| Insider Trading at nVIDIA |
11/19. The SEC filed
seven civil complaints in U.S.
District Court (NDCal) against 15 individuals alleging
illegal insider trading of nVIDIA stock. The complaints name
11 employees of nVIDIA and 4 persons who were tipped by nVIDIA
defendants. See, SEC
release. (N.D.Cal, San Jose Div., Case Nos. 01-21067
through 21073.)
nVIDIA is a Santa Clara,
California, based maker of computer graphics processors. The
SEC states that on March 5, 2000, nVIDIA notified all of
its employees by e-mail that it had won a lucrative
contract to provide graphics components for Microsoft's video
game console known as the X-Box.
A second e-mail notified the employees that the information
was confidential. The SEC continues that 11 employees, mostly
engineers, nevertheless used this confidential, material, non
public information to purchase nVIDIA stock, and to tip 4
others outside of nVIDIA, who also purchased stock. When
Microsoft announced the contract on March 10, nVIDIA's stock
price rose to more than twice its March 6 close.
In addition, a grand jury of the U.S. District Court (NDCal)
returned indictments against four nVIDIA engineers, Atul
Bhagat, David Chang, Geoffrey Chang, and Robert Prevett,
charging insider trading. The indictments were returned on
November 13, but unsealed on November 19.
See, indictment
[PDF] of Robert Prevett charging securities fraud, insider
trading, and tipper liability, in violation of 15 U.S.C. §§
78j and 78ff, and 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5. See also, indictment
[PDF] of Geoffrey Chang, indictment
[PDF] of David Chang, and indictment
[PDF] of Atul Bhagat. Another employee, Jon Lin, was changed
by information
[PDF]. |
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| People and Appointments |
11/15. Charles Greenwood was confirmed by the Senate
to be Coordinator for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
11/19. Alan Beller was named Director of the SEC's Division
of Corporation Finance, and Senior Counselor to the
Commission. See, SEC release.
11/14. The law firm of Fenwick
& West announced an expansion of its Washington DC
office. David
Hayes (Chairman of the firm's Intellectual Property
Group), Kevin
Kelso (Corporate Group), Stuart
Meyer (Litigation and Intellectual Property), Brian
Kelly (Licensing), and Christopher Tobin
(Patent) will work in the Washington DC office either full or
part time. See, FW
release.
11/15. Behrooz
Shariati joined the Silicon Valley office of the law
firm of McDermott Will &
Emery as a partner in the firm's Intellectual Property
Department. He practices in the area of intellectual property
counseling and litigation relating to Internet related
software, hardware and networking technologies. Prior to
practicing law, he was a programmer. See, release.
11/15. Tony
West joined the San Francisco office of the law firm
of Morrison & Foerster
as of counsel in the firm's litigation department. He is a
former Special Assistant Attorney for the State of California,
and former Assistant U.S. Attorney in San Jose. As Special
Assistant AG he advised AG Lockyer on high tech crime,
Internet policy, civil rights, elder abuse and crime
prevention issues. See, MoFo
release.
11/16. Three international antitrust law specialists joined
the law firm of Latham &
Watkins: Abbott Lipsky, Michael Egge and John
Colahan. All three previously worked at Coca Cola. See, release.
11/12. Michael Solender rejoined the Washington DC
office of the law firm of Arnold & Porter as
a partner. He was previously General Counsel of the Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC). See, release.
11/16. John
Milliken was named director of Virginia Governor Elect
Mark Warner's transition team. He is also the partner in
charge of the Venable
law firm's McLean, Virginia, office. See, release.
11/16. Jody Westby was named Consulting Counsel to the
law firm of Wiley Rein &
Fielding. She specializes in e-commerce and information
and infrastructure security. She was previously Chief
Administrative Officer and Counsel for In-Q-Tel, the CIA's
venture capital firm. Prior to that, she was a Senior Fellow
and Director of IT Studies for The
Progress & Freedom Foundation and Director of Domestic
Policy for the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce. See, WRF
release.
11/13. Sunil Bhardwaj was named VP of Finance and CFO
of the law firm of Wilson
Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. See, WSGR
release. |
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| EU Commissioner Addresses
Internet Policy |
11/19. Erkki
Liikanen gave a speech
in Washington DC in which he reviewed recent EU Internet
related legislation, and offered policy recommendations. He is
the EU Enterprise
and Information
Society Commissioner. He spoke to the European American
Business Council.
Telecommunications. He stated in the prepared text of
his speech that "we should continue to democratise access
to new communication services by completing telecoms
liberalisation to drive prices further down, both within the
EU and outside via the new WTO/GATS negotiations on
services." However, he added that "much remains to
be done to create a level playing field for all competitors.
Indeed, the EU telecoms market remains fragmented along
national lines within the EU."
Convergence. He stated that "Another major
challenge is to adapt telecoms regulation to the Internet
driven convergence between telecoms, computers and the media.
A new regulatory package for electronic communications based
on convergence and technological neutrality, should be
accepted in the next few weeks by the EU member countries and
European Parliament."
