8/10. Cablevision and Viacom announced in a release that they have settled the lawsuit brought by Viacom in June regarding Cablevision's streaming of television programs to Apple iPads. The release discloses little.

Viacom, which owns entertainment content, has a distribution agreement with Cablevision, which provides cable television and broadband service.

Viacom filed a complaint [44 pages in PDF] in the U.S. District Court (SDNY) against Cablevision on June 23, 2011, alleging breach of contract and other claims in connection with Cablevision's making cable channels owned by Viacom available on iPads to its cable subscribers without Viacom's authorization.

The complaint alleges breach of contract for unauthorized distribution, breach of contract for materially degrading the quality of programming, breach of contract for unauthorized use of trademarks, copyright infringement (17 U.S.C. § 501), trademark infringement (15 U.S.C. § 1114), false designation of origin (15 U.S.C. § 1125), and common law unfair competition,

The release states only that the two companies "have agreed to resolve their pending litigation, and the Viacom programming will continue to appear on Cablevision's Optimum Apps for iPad and other IP devices. In reaching the settlement agreement, Cablevision and Viacom were able to resolve the iPad matter and an unrelated business matter to their mutual satisfaction. Neither side is conceding its original legal position or will have further comment."

The complaint states that on April 2, 2011, Cablevision launched a computer application for Apple's iPad tablet computer that can "stream linear feeds of Viacom's copyrighted entertainment programming through a cable modem to iPad tablets in violation of Viacom's contractual rights that limit Cablevision's rights to distribute Viacom's programming to cable television systems, as well as Viacom's intellectual property rights and other rights."

It asserts that "Viacom brings this action for damages and to enjoin Cablevision's unlicensed broadband distribution of Viacom's programming. Viacom is committed to meeting consumer demand for broadband delivery of its programming. To this end, Viacom has reached reasonable agreements with several emerging and established media distributors so that they can stream Viacom's content and also provide an outstanding user experience. Viacom has made clear that it is willing to discuss extension of similar rights to others -- including Cablevision. What Viacom cannot do, however, is permit one of its contracting partners, Cablevision, to unilaterally change the terms of its contractual relationship."

This case is Viacom International, Inc., MTV Networks, Comedy Partners, BET Holdings LLC and Country Music Television, Inc. v. Cablevision Systems Corporation and CSC Holdings LLC, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, D.C. No. 11-civ-4265.

8/10. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) issued its opinion [14 pages in PDF] in CBT Flint Partners v. Return Path, a patent infringement case involving technology for sending spam e-mail.

CBT Flint Partners LLC is the holder of U.S. Patent No. 6,587,550 titled "Method and Apparatus for Enabling a Fee to be Charged to a Party Initiating an Electronic Mail Communication When the Party is not on an Authorization List Associated with the Party to the Communication is Directed".

Basically, it is a method that enables spammers to pay off ISPs that forward, rather than block, their spam e-mail.

The invention disclosed in this patent is software that resides on ISP's servers that determines whether the sender of spam e-mail is someone who has agreed to pay a fee in return for allowing its spam e-mail to be forwarded over the ISP's network, and if so, forwarded to the receiving victims.

CBT filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court (NDGa) against Return Path Inc. and Cisco Ironport Systems LLC alleging patent infringement.

The District Court concluded that there was a drafting error in the claim at issue, and that there were three possible corrections. It declined to correct the patent. The District Court granted summary judgment of invalidity, holding it indefinite under 35 U.S.C. § 112.

The Court of Appeals reversed the judgment of invalidity. It held that the claim is not indefinite because "there is an obvious and correctable error in the claim, the construction of which is not subject to reasonable debate".

The Court held that "in a patent infringement suit, a district court may correct an obvious error in a patent claim", and that the standard is "the point of view of one skilled in the art".

This case is CBT Flint Partners LLC v. Return Path, Inc., et al., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, App. Ct. Nos. 2010-1202 and 2010-1203, appeals from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, D.C. No. 07-CV-1822, Judge Thomas Thrash presiding. Judge Lourie wrote the opinion of the Court of Appeals, in which Judges Bryson and Linn joined.

8/11. The U.S. Court of Appeals (11thCir) issued its opinion [53 pages in PDF] in USA v. Marcus Barrington, affirming a conviction and sentence for unauthorized access to a protected computer system (18 U.S.C. § 1030), aggravated identity theft (18 U.S.C. § 1028A), and conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 371) to commit wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343).

Barrington and his codefendants, Christopher Jacquette and Lawrence Secrease, were students at Florida A&M University (FAMU), which maintains an internet based grading systems. They installed keylogger programs on computers used by FAMU Registrar personnel.

For example, conspirators went to the Registrar's Office where some distracted employees while others installed keylogger programs using flash drive devices.

These keylogger programs covertly recorded the keystrokes made by Registrar employees as they signed onto their computers, including their usernames and passwords, and automatically sent this data to e-mail accounts, including Barrington's.

The defendants then used internet connected computers, and these usernames and passwords, to access the FAMU computers. The made over 650 unauthorized grade changes at least 90 students. They also made residency changes, thereby depriving FAMU of $137,000 in out of state tuition.

The Court of Appeals affirmed Barrington's conviction and 84 month sentence.

This case is USA v. Marcus Barrington, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, App. Ct. No. 09-15295, an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, D.C. No. 08-00050-CR-4-SPM-WCS. Judge James Whittemore (USDC/MDFl, sitting by designation) wrote the opinion of the Court of Appeals, in which Judges Hull and Marcus joined.

