| Napster |
| 2/9. The U.S. Court
of Appeals (9th Circuit) announced that it will issue its
opinion in the Napster v. A&M Records on Monday,
Feb. 12. On Dec. 6, 1999, A&M Records and other record
companies filed a complaint against Napster alleging vicarious
and contributory copyright infringement. On Aug. 10, 2000 U.S.
District Court Judge Marilyn Patel issued her opinion which
included a preliminary injunction against Napster. Napster
appealed to the 9th Circuit, which issued a stay. Oral
argument was on October 2. |
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| Microsoft Case |
| 2/9. Feb. 9 was the deadline for final briefs in the appeal
of the Microsoft antitrust case. See, Microsoft's final
version of its reply brief [88 pages in PDF] and final
version of its brief [188 pages in PDF] The government
also filed the final version of its appeal brief. See, HTML
and PDF
versions. Oral argument is scheduled for Feb. 26 and 27. |
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| Lucent |
| 2/9. The Wall Street Journal published a story
which stated that the SEC "is
conducting a formal investigation into possible fraudulent
accounting practices at Lucent ..." Lucent promptly responded:
"This is not new news." It elaborated that
"Last November, Lucent identified certain revenue
recognition issues and voluntarily and immediately brought
them to the SEC's and the public's attention. In December, we
announced the results of an external audit and the remedial
actions that we took." See, release. |
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| New TLJ Stories |
Privacy
Coalition Wants Legislators to Sign a Pledge. (2/12) A
collection of groups named the Privacy Coalition will hold a
press conference in Washington DC on February 12 to release a
document named "The Privacy Pledge." The coalition
wants Members of Congress and state legislators to sign this
pledge to support a list of online privacy proposals.
Cox
and Wyden Introduce the Internet Non-Discrimination Act.
(2/9) Rep. Cox and Sen. Wyden introduced companion bills in
the House and Senate to extend the current moratorium on
multiple and discriminatory taxes on the Internet. |
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| New Documents |
Wyden:
S
288 IS, the Internet Non-Discrimination Act, 2/8 (HTML,
TLJ).
Barcia:
HR
524, the Electronic Commerce Enhancement Act, 2/8 (HTML,
LOC).
Gallegly:
HR
489, the Math and Science Teacher Recruitment Act, 2/7
(HTML, LOC).
Baucus:
S
274, a bill to establish a Congressional Trade Office, 2/7
(HTML, LOC).
MW:
complaint
against Comdisco, 2/7 (PDF, MW).
MSFT:
final
version of its reply brief and final
version of its brief in Microsoft antitrust case, 2/9 (PDF,
USCA).
DOJ:
final version of its appeal brief in HTML
and PDF
in the Microsoft antitrust case, 2/9 (HTML/PDF, DOJ/USCA). |
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| Stearns' Agenda |
| 2/9. Rep. Cliff
Stearns (R-FL), the new Chairman of the House Commerce,
Trade & Consumer Protection Subcommittee, released a statement
that he has "outlined his tentative subcommittee agenda
for panel members." The statement continued that he
"characterized his e-commerce priorities as falling into
three general categories: on-line privacy, cybersecurity, and
removing international regulatory barriers to e-commerce.
Specific issues noted in his outline included, the protection
of personally identifiable information and genetic data,
cyberfraud and identify theft, Internet gambling, encryption,
data base protection, and Internet sales taxation." It
continued that "Certain taxation and privacy policies,
jurisdictional restraints and limitations on free speech and
commerce by key international actors ... may curtail the
growth of e-commerce worldwide." It also stated that the
subcommittee "will review the impact of mega-mergers on
consumers." Finally, it stated that "a thorough
review of the effectiveness in cyberspace of our existing
consumer protection laws may also be in order." |
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| Tech Bills Introduced |
2/8. Rep. James
Barcia (D-MI) introduced HR 524,
the Electronic Commerce Enhancement Act. This bill
would require the NIST
to assist small and medium-sized manufacturers to integrate
and utilize e-commerce technologies and business practices.
