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Tech Law Journal |
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| News, records, and analysis of legislation, litigation, and regulation affecting the computer, internet, communications and information technology sectors | |
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11/20. ISP EarthLink and Time Warner Cable announced that they have signed an agreement under which EarthLink will offer its broadband Internet services over Time Warner Cable systems. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed. AOL and Time Warner are applicants in merger review proceedings before the FTC and FCC in which access to TW's broadband cable Internet access facilities is an issue. Earthlink is the ISP with the second largest subscriber base in the U.S, with 4.6 Million subscribers. AOL is the largest. Time Warner Cable provides cable TV to about 12.6 Million subscribers. The agreement is contingent upon FTC approval and the closing of the AOL Time Warner merger. See, TW release. See also, FCC's AOL-TW merger page. 11/20. An individual named Kai Chan filed a complaint in U.S. District Court (DMass) against PRI Automation and three of its directors, alleging violation of federal securities laws. PRI makes factory automation systems and software for the semiconductor industry. The plaintiff, who seeks class action status, is represented by Moulton & Gans and Milberg Weiss. Count one alleges violation of §10b of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b5 thereunder, for making allegedly false statements about the financial status of WorldCom. Count two of the complaint alleges violation of §20a of the Act by the director defendants. Milberg Weiss is a law firm that specializes in bringing class action securities suits against technology companies with volatile stock prices. 11/20. Representatives of the European Patent Organisation (EPO) member states met in Munich Germany to begin a Diplomatic Conference to revise the European Patent Convention (EPC). Several items will be addressed, including reducing patenting costs, creating of a European patent, bringing the EPC into compliance with the TRIPs Agreement, and considering patent protection for software. Presently, there is no common European patent court for post grant litigation. Issues regarding infringement, and most issues regarding validity, are decided by the national courts of the individual countries for which a patent is granted. The Convention will also address Community patents, which would be granted by the EPO on the basis of the EPC for the entire territory of the Community and centrally administered. Also, they would not be subject to the national law of the member states, but rather be subject only to Community law in the form of Council Regulation. The meeting will continue through Nov. 29. See, EPO release and EPO background statement. 11/20. The FCC issued a NPRM [49 pages in MS Word] regarding transferring seven narrow bands of spectrum from government to private use. 11/20. FCC Chairman Wm. Kennard gave a speech [MS Word] in Geneva, Switzerland, to the ITU in which he argued that he is fighting against the Congress and industry to bring competition to telecommunications markets. He stated: "My agency’s budget, for example, has to be approved each year by our legislature. This year, some companies have used the budget process to try to undo agreements industry made with us earlier in the year. Industry tries to achieve in a lawmaker’s office what they could not achieve in open hearings before our agency. Then the lawmakers, who are being pressured by industry, call me to testify before their own open hearings. They ask me why I am pushing so hard for competition. I tell them that I am just implementing the law they voted for in 1996." 11/20. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission filed comments with the FCC recommending that the FCC approve the Oklahoma portion of SBC's Section 271 application to provide long distance service in Kansas and Oklahoma. See, SBC release. 11/20. Several individuals filed a complaint in U.S. District Court (WDWash) against Avenue A alleging violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and state statutes and common law principles, in connection with its privacy practices. Avenue A, an Internet advertising business, stated that "the lawsuit is without merit". Plaintiffs seek class action status. See, release. 11/19. The EU released the 26th version of its Draft Convention on Cyber Crime. 11/17. WorldCom and the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reached an agreement regarding WorldCom's acquisition of Intermedia, under which WorldCom will divest all of Intermedia's assets, except its controlling interest in Digex. To put this agreement into effect the DOJ filed a complaint and proposed consent decree in the U.S. District Court (DDC). The objection of the DOJ related to the circumstance that both WorldCom and Intermedia own Internet backbone networks. Intermedia also provides voice and data services. Digex provides web and applications hosting for e-businesses. WorldCom still has to deal with other antitrust regulators, including the FCC and various state entities. See, DOJ release and WorldCom release. 