11/12. The U.S. filed three Informations in U.S. District Court (NDCal) that charge several consumer electronics manufacturers with fixing prices of LCDs in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act.

The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division simultaneously announced in a release, and at a news conference, that the defendants charged in these Informations have agreed to enter pleas of guilty, and to pay a total of $585 Million in fines.

An information is a pleading filed by a prosecutorial authority that charges violation of a prohibition contained in a criminal statute.

The relevant statute, which is codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1, provides in full that "Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal. Every person who shall make any contract or engage in any combination or conspiracy hereby declared to be illegal shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding $100,000,000 if a corporation, or, if any other person, $1,000,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding 10 years, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court.

The three informations charge that these defendants "and their coconspirators entered into and engaged in a combination and conspiracy in the United States and elsewhere to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing the prices of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display panels", also known as TFT-LCD panels.

The defendants in one information [PDF] are LG Display Co. Ltd. and LG Display America, Inc. The defendant in a second information [PDF] is Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. The defendant in a third information [PDF] is Sharp Corporation.

The LG Display companies are a Korean company, and its U.S. subsidiary. Chunghwa Picture Tubes is a Taiwanese company. Sharp is a Japanese company.

Thomas Barnett, the outgoing Assistant Attorney General in charge of the DOJ's Antitrust Division, spoke at a DOJ news conference. He stated that "LCD panels are the glass display screens on most computer laptops and monitors, mobile phones, and many types of flat panel TVs." See, transcript.

He continued that "These price-fixing conspiracies affected millions of American consumers who use computers, cell phones and numerous other household electronics every day. By conspiring to drive up the price of LCD panels, consumers were forced to pay more for these products. And, consumers weren't the only ones affected by these conspiracies. Some of the largest computer, television and cellular telephone manufacturers in the world, including Apple, Dell, and Motorola, were also affected."

He stated that these crimes "are among the largest and most far-reaching price-fixing conspiracies the Antitrust Division has ever detected."

The LG companies agreed to pay a fine of $400 Million. Chunghwa Picture Tubes agreed to pay a fine of $65 Million. Sharp agreed to pay a fine of $120 Million.

These cases are U.S. v. LG Display Co. Ltd. and LG Display America, Inc., D.C. No. CR-08-0803, U.S. v. Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd., D.C. No. CR-08-0804, and U.S. v. Sharp Corporation, D.C. No. CR-08-0802, all in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division.

11/12. The U.S. Court of Appeals (4thCir) issued its opinion [24 pages in PDF] in US v. Jefferson, affirming the District Court's denial of Rep. William Jefferson's (D-LA) motion to dismiss a pending indictment pursuant to the speech or debate clause of the Constitution.

A grand jury of the U.S. District Court (EDVa) returned an indictment in 2007 that charges Rep. Jefferson with solicitation of bribes, wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, racketeering, violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and conspiracy.

Basically, the Department of Justice (DOJ) asserts that Rep. Jefferson received payments from persons and businesses in return for promoting their products and services with government officials of African nations. See, story titled "Rep. Jefferson Indicted" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,590, June 4, 2007.

Rep. Jefferson argued that the DOJ improperly presented evidence to the grand jury of his legislative acts, and that such evidence was relevant to its decision to indict, in violation of the speech or debate clause.

The Constitution provides, at Article I, Section 6, paragraph 1, that "... Senators and Representatives shall ... be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses ... ; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place".

The Court of Appeals wrote that the District Court reviewed in camera some of the materials submitted to the grand jury, that the District Court concluded that the grand jury had not considered any Speech or Debate materials, and that the District Court was within its discretion to deny the motion.

The Court of Appeals rejected this interlocutory appeal of the District Court's denial of a motion to dismiss the indictment. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals (DC) previously held in its August 3, 2007, opinion [37 pages in PDF] that the DOJ violated the speech or debate clause in its Saturday night raid of Rep. Jefferson's Rayburn Building office. The Supreme Court then denied the DOJ's petition for writ of certiorari.

