E-TIPS

Most people rely on passwords to prove their identity online. However, in an era in which personal information can be easily stolen through key stroke recording or "phishing" attacks, passwords may no longer be up to the task of providing adequate security.

The recent South Korean announcement of a major advance in stem cell cloning has brought into sharper focus the legal status of such work in several countries.

Charges for sending unsolicited e-mail have been laid against seven individuals and two companies in Massachusetts and two men in Florida under the federal Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM Act) and state anti-spamming legislation. The statistics cited by law enforcement officials indicate the scope of the scourge.

In the US, the conjunction of new regulatory requirements and a recent blockbuster trial judgment have caused much re-thinking of corporate records policies, including the timing of the disposal of e-mail messages.

The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) has published its annual review of countries' intellectual property rights (IPR) practices and, once again, Canada has been included in the Special 301 Report, named after the legislative provision which requires the annual review.

Concluding years of opposition and appeals proceedings, the European Patent Office (EPO) Technical Board of Appeal (TBA) has decided to uphold Monsanto Co.'s European patent relating to the production of herbicide-tolerant plants (EP 546090).

Bill C-29, An Act to Amend the Patent Act, received Royal Assent on May 5, 2005. The Bill, in part, amends the Canadian Patent Act in response to fallout from the Dutch Industries decision reported previously in E-TIPS® (Vol 2, No 14, December 18, 2003 and Vol 3, No 14, December, 2004).

The US Court of Appeals for the DC District has ruled that the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lacks legislative authority to regulate TV broadcast signals via copy protection technology known as the "broadcast flag".

On April 27, 2005, US President Bush signed into law the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 (S 167 and HR 357) (Act) ensuring that movie-filtering technologies are protected from trade-mark and copyright infringement claims (see E-TIPS® Vol 3, No. 19, March 9, 2005).

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is widely expected to rule imminently that voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) transmissions should be regulated the same way as traditional phone services.

On April 21, 2005, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) announced that its membership (which includes all major Canadian cell phone suppliers) will act upon a federal government budget directive, and create an implementation plan by September 1, 2005, setting a timeline for full telephone number portability. Portability will include exchange of numbers between cell phone carriers and from landline carriers to cell phone carriers.

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Jennifer Stoddart, has released her findings regarding the breach of privacy represented by misdirected faxes from Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC).

Following a year-long investigation, the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) recently announced the break-up of several Internet rings involved in the online sale of drugs.

The United States achieved partial victory in its World Trade Organization (WTO) appeal, Re United States: - Measures Affecting the Cross-Border Supply of Gambling and Betting Services. The WTO Appellate Body report, issued April 7, 2005, reversed the earlier finding of a WTO Panel, and found that the US legislation against gambling (see the Wire Act, the Travel Act and the Illegal Gambling Business Act) is necessary to protect public morals and order. However, the WTO Appellate Body also affirmed that the United States was in violation of its international obligations as the Interstate Horseracing Act applies remote betting rules differently as between foreign and domestic bookies.

The "nearly unlimited freedom" of the Internet and the absence of legislation on Internet child pornography in many countries have left a "dangerous vacuum" exposing children to the risk of abuse worldwide, according to Juan Miguel Petit, United Nations Special Rapporteur on child prostitution and pornography.

The 400,000-member American Bar Association (ABA) has urged Congress to reform US patent law to bring it into line with the rest of the world by adopting a "first-inventor-to-file" rule, instead of its current "first-to-invent" rule.

A BC court has found that the provincial government's outsourcing of personal information to a US-linked company is not an unreasonable infringement of privacy rights.

On Friday, March 30, 2005, without filing for regulatory approval and in the face of Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) Public Notice 2004-2, Bell Canada expanded its VoIP technical trial service from Sherbrooke to a full offering including Sherbrooke, Quebec City and Trois-Rivières. There is some doubt whether Bell Canada is required to seek approval for VoIP services within Ontario and Quebec, but it has elected to move forward in the face of VoIP competition from Vidéotron in Quebec and Rogers in Ontario. Being the local telephone service provider incumbent, Bell Canada is required by the CRTC to file a tariff for changes to its local telephone services in Ontario and Quebec.

On April 4, 2005, as part of its promised regulatory framework under Public Notice 2004-2, the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued Decision 2005-21 on emergency service response. (The Public Notice also indicated that the CRTC will issue decisions on the tariffs and the contribution regime applicable to VoIP and those decisions are expected later this year.)

Chapters 12 (Utility and Subject-Matter) and 16 (Computer Implemented Inventions) of the Canadian Manual of Patent Office Practice (MOPOP) have recently been amended. Published in February 2005, the amendments are part of a process for updating the Canadian Intellectual Property Office's patent examination manual. Although lacking the legal authority of statute or case law, MOPOP is more than a guide for Office procedures; it serves as a de facto statement of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office's policy views.