On Thursday, state legislators in California voted in a somewhat controversial move to obligate handset makers to ship energy-efficient battery chargers.

But here’s the kicker. Unlike so many legislative acts that often take three to five years to go into effect, the new requirement takes effect next year.

According to the AP, “despite objections by consumer product makers, the California Energy Commission voted 3-0 on Thursday to regulate the power-sapping chargers that waste as much as 60 percent of the electricity they consume.”

This sweeping new requirement lumps together cellphones, tablets and a veritable electronic breadbasket of other mobile devices.

The standards target an estimated 170 million chargers described as “vampires” because they continuously draw power from the grid when plugged into the wall, even if no device is connected to the charger.

Published reports indicate that yesterday’s move was a first-of-its kind requirement targeting smartphones in legislative history.

Do you agree with the decision to mandate more energy efficiency from smartphone makers when it comes to their chargers? Please leave a thought or comment below.

On Wednesday, word surfaced that Apple has begun sending legal take-down notices to the servers hosting services that assist users in unlawfully obtaining software from the App Store.

The news is a welcome revelation to app developers who claim to lose no shortage of revenue right along with Apple when their digital creations are stolen.

As Apple Insider reported this afternoon:

App Store piracy has been around for years, though there has not been much indication that Apple has been aggressive in shutting it down. The company has been engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with jailbreak developers who look for exploits in iOS to allow them to run unauthorized code.

Although it isn’t yet clear what the outcome of Apple’s renewed efforts will be, it’s evident that Apple is viewing the start of 2012 as a fresh opportunity to take down the pirates who continue to pillage and plunder their way through the iOS App Store.

The genesis of the probe dates backs to lingering suspicions about the appropriateness of Apple and its partners in publishing to limit discounting.

“We are also investigating the electronic book industry, along with the European Commission and the states attorneys general,” said Sharis Pozen, the Justice Department’s acting antitrust chief.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that the Justice Department has been supposedly investigating the controversial “price fixing” issue since last year.

Meanwhile, The European Union’s antitrust watchdog similarly revealed earlier this week that it was investigating Apple and “five major publishers” for the same issue – specifically, the way that e-books are priced and sold.

According to the WSJ, The EU will investigate whether Apple and the publishing groups “engaged in illegal agreements or practices.”

The Carrier IQ software is what’s known as a rootkit that is installed at a carrier’s request on mobile phones. The software raises user privacy concerns in light of the fact that it runs in the background and monitors and logs user activity.

Carrier IQ is believed to be installed on well over 100 million devices today.

The class action lawsuit was filed by Delaware-based Sianni & Straite LLP. The suit targets Apple, HTC, Samsung and Motorola. Wireless carriers AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile are also named in the lawsuit that alleges an “unprecedented breach in the digital privacy rights of 150 million cell phone users.”

AT&T and Sprint claim the Carrier IQ software is only used as a means to “improve service performance.”

In response to the Carrier IQ scandal, Apple announced that “stopped supporting Carrier IQ with iOS 5 in most of our products and will remove it completely in a future software update.”

To understand exactly what CTIA is trying to do and what it means for the SMS marketing industry, Shane Neman, CEO of SMS provider EZ Texting, wrote an excellent post entitled “CTIA’s Illegal Short Code Auditing – A Playbook to Kill America’s Wireless Innovators.”  In it, he details how EZ Texting was contacted in regards to CTIA’s new short code auditing process and why such audits are unfair, unreasonable and inherently “broken.”

“CTIA, acting on behalf of the carriers, has issued dozens of alleged violations against Ez Texting’s use of its short codes,” explained Neman in his post.  ”Why? Violations by our clients of nonsensical, often contradictory and ever changing Consumer Best Practices promulgated by the Mobile Marketing Association.  What sort of violations?  Things as trivial as improperly advertising Keyword Calls To Action on abandoned MySpace pages, for example, or publicizing a short code without mentioning specific phrasing such as Msg&Data Rates May Apply.”

EZ Texting isn’t the only company receiving these alleged “violations,” however, as several SMS providers have now been forced to stop everything to track down clients to police the way they advertise their short codes Online.  As Neman points out in his post, the auditing process has been found to be completely inconsistent and, in many ways, illegal.

“We take these matters seriously, but after reviewing these alleged violations we firmly believe that the CTIA is acting in a way that harms small businesses and consumers – and in doing so breaking the law. Further, we believe that the auditing process itself is highly inconsistent. Large brands and businesses repeatedly commit egregious, high profile violations yet are rarely held accountable. At the same CTIA expects small businesses like Ez Texting to submit to ongoing audits according to these arcane, constantly changing and illegal rules. We have provided an appendix below highlighting how Twitter, operator of one of the highest volume text messaging programs in the world does not and could not comply with these guidelines. This is not to single out Twitter; rather it is to show how the largest businesses operate beyond the dictatorial whims of the carriers.”

So what should happen?  Neman sees one of two logical outcomes . . .

1) CTIA and the carriers should immediately abandon these illegal efforts or 2) The FCC should do their job and rule on the petition regarding text messaging’s common-carrier status, which would make this entire issue moot. The small businesses and entrepreneurs struggling to compete, innovate, and launch new businesses should be protected from the oligarchic whims of the carrier cartel. We call upon other short code marketers, aggregators and operators to stand up for their legal rights. Rights are not handed to you. If you believe in what you do you need to fight for these rights – otherwise CTIA will continue to break the law in a way that harms your businesses.

