Wednesday, October 25, 2006 ILR Home Page

Weekly Alert
October 25, 2006
Hear from Key Players in the Web Accessibility Debate
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  • Intellectual Property
  • Internet Commerce
  • Telecommunications
  • Privacy & Security
  • Taxation
  • Jurisdiction & Procedure
  • Criminal Liability
    Latest Cases
    Latest Pleadings, Motions, & Briefs
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  • Hear from Key Players in the Web Accessibility Debate
    Accessibility in Cyberspace: The ADA's Applicability Online
    November 3, 2006
    2:00-3:30 pm EST


    A federal district court judge recently ruled that mega-retailer Target can be sued if its website is inaccessible to the blind. While this is not the first high-profile case interpreting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the online context, it has the potential to affect websites nationwide.

    Join Pike & Fischer and our panel of legal and IT experts for an insightful audio conference to help you navigate issues arising from this controversial ruling.

    Learn More

    Register an unlimited number of participants from a single call-in location.

    Latest News
    INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
    Potential Fair Uses of Mod Chips Not Enough to Defeat Trafficking Claim
    Downstream customers' lawful use of "mod chips" that circumvent a video game's authentication scheme does not relieve the distributor from liability for "trafficking" in circumvention devices, according to a Sept. 11 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Where, as here, the device is primarily designed to circumvent a video game console's anti-piracy technology, other uses of the device for non-infringing purposes have no bearing on the defendant-distributor's liability for trafficking in circumvention devices in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the court held. Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. v. Divineo, Inc., 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2681. Read more...
    Other Intellectual Property news:
  • Register of Copyrights Rules Mobile Phone Ringtones May Fall Under Statutory License
  • IBM Sues Amazon.com for Infringing Patents on Interactive Networks, Item Ordering
  • Google, MSN Seek Exit Strategy in Dispute with Belgian Publishers
  • IBM Rebuffs SCO's Claims of Interference; Cited Firms Flatly Deny Improper Influence
  • Novell Presses Court for Constructive Trust Against SCO to Recover Unpaid Royalties Due
  • French Copyright Groups to Collect Royalties from Web Radio Operators
  • International Recording Federation Hails Expansion of Crackdown Against File-Sharers
  • First File-Sharing Actions Filed in South America
  • Microsoft Will Digitize Pre-1923 Books for Online Checkout at Cornell University
  • Search ILR's Intellectual Property database

    INTERNET COMMERCE
    Domain Suspension an Improper Means to Enforce Default Against Blacklist Operator
    Suspension of an e-mail blacklist operator's domain name is too onerous as a remedy for noncompliance with a default judgment, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois held Oct. 19. Deeming the requested relief "too broad to be warranted," Judge Charles P. Kocoras turned back e-mail marketer e360 Insight's motion to suspend the domain name belonging to the Spamhaus Project Ltd. as a sanction for noncompliance with a default judgment entered against Spamhaus last month. e360 Insight, LLC v. The Spamhaus Project, 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2825. Read more...
    Other Internet Commerce news:
  • Legal Fees Do Not Count as CFAA 'Damages'
  • Governors Announce State Alliance to Collaborate on Health IT Initiatives
  • Hewlett-Packard May Acquire Mercury; EU Can Find No Anti-Competitive Concern
  • Employer-Employee Relationship Alone Failed to Show Employer 'Intended' CFAA Violation
  • Search ILR's Internet Commerce database

    TELECOMMUNICATIONS
    Advocates Push Net Neutrality as Condition of AT&T/BellSouth Merger
    The public had until Oct. 24 to file comments with the Federal Communications Commission about the conditions that AT&T is proposing to complete its announced $80 billion merger with BellSouth, an opportunity many public interest groups used to push for net neutrality. Consumer and public interest advocates demanded that Internet nondiscrimination requirements be made part of the merger, an idea immediately shot down by AT&T. Instead, the company proposed to abide by the FCC's four broadband policy principles that were adopted by the agency in August 2005. Read more...
    Other Telecommunications news:
  • Groups Decry Media Consolidation as Broadcasters Seek to Ease Limits
  • AT&T Defends Proposed Merger Conditions as Tilted Toward Consumers, Not Competitors
  • FCC Should Tighten, Not Loosen Media Ownership Rules, Academics Say
  • Search ILR's Telecommunications database

    PRIVACY & SECURITY
    Microsoft Software Developer Guidelines Designed to Improve Privacy Protection
    Microsoft Corp. Oct. 19 released guidelines designed to promote and standardize a threshold level of privacy protections for software users. The guidelines suggest ways in which software developers should design user interfaces for notice and consent for information collection, provide user access to personal information collected by software applications, minimize the information collected and retained by software applications, and provide adequate security for collected information. Read more...
    Other Privacy & Security news:
  • SANs Updates Top 20 Internet Security Vulnerabilities
  • Canada's Top Privacy Official Mulls Setting Data Breach Notification Standards
  • Ontario Privacy Commissioner Expands Microsoft Internet 'Identity Layer' Plan
  • Search ILR's Privacy & Security database

    TAXATION
    JEC Studying Intellectual Property, Tax Issues Inside Virtual Economies
    The Joint Economic Committee has begun an examination into the buying and selling of virtual currencies in online gaming sites, such as Second Life and World of Warcraft, to determine whether the federal government should tax digital transactions and assets. According to an aide to the panel, the sites' growing popularity in recent years has resulted in uncertainty regarding taxes and intellectual property rights because the technology has outpaced the law. Read more...
    Search ILR's Taxation database

