Man Jailed for Playing Game on Cell Phone Onboard Airplane Man Jailed for Playing Game on Cell Phone Onboard Airplane

Mobile
September 26, 2002September 26, 20022015-09-23
On September 10, 2002, a Manchester Crown Court in the UK found Fiaz Chopdat, 23, guilty of endangering the safety of an aircraft by using his cell phone to play a game during a flight. Chopdat was warned to turn his cell phone off several times throughout the flight. His refusal resulted in his arrest upon landing in Manchester.
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/man-jailed-for-playing-game-on-cell-phone-onboard-airplane

Japanese Decision Against Inventor of Blue LED Japanese Decision Against Inventor of Blue LED

Patents
September 26, 2002September 26, 20022015-09-23
In a recent decision of the Tokyo District Court, the patent for the blue light-emitting diode ("LED") was found to be owned by the employer (Nichia Corporation) of inventor Shuji Nakamura at the time the invention was made, despite the latter's claim that he was insufficiently compensated for the profit brought the company as a result of the invention (over $400 Million USD annually).
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/japanese-decision-against-inventor-of-blue-led

HP UK Suspends 150 Employees for Inappropriate Use of Computers HP UK Suspends 150 Employees for Inappropriate Use of Computers

Information Technology
September 26, 2002September 26, 20022015-07-08
Recently in the UK, Hewlett Packard suspended 150 staff involved in the viewing and sharing of unauthorized and inappropriate material using the company's computer systems.
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/hp-uk-suspends-150-employees-for-inappropriate-use-of-computers

Greek Appeals Court Revives Greece's Controversial New Gaming Law Greek Appeals Court Revives Greece's Controversial New Gaming Law

Litigation
September 26, 2002September 26, 20022015-07-08
A Greek appellate court has disagreed with a lower court's decision about the unconstitutionality of Greece's new controversial anti-gaming laws. The anti-gaming law, enacted in July, is intended to stop online gambling. However, the law effectively bans all electronic games in any public commercial place such as Internet Cafés.
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/greek-appeals-court-revives-greeces-controversial-new-gaming-law

U.S. GAO Releases Report on Online Gambling U.S. GAO Releases Report on Online Gambling

Information Technology
September 26, 2002September 26, 20022015-07-08
The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) recently released a report on online gambling. The report examines existing laws on Internet gambling at the federal level and in the five states of Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Utah.
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/us-gao-releases-report-on-online-gambling

State of Washington Wins First Case Under Anti-Spam Law State of Washington Wins First Case Under Anti-Spam Law

Information Technology
September 26, 2002September 26, 20022015-07-08
Recently, the State of Washington became the first U.S. state to win a court judgment involving its anti-spam law. Under Washington's 1998 Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail Act ("UCEMA"), it is illegal to send an e-mail that uses deceptive subject lines, a third party's domain name without permission, or a false return address. The Attorney General's Office sued Jason Heckel ("Heckel") and his company, Natural Instincts, shortly after the UCEMA was enacted, accusing Heckel of violating the UCEMA.
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/state-of-washington-wins-first-case-under-antispam-law

Danish Domain Registrar Loses Court Decision Over "co.dk" Domain Name Danish Domain Registrar Loses Court Decision Over "co.dk" Domain Name

Domain Names
September 26, 2002September 26, 20022015-07-08
On August 30, 2002, the Danish Eastern High Court released a decision preventing the Dansk Internet Forum ("DIFO"), the national domain registrar for Denmark, from revoking Digital Marketing Support's ("DMS") registration of the domain name co.dk.
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/danish-domain-registrar-loses-court-decision-over-codk-domain-name

Technology@Work: Courtroom of the Future Technology@Work: Courtroom of the Future

Litigation
September 26, 2002September 26, 20022015-07-08
Australia to Utilize the Internet to Facilitate Trial The Banco Supreme Court in Queensland, Australia, is home to the first Internet based court case. The corporate case implementing this technology is expected to last several months and will act as a test for the new system. The technology involved can be used in both District and Supreme courts and in civil and criminal cases.
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/technologywork-courtroom-of-future

