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| Patent Lawsuits |
1/12. NetZero filed a
complaint in U.S. District Court (CDCal)
against AT&T alleging patent
infringement. NetZero, an ISP and web marketer, alleges
that AT&T infringed U.S.
Patent No. 6,157,946, which applies to a process that
enables an ISP to display ads or messages through a window
that is separate from the browser. NetZero filed a complaint
against Juno on Dec. 26,
2000, alleging infringement of the same patent. It obtained a
65 day Temporary
Restraining Order (TRO) against Juno on Jan. 5, 2001.
1/9. Open
Market filed a complaint in U.S. District Court (DDel)
against Intershop alleging patent
infringement. Plaintiff alleges infringement of three
patents, U.S. Patent No. 5,708,780
entitled "Internet Server Access Control and Monitoring
System," U.S. Patent No. 5,715,314,
titled "Network Sales System," and U.S. Patent No. 5,909,492,
also titled "Network Sales System." Open Market
provides e-business application software and software services
for managing and delivering online content, engaging in
personalized online marketing and merchandizing campaigns, and
conducting commerce via a secure transaction processing and
order management system. |
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| New TLJ Story |
| FCC
Approves AOL Time Warner Merger. The FCC approved the
merger of AOL and Time Warner with conditions regarding open
access to broadband cable Internet access and interoperability
of advanced instant messaging services. |
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| New Documents |
DOJ:
brief
in Microsoft antitrust case, 1/12 (HTML, DOJ).
AOL:
brief
of amici curiae in support of the government in the Microsoft
antitrust case, 1/12 (PDF, USCA).
HCC:
letter
from Rep. Tauzin and Rep. Upton re hearing on ICANN, 1/12
(HTML, TLJ).
FCC: paean
to William Kennard, 1/12 (PDF, FCC).
WTO:
speech
by Mike Moore re free trade and info tech, 1/11 (HTML, WTO). |
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| News Briefs |
1/12. The Department of
Justice filed its brief
with the U.S. Court of
Appeals (DCCir) in the Microsoft antitrust case. It
urges affirmance of Judge Thomas Jackson's judgment. The amici
curiae in support of the government also filed their brief
[PDF]. These were AOL, CCIA,
ProComp, and SIIA.
The attorneys on this brief included Ken Starr and Robert Bork
(both of whom are former members of the Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia), and Walter Dellinger (who, like
Starr and Bork, is a former Solicitor General). Microsoft's
reply brief is due on Jan. 29. Final briefs are due on Feb. 9.
1/12. FCC Chairman William
Kennard announced his resignation from the FCC,
effective Jan. 19, 2001. His term would have ended in June.
See, FCC
release. For the next few months, Chairman Kennard will
serve as a Senior Fellow at the Aspen Institute's
Communications and Society Program in Washington DC. See, Aspen
release.
1/12. The FCC published a
document
[PDF] titled "Principal FCC Achievements During Chairman
Kennard’s Tenure 1997-2001."
1/12. The U.S. District Court (DMd) dismissed 38 complaints filed against
Microsoft alleging violation of federal antitrust
laws. Many other private antitrust actions are still pending
against Microsoft.
1/12. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (2ndCir) issued its opinion
in NCA
v. AT&T affirming the lower court's judgment
that AT&T violated the
statute and regulations requiring common carriers to provide
services to resellers on the same terms that such services are
provided to end users. See, 47
U.S.C. 202(a).
1/12. The Antitrust
Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) published in
the Federal Register a notice that it filed a proposed Final
Judgment, Stipulation, and Competitive Impact Statement in USA v.
WorldCom and Intermediate Communications. WorldCom and the DOJ
reached their agreement regarding WorldCom's acquisition of Intermedia back in Nov.
of 2000. They agreed that WorldCom would divest all of
Intermedia's assets, except its controlling interest in Digex. To put this agreement
into effect the DOJ filed a complaint and proposed consent
decree in the U.S.
District Court (DDC) on Nov. 17. The objection of the DOJ
related to the circumstance that both WorldCom and Intermedia
owned Internet backbone networks. Intermedia also provides
voice and data services. Digex provides web and applications
hosting for e-businesses. The purpose of this notice is to
seek public comment. Comments are due within 60 days of this
notice. See, Federal Register, Jan. 12, 2001, Vol. 66, No. 9,
at Pages 2929 - 2939.
1/12. EPIC and Privacy
International started a web site that publishes privacy
related news. It is named privacy.org.
1/11. WTO Director General Mike
Moore gave a speech
in Hyderabad, India, on free trade and information technology.
He stated that "developing countries need at least four
things. One is skilled workers. India has plenty of them: it
accounts for a third of the world's software engineers. Two
more are access to computer technology at world prices and
efficient, low-cost telecoms. ... The final requirement for
success in the digital age is free access to rich-country
markets. Rich-country markets are reasonably open, but
obstacles remain, for instance, for Indian software engineers
who want temporary visas to work in America or Europe."
He also advocated a new round of trade negotiations. |
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| People |
1/12. Jessica Wallace is the new Telecom Counsel for
the House Commerce
Committee. She previously worked as a Legislative
Assistant to Rep.
Billy Tauzin (R-LA), and before that as a lobbyist for the
law office of Verner
Liipfert, and as a Legislative Assistant to Rep. Cliff Stearns
(R-FL). During the last Congress, Justin Lilley was the
Telecom Counsel. He is now at News Corp.
1/9. DeAnne
Ozaki joined the Los Angeles office of the law firm of
Latham & Watkins. She
will be Of Counsel in the Venture & Technology Practice
Group. She practices copyright, trademark, licensing and
Internet law. She was previously a partner in the Los Angeles
office of Katten Muchin Zavis.
See, release.
1/8. Veronica Lewis joined the Dallas office of law
firm of Vinson &
Elkins as a partner. See, release.
She has represented Time Inc., and Warner Communications Inc.,
and AT&T. She was previously a partner at Thompson & Knight. She
has also worked at Lowenstein Sandler in New Jersey, and in
the New York office of Cravath Swaine. See, release. |
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| Computer Crime |
| 12/27. The U.S. District Court (CDCal)
sentenced Steve Shklovskiy and Yan Shtok to 27 months in
federal prison and ordered them to pay more than $100,000 in
restitution. The two Russian born men spidered the Internet to
harvest e-mail addresses. They then sent over 50,000,000 spam
e-mail messages, with forged header information, which
promised enormous returns from a bogus work-at-home scheme in
exchange for the payment of a $35 processing fee. They forged
header information on the e-mails that falsely listed a return
address at bigbear.net,
a California ISP. 12,405 people were defrauded, BigBear's
servers crashed, and it had to assign three workers to respond
to complaints for six months. The case is the result of an
investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Asst.
U.S. Atty. Christopher Johnson prosecuted the case. See, release. |
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| Quote of the Day |
"There have been a number of reports that ICANN's
process to create a new generation of Internet domain name
suffixes may be thwarting competition in the registration and
assignment of Internet domain names."
Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) and Rep. Fred Upton
(R-MI), from their Jan. 12 letter
to ICANN CEO Michael Roberts. |
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| About Tech Law Journal |
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