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.
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 MPAA announced a new round of lawsuits Thurs. against people using file-sharing networks to trade films. Several films nominated for this Sun.’s Academy Awards, such as Sideways and The Incredibles, are mentioned in the group’s lawsuits.
So much has changed since the Supreme Court’s Betamax decision that the “exact contours [of copyright law] are very much in play” regarding P2P networks, said e-commerce and intellectual property attorney James Halpert in a phone conference last week hosted by the Information Technology Assn. of America (ITAA).
So much has changed since the Supreme Court’s Betamax decision that the “exact contours [of copyright law] are very much in play” regarding P2P networks, said e-commerce and intellectual property attorney James Halpert in a phone conference Fri. hosted by the Information Technology Assn. of America (ITAA).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has presented its final version of is new Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) security standards for importers to the Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection and Related Functions (COAC). During the February 15, 2005 COAC meeting, CBP officials noted that they will also be issuing frequently asked questions (FAQs) and responses regarding the revised C-TPAT security standards. (See ITT's Online Archives or 01/13/05 news, 05011305, for BP summary of Draft 3 of CBP's new C-TPAT security standards for importers.)
According to a U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USA-ITA) Textile Development Memo, on February 7, 2005, the government filed a motion with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) seeking a 'stay' of the preliminary injunction (that prevents CITA from taking further action on threat-based China safeguard petitions), pending consideration of is appeal, which they also asked for from the CIT, and the CIT denied. (USA-ITA TDM, dated 02/10/05, www.usaita.com.)
Genesis Microchip incurred about $3.5 million in legal expenses 4th quarter, including for lawsuits involving Silicon Image and several Taiwanese display controller suppliers. The U.S. Appeals Court, Federal Circuit, dismissed in Jan. Genesis’ appeal of a lower court ruling that found binding a proposed settlement of a patent infringement suit filed against it by Silicon Image. The appeals court dismissed the challenge for lack of jurisdiction, saying the case hadn’t been fully resolved in district court. Meanwhile, MStar filed an appeal with the U.S. Appeals Court, Federal Circuit, seeking to overturn an International Trade Commission (ITC) order last Aug. that barred the company from marketing its display controllers in the U.S. The ITC found that controllers sold by MStar, along with Trumpion International and Media Reality Technologies (MRT), had infringed patents held by Genesis. Trumpion and MRT haven’t filed appeals. In a separate case, a June hearing on a Genesis motion for summary judgement is scheduled in U.S. Dist. Court, San Jose, in a patent infringement suit brought against MRT in March 2002. MRT has countered by alleging trade secret misappropriation and interference with economic advantage.
The Journal of Commerce Online (JoC Online) reports that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary-designate Michael Chertoff testified before a Senate committee on February 2, 2005 and opined that the port security grant program should be re-focused to address threats of WMDs being transported in sea containers. Chertoff also noted, among other things, that he would review DHS' overall structure and clarify the roles of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). (JoC Online Pub 02/03/05, www.joc.com)
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 order.