Mobile-phone industry lawyers said they intend to ask a D.C. court to dismiss six brain-cancer suits on federal pre-emption grounds. In July, U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake of Baltimore sent back the six lawsuits to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia where they were originally filed in 2001 and 2002. Under a scheduling order approved last week by Judge Brook Hedge, wireless carriers, manufacturers and trade groups plan to file a consolidated motion to dismiss Nov. 12. The plaintiffs expect to file their opposition to the motion to dismiss Jan. 12, and wireless firms should submit their replies to the opposition Jan. 28. “Defendants intend to raise as a threshold matter the issue of whether plaintiffs’ state law claims are pre-empted by federal law. In addition, several defendants have indicated an intent to seek dismissal of the claims against them on the ground of lack of personal jurisdiction, failure or insufficiency of service of process or improper venue,” according to a filing with the court. The wireless industry has yet to lose a health lawsuit since the brain-cancer allegation was first raised 10 years ago in a Florida lawsuit.
AT&T Wireless Services Inc., which last month was acquired by Cingular Wireless L.L.C., is taking Napster mobile. The Internet music vendor is introducing Napster To Go, a mobile music subscription service for AWS users on the Audiovox SMT5600 smart phone. The service, which costs $15 a month, allows users to transfer and plan an unlimited number of full-length tunes on the go. The phone’s 28.5-megabyte memory chip can hold up to six songs; additional chips that can hold up to four hours of music are available for about $25, Napster said.
Lucent Technologies Inc., LG Electronics and Huawei Technologies have joined the WiMAX Forum, joining fellow telecom suppliers Nortel Networks and Cisco Systems Inc. The WiMAX Forum also noted recent service provider additions to its membership, including America Online Inc., Deutsche Telecom, SBC and Time Warner Telecom.
