Embattled P2P company Lime Wire fired back a hefty salvo against the RIAA in one of the last remaining P2P infringement suits. Nearly every other sued company has closed shop or promised to move to an RIAA-blessed licensed model. But Lime Wire went to the core of RIAA’s digital music strategy the past several years, arguing in counterclaims that the trade group has conspired to fix prices and drive P2P companies out of business by refusing to license them on standard terms. In a novel argument, Lime Wire said the major labels were colluding with each other through iMesh, the first P2P client to relaunch with licenses (WID June 30/05 p5).
The Secretary of Commerce has issued a press release announcing that on September 19, 2006, the Senate passed H.R. 5684, implementing legislation for the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The Senate had previously passed such legislation under a Senate bill number (S. 3569), but was required to pass the legislation under a House bill number. (See ITT's Online Archives or 07/25/06 news, 06072599 1, for previous BP summary on the passage by the House and Senate of U.S.-Oman FTA implementing legislation. (Press release, dated 09/19/06, available at http://www.commerce.gov/opa/press/Secretary_Gutierrez/2006_Releases/September/19_Gutierrez_US-Oman_FreeTrade_Agreement_stmnt.htm.)
The Court of International Trade has issued a decision in the case Michael Simon Design, Inc. v. U.S. which upholds the importer's view that sweaters with certain Christmas or Halloween motifs are classified as "festive articles" in Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) 9505 (duty- and quota-free).
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued a notice announcing that it is revoking the antidumping (AD) duty orders on antifriction bearings and parts thereof (spherical plain) from France (ITA case A-427-801, CBP case A-427-205) and antifriction bearings and parts thereof (ball bearings) from Singapore (ITA case A-559-801 and CBP case A-559-201).
(BP is reissuing its summary of this CBP guide, which appeared in the September 18, 2006 ITT, 06091805, in order to delete all of CBP's references to Truck AMS (Automated Manifest System), as AMS is under ACS, and CBP's E-Manifest: Truck, though also an automated system, is under ACE (the Automated Commercial Environment). Other conforming changes are also made to BP's summary.)
The FTC settled with 3 alleged spam operators in cases filed in Chicago U.S. court and a 4th in Phoenix. Cleverlink Trading and partners will fork over $400,000 for its “date lonely wives” e-mail, which “violated nearly every provision” of CAN-SPAM, from misleading headers and deceptive subject lines to missing opt-out link and sexually-explicit disclosure to invalid postal address, the FTC said. Messages had sexual content in the “initially viewable” area, violating the Adult Labeling Rule, the agency said. A second Chicago defendant, Zachary Kinion, sent porn, mortgage and privacy software spam via innocent 3rd parties, paying other spammers on commission, FTC alleged. The deal bars him from repeating his CAN-SPAM violations; a $151,000 judgment was suspended on inability to pay. Third Chicago defendant Brian McMullen, d/b/a BM Entertainment and B Pimp, used porn and pharmaceutical spam to drive traffic to 3rd-party websites and used zombie networks, FTC alleged. A $24,000 judgment was suspended for inability to pay. McMullen also pleaded guilty to spam-related criminal charges involving unauthorized possession of credit cards; he awaits sentencing, the agency said. In Phoenix, John Vitale, William Dugger and Angelina Johnson will pay $8,000 to settle claims they used “zombie” computers to route spam and violated the Adult Labeling Rule. They also promised not to use 3rd-party computers for e-mail without consent.
The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has issued a final rule, effective October 5, 2006, that adjusts the number of members on the Hass Avocado Board to reflect changes in the production of domestic Hass avocados in the U.S. and the volume of Hass avocados imported into the U.S. The adjustment results in 7 domestic producer members and alternates and 6 importer members and alternates (rather than 8 domestic members/alternates and 5 importer members/alternates). (D/N FV-06-701-FR, FR Pub 09/05/06, available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/pdf/06-7372.pdf)
CBP has posted to its Web site a notice announcing a "weekly" special import quota of 23,276,125 kg for upland cotton purchased not later than December 5, 2006 and entered under HTS 9903.52.22. The quota period is September 7, 2006 through March 5, 2007; the opening date is September 7, 2006 at 1:00 p.m. EDT, or its equivalent in other time zones.
The Dept. of Justice, 16 state attorneys general and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sided with the Bells’ plea that the U.S. Supreme Court reject a class-action suit charging them with “parallel action” and “conspiracy.” The suit, by customers William Twombly and Lawrence Marcus, was thrown out by the U.S. Dist. Court, N.Y., but reinstated last year by the 2nd U.S. Appeals Court, N.Y. The Supreme Court has accepted the case -- Bell Atlantic v. Twombly -- but not set oral argument. One source speculated that oral argument would be late this year. Briefs by Twombly and supporters are due Oct. 13.
The U.S. Appeals Court, Federal Circuit, rejected the challenge of Jack Benun -- onetime Concord Camera CEO -- of a lower court’s jurisdiction to bar import of single-use cameras that infringe Fuji patents. Fuji’s legal battle with Benun dates to 1998, when the camera maker filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission seeking to block imports of Jazz Photo’s single-use cameras it alleged infringed its patents. The ITC eventually ordered Jazz’s cameras seized and imposed a $13 million penalty for violations of an exclusion order. In a related case filed in federal district court, Fuji was awarded $29 million in damages for patent infringement. Jazz filed for bankruptcy in 2003 and liquidated 2 years later, selling its interest in 1.4 million single-use cameras to Benun-controlled Ribi Tech. Fuji sued Benun and Ribi in April 2005 and was granted a preliminary injunction barring Ribi from selling the cameras. Ribi argued that once the ITC entered an exclusion order, the district court was prevented from considering import issues involving the same goods. The appeals court rejected the claim, ruling that an exclusion order “does not alter the district court’s authority to proceed with remedies that may affect the same goods.”