| 107th Congress |
| 1/10. Sen.
Barbara Boxer (D-CA) announced her opposition to the
nomination of former Sen. John Ashcroft to be Attorney
General. In a letter
to President Elect Bush, she wrote that "the people of
this country will not be protected and served as they exercise
their civil rights, human rights, consumer rights, their right
to choose, their right to be free of gun violence and their
right to a clean environment." See also, Boxer
release. Ashcroft, who lost his bid for re-election last
November, was one of the leading proponents in the Senate of
encryption rights, liberalization of encryption export rules,
and electronic privacy. See for example, S 2067
(105th Congress), the E-Privacy Act, which Ashcroft
introduced on May 12, 1998. Sen. Boxer co-sponsored the bill. |
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| Piracy |
| 1/10. The USTR published
a Notice
in the Federal Register regarding software and music piracy
in Russia and Brazil. It will conduct a hearing on March 9
on the two countries' eligibility for duty free status under
the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). Pursuant to The Trade
Act of 1974, the GSP program grants duty-free
treatment to designated eligible articles that are imported
from designated beneficiary developing countries, including
the Russian Federation and Brazil. The IIPA
filed petitions on Aug. 21, 2000, that the duty free status of
these, and other, countries be withdrawn. See, for example, petition
re Russia [PDF] and petition
re Brazil [PDF]. The IIPA stated in a release that
"Pirate CDs and CD-ROMs containing recordings, music,
entertainment software, business software and literary
publications are being copied locally or imported and
distributed with virtual impunity." The deadline for
submitting comments is Feb. 23, 2001. The USTR declined to
review the piracy practices of other nations, including
Uruguay. The RIAA
also applauded the USTR's move in a release.
See, Federal Register, Jan. 10, 2001, Vol. 66, No. 7, at Pages
2034 - 2035. |
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| New Documents |
Boxer:
Letter
to Bush announcing opposition to Ashcroft nomination, 1/10
(HTML, Boxer).
USTR: Notice
re GSP proceeding on piracy in Russia and Brazil, 1/10 (TXT,
FedReg).
GJ.
Indictment
of Los Alamos Nuc. Labs. for hacking, 12/12/00 (PDF, USA). |
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| Quote of the Day |
"The Administration has concluded that there are no
meaningful or effective control measures for computer hardware
that address the technological and marketplace challenges ...
the Administration would prefer to remove most controls on
computer hardware exports ..."
Anonymous, from a Clinton
White House Release on computer export controls, Jan. 10. |
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| News Briefs |
1/10. The Clinton White House press office released a statement
that the administration will revise U.S. export controls on
high performance computers, and that it will recommend to
the incoming Bush administration that it remove most controls
on computer hardware exports. According to the statement, an
administration "review found that the ability to control
the acquisition of computational capabilities by controlling
computer hardware is becoming ineffective and will be
increasingly so within a very short time." The announced
changes include switching from a 4 tier to a 3 tier system of
categorizing countries. Tiers 1 and 2 (most of the Americas,
Europe, Japan, S. Korea, and Australia) will be combined. Tier
3 (India, Pakistan, Middle East, former Soviet Union, PRC, and
Viet Nam) and Tier 4 (rogue states) will remain the same. The
announcement also states that licenses will be required for
exports surpassing 85,000 MTOPS
to Tier 3 countries. These changes will not take effect until,
and unless, the Department of
Commerce promulgates implementing regulations. See also, State
Dept. release (copy of White House release).
1/10. Intel and ATI
settled their pending patent infringement litigation.
The companies also entered into a cross-license agreement
which grants each company rights to certain patents owned by
the other. ATI makes graphics, video and multimedia products
for PCs, Macs, set-top boxes, e-appliances and game consoles.
See, Intel
release and substantially identical ATI
release.
1/10. The Federal
Communications Bar Association's Legislation Committee
hosted a luncheon at which staff assistants of members of the Senate Commerce
Committee addressed the legislative agenda for the 107th
Congress.
1/10. The USITC
instituted a Section
337 investigation of the importation into the U.S. of
certain semiconductor light emitting devices. On Dec. 15,
2000, Rohm
filed a complaint with the USITC alleging that Nichia Corp.,
Japan and Nichia America Corp. have imported devices which
infringe its U.S. Patents 6,084,899 and 6,115,399. The
complaint was filed by Robert
Gaybrick of the law office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.
