Technology and Computers
U.S. vs. Microsoft and Related Documents
Intel Antitrust Suit
The Federal Trade Commission filed suit June 8, 1998 against Intel, accusing the computer microprocessor maker of antitrust violations. Specifically, the FTC claims that Intel violated fair trade law by withholding key information from Digital Equipment, Compaq and Intergraph in an attempt to create an unfair advantage for Intel. Citing the three companies, the suit states that "Intel’s conduct threatened to injure, and did injure, the ability of those targeted customers to remain competitive in developing and bringing to market in a timely manner computer systems based on Intel microprocessors." In response, Intel issued a press release and maintained that the company did not violate antitrust laws and that rather,
the complaint is based on a misinterpretation of the law and the facts.
Matt Drudge Libel Suit
Presidential aide Sidney Blumenthal filed a $30 million defamation suit against Matt Drudge, after the famed capricornist published an August 10, 1997 story in which he alleged Blumenthal "has a spousal abuse past that has been effectively covered up." Blumenthal vehemently denied the charges and Drudge retracted the allegations the following day. Also named in the suit is America Online, the online provider which hosts Drudge's cybercolumn called the "Drudge Report."
News Organizations Settle Suit Against Total News, Inc.
The Washington Post and several other news media organizations that maintain web sites settled their lawsuit against Total News, Inc. June 5, 1997. Total News operates a web site which allowed viewers to link to many news organizations' web sites, but only within Total News's "frame." This "framing" rendering invisible ads and other material the original news pproviders intended to be viewed along with the text. As part of the settlement, Total News agreed to cease "framing" the content.
Digital Equipment Sues Intel
Digital Equipment Corp. filed suit against the Intel Corporation May 12, 1997 in federal court in
Massachusetts, alleging that Intel, the market leader in microprocessors for personal computers, is violating a number of Digital patents with its Pentium Pro and Pentium II product lines.
Website Challenges 1996 Communications Decency Act
In a bid to persuade a federal judge that there is a constitutional right to annoy, a San Francisco-based multimedia company that operates a site called annoy.com sued the U.S. Justice Department on Jan. 30, 1997, challenging an as-yet-untested component of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. Also, read the memo of points filed by the plaintiffs Jan. 30, 1997 in support of a preliminary injunction against the 1996 Act.
Los Angeles Class Action Suit Against AOL
Five customers of America Online filed a class action on
Jan. 13, 1996 in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming AOL has
insufficient hardware to handle the demand created by its switch to
unlimited-access pricing. The customers, who claim that the resulting
bottleneck has prevented them from getting online, are seeking an
injunction that would prevent AOL from signing up new customers until
it can handle the load. Similar suits have been brought throughout the
country.
Civil Libertarians Take On New York Decency Law
A coalition of trade associations, electronic publishers and civil liberties groups filed suit on Jan 14, 1996, challenging that a New York law imposing criminal penalties for electronic transmission of "indecent" material "harmful to minors" is an unconstitutional restriction of speech.
ACLU Challenges Georgia Internet Law
A coalition of civil liberties organizations, public interest groups, and Internet users filed suit September 25, 1996 challenging the constitutionality of a new Internet law enacted in Georgia. The act makes the use of online pseudonyms and anonymous communication illegal. It also severely restricts communications that include tradenames or logos.
ACLU Brief Challenging Constitutionality of Georgia Internet Law
The ACLU of Georgia and other plaintiffs filed this brief on September 24, 1996 elaborating their arguments for the unconstitutionality of a Georgia law that criminalizes use of pseudonym and anonymous messaging in online communications. According to plaintiffs, the law illegally restrains online and is unconstitutionally vague.
Georgia Law Barring Online Pseudonyms
This is the text of the bill enacted by the Georgia legislature criminalizing use of pseudonyms and anonymous messsaging in online communication.
America Online Suit Against Cyber Promotions
America Online filed suit June 14, 1996 against Cyber Promotions, who they allege advertised an "AOL CLASSIFIED CO-OP SERVICE" and used bogus "aol.com" e-mail addresses to create the false impression that they were affiliated with AOL. AOL claims that Cyber Promotions began to deluge in late 1995 "customers with millions of unsolicited commercial e-mail messages, infuriating AOL members, resulting in member cancellations and imposing increased hardware and software expense on AOL." When AOL took steps to prevent Cyber from continuing this course of conduct, Cyber initiated litigation, claiming that it had a First Amendment right to conduct its business by means of AOL's proprietary online service.
Read AOL's suit.
Read AOL's appeal to the injunction preventing them from blocking Cyber Promotions' e-mails.
NBA v. America Online
The National Basketball Association filed suit August 28, 1996 against America Online and STATS, Inc., an electronic sports media company. The NBA claims that AOL's play-by-play accounts and descriptions of all NBA basketball games while the games are in progress, violates "the essence of the NBA's most valuable property -- real-time NBA game information."
U.S. v. Microsoft Document Collection
Check here for the latest documents relating to Microsoft's ongoing legal battles with the Justice Department.
Church of Scientology's Religious Technologies v. Netcom
According to this Nov. 21, 1995 U.S. district court order, an online service provider can be held liable for alleged copyright infringement by a subscriber. The Church of Scientology's Religious Technology Center sued Internet service provider Netcom On-Line Communications Services over the posting of allegedly confidential Church of Scientology documents on the Internet. On Aug. 5, 1996, Netcom and the church announced that a settlement was reached. It has not been released, but Netcom's new posting guidelines are available on its web site.
