| AOL v. AT&T |
| 2/28. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (4th Cir) issued its opinion
in AOL
v. AT&T, a trademark case. Both AOL and AT&T provide e-mail
services to their customers. AOL has been using, for varying
lengths of time, the words "YOU HAVE MAIL",
"YOU'VE GOT MAIL", "BUDDY LIST", and
"I M". In Dec. of 1998, AT&T began using these
same words in connection with its e-mail service. AOL filed a complaint
in U.S. District Court (EDVa)
alleging various trademark and unfair trade competition
claims. The District Court granted summary judgment to
AT&T. See, memorandum.
The Appeals Court held that the question whether "Buddy
List" is a valid mark raises disputed issues of material
fact and therefore cannot be resolved on summary judgment. It
affirmed as to the other claimed marks. See also, TLJ
case summary. |
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| More IP Litigation |
2/28. Random House
filed a complaint in U.S. District Court (SDNY)
against Rosetta Books
alleging copyright infringement for publishing e-books.
Rosetta Books is a recently formed, privately held, New York
City based company that provides electronic publishing. Random
House is an English language general trade book publisher. It
is a division of the Bertelsmann Book Group of Bertelsmann AG,
a large German media company.
2/28. The USITC voted
to institute an investigation of Silicon
Integrated Systems' (SIS) integrated circuits, processes
for making same, and products containing same, of sizes of
0.25 microns or smaller. United
Microelectronics, UMC Group, and United
Foundry Service filed a complaint with the USITC on
Jan. 26, 2001, alleging violations of § 337
in the importation into the U.S. of SIS integrated circuits
that infringe patents owned by UMC. See, USITC
release and UMC
Group release.
2/28. The U.S. Court of
Appeals (1stCir) issued its not for publication opinion
in Latin American Music Company v. Cardenas Fernandez, a case
regarding entitlement to preliminary injunctions in copyright
infringement cases. |
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| New Documents |
USCA: opinion
in AOL v. AT&T re trademarks, 2/28 (HTML, USCA).
Leahy:
amendment
to bankruptcy reform bill re Toysmart.com case, 2/28 (HTML,
TLJ).
Rules:
rule
for consideration of bankruptcy reform bill by the House, 2/28
(HTML, Rules).
Green:
amendment
to bankruptcy reform bill re children's privacy, 2/27 (PDF,
Rules).
NIST:
notice
and request for comments re Draft Federal Information
Processing Standard for Advanced Encryption Standard, 2/28
(HTML, TLJ). |
|
|
| Quote of the Day |
"This case just keeps going and going and going. But
the longer it goes on, the less relevant the original grounds
for the case become. Just like the antitrust case against IBM
slowly faded into irrelevance. ... I hope the Appeals Court
recognizes, as I do, that further court proceedings will
simply shift minds and money from innovation to
litigation."
Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX), House Majority Leader, statement
regarding U.S. v. Microsoft, Feb. 27. |
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|
| Bankruptcy & Privacy |
2/28. The Senate
Judiciary Committee approved S
220, the Senate version of the bankruptcy reform bill,
by a vote of 10 to 8. The Committee first approved several
amendments, including one offered by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
and Sen. Pat Leahy
(D-VT), known as the Toysmart.com
Amendment. This protects personally identifiable
information given by a consumer to a business debtor, such
as an online retailer, by adding new privacy protections to
the Bankruptcy Code and by creating a Consumer Privacy
Ombudsman to appear before the bankruptcy court. It provides
that "if the debtor has disclosed a policy to an
individual prohibiting the transfer of personally identifiable
information about the individual to unaffiliated third
persons, and the policy remains in effect at the time of the
bankruptcy filing, the trustee may not sell or lease such
personally identifiable information to any person, unless (A)
the sale is consistent with such prohibition; or (B) the
court, after notice and hearing and due consideration of the
facts, circumstances and conditions of the sale or lease
approves the sale or lease."
2/28. The House is scheduled to debate and vote on HR
333, its version of the bankruptcy reform bill, on
March 1. On Feb. 28 the House
Rules Committee adopted a rule for
consideration of the bill. Notably, Rep. Ed Markey's
(D-MA) proposed amendment
is not in order. It would have required that personal and
financial information divulged in a bankruptcy proceeding be
disclosed in electronic format only to individuals and
entities that have legitimate interests in the case. However, Rep. Mark Green's
(R-WI) amendment
[PDF] is in order. It would require the removal of the names
of children from bankruptcy filings. See, Summary
of Amendments Made in Order. See also, HR 333
[huge PDF file] as reported by the House Judiciary
Committee on Feb. 14. |
|
|
| House Commerce Markup |
2/28. The House
Commerce Committee approved HR
90, the Know Your Caller Act, by a unanimous voice
vote. The bill, which is sponsored by Rep. Rodney
Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), would make it "unlawful for any
person … in making any telephone solicitation (A) to
interfere with or circumvent the capability of a caller
identification service … and (B) to fail to provide caller
identification information in a manner that is accessible by a
caller identification service …" The bill gives the FCC
rule making authority. It also creates a private right of
action. A similar bill passed the House by a vote of 420-0
last year, but did not receive a vote in the Senate.