See, Inv. No. 337-TA-444.
1/10. The FTC announced that it
will host (with the Electronic
Retailing Association) a one day seminar for Internet
retailers, marketers and suppliers on applying offline rules
and regulations online. The seminar will be held on Tuesday,
Jan. 30, 2001, at the Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner, Virginia.
To register, contact the ERA at 800-987-6462 or 703-841-1751.
See also, ERA
registration page.
1/10. The USPTO released
its list of the top ten patenting organizations of
2000. IBM tops the list with 2,886 patents. The entire list is
as follows: IBM, NEC, Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Samsung
Electronics, Lucent Technologies, Sony, Micron Technology,
Toshiba, Motorola, and Fujitsu. See also, IBM release.
1/10. The USPTO published
a three page summary
[PDF] of items to be tested on the registration examination
scheduled for April 18, 2001.
1/10. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (FedCir) heard oral argument in Intellectual
Property Development v. TCI Cablevision of California.
This is an appeal from a final judgment of the U.S. District
Court (CDCal)
in a patent infringement case. The patent in suit
relates to hybrid coax fiber architecture. The trial court
dismissed on the grounds that the appellant lacked standing to
sue. Both sides appealed. (The basis upon which the suit is
dismissed bears upon the application of six years damages
window provided by 35 U.S.C. 286). |
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| This Just In |
| 1/10. Xinhua, the state news service of the PRC, announced
that "Beijing will set up its 'E-Government' by the end
of the year 2005". See, release.
However, Xinhua announced that people will "soon" be
able to access their kitchen ovens over the Internet. See, release. |
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| Editor's Note: This column includes all News Briefs
added to Tech Law Journal since the last Daily E-Mail Alert.
The date indicates when the event occurred, not the date of
posting to Tech Law Journal. |
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| Computer Crimes |
1/10. The U.S. Attorney (NDCal)
unsealed an indictment
[PDF] of Jerome Heckenkamp, which was returned by a federal
grand jury on Dec. 13, 2000. The indictment charges the
defendant, who is an employee of the Los Alamos National
Laboratory, with accessing and damaging computers,
intercepting electronic communications, and witness tampering.
The indictment was sealed pending his arrest, which was
effected on Jan. 10. The defendant is charged with seven
counts of unauthorized access into a computer recklessly
causing damage in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(5)(B),
eight counts of interception of electronic communications in
violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2511(1)(a), and one count of
tampering with a witness in violation of 18 U.S.C. §
1512(b)(1) and (b)(2)(A). The companies whose computer
networks were affected were eBay, Lycos, Juniper, and Exodus
Communications, e-Trade, Cygnus Support Solutions. Defendant
Heckenkamp has also been charged in a separate indictment
returned by a federal grand jury in San Diego. See also, USA
release. Ross Nadel, Chief of the Computer Hacking and
Intellectual Property Unit in the U.S. Attorney's Office, is
prosecuting this case.
1/2. Daniel Park and Mikahel Chang plead guilty in U.S.
District Court (NDCal)
to theft of trade secrets, and tp aiding and abetting criminal
copyright infringement, respectively. A federal grand jury
returned the indictment
[PDF] on June 14, 2000. Park and Chang accessed Semi
Supply Inc.'s customer database and order database. The two
will have to forfeit $60,000 in gains. Asst. U.S. Attorneys
Ross Nadel and Mavis Lee prosecuted the case. |
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| Today |
9:30 AM. The Federal
Communications Commission will hold a meeting. Location:
Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th Street, SW, Washington DC.
See, Agenda.
10:00 AM. Oral argument before the U.S. Court of
Appeals (FedCir) in Octel v. Theis, Appeal No.
00-1031. This is an appeal from a final judgment of the U.S.
District Court (NDCal)
in a patent infringement case. The trial court
dismissed on the grounds of res judicata. The court had
previously adjudged the patent in suit invalid, the Federal
Circuit had affirmed, and the Supreme Court had denied
certiorari. But, appellant thinks the original Patent Office
determination should carry more weight. The patent concerns
voice processing services, such as voice mail. Location:
Federal Circuit, 717 Madison Place (on LaFayette Square),
Courtroom 402. |
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