When Classmates.com rebranded as MemoryLane.com, users who were angry at the social network for its marketing practices -- the subject of a settlement (WID March 2 p7) -- instead bombarded a sports memorabilia company with the same name, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Calif. Memory Lane Inc., which operates MemoryLaneInc.com, said its reputation was tarnished because of the Classmates.com rebranding. Classmates.com customers have contacted Memory Lane Inc. “on numerous occasions” starting in February, claiming the company has “defrauded them or is the source of credit card charges they wish to dispute,” the lawsuit said. Memory Lane Inc. said Classmates.com misappropriated its name “in a willful attempt to piggyback off of plaintiff’s good will and reputation in the memorabilia industry,” and it has suffered economic and good-will losses from customers. It asked for a permanent injunction stopping Classmates.com from using the “Memory Lane” name. MemoryLane.com redirects to Classmates.com but the landing page is dominated by the Memory Lane business, which offers access to classic movies, albums, magazines, video and celebrities going back to the 1940s, in addition to a social network based on old yearbooks. Though United Online owns Classmates.com, it’s not named in the lawsuit. We couldn’t immediately reach United Online for comment. The Senate Commerce Committee has said Classmates.com was the biggest beneficiary of so-called datapass marketing, in which websites’ customers unwittingly sign up for third-party marketing offers during the checkout process and have their payment information handed over without their knowledge (WID Nov 18/09 p1).
The videogame industry declared a decisive victory Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of it in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) and Entertainment Software Association (ESA). ESA President Michael Gallagher and Paul Smith, ESA counsel, indicated in a phone briefing with reporters that they weren’t concerned about a possible return to the issue by the court in the future despite dissenting opinions by Justices Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer, as well as concurring opinions by Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts that said those two justices might be open to ruling differently if “differently framed statutes are enacted by” a state or the U.S. government.
The videogame industry declared a decisive victory Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of it in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) and Entertainment Software Association (ESA). ESA President Michael Gallagher and Paul Smith, ESA counsel, indicated in a phone briefing with reporters that they weren’t concerned about a possible return to the issue by the court in the future despite dissenting opinions by Justices Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer, as well as concurring opinions by Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts that said those two justices might be open to ruling differently if “differently framed statutes are enacted by” a state or the U.S. government.
Texas public safety officials and Motorola Solutions officials spoke by phone with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff to address questions from the FCC regarding the most recent draft of the Interoperability Showing Technical and Operational Response for Texas’ 700 MHz broadband public safety network, an ex parte filing said. Topics that were discussed during the teleconference included acquiring the Public Land Mobile Network ID for the network, requirements for assuring infrastructure interoperability, radio frequency performance requirements and timetables, and performance and conformance requirements for the system’s network and user equipment.
On June 23, 2011, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano signed a joint statement with several European Union Commissioners on global supply chain security cooperation, which identifies several areas for possible joint action, including common practices for high risk cargo, mutual recognition of customs controls, etc.
The U.S. has made “significant progress” on getting fast Internet service to rural areas, but “the broadband deployment and adoption gaps” remain “significant,” the FCC said in an update on rural broadband released Wednesday. Nearly 19 million rural Americans lack access to fixed broadband of at least 3 Mbps downstream and 768 kbps up, the commission said in its update to the 2009 rural broadband report. That population accounts for nearly three-quarters of the nation’s broadband “gap,” the report said. “Close to three out of ten rural Americans -- 28.2 percent -- lack access to fixed broadband at 3 Mbps/768 kbps or faster, a percentage that is more than nine times as large as the 3.0 percent that lack access in non-rural areas."
The U.S. has made “significant progress” on getting fast Internet service to rural areas, but “the broadband deployment and adoption gaps” remain “significant,” the FCC said in an update on rural broadband released Wednesday. Nearly 19 million rural Americans lack access to fixed broadband of at least 3 Mbps downstream and 768 kbps up, the commission said in its update to the 2009 rural broadband report. That population accounts for nearly three-quarters of the nation’s broadband “gap,” the report said. “Close to three out of ten rural Americans -- 28.2 percent -- lack access to fixed broadband at 3 Mbps/768 kbps or faster, a percentage that is more than nine times as large as the 3.0 percent that lack access in non-rural areas."
GENEVA -- Differences have emerged in ITU-R over how to respond to a proposal for a new International Special Committee on Radio Interference (CISPR) database that would be used to set emissions limits on electronic devices, according to letters between the two organizations. Past CISPR work on power line telecommunications (PLT), which a representative recently said resulted in no solution after 10 years of work, does not inspire confidence, said John Shaw, chairman of the reporting group on PLT issues in the ITU-R study group on the broadcasting service.
The FCC should give native tribes priority in allocating and licensing spectrum, create a special “Native Nations Broadband Fund” and take on a “tribal-centric” view of economic development, Native American groups said in comments in docket 11-41. The National Congress of American Indians, Native Telecom Coalition for Broadband, National Tribal Telecommunications Association, American Library Association and Alexicon Telecommunications Consulting endorsed some form of a broadband fund for tribes. “The FCC must take extraordinary measures to provide parity of communications service with non-Native communities,” the Tribal Telecom Association said in a joint filing with the Gila River Telecommunications Association. “Since the passage of the 1996 Telecom Act, only three Native governments have attained full regulatory self-provisioning [eligible telecommunications carrier] status.”
The Congressional Research Service has recently issued a report on sector-specific concerns of the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). Some of the concerns reported by CRS were also expressed in industry advisory committee reports1 that were submitted to the U.S. Trade Representative in 2007. These concerns include provisions of the KORUS FTA regarding beef, various agricultural products, pharmaceuticals, etc.