See also, story titled "District Court Denies Rep. Jefferson's Motion for Return of Property" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,408, July 11, 2006, and story titled "Supreme Court Denies Certiorari in Case Regarding FBI Search of Congressional Office" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,740, April 1, 2008.

That case is U.S. v. Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2113, Supreme Court of the U.S., Sup. Ct. No. 07-816, a petition for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, App. Ct. No. 06-3105.

The present case is U.S. v. William Jefferson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, App. Ct. No. 08-4215, an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, D.C. No. 1:07-cr-00209-TSE-1.

Also, many voters are unimpressed with the DOJ's indictment. The state of Louisiana has a unique electoral system. On November 4, 2008, Rep. Jefferson received the most votes, but still faces a runoff against Helena Moreno, a candidate whom he is likely to defeat.

Rep. Jefferson is one of the few House Democrats with a record of active support for free trade.

11/5. A grand jury of the U.S. District Court (DMass) returned an indictment [PDF] that charges Biswamohan Pani with wire fraud and theft of trade secrets in connection with his alleged downloading of confidential documents belonging to his former employer, Intel, just prior to his going to work for a new employer, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The Department of Justice (DOJ) previously charged Pani by criminal complaint.

The DOJ stated in a release that Pani downloaded from Intel's computer systems trade secret information that "was worth over $1 billion in research and development costs, and included mission-critical details about Intel’s processes for designing its newest generation of microprocessors".

The DOJ release continues that "AMD neither requested the information that PANI had downloaded and kept from Intel, nor knew that PANI had taken or would take this information", but that Pani "planned to use this information to advance his career at AMD or elsewhere by drawing on it when the opportunity arose, whether with his employer's knowledge or not."

The DOJ stated that the DOJ's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) searched Pani's residence, and that Pani "possessed at his residence eight Intel documents that Intel had classified as confidential, secret, and top secret". However, it added that "None of the evidence seized from PANI indicates that he had disclosed or used Intel’s information by the time that the FBI searched his residence".

The indictment charges theft and attempted theft of trade secrets in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1832, wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343. The wire fraud counts are based upon Pani's logging on, from Massachusetts, to Intel's computer system, in California, and downloading documents.

This case is U.S. v. Biswanohan Pani, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, D.C. No. 4:08-CR-40034-FDS

10/30. A grand jury of the U.S. District Court (EDCal) returned indictment that charges Steven Walter Butts, Karen Jean Freyling, Steven Alan Lobue, Raymond Paul Mott, and Earl Edward Riedel with copyright related crimes.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) stated in a release that the defendants "are charged with using the Internet in a criminal conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud, and criminal infringement of a copyright. The indictment also charges some of the defendants with trademark violations, smuggling goods into the United States, theft of government money, and making false statements."

The DOJ added that the defendants generated about $30,000 per month in revenues by selling copyright protected movies in DVD format through various web sites.

10/28. The U.S. District Court (EDVa) sentenced James Stark, a former employee of Verizon, to serve 60 months in federal prison following his conviction for receiving child pormography over the internet.

The Department of Justice's (DOJ) U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Virginia stated in a release that Stark viewed child porm on his computer at his Reston, Virginia, Verizon office.

The DOJ added that a co-worker reported Stark to Verizon security, which investigated, and then reported him to the Fairfax County Police Department, which searched Stark's office and home computers.

The DOJ release states that the examination of Stark's Verizon office computer "revealed more than 1,000 images and video files containing child pornography. In addition, police recovered a disk from Stark’s workspace that contained edited home videos focusing mostly on young girls dressed in swimsuits, shorts, and dresses while they played at playgrounds, swimming pools, backyards, and other public locations."

Notice. TLJ sometimes intentionally misspells words, which if spelled correctly, would lead to the blocking of delivery of some copies of the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert.

