When the FCC first released their rules on the upcoming 700Mhz spectrum auction, the phone industry was outraged that they might not be able to transfer their closed, restrictive 3G model onto any new broadband network built with obtained spectrum. Verizon lobbyists argued that the increased number of choices you might gain from an open, device-agnostic network were actually bad for consumers.

Despite the fact that the FCC's rules are full of loopholes that maintain the status quo, lawyers at Verizon must have seen some language that disturbed them, and decided to sue the FCC over the rules. Now that they've seen that the court battle won't be settled in time for the January auction, they've apparently scrapped the lawsuit.

There's still some debate over whether Verizon is lobbying Martin behind the scenes to have the rules weakened. Google recently complained about the practice, though Martin denied that he'd fold to telco lobbyist pressure. Verizon last week proposed what they're calling the "two door approach":