COLOGNE, Germany -- Boundaries in legal and judicial systems still help spammers, said representatives of law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies from the U.S. and Europe at the German Anti-Spam Summit Thurs. Despite several international antispam networks -- like the London Action Plan and the European Contact Network of Spam Authorities (CNSA) -- there are still considerable barriers to the exchange of information, they said. “What’s the meaning of having cut Dutch-language spam by 85% since we started prosecution, if we cannot catch spammers abroad?” said Wout de Natris of the Dutch regulatory body OPTA, which set up a spam task force last year.
The National Assn. of Realtors (NAR) was slapped with a Justice Dept. antitrust suit alleging its policies bar online brokers from offering better services and lower costs to consumers. The complaint was filed in U.S. Dist. Court, Chicago, after 2 years of negotiations over a digital divide between old-school real estate agents and colleagues who embrace the Internet. Simultaneously, NAR unveiled a revised policy that “continues to discriminate against innovative brokers and does not resolve the department’s concerns,” the govt. said. “The purchase of a home is one of the most significant financial decisions a family can make, and NAR’s policy stifles competition to advantage some of its members at the expense of home buyers and sellers across the country,” said Assistant Attorney Gen. Bruce McDonald: “Consumers benefit when real estate brokers are free to compete vigorously by offering innovative services.” In most markets, brokers share listings via the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) -- a joint venture among competing brokers, Justice said. Using a local MLS lets a broker show clients all properties for sale in a community. Lately, to make buying and selling property more efficient, some brokers have begun giving customers password-protected access to MLS databases. But, Justice said in its suit, NAR throttles competition by requiring NAR-affiliated MLS listers to let brokers withhold listings from other brokers’ sites via an “opt out.” This enables more traditionally minded brokers to block competitors’ customers from seeing all MLS listings, officials said. Justice wants to ensure NAR policy doesn’t let old-school agents deprive consumers of benefits that would flow from technology-aided competition. NAR said its policy is “fair, pro-consumer, pro-competitive and accommodates innovation.” After months of negotiations with Justice, the group said it, can’t understand why Justice still filed suit. Changes incorporated into the revised policy respond directly to concerns the govt. raised, the group said. NAR called its revised policy a win-win for buyers and sellers. The court will determine a pretrial schedule once NAR files a response to the govt. suit, Justice said. The NetChoice Coalition, which includes trade groups, e- commerce firms and consumers, applauded DoJ’s suit against NAR. “This is a case of the big brokers using their state licensing leverage to restrict the competition, innovation, and discounting made possible by the Internet and new technologies,” Exec. Dir. Steve DelBianco said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site a trade update regarding Hurricane Katrina, highlights of which are provided below:
The International Trade Administration (ITA) and the International Trade Commission (ITC) have issued notices, each initiating automatic five-year sunset reviews on the above-listed antidumping (AD) duty orders.
In what could be an early landmark case for blogging liability, a search engine optimization (SEO) blogger is being sued by an SEO firm on charges of disclosing the firm’s trade secrets, making defamatory claims in his own posts and publishing defamatory comments by others. In June, Traffic Power sent a cease & desist request to Aaron Wall, who runs SEOBook.com, named after his e-book on SEO tactics sold through the site. Last week a suit filed in Clark County, Nev. Dist. Court followed, demanding Wall remove all mentions of Traffic Power from the site and seeking damages exceeding $10,000.
CBP has issued an ABI administrative message announcing that, due to Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans office will be closed until further notice. CBP states that if the trade needs assistance with the electronic interface systems (ABI, AMS, AES, RLF, QP, etc.) they should call the following numbers: Los Angeles (562) 366-5593; Washington, DC. (202) 344-1140; and Miami (305) 869-5674, (305) 869-8682, and (305) 869-5748. (Adm: 05-1014, dated 08/29/05, available at http://www.brokerpower.com/cgi-bin/adminsearch/admmsg.view.pl?article=2005/2005-1014.ADM.)
A state court in Palm Beach, Fla., sided with Nextel in a case over whether the carrier should prorate its wireless early termination fees (ETFs). The case was filed by Carver Ranches Washington Park Inc. -- a nonprofit now known as the Buccaneers -- that provided Nextel cellphones to its board members. The Nextel contract called for a one-year term, subject to an ETF. Before the contract expired, the group changed its policy, restricting phone use to its executive board. It kept the unused phones without paying the ETFs. The Buccaneers claimed it’s “unfair” under Fla. law that the ETF isn’t prorated. It sought no damages but did ask for a judgment requiring Nextel to prorate the contractual ETF, arguing that an ETF is “an unlawful penalty.” But the court said the group’s president was “well aware of the terms of the contract when he signed it” and “understood the early termination fee. There were no misrepresentations or misleading statements made.” The court also said the plaintiff “never inquired about any other kinds of contracts” that don’t require ETFs. “There is no view of the evidence that indicates or infers that the practice of charging a non-prorated termination fee is… an unfair trade practice,” the court said. “There is no evidence… that damages in the event of an early termination are certain or can be calculated with reasonable certainty,” it said: “The lack of reasonable certainty supports a liquidated damages provision.” The court decision comes as the debate is heating up at the FCC over a CTIA petition asking the Commission to confirm that ETFs in wireless carriers’ service contracts represent “rates charged” for CMRS, meaning Sec. 332 of the Communications Act exempts them from state regulation (CD March 24 p7). The court’s decision was “a very clear and powerful statement that could very well influence the debate going forward,” a CTIA spokesman said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site a new "Trade Engagement Biweekly Reports" which summarize topics discussed during workshops held to develop the business requirements for Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Release 5.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued a proposed rule to amend its regulations at 19 CFR Part 351 on antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty sunset reviews in order to conform them to a December 2004 World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) decision.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a revised version of its frequently asked questions (FAQ) and responses on its final rule requiring, among other things, the advance electronic presentation of information for inbound vessel cargo.