The most common category of crime prosecuted by the federal government that relates to information technologies or communications involves using personal computers to view online child pormography.

There is a much smaller number of prosecutions of online commercial pormography operations. For example, on November 11, 2008, the U.S. District Court (MDTenn) sentenced Timothy Ryan Richards to serve 16 years in prison following his conviction of producing, distributing via web sites, conspiring to distribute, advertising and possessing child pormography. See, Department of Justice (DOJ) release.

11/6. A grand jury of the U.S. District Court (DMass) returned an indictment that charges Francis G. Janosko with intentional damage to a protected computer and aggravated identity theft in connection with his hacking a computer system of a prison while he was an inmate. The indictment was returned on October 31, 2008, and unsealed on November 6, 2008. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) stated in a release that he "configured the prison's computer network to provide himself, and other inmates, access to programs other than the legal research program, and to access and provide inmates access to a report that listed the names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, home addresses and telephone numbers, and past employment history of over 1,100 current and former prison personnel." The Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where Janosko was previously incarcerated, provided inmates access to computers, and attempted to limit that access to legal research.

10/30. The U.S. District Court (NDCal) sentenced Steven John Barnes to serve one year in federal prison following his plea of guilty to unauthorized access to a protected computer system in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of California stated in a release [PDF] that after he was fired from his position as Information Technology Manager of a company he accessed and sabotaged the computer systems of that company.

10/30. A grand jury of the U.S. District Court (NDCal) returned an indictment that charges Samantha Leatiota with one count of fraud in connection with a protected computer, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(4). The Department of Justice's (DOJ) U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of California stated in a release that Leatiota, an employee of a company that provides payroll processing services, "allegedly obtained and used the user names and passwords of other company employees without their knowledge or permission to access her company's computer network to alter the Green Waste payroll records so that Green Waste overpaid her husband, a Green Waste employee."

11/4. Vitalijs Balsevics pled guilty in U.S. District Court (EDVa) to conspiracy to commit access device fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with ATM card skimming. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Virginia stated in a release that "Balsevics admitted to attaching an electronic card-reading device called a skimmer onto walk-up ATMs at Chevy Chase Bank branches. After a period of time, Balsevics would remove the device from the ATM, and others uploaded the skimmed card data, including cardholders' PINs, onto new cards. The newly encoded cards were then used without the cardholders' knowledge or consent at various ATMs to make fraudulent withdrawals from the cardholders' accounts."

10/24. The U.S. District Court (EDVa) sentenced Dwight F. Day to serve 33 months in prison following his conviction for conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and conspiracy to engage in an illegal internet gambling business. See, release of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The House will not meet.

The Senate will meet in pro forma session.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host a brown bag lunch titled "The World of Wireless: A British View--A Chat with the UK Regulator About the Future World of Wireless". The speaker will be William Webb (head of Ofcom Research and Development). RSVP to Tony Lin at 202-663-8452 or tony dot lin at pillsburylaw dot com. Location: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, 2300 N St., NW.

Deadline to submit to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's (OUSTR) new petitions to grant waivers to competitive need limitations (CNLs) for products exceeding the CNLs in 2008, in connection with the OUSTR's 2008 Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Annual Review. See, notice in the Federal Register, September 12, 2008, Vol. 73, No 178, at Pages 53054-53056, and notice in the Federal Register, October 16, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 201, at Pages 61444-61445.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Inquiry (NOI) regarding management and oversight of the Universal Service Fund (USF). The FCC adopted this NOI on August 15, 2008 and released the text [17 pages in PDF] on September 12, 2008. It is FCC 08-189 in WC Docket No. 05-195. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 14, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 199, at Pages 60689-60695.

EXTENDED TO NOVEMBER 24. Deadline to submit comments to the Copyright Office (CO) in response to its request for comments regarding its proposal to raise fees for registration of claims, special services and Licensing Division services. See, original notice in the Federal Register, October 14, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 199, at Pages 60658-60662. See also, story titled "Copyright Office Proposes to Raise Registration Fees" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,843, October 15, 2008. See, notice of extension, Federal Register, October 31, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 212, at Pages 64905-64906.

