Via ZDNet there is news that Sharman Networks, the investment consortium based in Sydney, Australia that owns the popular and controversial P2P software Kazaa will fight the copyright infringement lawsuit brought against them in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California (CV 01-08541-SVW, CV 01-09923-SVW) by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, after the court issued a 46… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: January 2003
Google Responds to SearchKing Lawsuit
In typical fashion, you will not find any news releases from Google concerning legal issues actually posted on their own website. However, a number of tech publications, such as InfoWorld and PCWorld, have articles today stating that Google is fighting SearchKing’s preliminary injunction, arguing that the motion “contains only bare and conclusory allegations.” The text… Continue Reading
IBM Tops in Patent Applications
IBM announced that they now have a decade-long record for the most patents granted to one company (22,357). For 2002 alone, that number was 3,288 patents. Continue Reading
Allen Introduces Bill on Net Taxes
This is actually a new posting on yet another net taxes moratorium bill, this one sponsored by Virginia Senator George Allen . “Senator Allen’s legislation will permanently ban taxes on Internet access, as well as taxes on Internet transactions by multiple jurisdictions, and discriminatory taxes that unfairly target Internet transactions.” The bill, the Internet Tax… Continue Reading
Fraud Discovered in Library/School E-Rate Fund
Something has gone terribly wrong with the FCC’s Universal Service Program for Schools and Libraries. Known as the E-Rate Fund, the objective of the program, part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, is to ensure low-cost public access to Internet services for needy schools and libraries throughout the country. The fund is capped at $2.5… Continue Reading
Intel CEO and Digital Rights
The CEO of Intel, Craig Barrett, spoke about digital rights at the 2003 International Consumer Electronics Show. His comments sought to strike a balance between fair use rights for consumers who legally purchase digital services and media, and appropriate punishment for those “who grossly violate anybody’s content.” Continue Reading
Growing Congressional Concerns About TIA
Senator Tom Harkin issued a written request on January 13 to Daniel K. Inouye Chair, Subcommittee on Defense U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriation, for a hearing to investigate the work of the Total Information Awareness Project. Quoting the Senator, “The Total Information Awareness project raises serious issues of privacy violations and legality, the choice of… Continue Reading
Microsoft Settles With California
According to a press release from plaintiff’s counsel Eugene Crew, Microsoft has agreed to a record settlement for a series of antitrust class action suits. California consumers and businesses will receive $1.1 billion for Microsoft products that they “purchased between Feb. 18, 1995, and Dec. 15, 2001, for use in the State of California.” Payment… Continue Reading
Google v. SearchKing
The legal rangling between search engine giant Google and a search engine portal aggregator called SearchKing is playing out in the U.S. Western District Court of Oklahoma. The lawsuit by SearchKing revolves around the use of Googles’ Page Rank Algorithm, a system by which websites are displayed in response to Google queries based on popularity… Continue Reading
Popular Blog Stays in the News
InstaPundit, a weblog by University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds, has garnered significant recognition and praise from the mainstream press recently (one good example is here). The site is also a top destination for the blogging community. Reynolds offers opinions, facts, links, and interviews on a range of issues, including technology and the law,… Continue Reading
Trouble With D&B's Purchase of Hoover's?
Apparently there is some controversy brewing in the purchase of Hoover’s Inc., the corporate intelligence database, by the huge financial database publisher D&B (Dun & Bradstreet), according to this article. Continue Reading
Net Gambling
According to this press release from the House Committee on Financial Services, Rep. James A. Leach reintroduced the Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act in the 108th Congress. See H.R. 566 for the text of this bill from the 107th Congress. The new bill number is H.R. 21 (not yet available on Thomas). For reference,… Continue Reading
