Latest News 
 
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
 
Infringement Judgment Against Vonage Affirmed, but $58 Million Award Vacated 
 
In a splintered ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Sept. 26 largely affirmed patent infringement judgments and injunctive relief against Vonage Holdings Corp. for infringing several Verizon Services Corp. patents on voice-over-Internet-protocol, or VoIP technology, but it vacated the controversial $58 million damages award and sent the case back to the lower court for a new trial.  The appellate court’s much-anticipated ruling comes on the heels of a Sept. 25 jury verdict against Vonage awarding $69.5 million in damages in a similar patent infringement dispute with Sprint Communications Co.  Verizon Services Corp. v. Vonage Holdings Corp., 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2653.  Read more …

Other Intellectual Property news: 
 
•  Vonage Found to Have Violated Sprint Patents
•  Trademark Owners Among Those Granted Priority in Registering for .asia Top Domain
•  Republican High-Tech Task Force Agenda Focused on IPR Enforcement, Data Security
•  Lanham Act Creates No Cause of Action for 'Disparagement' of a Trademark, Court Says
 
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INTERNET COMMERCE 
 
Web-Referenced Terms Held Not Binding When Presented Inconspicuously on Invoice 
 
A statement on a telephone service invoice with a web link to terms and conditions was insufficient to make those terms—which included an arbitration clause—binding on customers, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan held Sept. 18.  The court said that a link on an invoice sent after a customer had already begun receiving phone service did not constitute a contract modification. The link was merely informational, the court said, and the terms on the web site were not binding absent evidence that the customers had agreed to them.  Manasher v. NECC Telecom, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2671.  Read more …
 
Other Internet Commerce news: 
 
•  Internet:  Law at a Lightning Pace, newly updated by Raymond T. Nimmer, Leonard Childs Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center
•  Rules Implementing Internet Gambling Curb Put Out for Comment by Federal Regulators
•  EC Confirms Google-DoubleClick Probe, Welcomes Comments on Proposed Merger
•  U.S. Says Antigua Entitled to $500,000 Compensation in WTO Gambling Dispute
•  Google Plan to Acquire DoubleClick Slammed by Witnesses at Senate Hearing
•  U.S., Japan Reach WTO Settlement on Internet Gambling Compensation Claim
•  Arbitration Agreement Held Binding When Hyperlinked from Web Site, Included in Box
•  Legislation Legalizing Internet Gambling ‘Difficult to Defend’ at WTO, Eizenstat Says
•  Senate Judiciary Backs Tough Legislation to Curb Online Pharmacy Illicit Drug Sales
•  OECD, Canada Host Forum on ‘Participative Web’
•  Media Motor Spyware Operators Will Pay $330,000 to Settle FTC Complaint Allegations
 
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FREEDOM OF SPEECH
 
Internet Aspects of Child Safety Statute Deemed Overbroad, Not Narrowly Tailored 
 
Portions of an Ohio statute prohibiting the Internet exchange of explicit material—an attempt to eliminate online pedophilia—are constitutionally overbroad and fail First Amendment strict scrutiny analysis, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio held Sept. 24.  The statute, Ohio Rev. Code §2907, prevents knowing dissemination to juveniles of any material that is “harmful to juveniles.”  American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression v. Strickland, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2645.  Read more …
 
Other Freedom of Speech news: 
 
•  Senate Committee Approves Measure Calling for Report of Online Safety Efforts
 
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TELECOMMUNICATIONS 
 
Senate Small Business Committee Airs Calls for New Policy Direction for Broadband 
 
Critics of the state of broadband Internet access in the United States had their say Sept. 26 during a hearing convened by Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.  Two Federal Communications Commission members complained that the federal policy favoring deregulation of the telecom industry has resulted in a lack of meaningful competition in most parts of the country, resulting in high prices and service below worldwide standards.  Read more …
 
Other Telecommunications news: 
 
•  Tate Says Universal Service Joint Board Working Hard to Make Recommendations by Nov. 1
•  Incumbents, Competitors Clash at Hearing on Special Access Rules
•  House Democrats Ask Phone Companies for Details on Alleged Data-Sharing Activities
 
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PRIVACY & SECURITY 
 
Canadian Federal Court Rejects eBay Application to Withdraw Previous Disclosure Order 
 