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Consumer Advisory Committee will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 29, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 210, at Page 64333-64334. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room (Room TW-C305), 445 12th St., SW.

Deadline to submit comments to the Copyright Royalty Judges in response to their request for comments regarding a motion of Phase I claimants for partial distribution in connection with the 2006 cable royalty funds. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 15, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 200, at Page 61172.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) portion of its Memorandum Opinion and Order (MO&O) and NPRM regarding collecting and reporting of carrier service quality, customer satisfaction, and infrastructure and operating data. The FCC adopted and released this MO&O and NPRM [57 pages in PDF] on September 6, 2008. It is FCC 08-203 in WC Docket No. 08-190. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 15, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 200, at Pages 60997-61006. See also, story titled "FCC Grants Carriers Forbearance From ARMIS Reporting Rules" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,822, September 8, 2008.

8:00 AM - 5:30 PM. Day one of a five day closed meeting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The panel will conduct final judging of the 2008 applicants. See, notice in the Federal Register: October 28, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 209, at Page 63946. Location: NIST, Administration Building, Lecture Room E, Gaithersburg, MD.

9:00 - 10:30 AM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host an event titled "ITIF Forum: The Impact of IT on Energy". See, notice and registration page. Location: Room 121, Cannon Building, Capitol Hill.

9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in Verizon v. FCC, App. Ct. No. 08-1012, petition for review of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) December 5, 2007, order denying Verizon's six petitions to forbear, pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 160, from applying its rules regarding unbundling, and leasing to competitors, of certain network elements in six markets -- New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Pittsburg, Providence, and Virginia Beach. At issue is application of the FCC's rules implementing the loop and transport provisions of 47 U.S.C. § 251(c)(3). See, redacted copy of FCC brief [56 pages in PDF]. Judges Sentelle, Griffith and Edwards will preside. Location: 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

10:30 AM - 4:30 PM. Day one of a three day meeting of the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 30, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 211, at Pages 64595-64596. Location: The Westin Arlington Gateway Hotel, 801 North Glebe Road, Arlington, VA.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Cable and Mass Media Practice Committees will host a brown bag lunch titled "Retransmission Consent Negotiations -- A Good Faith Discussion of the Issues". The speakers will be Kevin Latek (Dow Lohnes), Seth Davidson (Fleischman & Harding), and Linda Kinney (EchoStar Satellite). See, notice and registration page. Location: Drinker Biddle & Reath, 1500 K St., NW.

Deadline to submit comments to the Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) regarding its proposed rules changes regarding inter-company transfers (ICTs). See, notice Federal Register, October 3, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 193, at Pages 57554-57564.

8:00 AM. The BroadbandCensus dot com [http colon slash slash broadbandcensus dot com] will host an breakfast titled "Should Government Funding Be Part of a National Broadband Plan?" The speakers will be Stan Fendley (Corning), Kyle McSlarrow (NCTA), and John Windhausen (Telepoly Consulting), For more information, contact Drew Clark at drew at broadbandcensus dot com or 202-580-8196. Location: Old Ebbitt Grill, 675 15th St., NW.

8:00 AM - 5:30 PM. Day two of a five day closed meeting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The panel will conduct final judging of the 2008 applicants. See, notice in the Federal Register: October 28, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 209, at Page 63946. Location: NIST, Administration Building, Lecture Room E, Gaithersburg, MD.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day two of a three day meeting of the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board. The morning session is closed to the public. Its agenda includes "Reports and discussion on ... information and communications technologies". See, notice in the Federal Register, October 30, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 211, at Pages 64595-64596. Location: The Westin Arlington Gateway Hotel, 801 North Glebe Road, Arlington, VA.

