Intellectual Property Law

The four undersea cables that were severed in the Middle East last week are under repair and could take up to a week before they're fixed, according to a BBC report.

Three of the cables are presumed to have been damaged by a ship's anchor or a trawling net; the fourth cable to Malta may have been damaged by an earthquake.

The SMW3, SMW4 and FLAG cables were all damaged within 40 minutes of each other last Friday, and the fourth cable, the Seabone owned by GO, went down several hours before.

A robot is searching for the severed ends in an undersea trench, and once they're found they'll be brought up to a ship and repaired -- an operation that involves soldering thousands of tiny fibers through a microscope and then testing each one to make sure it's working.

See also:

• Undersea Cables Cut; 14 Countries Lose Web