Featured Link: http://www.ilrg.com Featured Link: http://www.ilrg.com

Domain Names
September 26, 2002September 26, 20022015-07-08
This is the website for the Internet Legal Resource Guide™ (ILRG). The ILRG is a mega site with a categorized index of thousands of links to law related websites all over the world. It is a good starting point when doing law related online research.
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/featured-link-httpwwwilrgcom

ICANN Takes Action to Curb False "WHO-IS" Information ICANN Takes Action to Curb False "WHO-IS" Information

Domain Names
September 12, 2002September 12, 20022015-07-08
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") has taken steps to deal with the chronic problem of false contact information in domain name registration records. Determining the true owner of a dot-com domain has long been one of the biggest hurdles faced by those seeking to prevent unlawful online activities such as trademark and copyright infringement, obscenity, illegal gambling, invasion of privacy or defamation. Domain names are registered online without any check of the information provided by the registrant. For the most part, registrars have not been willing to take steps to deal with complaints of false registration information (also known as "who-is" data).
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/icann-takes-action-to-curb-false-whois-information

Canadian Privacy Commissioner Releases Findings on ISP Accused of Withholding E-Mails Canadian Privacy Commissioner Releases Findings on ISP Accused of Withholding E-Mails

Privacy
September 12, 2002September 12, 20022015-07-08
On August 28, 2002, the Canadian Privacy Commissioner released his findings on the complaint by an individual that an Internet Service Provider (ISP) had been continuing to receive, store, and withhold e-mails from the subscriber while her account was under suspension pending the payment of arrears. The Commission found that the ISP had breached the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) by having used the complainant's personal information without her consent and by failing to sufficiently indicate in the original service agreement how it would handle e-mails in the event of an account suspension.
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/canadian-privacy-commissioner-releases-findings-on-isp-accused-of-withholding-emails

U.S. Court of Appeals Issues Opinion on Contract to Locate Venture Capital U.S. Court of Appeals Issues Opinion on Contract to Locate Venture Capital

Litigation
September 12, 2002September 12, 20022015-07-08
Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals (10th Cir) examined a case relating to a contract to pay commissions for locating investors that would provide venture capital to a technology company.
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/us-court-of-appeals-issues-opinion-on-contract-to-locate-venture-capital

AT&T Broadband Sued for Alleged Discriminatory Service Provision AT&T Broadband Sued for Alleged Discriminatory Service Provision

Telecommunications
September 12, 2002September 12, 20022015-07-08
Two Complainants in Southern Florida have sued AT&T Broadband for intentionally bypassing certain poor minority neighbourhoods when offering its high-speed Internet access. While AT&T denies the allegations, the Complaints could effectively block the proposed sale of AT&T's broadband unit to Comcast.
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/att-broadband-sued-for-alleged-discriminatory-service-provision

U.S. Appeals Court Finds Contractual Protection Apart and in Addition to Statutory Copyright Protection U.S. Appeals Court Finds Contractual Protection Apart and in Addition to Statutory Copyright Protection

Copyright
September 12, 2002September 12, 20022015-07-08
In Bowers v. Baystate Technologies, Inc., a case dealing with the conflict between the US Copyright Act and a shrink wrap license which barred reverse engineering, the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals confirmed that the rights may exist separately.
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/us-appeals-court-finds-contractual-protection-apart-and-addition-to-statutory-copyright

Man Sentenced to Eight Years for Cyber-Stalking Man Sentenced to Eight Years for Cyber-Stalking

Cybersecurity
September 12, 2002September 12, 20022015-07-08
A man convicted under a strict U.S. federal law that outlaws cyber-stalking was sentenced to eight years in prison. In June, a jury convicted Eric Bowker of stalking a television reporter by sending obscene e-mails and telephone messages and by stealing her mail.
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/man-sentenced-to-eight-years-for-cyberstalking