9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in Charles Crawford v. FCC, App. Ct. No. 08-1059, a petition for review involving procedure followed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in amending its Table of Allotments for FM radio stations. See, FCC's brief [53 pages in PDF]. Judges Henderson, Rogers and Edwards will preside. Location: Courtroom 11, 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

11:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will hold an event to announce and release its report titled "2008 State New Economy Index". The speakers will be Robert Atkinson (ITIF) and Robert Litan (Kaufman Foundation). Location?

1:00 - 2:30 PM. Eric Schmidt, Chairman of both Google and the New America Foundation (NAF), will speak at a NAF event titled "Technology, Economic Growth and Open Government". See, notice and registration page. For more information, contact Liz Wu at 202-986-2700 x 315 or wu at newamerica dot net. Location: Amphitheatre, Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave, NW.

6:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host an event titled "22nd Annual Chairman's Dinner". The reception will begin at 6:00 PM. Dinner will begin at 7:30 PM. See, registration form [PDF]. Prices vary. Location: Washington Hilton Hotel, 1919 Connecticut Ave., NW.

8:00 AM - 5:30 PM. Day three of a five day closed meeting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The panel will conduct final judging of the 2008 applicants. See, notice in the Federal Register: October 28, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 209, at Page 63946. Location: NIST, Administration Building, Lecture Room E, Gaithersburg, MD.

9:30 AM - 3:00 PM. Day three of a three day meeting of the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board. The 10:30 AM session is closed to the public. Its agenda includes "Reports and discussion on ... information and communications technologies". See, notice in the Federal Register, October 30, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 211, at Pages 64595-64596. Location: The Westin Arlington Gateway Hotel, 801 North Glebe Road, Arlington, VA.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a program titled "Legal Developments in the Telecom, Media and Technology Sectors". The speakers will be Susan Fox (Disney), Marc Martin (K&L Gates), Joseph Bogdan (World Wrestling Entertainment), and Ross Vincenti (Sprint Nextel). The price to attend ranges from $10 to $35. For more information, contact 202-626-3463. See, notice. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, B-1 Level, 1250 H St., NW.

8:30 - 10:00 AM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host an event titled "ITIF Breakfast Forum: The Netherlands’ National Pay-per-Use Road-Pricing Initiative". The speaker will be Al Joris (General Director of The Netherlands’ Centre for Transport and Navigation in the Ministry of Transport). This system will employ satellite tracking technology and on board mileage data systems. See, notice. Location: ITIF, Suite 200, 1250 Eye St., NW.

8:30 AM - 5:30 PM. The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advisory Committee for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences will meet. The agenda includes "CyberInfrastructure, Cyber-enabled Discovery and Innovation". See, notice in the Federal Register, November 3, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 213, at Page 65414. Location: NSF, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Stafford I, Third Floor, Room 375, Arlington, VA.

9:00 AM - 1:00 PM. The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection and Related Homeland Security Functions  will meet. The agenda includes "Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement". See, notice in the Federal Register, November 5, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 215, at Page 65871. Location: Rotunda Ballroom, Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

9:00 AM - 5:30 PM. Day four of a five day closed meeting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The panel will conduct final judging of the 2008 applicants. See, notice in the Federal Register: October 28, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 209, at Page 63946. Location: NIST, Administration Building, Lecture Room E, Gaithersburg, MD.

1:00 PM. The Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) American Health Information Community's (AHIC) Confidentiality, Privacy, & Security Workgroup may meet. AHIC meetings are often noticed, but cancelled. Location: Switzer Building, 330 C St., SW.

5:30 - 7:30 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a closed event titled "Espionage and Family Law: The Use and Abuse of Electronic Surveillance". The speakers will be Eric Wenger (Department of Justice, Criminal Division), Guilherme Roschke (American Bar Association), and Sharon Nelson (Sensei). The price to attend ranges from $20 to $55. For more information, contact 202-626-3463. See, notice. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, B-1 Level, 1250 H St., NW.

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