Feel free to give us your thoughts on this in the comments.  Companies like EZ Texting have started a petition to fight back against CTIA, which can be viewed and signed here.

“The CTIA has begun an unfair and unbalanced audit of SMS providers who use short codes, requiring them to police anyone listing them on the web to list disclaimers about their proper usage,” the petition states.  ”Because this extends to all partners, clients and client affiliates of the SMS provider, it represents an unrealistic and unattainable burden since by design, short codes are easily referenced on the web without any way for the provider to police them.”

“Additionally, the CTIA has chosen to ignore the most prevalent and widespread abusers of their requirements.  Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter allow the quick and easy dissemination of information and by design, don’t provide the characters limits to include disclaimers.  These organizations represent the most significant abusers of the CTIA rules. By overlooking violators such as these while auditing smaller providers, the CTIA is setting a precedent that they are not supporters of net neutrality or the fair business landscape that it is designed to provide.”

“The CTIA audit represents a significant threat to the businesses that have helped to grow SMS into the worldwide communication tool that it is today because even the risk of short code restrictions are enough for most customers to cease their campaigns. We respectfully ask that the CTIA cease their audits and work with the providers to enforce best practices in another manner that will be more effective at reaching their goals without threatening businesses or the industry as a whole.”

Click here to view and sign this petition.

On Thursday, it was reported that attorneys aiming to effectively kill the carrier’s proposed merger with T-Mobile have sided with AT&T on the appointment of a former District of Columbia judge to arbitrate disputes over evidence as they prepare for trial.

The AP reports that the “two sides asked U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle on Thursday to name retired Superior Court Judge Richard Levie as special master in the case.”

“They want Levie to have authority to resolve disputes over the evidence they will have to exchange before the anti-trust trial scheduled for February. They propose discussing the issues weekly and that the two sides split the cost for Levie’s services and expenses,” the report reads.

On August 31st, the Obama administration’s Justice Department sued to block AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile, which is owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, over concerns that it would squelch competition and innovation as well as lead to higher prices.

Having served as a professional arbitrator since 2004, Levie was previously a judge from 1985 until 2000.

According to coverage provided by Reuters, Levie will resolve any disputes related to turning over information between the parties, “including claims of privilege, motions to compel and expert information.”

The company announced recently that it had secured a $20M loan with High River Limited Partnership, a venture capital firm owned by Carl Icahn, who also owns approximately 14.6 percent of Motricity.  The company is quickly trying to rebuild itself following several lawsuits and an $11M insider trading scheme perpetrated by former CEO Ryan Wuerch and other senior executives.

Just last month, law firm Goldfarb Branham LLP announced a class action against the company regarding alleged violations of shareholder protection laws and detailing the insider trading scheme that has devastated the company’s finances.

Another class action suit the company is facing accuses Motricity of violating the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.  According to the suit, Motricity priced its June 2010 IPO at $10 per share, for net proceeds of $51.4 million, but misled investors by asserting the company would “continue to achieve success despite the increasing popularity of smartphones.”  The law firm that filed the suit claims that as a result of Motricity’s statements, its stock traded at artificially inflated prices, peaking at $30.74 per share on Nov. 9.  Following the exit of the executives involved in the scandal, Motricity is still looking for replacements.

The company has retained GCA Savvian Advisors as it explores strategic options including a spinoff, sale or other transactions involving its operator business and mobile marketing initiatives.

It was revealed today that the judge in the case between the DOJ and AT&T — Judge Ellen S. Huvelle — has asked that the Justice Department, AT&T, and Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) put together a joint plan for “scheduling and managing” the case by September 16th.  The judge also told all the parties involved in the suit that they should be “prepared to discuss the prospects for settlement” at a September 21st hearing.

This is the most likely outcome in my opinion.  AT&T has already vowed to a so-called “two-track” plan that includes keeping T-Mobile’s lower priced plan options and agreeing to sell off some of T-Mobile’s assets once the merger is complete.  In the DOJ’s case against AT&T, Sharis A. Pozen, the acting assistant attorney general, also said last week that the DOJ’s “door is open” for negotiations, so it seems like all parties will be making several concessions as the deal-making continues.  More to come.

Like the complaint filed by the DOJ, Sprint claims the merger would violate Section 7 of the Clayton Antitrust Act and alleges that if allowed, the merger would (among other things) raise prices, stifle innovation, further cement Verizon and AT&T’s power, and harm Sprint and other smaller carriers.  Leigh Horner, a spokesperson for Sprint, said the company wanted to weigh in on the Justice Department’s suit. “We have an expertise in the industry,” Horner says, “and we wanted to make sure we we’re active in the court proceeding.”

Using “consumer choice” as its platform, Sprint’s VP of Litigation said “with today’s legal action, we are continuing advocacy on behalf of consumers and competition, and expect to contribute our expertise and resources in proving that the proposed transaction is illegal.”  The opposition from the US government and other major industry players isn’t stopping AT&T, however, as the company was quick to issue a statement regarding Sprint’s filing that mirrors what it’s been saying since the proposal was introduced.

“This simply demonstrates what we’ve said all along – Sprint is more interested in protecting itself than it is in promoting competition that benefits consumers,” Spring said in its statement today.  ”We of course will vigorously contest this matter in court as AT&T’s merger with T-Mobile USA will: help solve our nation’s spectrum exhaust situation and improve wireless service for millions; allow AT&T to expand 4G LTE mobile broadband to another 55 million Americans, or 97% of the population; and result in billions of additional investment and tens of thousands of jobs, at a time when our nation needs them most.”

The fight continues.