| Microsoft Appeal |
| 2/2. Microsoft and the DOJ and state AGs filed a Joint
Proposal for the Format of Oral Argument with the U.S.
Court of Appeals (DCCir). The parties agreed that each
side should be allowed 45 minutes to argue the tying issue,
and another 45 minutes to argue the monopoly maintenance
issue, on Feb. 26. They also agreed that each side should be
allowed 15 minutes to argue the attempted monopolization
issue, and 30 minutes to argue the remedies issue, on Feb. 27.
Finally, they agree that issues regarding the conduct of
trial, and judicial improprieties by Judge Jackson, should be
considered on written submissions. Richard Urowsky and Steven
Holley will argue for Microsoft. Jeffrey Minear, John Roberts,
and David Frederick will argue for the governments. See also, PDF
copy. |
|
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| Register.com & Verio |
| 2/2. The ICANN published
another advisory
regarding the litigation between Register.com (RCOM) and Verio that is pending in the
U.S. District Court (SDNY),
and Verio's complaint filed with the ICANN on Dec. 21, seeking
termination of RCOM's accreditation. The advisory summarizes
two items recently submitted to the ICANN: RCOM's response
to Verio's petition to terminate its accreditation (Jan. 26),
and VeriSign's report
on its investigation (Jan. 30). Background: On Dec. 8 the
Court granted RCOM's motion for a preliminary injunction
against Verio enjoining it from accessing RCOM's Whois
database to target its customers with unsolicited commercial
e-mail, direct mail and telemarketing activity. RCOM, based in
New York City, provides domain name registration services.
See, RCOM
release. Verio, based in Englewood Colorado, is a wholly
owned subsidiary of NTT
Communications. It provides a web hosting, high
speed Internet access, VPNs, and
e-commerce products. On Dec. 21 it submitted to ICANN a Petition
that requests that ICANN terminate its accreditation agreement
with RCOM. |
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| New TLJ Stories |
| 5th
Circuits Affirms Judgment of Internet Copyright Infringement.
The U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, issued its opinion
in Veeck v. SBCCI upholding the District Court's judgment of
copyright infringement. The defendant published in his web
site copies of copyrighted model building codes that had been
incorporated into law by reference. The Appeals Court,
following both precedent and policy arguments, held that a
copyrighted work does not lose it protection when adopted into
law. One judge dissented. |
|
|
| New Documents |
USCA:
Opinion
in Veeck v. SBCCI re copyright, 2/2 (HTML, USCA).
MSFT/DOJ:
Joint
Proposal for Format of Oral Argument, 2/2 (PDF, USCA).
VeriSign:
report
to ICANN, 1/30 (HTML, ICANN).
RCOM:
response
to Verio's petition to terminate its accreditation, 1/26
(HTML, ICANN).
USTR: notice
and request for comments pertaining to the WTO dispute
settlement proceeding re TRIPs, 2/2 (HTML, TLJ).
USCA:
opinion
in WorldCom v. FCC re FCC's Pricing Flexibility Order, 2/2
(HTML, USCA).
USCA:
opinion
in ICOM Holdings v. MCI Worldcom, 2/1 (HTML, USCA).
Milberg:
complaint
against Critical Path; see also, other class action firms' complaint,
complaint,
complaint,
and complaint,
2/2. |
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| Intellectual Property |
2/2. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (5thCir) issued its opinion
in Veeck v. SBCCI, an Internet
copyright infringement case. Veeck published in his web site copyrighted
model building codes written by SBBCI
that had been incorporated into law by reference by various
local governments. The Appeals Court, following both precedent
and policy arguments, held that a copyrighted work does not
lose it protection when adopted into law. Judge Weiner wrote
for the three judge panel; Stewart joined. USDC
Judge White wrote a lengthy dissent. See, TLJ
story.
2/2. The USTR
published in the Federal Register a notice
and request for comments pertaining to the WTO
dispute settlement proceeding regarding § 110(5)(B)
of the U.S. Copyright Act. A WTO Dispute Settle
Body has found the statute is inconsistent with U.S. treaty
obligations under the TRIPs
Agreement. Comments are due by Feb. 26, 2001. |
|
|
| Critical Path Lawsuits |
2/2. The NASDAQ halted
trading in the stock of Critical
Path, a California corporation, based in San Francisco,
that provides Internet messaging infrastructure. The company's
stock price has plummeted from a high of over $119 in March
2000 to just over $10. Reuters reported that Critical Path
"is probing its accounting practices and has put its
president on leave." Now, a flock of class action
securities lawyers has descended.
2/2. Two individuals named Bill Reynolds and David Miller
filed a complaint
[PDF] in U.S. District Court (NDCal) against
Critical Path and two of its
officers, William Rinehart and David Thatcher, alleging
violation of federal securities laws. The Plaintiffs, who are
represented by the law firm of Milberg Weiss and other
firms, seek class action status. The single count complaint
alleges violation of §
10b of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5
thereunder. Milberg Weiss is a law firm that specializes in
bring securities class action suits against technology
companies when their stock prices drop. See also, MW
release.
