A federal jury awarded ViaSat $283 million in its patent infringement and breach of contract case against Space Systems Loral (SS/L). In U.S. District Court in San Diego, a jury said SS/L infringed three patents relating to the Jupiter-1 satellite, a court document said. The jury also said SS/L breached one or more of its contracts with ViaSat, it said. SS/L and its former parent company Loral said they plan to appeal. In 2008, ViaSat selected SS/L to manufacture ViaSat-1, and the award was contingent on SS/L’s “continued agreement to keep ViaSat’s revolutionary design and technology confidential,” said ViaSat’s complaint. “SS/L didn’t keep the technology confidential.” ViaSat filed the complaint after SS/L told ViaSat that it also was building the Jupiter-1 satellite for Hughes (CD Feb 6/12 p4). “Jupiter’s design is almost identical to ViaSat-1,” ViaSat said. Loral believes that SS/L’s conduct “was consistent with, and in due regard for, all applicable and valid intellectual property rights of ViaSat and that SS/L did not breach any contracts,” said Loral Vice Chairman Michael Targoff in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1k1IGCZ). “SSL has strong grounds for a reversal of the jury verdict, which we believe will ultimately result in vindication of our position.” Loral is obligated to indemnify SS/L for damages in the case after a “non-appealable” judgment has been entered, he said. ViaSat’s request for a permanent injunction prohibiting SS/L from further infringement is still pending, ViaSat said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1rtDlZK). If the case is appealed, an injunction would appear less likely, said Raymond James analyst Chris Quilty in a research note. If the injunction is granted, it could impact up to four satellites under construction at SS/L, Quilty said. Hearing for post-trial motions is set for July 22, the jury verdict said.

Orange Business Services seeks a license for a single 2.4-meter transmit/receive fixed satellite services earth station. Orange plans to operate the earth station in the standard C band, it said in its application to the FCC International Bureau (http://bit.ly/1hrX1Wo). Orange also seeks a license for a standard Ku-band very small aperture terminal network “of less than 100 identical terminals operating in the continental United States on a transmit/receive basis,” said a separate application (http://bit.ly/1ns0QCX).

Eutelsat concluded a deal with Hughes to provide high-throughput capacity to Brazil on the Eutelsat 65 West A satellite, scheduled for 2016 launch, Eutelsat said in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1gRCKKn). It will host a Ka-band payload with 24 spotbeams “of which 16 will cover a significant portion of the Brazilian population and generate over 24 Gbps of throughput,” Eutelsat said. The deal will be a springboard for Hughes to expand mass market broadband services to consumers and businesses in Brazil that are unserved or underserved by terrestrial networks, it said.

The FCC order last week that gave earth stations aboard aircraft (ESAA) co-primary status made a few other rule adjustments, which include applying the rules to U.S.-flagged aircraft anywhere in the world, a telecom lawyer said. The commission clarified a technical provision requiring automatic shut-off if certain things go wrong, Fletcher Heald attorney Mitchell Lazarus said in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1nEtONg). It also clarified a provision on the reliability of the mechanism that points the antenna at the satellite, he said: “Other co-primary users and ESAA must all protect one another on equal terms.” The FCC released a second report and order last week (CD April 21 p17).

Harris Corp. got a $133 million U.S. Navy contract to provide broadband satellite communication terminals. The terminals will give crews access to high-bandwidth voice and data communications, Harris said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1jrOowc). Harris will provide up to 120 terminals, it said. The contract adds to the 70 terminals delivered under an existing indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract, Harris said. It brings the total potential value to more than $250 million, it said.

The FCC granted primary status for earth stations aboard aircraft (ESAA) in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band, it said in a second report and order (http://bit.ly/1lfGkFD). The commission agreed with commenters in the proceeding that primary status would promote regulatory and operational certainty, which “would help services being offered in this band to continue to grow and improve,” it said. When the commission adopted the rules in the initial order, the rules erroneously said the targeted satellite operators should certify that the proposed ESAA operations “have the potential to receive harmful interference,” it said. The rules are revised to require satellite operators to certify that the proposed operations have the potential to “create” harmful interference, it said.

Lockheed Martin integrated a solar ultraviolet imager instrument with the next-generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The new solar analysis payload will help scientists measure and forecast space weather, “which can damage satellites, electrical grids and communications systems on Earth,” Lockheed said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1pe8ToJ). Timely forecasts of severe space weather events “would help satellite operators and electrical grid technicians mitigate potential damage to such systems,” it said.

ATK signed an agreement to build composite launch vehicle structures for United Launch Alliance. The $178 million contract will help ULA meet the terms of its contract with the Air Force for Phase I Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles, ATK said in a press release (http://bit.ly/1f6gtby). The initial contracting period includes large composite structures with deliveries beginning this year and continuing into 2018, it said. The equipment will be manufactured for the Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicles, it said.

DirecTV again said the FCC lacks authority to require closed captioning of video clips delivered via IP. If the commission imposed such a requirement, certain types of video clips should be exempt, DirecTV said in an ex parte filing in docket 11-154 (http://bit.ly/1iTZYBs). NFL Sunday Ticket Max from DirecTV provides highlight clips within minutes or hours of the time the plays happen in live games, DirecTV said. Breaking the game feed into video clip highlights “can cause the captioning to become garbled and unrecognizable,” it said. Recreating or restoring that captioning to an acceptable level would require a new, separate captioning session for each clip, it said. It also would introduce delays and render the time-sensitive products no longer commercially viable, the direct broadcast satellite company said. At a minimum, DirecTV should be permitted to distribute the video clips without captioning, “so long as it replaces that content with a captioned version within twenty-four hours,” it said.

The Federal Aviation Administration completed its installation of a key component of a nationwide satellite-based next-generation aircraft tracking system. The installation of the automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) radio network “supports a satellite-based surveillance system that tracks aircraft with the help of GPS,” FAA said in a press release Monday (http://1.usa.gov/1kYFMQ0). “This provides more accurate aircraft location information than the current radar system.” Air traffic controllers can begin using ADS-B to separate aircraft nationwide, FAA said.