The Federal Court of Canada Sept. 18 rejected an application by eBay Canada Ltd. and eBay CS Vancouver, Inc. to withdraw a November 2006 order directing them to provide Canada’s federal taxation agency with detailed information regarding the online auction site’s most prolific sellers.  Justice Roger Hughes rejected eBay’s assertion that it should not be required to provide the Canada Revenue Agency with information, including names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses, on Canadian participants in eBay’s PowerSellers program during 2004 and 2005 on the basis that the company’s Canadian subsidiaries did not “own” that information.  eBay Canada Ltd. v. Minister of National Revenue, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2655.  Read more …
 
Other Privacy & Security news: 
 
•  Comments Sought on ICANN’s Whois Policy; Summary of Report Released
•  ABN Amro Mortgage Information Breached Through Employee P2P Network Software
•  British Columbia Privacy Agency Rules Against University’s Spyware Monitoring
•  Hustinx, U.K., Spanish Privacy Officials, Discuss Safe Harbor, Fines, Adequacy
 
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TAXATION
 
Markup of Internet Tax Bill Canceled as Votes Lean Toward Permanent Moratorium 
 
Efforts to extend the current moratorium on Internet access taxes for another four years stumbled Sept. 27 as the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee decided to pull its bill from markup rather than face the likelihood that members would approve a Republican-backed permanent moratorium.  Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), a member of the panel, told reporters “the votes weren’t there” for the Internet Tax Freedom Act Extension of 2007 (S. 1453).  Read more …

Other Taxation news: 
 
•  Administration Officials, Governors Urge Congress to Pass Internet Tax Moratorium
•  SSUTA Task Force Hears Proposal in Bid to Break Sourcing Deadlock
 
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CRIMINAL LIABILITY 
 
Online Games, Virtual Worlds Likely Targets for Increased Cybercrime, Symantec Reports 
 
Cybercriminals, already using so-called “underground economy” servers to sell credit cards and identities, increasingly will turn to online gaming virtual worlds to infect computers with malicious codes and to potentially engage in money laundering, security vendor Symantec Corp. said in its latest Internet Security Threat Report released Sept. 17.  Over the next six to 24 months, Symantec analysts said, emerging concerns include persistent virtual worlds (PVWs), simulated online environments such as Second Life, and massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) that allow thousands to play online simultaneously, such as World of Warcraft.  Read more …
 
Other Criminal Liability news: 
 
•  Hacker Who Attacked Web Sites Using Botnets Indicted on Four Felony Counts
 
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Latest Cases 
 
•  American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression v. Strickland, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2645 [SD Ohio] (Ohio statute that prohibits Internet dissemination of material “harmful to juveniles” is overbroad, violates strict scrutiny)
•  Castlemaine Perkins Pty Ltd. v. Colombani, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2665 [WIPO] (Complainant, an Australian company that has held rights in the XXXX mark for beer and ale since 1894, fails to establish that a pornographer’s registration and use of xxxx.mobi was in bad faith)
•  Complainant v. University of British Columbia, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2659 [BC Priv Comm’r] (British Columbia privacy agency rules against university’s spyware monitoring)
•  eBay Canada Ltd. v. Minister of National Revenue, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2655 [Fed Ct Can] (eBay Canada must release identities of eBay “PowerSellers” to Canadian tax authorities)
•  Federal Trade Commission v. ERG Ventures, LLC (Stipulated Final Order), 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2667 [D Nev] (Media Motor spyware operators will pay $330,000 to settle FTC complaint allegations)
•  Fiser v. Dell Computer Corp., 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 1705 [NM Ct App] (Arbitration agreement held binding when hyperlinked from web site, included in box)
•  Freecycle Network, Inc. v. Oey, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2661 [9th Cir] (District court erred in preliminarily enjoining defendant from posting web comments encouraging others to use plaintiff’s unregistered mark in a generic sense)
•  Gregerson v. Vilana Financial, Inc., 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2521 [D Minn] (No likelihood of confusion stemming from initial interest confusion where parties are not competitors; use of mark in a domain path, not in domain name proper, cannot constitute an ACPA violation)
•  Jayne v. Google Internet Search Engine Founders (Dismissal Order), 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2669 [MD Pa] (Court dismisses sua sponte complaint alleging that plaintiff's social security number when "turned upside down" is a scrambled code that spells the name Google)
•  Lahoti v. Vericheck, Inc., 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2519 [WD Wash] (In ACPA dispute, court reserves for trial the question of whether defendant held a distinct mark at the time of plaintiff’s registration of domain name, but concludes that no triable issue exists on the question of bad faith)
•  Manasher v. NECC Telecom, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2671 [ED Mich] (Web-referenced terms held not binding when presented inconspicuously on invoice)
•  Mayfield v. United States, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2657 [D Ore] (Two provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as amended by the Patriot Act, are unconstitutional because they violate the Fourth Amendment)
•  Murawski v. Pataki, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2663 [SD NY] (CDA immunizes search engine from liability based on search results)
•  Sprint Communications Co. v. Vonage Holdings Corp., 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2647 [D Kan] (Court opinion regarding claim construction and rejecting Vonage’s arguments concerning limitations on the doctrine of equivalents)
•  Sprint Communications Co. v. Vonage Holdings Corp. (Jury Verdict), 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2649 [D Kan] (Federal jury finds that Vonage infringed six patents owned by Sprint Nextel and orders Vonage to pay $69.5 million in damages, plus royalties)
•  Verizon Services Corp. v. Vonage Holdings Corp., 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2653 [Fed Cir] (Infringement judgment against Vonage affirmed, but $58 million award vacated)
 
