back to article Lightsquared cries dyslexic Havoc, unleashes 'gods of law'

LightSquared has hired two top litigators in what appears to be a prelude to a all out war over the FCC's decision to block deployment of its 4G network. The litigators concerned have considerable form. Bloomberg quotes Washington lawyer Lawrence Kaplan describing the recruits as "one of the best teams available", and one of …

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  1. Thomas 18
    Linux

    Lawyers

    The carrion eaters of the homosapien world. Watch as we zoom in on them picking over the carcass of this once noble company.

  2. Mr Young
    Pint

    "LightSquared has hired two top litigators"

    Plenty $ and high heels with handbags at dawn? Where popcorn icon? On a serious note - sorry if anybody lost their job from it.

  3. Version 1.0 Silver badge
    Happy

    I'm still baffled

    How did LightSquared get this plan up and running in the first place - even a moments thought by any competent engineer would suggest that there could be some big problems with the implementation. I guess they just started off with a good business plan and ran it from there.

    After all why let reality interfere (sic) when you've got a business plan that the money likes?

  4. BigFire
    FAIL

    Can lawyers over rule Laws of Physics?

    Only in America would someone try to actually try to find that out.

  5. chris lively
    WTF?

    Perhaps I'm a little slow here, but this whole thing is more than a bit confusing.

    Light squared is suing over the release of a preliminary document? Did the FCC make their ruling based entirely on that doc or was there something else?

    The prelim doc shouldn't matter one bit; only the final draft. At the end of the day, was light squared able to show that they met the requirements about interference or not?

    If so, then they have a case. If not, then it's time for the business to fold.

  6. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    When your opponent has nuclear weapons.....

    If these guys win - GPS stops working.

    The USAF runs GPS. The USAF has lots and lots of bombs.

    It's like the story about Lawrence-Livermore labs giving Cray technical support a hard time.

    "You're not our only bloody customer you know"

    "No, but we are one of the few with nuclear weapons!"

    1. Gordon 10

      Re: When your opponent has nuclear weapons.....

      Do the research. It's poorly specced and designed civilian GPS's that are listening too widely to bands they shouldn't at fault here - not the military receivers.

      More power to lightspeed - sue the incompetent manufacturers and the incompetent regulator who allowed disfunctional equipment an FCC licence mark.

      1. Beau
        WTF?

        Re: When your opponent has nuclear weapons.....

        What a good idea, we should all be paying €5,000 or more for a nice little GPS. properly built to military specifications.

        1. Will Godfrey Silver badge
          Meh

          Re: When your opponent has nuclear weapons.....

          Absolutely right. We should also accept the need for filters about the size (and weight) of a house brick. Not to mention the upgraded battery to power them... for a few minutes.

      2. BristolBachelor Gold badge

        @Gordon 10

        It's funny, you know those GPS receivers work fine when the band next door marked "For satellite downlink" is used for satellite downlink? The military receivers may be able to get around the problem by using GPS transmissions on another band, but unfortunately you and I are not allowed to use those transmissions (well actually I am, but not for my car sat nav).

        It would be a bit like you complaning to your builder that your house isn't insulated well enough and that you get too hot now that you have moved it to the surface of the sun instead of the surface of the Earth.

        The FCC were in fact more than fair. They said that if Lighspeed's plan can work without interfering with existing users, then they may re-purpose the downlink-only band for terestrial ground-stations. However, it appears that it wasn't possible, and true to their word, it seems that the FCC are not allowing the re-purposing of the band.

        (Oh, and I like the expression so much, can I have a "mad as a box of frogs" icon please?)

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: When your opponent has nuclear weapons.....

        Do *yours*. Particularly in relation to Filter design.

        Its Lightsquared's attempted moving of the goalposts by trying to get permission to put a signal millions of time stronger than originally specced in a portion of the band that isnt suitable for it.

        The FCC would have allowed them to get away with it if they could prove there would be no problems. They didnt, so they havent.

        I feel slightly sorry for the investors who were obviously duped, however, thats what you get when your technology related business plan isnt run-by someone who actually knows about the physics of the situation.

  7. C-N
    Facepalm

    Good grief people

    Lightsquared's plan was scuppered by incumbent wireless profiteers ^H^H^H^H erm, providers.

    1. TeeCee Gold badge
      Mushroom

      Re: Good grief people

      No, Lightsquared's plan was scuppered by being unworkable shit dreamed up by chancers in fancy suits who knew fuck all about physics.

      It's the same business model as SCO. When your business proves to be the utter sack of shit everyone knows it is, hire lawyers.

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