| New Documents |
DOJ:
comments
filed with the FCC re SBC's § 271 applications for Oklahoma and
Kansas, 11/4 (HTML, DOJ).
Moore:
annual
report of WTO DG Mike Moore, 11/7 (MSWord, WTO).
EPO:
decision
re electronic filing of patents, 11/7 (HTML, EPO).
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| New and Updated Sections |
Calendar
(updated daily).
News
from Around the Web (updated daily).
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| Quote of the Day |
"A lot of this treaty is being looked at in the United States
against the backdrop of what many of us see as ongoing government
efforts to control the design of this new technology, to control it
in order to expand government surveillance powers."
James Dempsey, Senior Staff Counsel, Center for Democracy and
Technology, on the Council of Europe's draft cyber crime treaty,
Dec. 7. |
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| News Briefs |
12/7. Napster hired Manus
Cooney to be its VP for Corporate and Policy Development. He is
currently Chief Counsel and Staff Director to the Senate Judiciary Committee,
which is chaired by Sen.
Orrin Hatch (R-UT). Napster stated that he will be "charged
with setting the company's strategic course on legislative policy
issues that effect the company, its users, and artists; he will
represent Napster before Congress and the Administration, and will
advise the company on licensing, strategic alliances, and
partnerships both domestically and abroad." See, Napster
release.
12/7. A group of music publishers and songwriters filed a complaint
in U.S. District Court (SDNY) against
Universal Music Group alleging copyright infringement in
connection with UMG's streaming of plaintiffs' music recordings from
its farmclub.com web site.
12/7. The U.S. District Court (NDCal)
dismissed some of Marketel's
claims against Priceline, an
online travel services company. On Jan. 19, 1999, Marketel filed a
complaint against Priceline, which it has since twice amended.
Marketel alleged misappropriation of trade secrets, misappropriation
of business model, conversion, false advertising, and entitlement to
a correction of inventorship of Priceline's U.S. Patent 5,794,207.
Marketel claims that it previously operated a fax and telephone
based reverse auction for travel services. Priceline is also
involved in other IP related legal proceedings concerning online
auctions. It has filed complaints against Microsoft alleging
infringement of this same patent, and its U.S. Patent 6,085,169, in
connection with Microsoft Expedia's "Hotel Price Matcher"
and "Flight Price Matcher" services. In addition,
Priceline states that on Jan. 6, 1999, it "received notice that
a third party patent applicant and patent attorney, Thomas G.
Woolston, purportedly had filed in December 1998 with the United
States Patent and Trademark Office a request to declare an
interference between a patent application filed by Woolston and the
Company's U.S. Patent 5,794,207." See, Priceline's Form
10-Q filed with the SEC on Nov. 14.
12/7. WTO Director General Mike
Moore released his annual
report [518 KB in MS Word].
12/7. The WIPO began its
Diplomatic Conference on the Protection of Audiovisual Performances,
which is taking place in Geneva, Switzerland, from Dec. 7 to 20.
See, release.
12/7. Ingo Kober, the President of the European Patent Office,
issued a decision
on the electronic filing of European patent applications and
subsequent documents.
12/7. David Kornblau was named Chief Litigation Counsel of
the SEC's Division of
Enforcement. He succeeds Christian Mixter,
who left the SEC in Sept. to join the law firm of Morgan Bokius & Lewis.
See, SEC
release.
12/7. The Dept. of Justice (DOJ)
published in its web site a copy of its Dec. 4 comments
to the FCC regarding SBC's Section
271 application to provide long distance service in Oklahoma and
Kansas. (FCC CC Docket No. 00-217.)
12/6. The Financial
Accounting Standards Board (FASB) reached a tentative decision
at its Dec. 6 meeting to modify certain provisions of its September
1999 proposed statement titled Business Combinations and
Intangible Assets. At issue is treatment of goodwill in mergers
of high tech companies. The FASB had previously proposed eliminating
the use of pooling as a proper method of accounting for business
combinations, instead requiring the use of the purchase method. This
approach was opposed by high tech companies that own little tangible
property. The Congress held hearings, and pressured the FASB to
allow the pooling method. See for example, transcript
from the House Finance Subcommittee's hearing of May 4, 2000. The
FASB has published a release,
but not a copy of the revised statement, in its web site.
Editor's Note: This column includes all News Briefs added to
Tech Law Journal since the last Daily E-Mail Alert. The dates
indicate when the event occurred, not the date of posting to Tech
Law Journal. |
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