8/10. Jonathan Oliveras pled guilty in the U.S. District Court (EDVa) to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The Department of Justice (DOJ) stated in a release the "Oliveras admitted to managing a scheme to purchase stolen credit card account information through the Internet from individuals believed to be in Russia. Oliveras also admitted to distributing the purchased information to individuals in the New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., metropolitan areas so that it could be used to make fraudulent purchases." In addition, "Oliveras admitted to illegally possessing information from 2,341 stolen credit card accounts as well as equipment to put that information onto counterfeit credit cards."

8/3. On August 3, 2011, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a release, Attorney General Eric Holder speech, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a release, that update progress in prosecuting users of an child pornography internet bulletin board. The DOJ and DHS call this "Operation Delego". The DOJ release state that this operation is targeting "a private, members-only, online bulletin board that was created and operated to promote pedophilia and encourage the sexual abuse of very young children, in an environment designed to avoid law enforcement detection". The release adds that "Members communicated using aliases or ``screen names,´´ rather than their actual names. Links to child pornography posted on Dreamboard were required to be encrypted with a password that was shared only with other members. Members accessed the board via proxy servers, which routed Internet traffic through other computers so as to disguise a user’s actual location and prevent law enforcement from tracing Internet activity." Indictments have charged 72 persons, 20 only by online aliases. The 52 named defendants have been arrested. 13 have been arrested abroad. 13 have pled guilty. 4 have been sentenced.

The House will meet in pro forma session at 10:00 AM. It is in recess until 2:00 PM on September 7. However, it will hold pro forma sessions twice per week until then.

The Senate will meet in pro forma session at 12:00 NOON. It is in recess until 2:00 PM on September 6. However, it will hold pro forma sessions twice per week until then.

10:30 AM - 3:30 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Emergency Access Advisory Committee (EAAC). See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 153, Tuesday, August 9, 2011, at Pages 48861-48862. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th St., SW.

1:00 - 4:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers Committee will host an event titled "Summer Rooftop BBQ and Pool Party". The price to attend is $15. For more information, contact Justin Faulb at faulb at lojlaw dot com or Brendan Carr at BCarr at wileyrein dot com.

11:00 AM - 12:30 PM. The Heritage Foundation (HF) will host a panel discussion titled "National EMP Recognition Day: The Threat That Can't Be Ingnored". The speakers will be Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), Peter Pry (EMPact America), Frank Gafney (Center for Security Studies), Drew Miller, and James Carafano (HF). This event is free and open to the public. See, notice. Location: HF, 214 Massachusetts Ave., NE.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the report submitted to the FCC on June 30, 2011, by the technical working group co-chaired by LightSquared and the U.S. Global Positioning System Industry Council (USGIC). See, FCC International Bureau's (IB) order dated June 30, 2011. It is DA 11-1133 in DA 11-1133. See also report, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, and part 7.

EXTENDED FROM AUGUST 8. Extended deadline to submit comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in response to its notice in the Federal Register regarding the proposed self-regulatory guidelines submitted to the FTC by Aristotle International, Inc. under the safe harbor provision of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule. See, Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 123, Monday, June 27, 2011, at Pages 37290-37291. See, notice of extension.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft NIST IR-7275 Rev. 4 [77 pages in PDF] titled "Specification for the Extensible Configuration Checklist Description Format (XCCDF) Version 1.2".

The House will meet in pro forma session at 11:30 AM.

The Senate will meet in pro forma session at 11:00 AM.

12:30 - 1:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast panel discussion titled "Tax Aspects of Technology Transactions". The speakers will be Roger Royse (Royse Law Firm) and Kenneth Appleby (Foley & Lardner). Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice.

TIME? The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast panel discussion titled "LinkedIn for Lawyers".

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [36 pages in PDF] regarding removing the International Settlements Policy (ISP) from all U.S. international routes except Cuba. The FCC adopted this NPRM on May 12, 2011, and released the text on May 13, 2011. This item is FCC 11-75 in IB Docket No. 11-80. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 138, Tuesday, July 19, 2011, at Pages 42625-42631.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [82 pages in PDF] regarding reporting requirements for providers of international telecommunications services. The FCC adopted this NPRM on May 12, 2011, and released the text on May 13, 2011. This item is FCC 11-76 in IB Docket No. 04-112. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 138, Tuesday, July 19, 2011, at Pages 42613-42625.

The House will meet in pro forma session at 1:00 PM.

The Senate will meet in pro forma session at 10:00 AM.

1:00 - 2:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast panel discussion titled "Ownership of Digital Media and Electronic Privacy". The speakers will be Ben Kleinman (Manatt Phelps), Sharra Brockman (Verv), Eric Crusius (Centre Law Group), and Paul Roberts (Hogan Lovells). Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice.

8/11. The U.S. Court of Appeals (1stCir) issued its opinion in Contour Design v. Chance Mold Steel Company, a trade secrets case involving computer mice. The Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court's grant of Contour Design motion for a preliminary injunction. This case is Contour Design Inc. v. Chance Mold Steel Company Ltd. and EKTouch Company Ltd., U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, App. Ct. No. 10-2415, an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire, Judge Joseph Laplante presiding. Judge Boudin wrote the opinion of the Court of Appeals, in which Judges Lynch and Howard joined.

8/10. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) that lists grants of requests for early termination of the waiting period under the Hart Scott Rodino (HSR) Act and premerger notification rules for the month of July, 2011. See, FR, Vol. 76, No. 154, Wednesday, August 10, 2011, at Pages 49481-49483.

8/4. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filed its brief [92 pages in PDF] with the U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) in ICO Global Communications, et al. v. FCC and USA, App. Ct. No. 10-1322. This is a petition for review of the FCC's 2010 BAS order [42 pages in PDF], in which the FCC completed its reorganization of the 2 GHz band. The FCC adopted and released this order on September 29, 2010. It is FCC 10-179 in WT Docket No. 02-55. Oral argument is scheduled for October 14, 2011.

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