11/17. Xilinx announced that a federal jury found that Altera infringed two patents owned by Xilinx. Xilinx also stated that it will seek an injunction against Altera to stop all shipments of Altera Flex products and its derivative programmable logic devices that infringe the two patents. Altera said that it will ask the District Court to reverse the jury verdict, and if that fails, appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals. Xilinx filed its complaint against Altera in U.S. District Court (NDCa) in 1993 alleging infringement of its U.S. Patent No. Re. 34,363 and U.S. Patent No. 4,642,487. Xilinx makes programmable logic devices, including integrated circuits, software design tools, and predefined system functions delivered as cores. Altera also produces programmable logic devices. This is just one of many pending lawsuits between these competitors. See, Xilinx release and Altera release. 11/16. The SEC filed a complaint in U.S. District Court (SDFl) against Internet Capital Holdings, Inc. and Internet Capital Holdings II, Inc., two unregistered investment companies, and their principals. The SEC also obtained emergency TROs, halting the offering of unregistered securities, freezing assets, and appointing a receiver. The SEC alleged that defendants conducted a fraudulent "high-tech" stock offering which violated §§ 5(a), 5(c), § 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and § 15(a)(1) of the Exchange Act. See, SEC release. 11/7. The SEC filed a complaint in U.S. District Court (DKan) against five defendants alleging securities fraud in connection with the offering for sale of unregistered microcap stock whose share prices were inflated by defendants by the issuance of fraudulent press releases over the Internet. The SEC also obtained emergency TROs, halting the offering of unregistered securities, freezing assets, expediting discovery, and appointing a receiver. The SEC alleged that defendants violated § 17(a) of the Securities and § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5. See, SEC release. 11/17. The European Union requested the WTO to authorize trade sanctions against the U.S. of up to $4.043 Billion. The EU alleged as grounds for the request that the Foreign Sales Corporation Repeal and Extraterritorial Income Exclusion Act of 2000, which Clinton signed into law on Nov. 16, constitutes an illegal export subsidy. The move was expected. Earlier this year the WTO held that the FSC tax regime constituted an illegal export subsidy. Previously, the U.S. complained to the WTO, and prevailed, about protectionist agricultural policies in Europe. The EU seeks to bargain its acceptance of the U.S. tax regime for the U.S. acceptance of its agricultural policies. The EU request will be decided by a WTO Dispute Settlement Body. Then, an appeal will likely be made to the WTO Appellate Body. If the WTO finds the new tax bill to be illegal, and the EU and U.S. do not settle their differences, retaliatory trade sanctions would likely be imposed. In this case the EU would target U.S. technology companies with significant sales in Europe, including Cisco, Motorola, and Microsoft. See, EU release and U.S. response. See also, USTR statement on agriculture negotiations. 11/17. The FTC announced that it is sending over 100 letters to online retailers following its pre-Christmas review of web sites of retailers. The letters warn online retailers of the FTC's Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule, which the FTC also applies to merchandise ordered over the Internet. It covers representations regarding deliver time, and obligations of retailers who fail to deliver within a promised amount of time. See, FTC release. 11/17. The U.S. District Court (CDCa) entered final judgment in Los Angeles Times v. Free Republic, a case pertaining to online copyright infringement. The LA Times and Washington Post sued the Free Republic, a discussion forum web site, for copyright infringement for publishing copies of news stories from their web sites without permission. Defendants unsuccessfully raised fair use and freedom of speech defenses. Defendants in the past have promised to appeal. 11/17. The FCC published a report [PDF] on the status of its C and F block Broadband PCS spectrum auction, now scheduled for Dec. 12, 2000. These 422 spectrum licenses are limited by FCC regulation to small businesses. The FCC stated that it has received 112 applications to participate in the auction, accepted 44, determined 66 to be incomplete, and rejected 2. This is the oft delayed reauction of the bankrupt NextWave's spectrum. Background: FCC WTB's PCS web page. 11/17. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) issued an order [PDF] in the Microsoft appeal regarding the filing of copies of CD-ROM versions of appeal briefs. 11/17. Bill Galliani joined Cooley Godward as a patent partner in its Palo Alto office. He had been at Pennie & Edmonds. He focuses on on electronic and software patent counseling. See, release. 11/16. The ICANN board of directors named six new TLDs, and their registry operators: .aero – Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautiques .biz – JVTeam .coop – National Cooperative Business Assoc. .info – Afilias .museum – Museum Domain Management Assoc. .name – Global Name Registry .pro – RegistryPro 11/16. The FBI's NIPC issued an assessment of the Navidad Internet worm. It stated that "it represents a low threat in the United States. Although there have been media reports of outbreaks of this worm in South Korea and Australia, NIPC's international counterparts have reported no significant outbreaks. Although Navidad does not contain a dangerous payload, it does modify the Windows registry file. The modification makes it impossible to execute most programs with an ... attachment unless they were already running at the time of infection." See, Assessment 00-059. 