    JURISDICTION & PROCEDURE
    Google Advertisers Bound by Forum Selection Clause Despite Adhesion Contract Context
    The forum selection clause in Google's AdWords online contract, which calls for all claims to be litigated in northern California, is enforceable against a New York attorney who admitted assenting to the contract, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held Oct. 11. The court added that, even if the contract were analyzed as an adhesion contract, the designated forum was a fair and reasonable choice. Person v. Google, Inc., 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2813. Read more...
    Search ILR's Jurisdiction & Procedure database

    CRIMINAL LIABILITY
    Ex-Worker Gets Six Months for Trade Secret Theft
    A man who pleaded guilty to stealing a former employer's company secrets via computer was sentenced Oct. 13 to six months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine. Benjamin MuZoz III pleaded guilty Aug. 4 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California to one count of theft of trade secrets, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitch Dembin. United States v. MuZoz (Sentencing), No. 06-CR-832ALL. Read more...
    Search ILR's Criminal Liability database

    Latest Cases
  • Butera & Andrews v. International Business Machines Corp., 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2831 [D DC] (Employer-employee relationship alone failed to show employer 'intended' CFAA violation)
  • Buying for the Home, LLC v. Humble Abode, LLC, 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2827 [D NJ] (Purchasing competitor's mark as keyword for search engine advertising constitutes Lanham Act "use")
  • e360 Insight v. The Spamhaus Project, 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2825 [ND Ill] (Suspension of spam filtering company's domain name not an appropriate remedy for contempt)
  • Iconix, Inc. v. Tokuda, 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2679 [ND Cal] (Preliminary injunction precluding former employees from marketing a customizable slideshow feature developed while still employed by plaintiff)
  • Mechanical and Digital Phonorecord Delivery Rate Adjustment Proceeding, In re (Memorandum Opinion), 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2821 [Copyright Office] (Ringtones qualify as digital phonorecord deliveries subject to statutory licensing under 17 USC §115)
  • Mitchell v. Potter, 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2677 [WD Ark] (Inability to find agency's mailing address on web site warrants reopening of case)
  • Nationwide Bi-Weekly Administration, Inc. v. Belo Corp., 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2823 [ND Tex] (Single publication rule applies to Internet publications)
  • Person v. Google, Inc., 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2813 [SD NY] (Google advertisers bound by forum selection clause despite adhesion contract context)
  • Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. v. Divineo, Inc., 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2681 [ND Cal] (Potential fair uses of mod chips not enough to defeat trafficking claim)
  • Tendler v. Doe (Order Re: Special Motion to Strike), 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2829 [Cal Super Ct] (Rabbi who voluntarily dismissed action to unmask bloggers must pay bloggers' attorney fees and costs)
  • United States v. Arnold, 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2833 [CD Cal] (Fourth Amendment protections apply to a border search of private and personal information stored on a traveler's computer hard drive or electronic storage devices)
  • United States v. Flanders, 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2835 [5th Cir] (Executing officers' reliance on validity of warrant to search home computer was objectively reasonable and in good faith)
  • United States v. Fuchs, 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2837 [5th Cir] (Convictions affirmed against individuals who operated Internet-based pharmacies that dispensed controlled substances to customers without valid prescriptions)
  • Waters v. Earthlink, Inc., 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2073 [Mass Super Ct] (Web site operator cannot maintain breach of contract action against company that acquired web host because successor corporation was not bound by prior agreement)
  • Wilson v. Moreau, 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2441 [D RI] (Municipal employees had no reasonable expectation of privacy in workplace computers, did have reasonable expectation of privacy in password-protected e-mail account; legal fees do not count as CFAA "damages")
  • Search ILR's Cases database

    Latest Pleadings, Motions, & Briefs
  • International Business Machines Corp. v. Amazon.com., Inc. (Complaint re: '542 and '891 Patents), 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2808 [ED Tex] (IBM sues Amazon.com for infringing patents on ordering items using an electronic catalogue and adjusting hypertext links)
  • International Business Machines Corp. v. Amazon.com, Inc. (Complaint re: '771, '967, and '849 Patents), 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2810 [ED Tex] (IBM sues Amazon.com for infringing patents on storing data, presenting applications, and presenting advertising in an interactive service)
  • SCO Group, Inc. v. International Business Machines Corp. (IBM's Amended Redacted Memorandum for Summary Judgment on SCO's Interference Claims), 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2806 [D Utah] (IBM rebuffs SCO's claims of interference; cited firms flatly deny improper influence)
  • SCO Group, Inc. v. Novell, Inc. (Memorandum in Support of Novell, Inc.'s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment or Preliminary Injunction), 2006 ILRWeb (P&F) 2628 [D Utah] (Novell presses court for constructive trust against SCO to recover unpaid royalties due)
  • Search ILR's Pleadings database

    Submissions Welcome
    Have you got a case or a pleading you'd like to see highlighted? Are you interested in submitting an article for inclusion in ILR's "Analysis & Perspective" section? Please send submissions to Mark Smith, Managing Editor, Pike & Fischer Internet Law & Regulation, 1010 Wayne Ave., Suite 1400, Silver Spring, MD 20910-5600; tel. 800-255-8131 x265, fax 301-562-1521, or e-mail msmith@pf.com.

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