In November, Google sued the Department of Interior, arguing that the Google Apps platform was frozen out of the bidding. Today, a federal judge, Susan Braden, sided with Google by issuing a preliminary injunction preventing the department from deploying Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite. Braden also found that Google had made a preliminary showing that the department had violated a 1984 regulation on competitiveness in government contracts.

Google and a reselling partner, Onix Networking, had argued in court that the Interior Department’s request for bids specifically excluded Google Apps by stating the system had to include the Microsoft product.

The case isn’t over, but it’s certainly not looking good for the Interior Department, which may be forced to reconsider Google Apps for the contract.

Why is Oracle so intent on putting former SAP CEO and new HP chief Léo Apotheker on the stand in the trial that will determine damages in Oracle’s long-running IP battle with its German rival?

SAP insists it’s to create a “PR sideshow”–which is true to an extent. But sometimes there’s more to a sideshow than meets the eye. Which is not to say that some nefarious scheme lies at the heart of all this, just that there is a lot of subtext to make sense of in this case. And it’s being written from two very different views of how damages should be calculated and how important Apotheker is as a variable in that calculation.

SAP’s view is that now that it has stipulated to liability, damages should be determined according to the actual number of contracts won by TomorrowNow and their value–not according to the number of contracts it hoped to win.

Oracle’s view is that damages should be determined by value of the intellectual property stolen from it and SAP’s ambitions for it. And while SAP’s stipulation to liability prevents Oracle from introducing evidence on liability, it leaves it free to introduce evidence for “context” on damages.

And that’s where Apotheker comes in.

According to evidence presented in the case, Apotheker chaired the launch of the Safe Passage program, of which the TomorrowNow acquisition was one part. And in his depositions, former SAP board member Shai Agassi clearly identified Apotheker as having some responsibility for TomorrowNow post acquisition, along with Gerd Oswald.

“I was the guy who led the the evaluation [of TomorrowNow] with Werner Brandt, who managed the acquisition teams at the time,” Agassi said. “The day of the acquisition, it was basically moved to Gerd Oswald, and the sales effort was moved over to Apotheker. So Safe Passage was managed by Apotheker and Oswald.”

Add to this the fact that Apotheker reported on TomorrowNow and the Safe Passage program in SAP earnings calls and was the only senior SAP exec quoted in a company release touting the program’s success, and it seems reasonable to expect that he might be able to provide some of the “context” Oracle is looking for (click document below to enlarge). One could argue that his expectations and forecasts for the program’s success speak directly to Oracle’s damages.

Or one could argue, as SAP and HP do, that his involvement was incidental and that he had no responsibility for TomorrowNow’s day-to-day operations and hence no knowledge of its transgressions.

But unless he testifies under oath, we’ll never know who’s right. And with Apotheker quietly going about his business at an undisclosed location, it’s looking like that’s how things will end up.

PREVIOUSLY:

• Better Late: SAP Co-CEO Apologizes for Oracle IP Theft
• SAP Co-CEO Expected to Testify in Oracle Trial Today
• HP to Oracle: Leave Léo Alone
• Oracle Still Hoping to Snag HP’s Apotheker for SAP Trial
• HP CEO to Oracle: Here’s Looking at You, Kid–Suntory Time!
• Ellison to Self: Damn, Damn. I Knew I Should Have Said $4.5 Billion
• SAP Attorney: Board Knew TomorrowNow Was Infringing at Time of Acquisition
• Oracle Co-President on SAP’s Damages Offer: “It’s Crazy”
• Oracle Enlists Process Servers, Not PIs, to Find HP CEO
• Oracle-SAP Trial: Ellison Swaps Katana for Poison Darts
• Objection: Mr. Ellison Is Referring to the Defendant as “Choleric of Temper” Again
• Oracle Lands Early Shots in SAP Trial
• Your Honor, We Object to Mr. Ellison’s Repeated Use of the Term “Slimy Weasels”
• Oracle to HP CEO: Chicken!
• Oracle Vs. SAP: We Got a Right to Pick a Little Fight–Bonanza!
• SAP’s Tab in Oracle Case: $120 Million and Counting
• Gag Order Denied in Oracle, SAP Trial
• Ellison Taunts HP CEO a Second Time
• SAP to Ellison: Save the Drama for Your Mama
• Ellison to HP CEO: “Warrior, Come Out to Plaaeeay!
• SAP: Please Gag Oracle
• HP Scandal Sucks in New York Times Columnist Over Conflict of Interest
• Welch to HP Board: You Don’t Know Jack!
• Insiders Criticize Ellison For HP CEO Slam
• Was Apotheker HP’s First Choice of CEO?
• HP Names Ex-SAP Chief Apotheker as CEO

The big picture: Google has spent at least $1.6 billion buying 40 companies during the first nine months of 2010. And if you assume the previously announced ITA deal goes through this year, you can tack on another $700 million.