The House passed an identical bill in the 106th Congress as
HR 4429; but it did not pass the Senate. The House may
again pass the bill under suspension of the rules on Feb. 14
or 15. Rep. Barcia published a statement in the Congressional
Record on Feb. 8 in which he stated that "One of the
purposes of this legislation is to provide American small
businesses with the information and knowledge they need to
make smart decisions on e-commerce related purchases and
services." He continued that "The other main goal of
this legislation is to address the issue of interoperability
in the manufacturing supply chain. Adoption of e-commerce
business practices within a supply chain is hindered by a lack
of interoperability between software, hardware, and networks
in exchanging product data and other key business
information."
2/8. Sen. Max Cleland
(D-GA) introduced S 292, a bill to amend the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 to expand the enhanced deduction for
corporate donations of computer technology to senior centers
and community centers. The bill was referred to the Senate Finance
Committee.
2/7. Rep. Elton
Gallegly (R-CA) introduced HR 489,
the Math and Science Teacher Recruitment Act, a bill to
amend Higher Education Act of 1965 to expand the teacher loan
forgiveness programs under the guaranteed and direct student
loan programs for teachers of mathematics and science.
2/7. Rep. Barbara Cubin
(R-WY) introduced HR 486,
the Independent Telecommunications Consumer Enhancement Act,
a bill to reduce regulatory burdens on local exchange carriers
with fewer than 2% of the nation's subscriber lines. Like HR 267,
S 88,
and S 150,
it states that its purpose is to promote the deployment of broadband
Internet access facilities. Rep. Cubin also sponsored
similar legislation in the 106th Congress (HR 3850); the
House passed it; the Senate did not. She stated that "the
FCC has not made it any easier for small telephone companies
to deploy advanced services in rural areas -- in some cases
they've actually made it more difficult. The reason is that
the FCC more often than not uses a one size fits all model in
regulating all Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs). This
type of model may be fine for the big companies than have the
ability to hire legions of attorneys and staff to interpret
and ensure compliance with the federal rules."
2/7. Sen. Max Baucus
(D-MT) introduced S 274,
a bill to establish a Congressional Trade Office. This
CTO would provide the Senate Finance Committee and the House
Ways and Means Committee with additional independent,
nonpartisan, neutral trade expertise. Sen. Baucus is the
ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance
Committee. |
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|
| Today |
The U.S. Court of
Appeals (9th Circuit) will issue its opinion in Napster v.
A&M Records. See, new
opinions page.
9:30 AM. The Privacy Coalition will hold a press conference to
announce a privacy initiative. For more information, contact
Andrew Shen, shen@epic.org,
202-483-1140. Location: First Amendment Lounge, National Press
Club, 14th & F Streets, NW, Washington, DC. |
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|
| Goodlatte Staff |
| 2/9. Rep. Bob
Goodlatte (R-VA) named Ben Cline to be his Chief of
Staff and Shelley Hanger to be his Legislative Director
and Counsel. Cline, who is currently Legislative Director,
replaced David Lehman, who went to work for the public
affairs firm of Hall, Green, Rupli where he will work on
technology and telecom issues. Cline has worked for Goodlatte
for more than six years, handling policy relating to
technology, telecom, intellectual property, crime, and
agriculture. Hanger, who currently serves as Legislative
Counsel, has been with Goodlatte for almost three years.
Goodlatte sits on the House Judiciary
Committee, and its Courts, Internet, and Intellectual
Property Subcommittee. He is also a Co-Chairman of the
Internet Caucus. |
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| Securities Class Action |
| 2/7. A Michael Blitzer filed a complaint
[PDF] in U.S. District Court (NDIll)
against Comdisco
[ticker: CDO] and two of its officers
and directors alleging violation of federal
securities laws. Blitzer, who is represented by the law firm
of Milberg
Weiss and others,
seeks class action status. Count one alleges violation of § 10b
of the Exchange Act, and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. Count two
alleges violation of § 20(a)
of the Exchange Act by the individual defendants. Comdisco is
a Delaware corporation based in Rosemont, Illinois. It is an
equipment leasing and technology services company. It provides
web hosting, storage, network, and financial management
services. It leases equipment used in semiconductor and
electronic manufacturing, in telecommunications, and in other
industries. Its stock traded at a high of over 57 dollars per
share early last year. It closed at under 14 on Friday, Feb.
9. Milberg Weiss is a law firm that specializes in bringing
class action securities suits against technology companies
when their stock prices drop. The Law Offices of Charles Piven
filed a separate class action securities complaint against
Comdisco. |
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| About Tech Law Journal |
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