Republic Wireless is an upstart taking on some of the biggest behemoths in American industry—the major cell carriers—armed with WiFi as its main weapon. Republic keeps costs low by encouraging the use of WiFi on cell phones, though customers can still access 3G voice and data services, if needed. Though the service has some drawbacks, including a high startup cost, the previously limited service no longer has formal limits on usage, and it could pose a serious challenge to the standard carrier contract.

Did we mention it costs only $19 a month?

A botnet capable of delivering almost four billion spam messages per day has been confirmed resurrected—more than four months after Microsoft celebrated its untimely demise.

Researchers with Kaspersky Lab reported on Tuesday that Kelihos, a peer-to-peer botnet that also goes by the name Hlux, continues to spew spam in a variety of languages. A new version of the underlying malware appeared as early as September 28, 2011, a day after Microsoft took credit for disrupting the rogue network by commandeering the infected computers and obtaining a court order seizing the Internet addresses used to help control them.

At the heart of the great used game debate are legitimate fears—on both sides of the divide. Gamers are worried about their right to buy and sell games they legally bought without technological hindrance or lost content. Publishers are afraid new game sales are unsustainable when cheaper, functionally identical used versions are available mere days after release. Meanwhile, major retailer GameStop rakes in what's estimated to be billions of dollars from the used game market.

Is there a better way? Mike Kennedy seems to think so. He's setting up a new used game trading site called Parcel Gamer that he thinks can satisfy both publishers and gamers,  while also undercutting GameStop's high-margin business model.

Microsoft may have scored an early victory in its legal tussle with Barnes & Noble. The two companies are engaged in parallel battles, one via the Department of Justice, another via United States International Trade Commission. In March 2011, Microsoft accused Barnes & Noble of patent infringement with its NOOK and NOOK Color products; in retaliation, Barnes & Noble made a broad complaint claiming that Microsoft is being an abusive monopoly and that the patents are in any case irrelevant. That antitrust complaint looks likely to be rejected by the ITC, a decision that favors Microsoft.

The document dismissing the antitrust complaint is under seal; however, its title, "Initial Determination Granting Microsoft's Motion for Summary Determination of Respondents' First Affirmative Defense of Patent Misuse," is public, with intellectual property analyst Florian Mueller certain that this means rejection of the claim. Mueller has been commissioned by Microsoft to conduct a study on the worldwide use of FRAND patents.

Microsoft has welcomed the ITC's decision. "Today's action by the ITC makes clear that Barnes & Noble's patent misuse defense was meritless," said deputy general counsel David Howard. Redmond remains open to offering licenses to the bookseller, adding it to the growing list of Android-using companies that pay a fee to Microsoft, with Howard adding, "We remain as open as ever to extending a license to Barnes & Noble, and invite them to join the many other major device makers in paying for the Microsoft-developed intellectual property they use in their devices."

Barnes & Noble's antitrust complaint was made as an affirmative defense against Microsoft's action. Dismissal of this defense has looked likely since June, when ITC staff pointed out that patent law in general creates no obligation to offer licenses or make those licenses freely available. The Department of Justice may arrive at a different conclusion to the ITC.

The ITC action is still on-going, and with the antitrust defense dismissed will focus on the validity and applicability of the patents in question. Earlier this month, Microsoft removed one patent from the suit entirely, and also dropped several of the claims relating to the four remaining patents. In dropping the claims, Microsoft stipulated that the action was "not an admission as to the merits of any claim," but rather was meant to "simplify the Investigation, streamline the hearing, and converse the Parties' and Commission's resources in consideration of the amount of time allotted for the hearing."

The ITC trial will start on Monday, February 6th.

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The European Commission announced on Tuesday that it has begun a formal investigation into Samsung's strategy of using FRAND-encumbered patents related to 3G wireless networking standards in lawsuits. The announcement comes after the Commission began a preliminary inquiry into the matter last November and several courts in the EU have struck down Samsung's attempts to use the patents against Apple.