Google breaks out a few of the bigger deals:

• Slide: $179 million
• AdMob: $681 million
• On2 Technologies: $123 million
• 37 other companies: $626 million

Bear in mind that these numbers very likely underestimate Google’s real M&A cost, since they don’t include big employment contracts it hands out to keep key talent it picks up. Slide’s Max Levchin, for instance, is going to do very well as a Google engineer for at least a couple of years.

Great news for the open-source community and for the long-suffering Novell (NOVL), which has been battling SCO for quite some time now.

“Novell is very pleased with the jury’s decision confirming Novell’s ownership of the Unix copyrights, which SCO had asserted to own in its attack on Linux,” the company said in a statement. “Novell remains committed to promoting Linux, including by defending Linux on the intellectual property front.”

Which is great, because SCO, while obviously struck low by today’s verdict, evidently intends to forge on with its suit against IBM (IBM), which it also claims misappropriated Unix and built it into Linux. Former U.S. District Judge Edward Cahn, the trustee for SCO’s bankruptcy, told the Salt Lake Tribune that the jury decision will not dissuade it from pursuing its lawsuit against Big Blue. Said Cahn: “The copyright claims are gone, but we have other claims based on contracts.”

Astonishing. As I wrote of SCO back in 2004:

“There’s a scene at the end of Martin Scorsese’s remake of ‘Cape Fear’ in which villain Max Cady, having been shot, stabbed, burned and beaten, continues to threaten his victims even as he’s drowning, handcuffed to a sinking houseboat. I think of that scene every time I read that SCO has filed another motion in its ill-starred copyright infringement suits.”

There will be two iPad models–one with Wi-Fi-only and one with Wi-Fi and 3G. The 3G device will come with two plans: 250 megabytes per month for $14.99, and unlimited data for $29.99.

The Wi-Fi-equipped devices will ship within 60 days, the 3G within 90 days. The 3G models are unlocked and they use new GSM micro SIMS. So chances are they’ll just work, quipped Jobs. He added that Apple (AAPL) hasn’t made any deals with international carriers.

Jobs made a point of noting that there are no contracts for the iPad–users may cancel at any time.

And what of Verizon (VZ) Wireless, the carrier pundits were convinced would be supporting both the iPad, and, eventually, the iPhone? Not a mention.

Google plans to sell its new phone on its own Web site, without getting a wireless carrier to subsidize the handset.

But that doesn’t mean Google (GOOG) won’t also work with a carrier: The search giant intends to launch its touchscreen phone next year with the help of T-Mobile say sources familiar with its plans.

Traditionally in the U.S., consumers buy phones directly from carriers, which eat some or all of the cost of the handsets–sometimes amounting to hundreds of dollars–in exchange for signing up customers to often controversial multiyear contracts.

Whether or not Google will subsidize the cost of the phone–via advertising, for example–is unclear.

But for sure, Google does not intend to sell its new “Nexus One” phone the typical way, sources familiar with the company’s plans say. Instead, it envisions a scenario where customers who buy the handset on a separate Web site are provided with a list of carriers from which they can make a selection menu-style.

Google has approached multiple carriers about supporting its new phone, which it designed itself and will be produced by Taiwan’s HTC, offering this selling scenario, sources say.

HTC, by the way, built T-Mobile’s G1 phone, the first Android-powered handset.

But so far, only T-Mobile has agreed to consider this arrangement and actively help push the phone, via various distribution channels and support infrastructure, I’m told.

The Nexus One handset uses GSM technology, which means that in the U.S., only mobile customers who use AT&T (T) or T-Mobile’s networks could use the “unlocked” phone anyway.

But, sources say Google’s decision to use GSM came only because Verizon Wireless (VZ), which uses the rival CDMA technology, has so far declined to help the company push the new phone.

Sources added that Google, keen to change the way mobile devices are sold in the U.S. especially, would still prefer to cooperate with telecom giants in selling phones rather than fighting them.

A T-Mobile spokesman declined to comment, as did one from Google.

T-Mobile’s plan to work with Google shouldn’t be a huge surprise given that the U.S. subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom (DT) already sells four phones that use Google’s Android platform.

Then again, Verizon is currently spending lots of money promoting an Android phone of its own–the Droid–produced with Motorola (MOT).

AT&T (T), the exclusive seller of the Apple (APPL) iPhone, is another story, having no Android phone in the works and having tussled with Google in the past.

