TMCnet Feature

U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup has been busy on the technology front as of late. A few days after issuing a warning that the epic court battle expected between tech giants Oracle (News - Alert) and Google over patents will not start until next year at the earliest, Judge Alsup has come riding to the rescue of the wireless phone industry in San Francisco.

Yesterday, the judge struck down most of a San Francisco ordinance passed a year ago that would have required mobile phone retailers to warn customers about radiation and its potential effects on phone users' health. According to the judge, the warning is misleading because it implies cellphones are dangerous and unregulated. As a result, the judge ordered city officials to change the wording on the brochures the retailers are required to distribute to wireless phone customers, according to the Associated Press (News - Alert).

The brochures now must inform wireless phone customers that all phones sold comply with the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC (News - Alert)) safety limits regarding radiation emissions. Previously, the judge said, the brochures made cell phones sound dangerous.

“The overall impression left is that cell phones are dangerous and that they have somehow escaped the regulatory process,” wrote Alsup. “That impression is untrue and misleading, for all of the cell phones sold in the United States must comply with safety limits set by the FCC.”

Wireless industry trade group CTIA (News - Alert)-The Wireless Association sued the city of San Francisco after the Board of Supervisors voted 10-1 to pass the ordinance last year.

In addition to altering the brochure, the judge blocked a part of the ordinance that would have required wireless retailers put up posters in their stores and put warning stickers on the phones they sell. According to the judge, these parts of the law would “unconstitutionally compel retailers to broadcast the city's opinion of cellphones.”

“All consumers who actually purchase a cell phone will receive the handout,” Alsup wrote. “There is no reasonable cause for requiring retailers to convert their walls to billboards for the municipal message.”

Finally, the judge put the entire ordinance on hold until November 30 to allow time for retailers or the wireless association to file appeals. If city officials do not make the changes as the judge ordered, he said he will throw out the entire ordinance.