Tex. Attorney Gen. Greg Abbott (R) filed a landmark lawsuit against Vonage for failing to make clear to customers that the firm’s service doesn’t provide access to traditional emergency 911 service. The suit, filed under the Tex. Deceptive Trade Practices Act, charges Vonage with “misrepresenting the type of emergency telephone service it offers, and the fact that the ‘911 dialing’ feature is not automatically included when a customer signs up for telephone service.” Abbott seeks $20,000 per violation.
Qwest made a higher offer for MCI on Thurs., changing its bid to the equivalent to $8.45 billion. MCI said it would consider the new offer and provide a response by March 28.
The U.S. Census Bureau (Census) has issued a proposed rule to amend the Foreign Trade Statistics Regulations (FTSR, 15 CFR Part 30)1 in order to require mandatory filing of export information through the Automated Export System (AES) or AESDirect for all shipments where a Shipper's Export Declaration (SED) is currently required, etc.
The U.S. Census Bureau (Census) has issued a proposed rule to amend the Foreign Trade Statistics Regulations (FTSR, 15 CFR Part 30)1 in order to require mandatory filing of export information through the Automated Export System (AES) or AESDirect for all shipments where a Shipper's Export Declaration (SED) is currently required, etc.
Intellectual property (IP) issues continue to irk, as delegates begin pushing to complete a draft Hague Conference treaty aimed at harmonizing jurisdiction over and enforcement of judgments in cross-border civil cases. With a diplomatic conference set for June 14-30 in the Hague, the U.S. Secy. of State’s Advisory Committee on Private International Law has set a March 29 meeting to seek feedback from industry, trade associations, bar associations and nongovernmental organizations on the draft’s IP provisions. European Union member states are consulting one another on IP and other aspects of the treaty.
A one-week trial before an International Trade Commission (ITC) administrative law judge is set to open March 21, pitting Gateway against Hewlett-Packard in a patent infringement case, Gateway said in its 10-K filed at the SEC.
House Judiciary Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) wants to move the omnibus copyright bill out of committee quickly and push it onto the House floor for passage as soon as next week, he told Washington Internet Daily Tues. at an intellectual property seminar in N.Y.C.
House Judiciary Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) wants to move the omnibus copyright bill out of committee quickly and push it onto the House floor for passage as soon as next week, he told us Tues. at an intellectual property seminar in N.Y.C.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) and the International Trade Commission (ITC) have issued various notices, each initiating automatic five-year sunset reviews on the above-listed antidumping (AD) duty orders and countervailing (CV) duty orders.
Several businesses, trade organizations and govt. departments. filed briefs Tues. in the MGM v. Grokster case before the Supreme Court. Content owners, legal download services and law enforcement are largely siding with MGM, while technology companies and several grassroots technology organizations are backing Grokster, as CEA did (CED March 2 p8).