11/16. The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), a telecom equipment manufacturers' standards setting body, announced that it wants to expand into broadband, Internet, optical networking and venture capital financing. The TIA began in 1924 as a group of equipment suppliers. It is now a trade group that represents companies that provide telecommunications materials, products, and systems. It is involved in government relations, market support, and standards development. For example, it is the group that wrote the standard, named J-STD-025, that the FCC adopted as part of its CALEA implementation order. See, TIA release. 11/16. Bill Clinton signed HR 4986, the Foreign Sales Corporation Repeal and Extraterritorial Income Exclusion Act of 2000. See, Clinton statement. See also, TLJ News Analysis. 11/16. The U.S. and Singapore announced the launch of negotiations for a U.S. Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA). USTR Barshefsky stated that "It will remove the remaining barriers to trade between our countries, and help us take full advantage of the new opportunities unfolding through communications, the Internet and high technology." The USTR release also stated that it will "cover substantially all services sectors, help to develop electronic commerce, protect intellectual property rights, and include safeguards and dispute settlement mechanisms". See, USTR release. These trade negotiations are also scheduled to include non trade related social issues, such as labor and environmental matters. This aspect of the negotiations likely would be continued by a Gore administration, but not by a Bush administration. 11/16. EPIC announced that its review of documents regarding the FBI's Internet surveillance system named Carnivore reveals that it has broader capability than the FBI has previously claimed. For example, EPIC stated that one document which it obtained under a FOIA request states that a machine with Carnivore installed "could reliably capture and archive all unfiltered traffic to the internal hard drive ..." In contrast, the FBI has asserted that Carnivore is only capable of capturing and archiving "unfiltered" Internet traffic. An team from the Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute (IITRI) selected, that was picked by the Justice Dept., is scheduled to give a draft "technical report" on the Carnivore system to the Justice Dept., but not the public or the Congress, on Friday, Nov. 17. See, EPIC release. Background: testimony of FBI Asst. Dir. Donald Kerr before the House Constitution Subcommittee on July 24, 2000; FBI's Carnivore web page; and letter from House Republicans to Janet Reno urging suspension of Carnivore. 11/16. Michael Aisenberg, Director of Public Policy for Network Solutions, spoke at a FCBA luncheon on "The Future of the On-Line Revolution." He reviewed a wide range of current issues. On online privacy, he stated that EU safe harbor "is essentially unworkable" and "it was perhaps a mistake to attempt to negotiate a common ground between two essentially conflicting predicates" (opt in and opt out). On Internet growth, he stated that in the U.S. "we are going to rapidly tap out that potential", but that the growth potential in Asia is enormous. He predicted that Asia's Internet community "will dwarf the size of the Internet community here in the U.S.", and this means that "the U.S. government is going to have to give." He also stated that "the traditional regulatory schemes such as exited in the U.S. before 1984 and the 96 Act ... is essentially a barrier to the growth of the Internet." 11/16. The Social Security Administration (SSA) published in the Federal Register a notice announcing a computer matching program that SSA plans to conduct with the IRS. [Federal Register, Nov. 16, 2000, Vol. 65, No. 222, Pages 69358 - 69359.] 11/16. The SEC promoted several persons to the position of Senior Assistant Chief Accountant, including: • Dennis Muse (Office of Computer and OnLine Services). • Carlos Pacho (Office of Telecommunications). • Margery Reich (Office of Electronics and Machinery). See, SEC release. 11/16. The U.S. Court of Appeals (9thCir) issued its opinion [PDF] in Wade Cook v. Anthony Robbins, a copyright infringement case. Cook wrote a book titled the Wall Street Money Machine, which was based on his experiences as a cab driver. It spent 18 months on the New York Times business best seller list. Robbins is in the business of providing investment seminars. Cook sued Robbins in U.S. District Court (WDWa) alleging copyright infringement based on use of Cook's taxi cab expressions in Robbins' seminars. The jury returned a special verdict finding that Cook held a valid copyright, that Robbins infringed it, that it was not fair use, and awarding $655,900 in damages. However, the the District Court entered judgment for Robbins as a matter of law on the grounds that Cook did not prove that Robbins' profits were attributable to the infringing use of taxi jargon. Cook appealed. Robbins cross appealed on the copyright validity and fair use issues. The three judge USCA panel reversed and remanded. The USCA held that the USDC erred in holding that there must be profits attributable to the infringement. The USCA upheld the USDC on the validity and fair use issues. 