2/2. An individual named Fred Kessler filed a complaint
[PDF] in U.S. District Court (NDCal) against
Critical Path, David Thatcher and William Rinehart, alleging
violation of federal securities laws. The plaintiff, who seeks
class action status, is represented by the law firm of Shalov Stone & Bonner.
He too alleges 10b and 10b-5 violations.
2/2. More firms rushed to file complaints. See:
• complaint
filed by Weiss & Yourman,
which in addition names CEO Douglas Hickey and Chairman David
Hayden as defendants, and adds a §
20 claim.
• complaint
filed by Wolf Haldenstein,
which in addition names PriceWaterhouseCoopers
as a defendant.
• complaint
[PDF] filed by Berman
DeValerio & Pease, which also names CFO Mark Rubash.
It alleges violations of 10b, 10b-5 and 20. |
|
|
| Razorfish Class Action |
| 1/30. An individual filed a complaint in U.S. District Court
(SDNY) against Razorfish, Inc. and five
of its officers
and directors alleging violation of federal
securities laws. The plaintiff, who is represented by the law
firm of Cohen
Millstein, seeks class action status. The complaint
alleges violation of §
10b of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Rule 10b-5
thereunder, and §
20 of the 1934 Act. Razorfish's Form
10-Q (Nov. 13, 2000) states that it provides
"business solutions that use digital technologies to
enhance communications and commerce between businesses and
their consumers, suppliers, employees, and other
partners". Cohen Millstein is a law firm that specializes
in bringing class action law suits. See also, CM
release. |
|
|
| More News |
1/31. The SEC
filed a civil complaint in U.S. District Court (SDNY)
against David Bonrouhi alleging illegal insider trading
of the stock of IWL Communications, Inc. The SEC seeks an
injunction against future acts of securities fraud,
disgorgement of the trading losses that he illegally avoided,
and a civil penalty of an equal amount. See, SEC
release.
1/29. The FBI's National
Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) published another
issue of its CyberNotes
[19 pages in PDF], a biweekly summary of critical
infrastructure threats. |
|
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| Quote of the Day |
"By its very nature, an enacted law enters the public
realm as a concrete, definite fact/idea. There is only one
accurate way to express a law. ... it is antithetical to our
nation's concept of public participation for a private entity
to monopolize the public laws. ... Congress could not have
intended for a private organization to be given the exclusive
right to control others' ability to copy and distribute an
enacted law."
USDC Judge F.A. Little, from his dissent in Veeck v.
SBCCI, Feb. 2. |
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| People |
1/30. Matthew
Yarbrough joined the Dallas office of Fish & Richardson (FR), a
national law firm focusing on complex litigation, intellectual
property and technology law. He was briefly an associate at Vinson & Elkins.
Before that he was an AUSA
for the Northern District of Texas, where he directed the
Cyber Crimes Task Force. He prosecuted cases concerning
computer and telecom fraud and intellectual property crimes.
He was one of the attorneys who prosecuted the Global
Hell hacker gang, which defaced dozens of web sites,
including WhiteHouse.gov.
He will be in charge of FR's newly created Cyber Law Group.
See, FR
release.
2/1. Charles Nathan is joining Latham & Watkins as a
partner in its New York office. He will head the New York
mergers and acquisitions group. He was formerly Managing
Director of Smith Barney, and partner at Fried Frank.
See, release.
1/31. Townsend Townsend
& Crew announced that two former Limbach & Limbach
attorneys have joined its electronics and software practice
group. Mayumi Maeda will be an associate in the San
Francisco office and Charles Hamilton will be an
associate in the Palo Alto office. See, release.
1/26. Cooley Godward
announced changes to its management. Janet
Cullum, who currently heads the Intellectual Property
Litigation Group, will become Litigation Department Chair. Lee
Benton will resign as Managing Partner, effective Feb. 9. Stephen
Neal, the current Litigation Department Chair, will
become Chairman and CEO, and Mark
Pitchford will become COO. See, release.
1/11. Charles
Rule joined Fried Frank
as the lead antitrust partner in its Washington DC office. He
was Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division during
the administration of George Bush Sr. He was then head of the
antitrust department at Covington
& Burling. He has also counseled Microsoft in the
government's antitrust case. See, release. |
|
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| Telecom Rulings |
2/2. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (DCCir) issued its opinion
in WorldCom
v. FCC. WorldCom, AT&T, Time Warner Telecom,
and other long distance providers sought review of the FCC's Pricing
Flexibility Order, which grants local exchange
carriers (LECs) immediate pricing flexibility for some
interstate access services and establishes procedures through
which LECs may seek substantial additional relief from
existing price cap regulation. LECs intervened in support of
the FCC. The Court upheld the FCC order.
2/1. The U.S. Court of Appeals (2ndCir) issued its opinion
in ICOM Holdings v. MCI Worldcom. The Court affirmed the
District Court's dismissal of ICOM's complaint. It held that
state-law breach of contract claims premised on the
defendant's failure to install high speed telecom circuits for
the purpose of providing the plaintiff with local access
telecommunication service are preempted by the federal
Communications Act and barred by the filed-rate doctrine. |
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