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Latest Pleadings, Motions, & Briefs 
 
•  Chang v. Virgin Mobile USA, LLC (Plaintiffs’ Original Petition), 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2614 [Tex Dist Ct] (Complaint alleges unauthorized use of image found on Yahoo’s photo-sharing site, Flickr)
•  Gogo Tribe of Tanzania v. Google Corp. (Complaint), 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2618 [SD Tex] (Plaintiff alleges that Google and Yahoo misappropriated the names of the Gogo and Yao tribes of Tanzania)
•  Jayne v. Google Internet Search Engine Founders (Complaint), 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2616 [MD Pa] (Alleging that his Social Security number, turned upside-down, spells “Google,” plaintiff claims that Google has violated his right to privacy)
 
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Latest Research from Pike & Fischer

Video-on-Demand Usage: Projections & Implications - New
Service providers are now eager to develop new business models for on-demand services. Comcast, for example, has had talks with some Hollywood studios about the possibility of delivering movies on demand on the same day they are released in theaters. Some executives project that multichannel video will eventually become all on-demand. This Market Intelligence Brief provides some current statistics on VOD usage, outlines the VOD strategies of the top multichannel video providers, and projects the growth of video-on-demand consumption over the next five years – and what that will mean in terms of revenue opportunities.  We conclude that VOD will represent substantially less than half of all TV viewing per household on a monthly basis by 2012.

High-speed Internet Packaging & Pricing Strategies:  4th Edition - Coming Soon
This report provides a detailed and up-to-date analysis of the high-speed Internet pricing, bundling and marketing strategies of the top providers, including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Cablevision, Charter, Insight, Mediacom, Qwest, AT&T, and Verizon.  The report ranks each provider by maximum speeds provided and by price points, and includes 18 tables of data and analysis.  It will also examine the impact that the emergence of telco fiber-optic services, mainly Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse, are having on cable offerings and strategies. 

Market Intelligence Brief: Location-based Services for the Mobile Market
The integration of GPS navigation services with social networking applications, rich media, and user-generated content will create a host of easily monetized location-based services (LBS). But the top five U.S. wireless carriers have yet to implement a comprehensive and value-added LBS strategy. Nevertheless, our forecasts suggest that by 1Q 08, the market will witness the widespread use of applications that allow users to locate points of interest based upon customized profiles, as well as track and interact with other like-minded users. This market brief will analyze the current LBS strategies of the top five US mobile carriers, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint-Nextel, T-Mobile, and Alltel; as well as emerging LBS technologies, Mobile Web 2.0 integration, and industry standards. Lastly, this brief will examine prospective LBS service models and provide relevant competitive, revenue, and market analysis.

View all Market Research Reports & Briefs

Events & Conferences 
 
Net Neutrality: Still on the Front Burner - Summit Audio Recording Now Available
It's not too late to catch the debate that took center stage at Pike & Fischer's Broadband Policy Summit.  Purchase this 75-minute audio recording and listen in as our panel of experts engage in a lively debate of the pros and cons of net neutrality and whether or not legislation is likely to pass in the 110th Congress.   You'll hear the very latest insights and opinions from top organizations in the thick of the net neutrality debate -- including Jim Cicconi of AT&T; Gigi Sohn, President of Public Knowledge; Mike McCurry, Partner, Public Strategies and Paul E. Misener of Amazon.com.  
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