Areas to be Regulated. Liikanen said that "The
European e-commerce framework is a light one. Legislation is
limited to what is strictly necessary in order to avoid any
over regulation which would act as a deterrent. It sets rules
and principles that are valid throughout the European Union
only in essential areas such as personal data, privacy,
copyrights, legal responsibility, illegal and harmful content,
cyber crime, and taxation."
Privacy. He stated that "we need to cater for the
need for security and confidence in cyberspace." He
continued that "Legislation has been adopted to protect
personal data. It grants individuals the right to access and
correct their personal data, and to opt out of their use for
direct marketing."
Spam. "A proposed piece of legislation aims to
secure the confidentiality of electronic communications, and
foresees prior consent (or opt-in) to receive unsolicited
commercial communications is now in the hands of the
legislators," said Liikanen.
Other Legislation. Liikanen also addressed recent EU
legislation in the areas of liberalization of encryption
restraints, electronic signatures, network security, and cyber
crime.
Promoting Content. He stated that government in the EU
plays an important role in providing content and applications
for the Internet. He cited electronic government services and
digitizing Europe's cultural heritage as examples.
Digital Divides. Finally, he addressed "digital
divide" issues. He said that schools must be connected,
and "Schools must provide all young Europeans with the
essential digital skills they need to live and work in the
digital age." He also advocated "life long
learning", "public Internet access points", and
investing in technologies for the sick, elderly and disabled. |
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| FTC Cautions Internet
Retailers |
11/19. The Federal Trade
Commission's (FTC) Division of Enforcement sent 72 letters
to online retailers warning them to comply with federal
regulations pertaining to quick ship claims. The FTC reminded
online retailers that the Mail
or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule (aka Mail Order Rule)
also applies to online orders. It requires merchants to ship
orders to buyers within the time stated, or, if no time is
stated, within 30 days. The FTC conducted a surf of 110
Internet retailers, and found that 72 made quick ship claims.
See, FTC
release.
16 C.F.R. § 435 provides, in part, that "In connection
with mail or telephone order sales in or affecting commerce
... it constitutes an unfair method of competition, and an
unfair or deceptive act or practice for a seller: (a) (1) To
solicit any order for the sale of merchandise to be ordered by
the buyer through the mails or by telephone unless, at the
time of the solicitation, the seller has a reasonable basis to
expect that it will be able to ship any ordered merchandise to
the buyer: (i) Within that time clearly and conspicuously
stated in any such solicitation, or (ii) if no time is clearly
and conspicuously stated, within thirty (30) days after
receipt of a properly completed order from the buyer." |
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| Thanksgiving Schedule |
| The Tech Law Journal Daily E-Mail Alert will not be
published on Thursday, November 22, or Friday, November 23. |
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| Tuesday, Nov 20 |
The Senate and House are in recess for Thanksgiving.
9:00 AM. There will be a press conference titled "WTO
Last Week in DOHA". For more information, contact Judge
Morris at 463-5075. Location: First Amendment Room, National Press Club, 529 14th
St. NW, 13th Floor.
10:00 AM. The Commerce Department's Technology Administration
will hold a public meeting on existing public and private high
tech workforce training programs. The meeting is being held
pursuant to §§ 115(a) and 115(b) of the American
Competitiveness in the Twenty First Century Act of 2000
(Public Law 106-313), which requires the Secretary of Commerce
to conduct a study and prepare a report to Congress. Location:
Room 4813, Commerce Department. See, notice
in Federal Register, September 10, 2001, Vol. 66, No. 175, at
Pages 47016. |
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| Wednesday, Nov 21 |
The Senate and House are in recess for Thanksgiving.
2:00 - 5:00 PM. The National
Science Foundation's (NSF) Advisory Committee for Cyber
Infrastructure will hold a meeting to develop a plan for the
preparation of a report to the NSF concerning advanced cyber
infrastructure and the evaluation of the existing Partnerships
for Advanced Computational Infrastructure. See, notice
in Federal Register, November 2, 2001, Vol. 66, No. 213, at
Pages 55702. Location: Room 130, NSF, 4201 Wilson Blvd.,
Arlington, VA. |
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| Thursday, Nov 22 |
| Thanksgiving day. The Tech Law Journal Daily E-Mail
Alert will not be published. |
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| Friday, Nov 23 |
| The Senate and Senate are in recess for Thanksgiving. The
Tech Law Journal Daily E-Mail Alert will not be published |
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| Monday, Nov 26 |
| The Senate and House are in recess for Thanksgiving. |
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| SEC Chairman Gives Another
Speech |
| 11/16. Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) Chairman Harvey Pitt gave a speech
in Washington DC. He stated that "one of our major
initiatives is to improve our disclosure system, supplementing
it by putting more meaningful information into investors'
hands more promptly". He suggested that "we have an
incredible array of new technologies to assist us. We should
aggressively take advantage of technology, and harness it to
make our markets even more efficient, and more responsive to
investor needs." |
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| About Tech Law Journal |
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