News Corp.’s (NWS) social networking service has picked up some of the music service’s employees, and soon the Imeem URL will lead visitor traffic to MySpace. Imeem users can go ahead and toss out their apps for Google’s (GOOG) Android and Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone, which will no longer work. Consolation prize: The MySpace/Imeem guys say they’ll work to transfer Imeem user playlists to MySpace Music. But that’s a little trickier than it ought to be and may take a while.

A refresher on the terms: MySpace is paying around $1 million for Imeem and could end up spending an estimated $9 million or so more on contracts/earnouts for some key employees, including CEO Dalton Caldwell.

And now, dueling blog posts!

imeem blog: imeem is now part of MySpace
We want to share exciting news about imeem–we’re now part of MySpace.
The MySpace team shares our passion for music and vision for giving fans fun ways to discover and socialize around the artists and songs they love. We’re excited to be working together.

Over the coming weeks, we are taking a number of steps to transition the imeem community to MySpace Music, whose features for finding and sharing music are similar to those you now enjoy on imeem.

We are committed to ensuring that the time & creativity you’ve put into imeem isn’t lost. As quickly as possible, we will give imeem users easy ways to recreate your Imeem playlists on MySpace Music.

This morning, we’re taking the first step in this transition. Starting at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific, visitors to imeem.com will be guided to MySpace Music to find and play the music they want.

After this change, you will no longer be able to stream music on imeem, through embedded imeem players, or to play Internet radio stations via the imeem Mobile application for Android or iPhone.

We realize these are significant changes. We ask that you bear with us during this transition period, knowing that our team is working together with the MySpace team to create even better new music experiences.

Thank you to everyone for your support and encouragement.

Imeem Becomes Part of MySpace Music
Posted By  Owen Van Natta, CEO
Today, MySpace Music has completed a deal to acquire certain assets of ?imeem–a leading social media music service.?? MySpace Music and imeem share a common vision and commitment to further?enabling the socialization of content across the Web.

This deal will? allow us to leverage imeem’s industry leading technology and over time,?meaningfully integrate their products into the MySpace Music experience. ??Since its inception in 2003, imeem has built a highly engaged music?community of more than 16 million users worldwide.

imeem helped pioneer?the ad-supported digital music model and created the Web’s first?embeddable music and video playlists enabling users to embed songs and?playlists virtually anywhere on the Web, including MySpace. ??In the coming weeks, our team will be working as quickly as possible to? take aspects of imeem that users love and migrate them to MySpace Music.? We’ll start that transition tonight by redirecting imeem users to? MySpace Music to discover their favorite music.

As quickly as ?possible, we’ll be working to offer users the imeem playlists they’ve ?created on MySpace Music.?? We’re also happy to welcome imeem CEO Dalton Caldwell, CTO Brian Berg, COO Ali Aydar, and their VP of National Ad Sales David Wade to the team as consultants to help manage this transition.

During this transition period, we invite all imeem users to check out? MySpace Music’s extensive catalogue of fully licensed music and video?content from major and indie artists, editorial coverage, concerts, and?ticket information.??-Owen

The bill, dubbed the Cell Phone Early Termination Fee, Transparency and Fairness Act, would cap those early-termination fees based on the price of the phone, and would pro-rate fees based on the time left on the contract.

“Forcing consumers to pay outrageous fees bearing little to no relation to the cost of their handset devices is anti-consumer and anti-competitive,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.), one of the bill’s sponsors, said in a statement.

“It’s allowing consumers more information and also making sure that the industry isn’t sticking it to consumers,” a spokeswoman for the senator added.

Early-termination fees have attracted criticism from some lawmakers, regulators and consumer groups, who say they’re too high and too complicated. Most of the major wireless carriers, including Verizon Wireless (VZ), AT&T (T) and Sprint (S), have faced disputes related to their fees.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Continuing, Folino accuses Broadcom of engineering its bid to commandeer new contracts that Emulex recently won at the expense of its rivals–including Broadcom.

“Your unsolicited proposal is opportunistic given Broadcom is uniquely aware of the new unannounced design wins that Emulex has secured with tier-one OEMs at the expense of Broadcom and other competitors,” Folino writes. “As you know, these design wins are kept confidential at our customers’ request and do not typically begin contributing revenue for several quarters. Thus, Emulex’s stock price does not fully reflect the long-term value creation potential that the Company has already secured. However, given that some of these design wins have come at your expense, including your core Ethernet networking business, you are uniquely aware of the future value we have secured and how well positioned we are to unseat you on many other platforms in the near future. We believe your proposal is an opportunistic attempt to capture that value, which rightly belongs to our stockholders.”

In other words, quit low-balling us–especially if, as you profess, you’d like to move ahead with a deal in a “friendly, collaborative manner.”