11/16. Microsoft announced that it filed two complaints in U.S. District Court (DMd) against two software resellers, Intellect Computers Inc. of Rockville and Charles County Computers Inc. of Waldorf, alleging the distribution of counterfeit software products. See, MSFT release. 11/15. The European Patent Office's (EPO) Board of Patent Appeals published 38 decisions. See, list of decisions, with links to PDF copies of each, that were decided from June through Oct. 11/15. The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Justice Dept. filed with the U.S. District Court (DC) its Competitve Impact Statement relating to the proposed Final Judgment in the civil proceeding pertaining to the merger of Clear Channel Communications and AMFM. The combined operations include more than 900 radio stations, 19 TVstations and over 700,000 outdoor advertising displays in 40 countries. Operations also include the Clear Channel Internet Group, which operates web sites with streaming online casts of on-air programming. On Aug. 29 the DOJ filed a complaint, proposed consent decree, and related pleadings in U.S. District Court to put into effect an agreement with the merging parties that they would divest AMFM's partial ownership interest in Lamar Advertising Company and divest an additional 14 radio stations in 5 markets. See, Stipulation and Order and DOJ release. Clear Channel had also previously sold 122 radio stations to obtain FCC approval of license transfers. See, FCC release of Aug. 15. See also, Clear Channel release of Aug. 28 [PDF] regarding divestiture of stations and Clear Channel release of Aug. 30 [PDF] regarding closing the merger. 11/15. NCTA CEO Robert Sachs gave a speech at Trinity College in NYC in which he addressed regulation of cable and broadcast TV. "All this raises a question as to how long broadcasters should continue to receive preferential regulatory treatment over cable programming networks. Indeed, as broadcasters cut back on political coverage and are relieved of their few remaining public interest responsibilities, it is increasingly difficult to justify a regulatory regime that favors broadcasters. Long ago, broadcasters were granted free use of the public spectrum, now worth tens of billions of dollars, in order to distribute their signals for free to the public. That was in an era when broadcasters had public interest responsibilities such as the Fairness Doctrine and license renewal requirements, which have long since been swept away." He added that "the so-called 'free' major commercial broadcast networks now seek to charge the public to receive their signals" by charging cable and DBS providers for retransmission of their signals. He also stated that "The Presidential election could have its greatest impact on communications policy through the next President’s appointments to the Federal Communications Commission." 11/15. The NTIA released a 47 page "Interim Report" as a part of its ongoing process of identifying spectrum for use for 3G wireless. Third generation wireless systems will provide high-speed Internet access and other broadband services from portable devices. The report is titled "Federal Operations in the 1755-1850 MHz Band: The Potential for Accommodating Third Generation Mobile Systems" [available in multiple HTML documents, or a single 800 KB PDF file]. The FCC released its 62 page "Interim Report" titled "Spectrum Study of the 2500-2690 MHz Band: The Potential for Accommodating Third Generation Mobile Systems" [report and appendices in MS Word | report and appendices in PDF]. Greg Rohde (NTIA), Tom Sugrue (FCC/WTB), and Linton Wells (Defense Dept.) explained the reports at an event in Washington DC. See also, 1 page NTIA release. 11/15. AT&T announced it will spin off Liberty Media Group, which it acquired through its acquisition of TCI, contingent upon a favorable tax ruling. AT&T stated that it "expects to convert the Liberty Media tracking stock into an asset-based security and launch Liberty Media Group as an independent, publicly traded company in the second quarter of 2001." AT&T further stated that "This step also gives AT&T the option of deciding to use the spin off of Liberty Media to comply in large part with one of the three conditions set forth by the Federal Communications Commission in its June order approving AT&T’s merger with MediaOne." See, AT&T release. See also, FCC's web section on the AT&T MediaOne merger, CS Docket No. 99-251. 11/15. The FCC issued a request for comments [MS Word] on whether the term "interLATA services" as used in § 271 of the Communications Act includes "information services". This section, which was a key part of the Telecom Act of 1996, prevents RBOCs from providing interLATA (long distance) telephone service until the FCC has determined that they have opened up their facilities to competitors. The FCC has only just begun to grant such permissions. The RBOCs do not want § 271 to prevent them from providing interLATA data services. The FCC determined in its Non-Accounting Safeguards Order that "interLATA services" includes information services. Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) and USWest (now Qwest) filed a petition for review [PDF] in the U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) seeking to overturn this part of the Order. On Oct 27 the Court remanded the matter to the FCC for the purpose of conducting this inquiry. Comments are due by Nov. 29, and reply comments are due by Dec. 11. The RBOCs have also been heavily lobbying the Congress to pass legislation to provide them this interLATA data relief; and, many Members of Congress support them, and have introduced legislation to provide this result. See, for example, HR 2420, the Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of 1999. See also, TLJ story. 11/15. MP3.com sold to Universal Music Group warrants to purchase up to 3,000,000 shares of MP3.com common stock. The warrants are exercisable at prices ranging from $3.75 to $5.00 per share and range in term of one to three years. See, MP3.com release. 11/15. Microsoft filed a complaint in U.S. District Court (DAz) against Coast 2 Coast Office Supply for distributing counterfeit copies of MS Office Professional 2000 and Project 98 in violation of Microsoft copyrights and trademarks. See, MSFT release. 11/15. Sec. of Commerce Norman Mineta is on a 10 trip to Singapore, Brunei, and Viet Nam. He gave a speech and answered questions from the press in Singapore on Nov. 15. He was asked about electronic signatures. He stated: "We have just only passed it in the United States not too long ago and, I think, everyone is just going to have to get comfortable with the mechanism on how this works. I think the important thing is to make sure that there's both confidence in the business community, as well as in the consumer community, about the legality and the full standing of electronic signatures, electronic contracts as they are with normal paper contracts. And, I think, even in the United States we're just starting to feel our way through that whole effort. ... I'm not really familiar with what Singapore has in law ... I would hope that they will see the value of it and move along in making it for the full scope of electronic commerce." Sec. Mineta also gave a speech to a Chamber of Commerce group. 11/15. ICANN published a report prepared by its staff which makes recommendations regarding election of at large members. It recommends that ICANN should solicit comments, and then establish a study committee. 11/15. The Commerce Dept.'s NTIA and Defense Dept. have agreed to jointly perform a vulnerability assessment of critical infrastructures in the Rocky Mountain Corridor, comprising facilities located in Colorado and Wyoming. NTIA's role is to coordinate the vulnerability assessments with companies that have critical communications and information nodes in the region. Presidential Decision Directive 63 [PDF] establishes the Commerce Dept. as the lead agency for physical and cyber protection of the information and communications sector. See, NTIA release. Background: NTIA's Critical Infrastructure Assurance page. 11/15. The Import Administration, of the International Trade Administration, of the Department of Commerce, published in the Federal Register the final results of is anti-dumping administrative review regarding DRAM semiconductors of 1 Megabit or above from Korea. The review covers two manufacturers, Hyundai and LG Semicon, and four exporters. [Fed. Reg., Nov. 15, 2000, Vol. 65, No. 221, at pages 68976-68978.] 11/15. Jan Kalicki, Counselor to the Dept. of Commerce, gave a speech in NYC titled "From Old Economy to New Economy in the Middle East". Quote: "the United States government has sought to include cooperation on electronic commerce as a substantial element of our bilateral economic relationships in the region." 11/14. The FTC settled civil charges that it brought against DP Marketing and its two principals for engaging in a fraudulent Internet pyramid scheme. The FTC filed its original complaint on July 7, 1999 in U.S. District Court (DConn). The Stipulated Final Judgment and Order was entered by the Court on Nov. 14, 2000. The FTC issued a release on Nov. 28 which states that the "order imposes a judgment of $72,312". It also states that "$430,140, [is] the total amount paid by consumers to DP Marketing ..." 11/14. Scour.com published a release which stated that "it will voluntarily shut down the Scour Exchange community within 48 hours to facilitate a resolution of pending litigation and a sales of its assets in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court." 11/14. The House met on Monday Nov. 13 and Tuesday Nov. 14. It put off negotiations over unresolved appropriations legislation disputes until after Thanksgiving, in part because of uncertainty in the Presidential election. However, the House passed the FSC bill, the Intelligence Authorization Act, and another joint resolution making further continuing appropriations for the FY 2001. It then adjourned until Dec. 4. The Senate adjourned until Dec. 5. 11/14. The House passed HR 4986, the Foreign Sales Corporation (FCS) Repeal and Extraterritorial Income Exclusion Act by a vote of 316 to 72. See, Roll Call No. 597. The bill benefits, among others, U.S. high tech companies that sell their goods and services abroad, including Microsoft and Cisco. It also averts, at least temporarily, a potential trade war with the European Union. However, the EU will complain to the WTO that this new bill constitutes an illegal export subsidy. See also, USTR release. 