U.S. Court Finds Contributory and Vicarious Infringement by Madster U.S. Court Finds Contributory and Vicarious Infringement by Madster

Litigation
September 12, 2002September 12, 20022015-09-23
The U.S. District Court for Northern District of Illinois (Eastern Division) recently granted a motion by various record companies and music publishers for a preliminary injunction against the Aimster file sharing service (also known as "Madster"). In granting the motion, the Court held that the "Plaintiffs have unequivocally established that Aimster's users are engaged in direct copyright infringement" and moreover, that the Plaintiffs demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits for both the contributory and vicarious infringement claims. In coming its decision, the Court noted that Aimster "is a service whose very raison d'être appears to be the facilitation of and contribution to copyright infringement on a massive scale.'"
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/us-court-finds-contributory-and-vicarious-infringement-by-madster

EPIC and Privacy International Release Annual Privacy Report EPIC and Privacy International Release Annual Privacy Report

Privacy
September 12, 2002September 12, 20022015-09-23
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and Privacy International released the 2002 edition of their annual survey on the state of privacy in over fifty countries, titled "Privacy and Human Rights 2002: An International Survey of Privacy Laws and Developments" (the "Report"). The Report outlines legal protections for privacy and summarizes issues and events relating to privacy and surveillance.
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/epic-and-privacy-international-release-annual-privacy-report

Existence of Copyright in a Construction Site Plan Existence of Copyright in a Construction Site Plan

Copyright
September 12, 2002September 12, 20022015-09-23
In the recent decision of Sparaco v. LMS, the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals dealt with the issue of the existence of copyright in a construction site plan. The plaintiff was retained to prepare a site plan for a proposed assisted living facility. According to the Court, a "site plan is a development plan for a plot of land. It specifies existing land conditions, including topography, boundaries, and physical structures, and can also specify the proposed improvements to the site." In this case, the prepared site plan included renderings of the existing physical characteristics of the site and proposed physical improvements to the site. The developers of the property then went on to copy much of the prepared site plan in the preparation of an amended plan without the plaintiff's participation. The plaintiff commenced proceedings claiming, amongst others, for breach of copyright in the preparation of the amended plan.
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/existence-of-copyright-a-construction-site-plan

Two Clickwrap Agreement Cases — Two Distinct Outcomes Two Clickwrap Agreement Cases — Two Distinct Outcomes

Technology Contracting
September 12, 2002September 12, 20022015-07-08
The law governing clickwrap contracts was recently addressed in two U.S. cases with very different results: In Forrest v. Verizon Communication, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals examined the validity of a forum selection clause contained in a clickwrap agreement. The Court had to determine whether the appellant, Forrest, had demonstrated that the enforcement of the clickwrap forum selection clause was unreasonable under the circumstance. The forum selection clause mandated that claims be brought in Virginia. The state of Virginia is one of the only two states in U.S. that do not provide for a class action procedure. Forrest claimed that he would be denied his day in court due to his inability to file a class action suit. The court held that the appellant would still be entitled to his day in court and could still benefit from remedies that are available to individual plaintiffs. The clickwrap forum selection clause was held to be reasonable and enforced.
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/two-clickwrap-agreement-cases-%E2%80%94-two-distinct-outcomes

Japanese Police Arrest Website Operator for Copyright Violation Japanese Police Arrest Website Operator for Copyright Violation

Copyright
September 12, 2002September 12, 20022015-07-08
On a complaint from a photographer, the owner of a profitable website advertising 8,000 pop idol photographs scanned from newspapers, was arrested by police on charges of violating Copyright law.
Deeth Williams Wall https://www.dww.com/articles/japanese-police-arrest-website-operator-for-copyright-violation

Disclaimer: This Newsletter is intended to provide readers with general information on legal developments in the areas of e-commerce, information technology and intellectual property. It is not intended to be a complete statement of the law, nor is it intended to provide legal advice. No person should act or rely upon the information contained in this newsletter without seeking legal advice.

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