2/28. The House
Commerce Committee amended and approved HR
496. Both an amendment in the nature of a substitute, and
the bill as amended, passed by unanimous voice votes. The bill
provides regulatory relief to telecommunications carriers
that control less than two percent of the subscriber lines
in the U.S. A similar bill passed the House late last year,
but did not receive a vote in the Senate. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA),
the ranking Democrat on the Telecom Subcommittee, spoke in
opposition to the bill. He argued that if that if 2% carriers
get regulatory relief, they should also no longer receive
"subsidies". He called this "Adam Smith
economics." |
|
|
| More News |
2/28. The NIST published
in the Federal Register a notice
and request for comments regarding its Draft Federal
Information Processing Standard (FIPS) for its Advanced Encryption Standard
(AES).
2/28. A grand jury of the U.S. District Court (DNJ)
returned indictments against Walter Forbes and Kirk Shelton,
two former executives of Cendant,
alleging securities fraud in connection with accounting
practices. The SEC filed a
parallel civil complaint in the same court against the two.
Forbes and Shelton were Chairman/CEO and COO,
respectively, of CUC International, which merged with HFS to
create Cendant. Cendant is a hotel, car rental and real estate
franchising company. Its other operations include Jackson
Hewitt (tax preparation) and WizCom (an information technology
services). See, Cendant
release.
2/28. FCC
Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth addressed the Competitive
Carrier Regulatory Summit 2001.
2/28. The FCBA held a closed meeting on "Legislative Outlook 2001:
House Perspective" with staff of the House Commerce
Committee.
2/28. The Bureau of Export
Administration (BXA) announced that "Revisions to the
Export Administration Regulations to implement the Trade
Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (TSRA) are
under interagency review." |
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|
|
| Today |
10:00 AM. The House
Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce,
Trade and Consumer Protection will hold a hearing on Privacy
in the Commercial World. See, list
of witnesses. Location: Room 2322, Rayburn Building.
The House is scheduled to debate and vote on HR
333, the bankruptcy reform bill.
The Department of Commerce's Bureau
of Export Admin. will host a one day workshop titled
"Essentials of Export Controls Workshop". The price
is $100.00, but it has sold out. Location: Ronald
Reagan International Trade Center, Washington DC.
9:30 AM. The Senate
Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on the transition
from analog to digital TV. Location: Room 253, Russell
Building.
10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The FCC's WRC-03 Advisory Committee's
Informal Working Group 3: Fixed-Satellite Service/Broadcasting
Satellite Service will hold a meeting. Location: FCC, 445 12th
Street, SW, 6th Floor, Room 6-B516, Washington DC. See, notice
of meeting.
11:30 AM - 1:30 PM. The National
Venture Capital Association will host an event titled
"Mid-Atlantic Entrepreneur/Venture Capital Networking
Lunch." The price is $75.00 and registration is required.
See, online
registration form. Location: Park Hyatt, Washington DC.
1:00 - 4:00 PM. The USPTO
will hold a public meeting on computer implemented business
method patents. Location: Arlington VA. Also, the patent
depository libraries in Sunnyvale, Detroit, and Houston will
provide videoconferencing.
1:30 PM. Jodie Bernstein, Director of the FTC's Bureau of
Consumer Protection, will speak at the Second National Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Summit on the Role
of the FTC in Privacy and Data Security. Location:
Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 2660 Woodley Road, NW, Washington
DC.
6:00 - 8:00 PM. The Federal
Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host a
Congressional Reception for members of the House and Senate
Commerce Committees. Registration and payment of money is
required; see, registration
form [PDF]. For more information, contact Heidi Kurtz at heidi@fcba.org. Location:
U.S. Capitol, Room SC-5, Washington DC. |
|
|
| People |
2/28. The Intellectual
Property Owners Association (IPO) named Charles Work to
be its General Counsel. He remains a partner in the Washington
DC office of the law firm of McDermott,
Will & Emery, and the head of its Regulation and
Government Affairs Department.
2/28. The NCTA
announced that the appointment of Lois Richerson as
Director - Public Affairs - Education. She was previously
Director of Government Relations for NCTA. Her job will be
"to carry the message of the cable industry's
longstanding commitment to education" to the Congress and
Bush administration. See, NCTA
release. |
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