Sarkozy woos Web giants, urges of State role

PARIS  - French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged the leaders of the Internet met in Paris Tuesday to work with Governments and equitably share the benefits of a revolution he likened to discoveries of Columbus, Galileo and Newton.

Opening of a forum in which, Eric Schmidt of Google and Facebook Mark Zuckerberg will be among the speakers, Sarkozy heaped praise on an industry that has democratized information and helped activate the revolutions of Arab spring.

Sarkozy, that mistrusted widely worldwide online for measures, as a law that calls for pirates of copyright to be cut off from the Internet, struck a more conciliatory than in the past, although he said that Governments should always define the rules of the game.

"We do not make mistakes in the regulation of this powerful yet fragile ecosystem," he said in response to a question from a member of the public. "We must act with pragmatism." "It is better to do nothing that harm to the".

He reminded industry of its responsibilities in the areas of copyright and privacy law, establish a parallel between the intellectual property on which many Web companies are built and copyright artists seek to protect.

"These algorithms that make your power... this technology that changes the world, are your property and no one can contest that," he said. "" "." "Writers, directors, or actors can have the same rights".

CYBERSPACE CIVILISATRICE

The forum, whose conclusions will be presented to the G8 leaders in the French resort of Deauville later this week, pits passionate advocates from two points of view opposing the Internet against the other.

The one adopted by companies such as Google and Twitter Silicon Valley, so that many academics, favoured an interventionist approach to enable innovation and freedom of information.

The other, adopted by of many established companies in media, privacy advocates and Governments, provides a regulatory to tame any excess and abuse online.

The debate was thrown in the spotlight in Britain this week as Twitter users by the thousands make a mockery of the injunctions obtained by the rich and famous to hush up the scandals, by publishing the names and details.

The case has highlighted the near impossibility to impose national law on the Internet and cultural differences between Europe and the United States.

News Corp., including Executive Director Rupert Murdoch is among the speakers at the forum, led a movement to stem the free flow of information online by charging readers and viewers for the content on the Web.

John Perry Barlow, a founding member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which supports the internet civil rights, said: "it is the revenge of the mass media."

"We tried to civilize the cyberspace for 22 years," he told Reuters when asked why he attended the forum. "It is a good idea to be present when the movement is suspicious to withdraw some of the values you cherish."

Hubert Burda, Chief Executive and the owner of a German magazine and newspaper empire, told Reuters that the forum was a welcome step by a European Government.

"This is the first combination between European policy and the World Wide Web," he said. "Many European Governments have been back in the understanding of the digital revolution."

Chinese tech giants fight against more than 4 G phones

BEIJING - two of the largest companies of China technology launched a legal battle on mobile patents in an unusual public clash between companies in Europe, that promoted Beijing as national champions.

The struggle between Huawei Technologies Ltd. and ZTE Corp., highlights the challenge to the Communist leaders who need to manage ambitions of Chinese companies as they try to create global competitors in telecoms, energy and other areas. It is the first case of its kind between large Chinese companies, which generally resolve disputes in private.

"We will see this more in this industry and others," said David Wolf, a Beijing technology marketing consultant. "The Government will find, wow, we have national champions, but now they are trying to kill each other".

The dispute focuses on fourth generation mobile technology, which, according to the companies that developed it deliver more stable connections, broadband wireless and other advances. It is used in the United States and also tested.

Control of the key patents could help decide what equipment suppliers are positioned to reap billions of dollars in sales, once it is deployed in other markets.

Huawei and ZTE make network of fishing gear, the heart of telephone systems. They have annual sales of several billion dollars in China, Africa and Latin America and as the 4 G world leaders potentials. That integrates with the Communist Party hopes to transform China from a factory of low-cost in a creator of cost-effective technology.

Huawei has announced the week last that it commenced trials of patent infringement against ZTE France, Germany and the Hungary. ZTE dismissed the claims and said that he asked a court to French and Chinese regulators to invalidate a patent of Huawei.

Huawei and ZTE are among the first wave of China multinational emerging. They compete with Nokia Siemens Networks, Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent and have a small but growing presence of Americans and Europeans.

Their dispute recently in complaints filed by groups of foreign companies on industrial policy in Beijing for mounting. They say China improperly supports favored companies by limiting access and providing low-cost loans and other forms of market support.

The prosecution of Huawei accuse ZTE for infringement of patents for maps data and improperly using a trademark registered for Huawei on some of its products.

"We will do all what is necessary to ensure that the use of the intellectual property of Huawei by any company is based on internationally accepted and practical protocols" legal officer of Huawei, song Liuping, said in a statement.

ZTE said that her accused Huawei for its 4 G patent infringement suit. The company said that also, he asked a French Court and State Intellectual Property Office China to invalidate the patents of Huawei for a rotating USB connector that is used to Exchange data between devices.

"ZTE respects the rights of intellectual property of other companies, but it will not cease to protect its own intellectual property rights, said a statement by the company."

Huawei, founded in 1987 by a former Chinese military engineer, has 110,000 employees and reported revenues of 2010 of 182 billion yuan (28 billion dollars). ZTE, founded in 1985, has 70,000 workers and reported revenues of 70 billion yuan ($10.8 billion) 2010.

Their status as leaders in the industry gives two high-level political influence. But Chinese leaders want to success - one possible reason for an impasse and the decision to go to court.

An impartial decision by a European Court could also add to the appeal of the winner to potential customers by strengthening its status as a creator of the technology, rather than as a tool of the policy of China.

"They are a presentation interesting by the filing of such proceedings not in the Chinese courts but abroad, because the Chinese courts is perceived as very political, and they want this question obviously decided on the legal merits," said WolfGeneral Manager of Wolf Group Asia.

Huawei and ZTE are unusual among Chinese large corporations because they are competing directly with each other, offering similar products in the same markets.

Authorities want potential global companies of China to focus their competitive energies on foreign rivals have tried to push the clashes in other industries, by assigning different markets or products to individual companies.

In aerospace, a plan to create a plane homegrown compete with Co. Boeing and Airbus Industrie is assigned to a Crown Corporation as a potential rival said to develop a smaller regional jet instead.

Huawei has suffered setbacks that he seeks to extend to the United States. He was forced in February to relax its acquisition of 3Leaf systems, a manufacturer of cloud computing technology, after he failed to win approval of a security U.S. Committee.

In another case, Huawei has won an order of the Court temporarily blocked the sale of network business of Motorola Solutions Inc. to compete with Nokia Siemens Networks. Huawei, said that the deal might reveal secrets of business because that Motorola sold hardware Huawei. Motorola moved with Huawei for an undisclosed amount.

Also this month, said Ericsson he brought a lawsuit against ZTE in Britain, Germany and Italy, accusing the company of the combined technology and network for patent infringement. The Swedish company has asked the courts to block ZTE from the sale of mobile phones containing the disputed technology and some network products.