| New TLJ Stories |
Gov
Officials and Industry Reps Clash Over Enforcement of Intellectual
Property Rights in Cyberspace. Government officials
responsible for enforcing intellectual property laws, and
representatives of intellectual property owners, held a public
meeting at which they discussed law enforcement activities in
cyberspace. Industry representatives criticized the lack of
prosecutions by the U.S. Department of Justice.
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| New Documents |
FTC:
report
on workshop on Alternate Dispute Resolution for Online Consumer
Transactions, 11/28 (HTML, FTC).
FCC:
NPRM re secondary
markets for spectrum rights, 11/27 (PDF, FCC).
RKMC:
Complaint
for patent infringement in Tulip Computers v. Dell, 11/24 (HTML,
TLJ).
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| New and Updated Sections |
Calendar
(updated daily).
News
from Around the Web (updated daily).
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| Quote of the Day |
"There is a raging debate, a highly public debate, over whether
copyright infringement on the Internet is wrong, whether anybody
cares, whether there are any meaningful consequences. We regularly
hear from consumers and the creative community ... but largely
missing from the debate -- one of the strongest influencers of
public opinion -- is the constables."
Robert Kruger, VP of the Business Software Alliance, Nov. 27. |
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| News Briefs |
11/29. Pursuant to the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999,
the USPTO will
begin publishing patent applications filed on or after November 29,
2000 eighteen months after the effective filing date of the
application. See, USPTO
release.
11/28. Calif. Gov. Gray Davis
announced the appointment of five Superior Court Judges in Santa
Clara, Alameda, and Contra Costa Counties. He appointed Joseph
Huber and Brian Walsh in Santa Clara County, Steven Brick and
Winifred Smith in Alameda County, and George Spanos in Contra Costa
County. Joseph Huber is a member of the San Jose law firm of
Huber Samuelson. This firm represented Andrew Bunner in connection
with his web publication of the DVD
DeCSS software utility. Brian Walsh is a
shareholder at McTernan,
Stender, Walsh, Weingus & Tondreau who practices employment
law, including representation labor unions and high-tech executives
being separated from their employment. See, law firm bio. Steven
Brick is a partner at Orrick,
Herrington & Sutcliffe who has litigated unfair competition,
securities fraud, RICO, antitrust, intellectual property, and
employment disputes. See, Orrick
bio. Winifred Smith is a Deputy Assistant Attorney General who
has worked on health, education and welfare matters. George Spanos
is a partner in the Walnut Creek firm of Spanos & Black.
See also, Davis
release.
11/28. Staff of the FTC and the Department of
Commerce issued a report
on the joint FTC/DOC workshop on Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR)
for Online Consumer Transactions held on June 6-7, 2000. The report
summarizes several topics, including finding global solutions to
problems arising from international e-commerce transactions,
pursuing technological innovation in ADR programs, pursuing multiple
ADR programs, ensuring fairness and effectiveness of ADR programs,
consumer and business education about ADR, and combating fraud and
deceptive practices related to ADR.
11/28. The FCC's revised
telephone slamming
liability rules took effect on Nov. 28. See, FCC
release [MS Word].
11/28. Members of the recording industry formed a royalty program
titled SoundExchange. Its purpose is to collect and distribute
royalty payments for digital sound recordings played on cable and
satellite subscription music services, and streamed in
non-interactive webcasts. The SoundExchange Governance Committee
will be made up of representatives from both major and independent
record labels, recording artists, artist representatives and
industry groups, including the Recording
Industry Association of America. See, RIAA release.
11/28. The Intellectual Property
Organization (IPO) named David Gould of Dupont to be the
Chairman of its Trademark Division.
11/28. IBM named Harriet
Pearson to be its first Chief Privacy Officer. See, IBM release.
11/27. The FCC published in its
web site a copy of its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking [MS
Word and PDF]
regarding preliminary steps which the FCC might take towards
allowing secondary markets in spectrum rights. This NPRM was
adopted, but not released, at the Nov. 9 FCC meeting. See also, TLJ story
of Nov. 10.
11/27. The Supreme Court
denied certiorari in Nextwave Personal Communications v. FCC,
No. 00-447. See, Order List
[PDF] for Nov. 27, at page 16.
11/20. Several individuals filed a complaint in U.S.
District Court (WDWash)
against Avenue A alleging
violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Computer
Fraud and Abuse Act, and state statutes and common law principles,
in connection with its privacy practices. Avenue A, an Internet
advertising business, stated that "the lawsuit is without
merit". Plaintiffs seek class action status. See, release.
11/14. The FTC settled civil charges that
it brought against DP Marketing and its two principals for engaging
in a fraudulent Internet pyramid scheme. The FTC filed its original
complaint on July 7, 1999 in U.S. District Court (DConn).
The Stipulated Final Judgment and Order was entered by the Court on
Nov. 14, 2000. The FTC issued a release on
Nov. 28 which states that the "order imposes a judgment of
$72,312". It also states that "$430,140, [is] the total
amount paid by consumers to DP Marketing ..."
Editor's Note: This column includes all News Briefs added to
Tech Law Journal since the last Daily E-Mail Alert. The dates
indicate when the event occurred, not the date of posting to Tech
Law Journal. |
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Today
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM. The NTIA
and the U.S. Copyright
Office will hold a joint hearing on the DMCA and
copyright law. The hearing will focus on the effects of
Title 1 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the
development of electronic commerce on the operation of §§
109 and 117 of Title 17 of the U.S. Code. See, notice
in Federal Register. Location: Room LM-414, James Madison
Building, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue, SE,
Washington DC, 20540.
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