted my Friday night and I would have gotten to see world famous Adam Steen's first bullride in Webster City. Instead, I stayed in town and watched the Joffrey Ballet perform.

Yesterday, Adam Steen took me fishing for winning his blog contest. We went with Nate and Matt Owen of U.S. Rodeo Supply. The fish were biting, the beer was cold and the weather was perfect. Even this city boy caught a heap o'fish, which I fear may be fouling the back of Adam's truck as I write. Last night we went to the MMA fight at Well Fargo Arena and watched Chuck "The Reverend" Grigsby and Team Revolution dominate. Congrats Chuck and thanks Adam.

Anyway after a day to play with my iPhone (I never even had an iPod before this), I love it. I can watch YouTube, flick through my album flow and surf the web with unbelievable ease. I am learning more about it every minute. And the more I learn, the more I like. It syncs effortlessly with my Outlook and displays videos crisply. The keyboard is a little difficult to use accurately, but the more I use it, the better I get. Overall, the iPhone is better than I had imagined. Almost makes me forget that AT&T coverage is so horrible. Oh well, at least I will have something to do while I wait to get back into an AT&T coverage area.

Brett Trout

iPhone