11/14. MP3.com and Universal Music Group settled their legal disputes, just prior to a ruling from U.S. District Court (SDNY) Judge Ned Rakoff on the issue of damages. Under the agreement MP3.com will pay $53.4 Million in damages, and license the use of UMG music recordings. UMG is the final major music company to settle its copyright infringement claims against MP3.com in a suit that was filed on Jan. 31. In Sept., Judge Rakoff found that MP3.com had deliberately infringed the copyrights of the plaintiff record companies by copying CDs onto its servers, and making them available to its users on the Internet. 11/14. The FTC announced that it will host a two day public workshop on December 11-12 to examine emerging wireless Internet and data technologies and the privacy, security, and consumer protection issues they raise. The workshop will examine, among other things, the what role the FTC should play in protecting consumer from unfair trade practices in m-commerce. See, FTC release and notice. 11/14. ICG Communications filed a Chapter 11 petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court (DDel). ICG stated that "it has secured a commitment for up to $350 million of new financing from Chase Manhattan Bank of which $200 million is available immediately. The remaining $150 million will be made available upon the satisfaction of certain conditions. ICG also has approximately $160 million cash on hand." See, ICG release. ICG is a facilities based communications provider and LEC. It offers voice and data services, including local, long distance and enhanced telephony, to small and medium sized business customers. It also offers network facilities and data management to ISP customers. It also provides interexchange services such as special access and switched access services to long distance carriers and other customers. 11/14. The FCC published in the Federal Register regulations to implement aspects of the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 which take effect on Nov. 29, 2000. The act authorizes satellite carriers to add more local and national broadcast programming to their offerings and seeks to place satellite carriers on an equal footing with cable operators with respect to availability of broadcast programming. (Federal Register, Nov. 14, 2000, Vol. 65, No. 220, pages 68082-68107.) 11/14. 11/14. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) issued its opinion affirming the decision of the U.S. District Court (EDTex) in John Watts v. XL Systems, a patent infringement case. (The opinion is in the court web site in EXE/MS Word format.) 11/13. The House passed by voice vote HR 5630, the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2001. It is one of several appropriations bills held up by Bill Clinton before the Nov. 7 election. However, Clinton stated only one objection -- that a provision criminalizing the unauthorized disclosure of classified information would impede the free flow of information. Hence, the House passed the bill once again, absent this one provision. Rep. Porter Goss (R-FL), Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, explained: "The bill before us, HR 5630, is identical to the version of HR 4392 that passed the House and the Senate on October 12 of this year with one major exception. The language, formerly section 304, prohibiting the unauthorized disclosure of classified information has been removed in its entirety. All the other provisions remain the same." 11/13. Bill Clinton signed HR 5239, which reauthorizes the Export Administration Act of 1979 until August 20, 2001. The Act expired in 1994. However, Clinton kept the export administration regulations in force by executive order. The Act establishes export licensing policy for high performance computers (HPCs), software, encryption products, and other items. HR 5239 simply states that "section 20 of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 2419) is amended by striking 'August 20, 1994' and inserting 'August 20, 2001'." Clinton stated that "While a comprehensive revision of the Export Administration Act is necessary, this reauthorization of the EAA is a needed short-term step." See, Clinton's signing statement. Many export licensing controversies remain for the next administration and Congress. 11/13. Marimba and Novadigm announced that they have has settled their pending patent disputes, and that they each have agreed to dismiss their patent infringement lawsuit against the other party. The terms of the settlement are secret. See, Marimba release and Novadigm release. Reference: Case No. C-97-20194-JW, U.S. District Court (NDCal), 11/13. World Online stated that "On November the 13th 2000 the Prosecutor of the Justice Department in Amsterdam commenced an investigation in the offices of World Online International NV in the light of allegations of insider trading around the company's listing on March 17th 2000." See, World Online release. World Online is a Netherlands based Internet service provider, Internet portal and content provider, and application service provider. 11/13. The Department of Defense published a notice in the Federal Register that the Telecommunications Service Priority System Oversight Committee (TSPOC) has been renewed. The TSPOC provides advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Defense regarding the priority treatment of national security and emergency preparedness telecommunications services. See, Federal Register, Nov. 13, 2000, Vol. 65, No. 219, Pages 67718-67719. See also, TSP web site. |
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