Intellectual Property Law

Verizon: We'll Play by the Open Access Rules

By Cynthia Brumfield

In response to Google's petition to the FCC asking that further conditions be placed on Verizon Wireless to ensure that it follow the open access rules for the C Block spectrum it won in the 700 Mhz auction, Verizon Wireless has posted a statement. Spokesperson Jim Gerace says that despite Google's contention that Verizon might wiggle out of those rules for the handsets it provides to customers, it is Google itself that is trying to play games.

It's really no surprise that despite not winning spectrum, they continue to try to change the rules and further their own business interests through the regulatory process. We expect to file at the Federal Communications Commission within the next several days on this matter.

Gerace says that Google's filing has no "legal basis" (in contrast to what a Verizon spokesperson told me yesterday which is that Google has no "legal standing," a big difference). Promising that Google will abide by the open access rules, Gerace says that "if Google or anybody else has evidence that we aren't playing by the rules," there are legitimate ways to address that problem presumably aside from attaching further conditions to Verizon's licenses.

Verizon will file more detailed comments at the FCC within the next several days.

Full post as published by IP Democracy on May 06, 2008 (boomark / email).