Settlement in America Online Billing Dispute
This settlement, reached July 1, 1996, provides users of the America Online service with free connect time as compensation for AOL billing practices that overstated the time spent using the system.
Shea and The American Reporter v. Reno
On July 29, 1996, a three-judge panel from the Second Circuit
concurred with the recent ruling in ACLU v. Reno that the
Communications Decency Act is unconstitutional.
Nowhere to Hide in Cyberspace from a Cyber Lawyer
The partners in a London law firm discuss how they used e-mail to serve a subpoena.
Online Services Join Internet Indecency Suit
A coalition of online service providers -- including America Online, CompuServe and Prodigy -- as well as non-profit organizations, and professional associations filed a suit February 26, 1996 to block enforcement of the indecent material provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The suit will be combined with an earlier suit by the ACLU and other plaintiffs.
'Must Carry' Law Upheld
In this Dec. 14, 1995 ruling, a Federal District Court upheld the 1992 "must-carry" rules that require cable television systems to carry local broadcast channels. The three-judge panel had previously upheld these rules, but the Supreme Court in 1994 asked the district court to determine whether there was enough evidence that local broadcasting was threatened by the cable industry. Judge Stanley Sporkin wrote the majority opinion.
Judge Reaffirms Prodigy Ruling
A New York judge has declined to reverse an earlier ruling that the Prodigy Services Company could be held liable for comments posted on its bulletin boards by subscribers to the online service. Prodigy had wanted to reargue a multi-million dollar libel suit filed against it by Stratton Oakmont Inc., an investment bank.
The bank withdrew its lawsuit in October but Prodigy still wanted the chance to persuade the judge to reconsider his order that Prodigy could be held liable because it acted as a publisher of information, not just as a passive carrier. In his ruling, the judge cited "a real need for some precedent" in cyberspace law.
Religious Technology Center v. Lerma
A Virginia federal court judge has ruled against the Church of Scientology in its claim that the publishing of excerpts of church documents in The Washington Post violated its rights to the material as a trade secret. Here's the opinion, issued November 28, 1995.
Church of Scientology's Religious Technologies v. Netcom
According to this Nov. 21, 1995 U.S. district court order, an online service provider can be held liable for alleged copyright infringement by a subscriber. The Church of Scientology's Religious Technology Center sued Internet service provider Netcom On-Line Communications Services over the posting of allegedly confidential Church of Scientology documents on the Internet.
Church of Scientology v. Time
This is the U.S. district court opinion and order dismissing most of a Church of Scientology libel suit against Time magazine. Judge Peter Leisure ruled on November 14, 1995, that the suit could proceed on only one of the allegedly libelous statements made in the 1991 cover story, "Scientology: The Cult of Greed and Power." The church is seeking $419 million.
Frank Music v. Compuserve: The Settlement
In this Oct. 25th agreement, CompuServe settled a two-year-old class action brought by a music publishing house for infringement of copyright on songs stored and transmitted over its system. The online service agreed to pay a one-time fee of $568,000 and promised that its forum managers will be responsible for paying a license fee of approximately 6.6 cents per transmission of copyrighted material.
Frank Music v. Compuserve: The Class Action Complaint
In this Oct. 29, 1993 class action suit, music publishers charge that CompuServe online services facilitated the unauthorized distribution of hundreds of copyrighted recordings -- including the Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and The Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody" -- by allowing digitized versions of songs to be stored on computer bulletin boards and downloaded by CompuServe users.
IBM's Anti-Poison Pill Suit
After IBM announced a hostile takeover bid for software company Lotus Development Corp., it filed this anti-poison pill suit against Lotus to prevent Lotus from resisting the bid by driving up the price of the company.
Telecommunications Bill
Here is the full text of the Senate's Telecommunications Bill, passed June 15, 1995.
Disney: Electronic Copyright Infringement
The Disney Co., which has vigorously fought for trademark protection of its property, is being sued for copyright infringement by ProActive Media, a daily electronic newsletter in Maryland. In this complaint, Proactive charges that Disney had a single subscription and knowingly violated the copyright by having a secretary forward copies each day via fax and e-mail to dozens of Disney employees around the world.
E-Mail Seizure in Cincinnati: The Warrant
In this warrant, the Hamilton County Computer Crimes Task Force in Ohio effectively shuts down the Cincinnati Computer Connection, an online service with approximately 7,000 users. The police were targeting 45 allegedly pornographic images from a private area of the system They seized all computer equipment and memory, including all the users' e-mail. In a subsequent complaint, service managers claim the images in question were accessible only by adults who applied for access to the private area.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This document contains graphic descriptions of the seized images.
E-Mail Seizure in Cincinnati: The Class Action Suit
In this class action complaint, users of the Cincinnati Computer Connection, an online service, sue local law enforcement officials for seizing their private e-mail in a raid of allegedly pornographic material stored on the computer system's memory.
E-Mail Seizure in Cincinnati: The Complaint
Hoping to seize pornographic images stored online, police raided the Cincinnati Computer Connection, confiscating the service's hardware and stored information -- including e-mail belonging to 7,000 users. In this complaint, Bob Emerson, the service manager, claims the seizure was unconstitutional.
Defamation Suit Against America Online
In this complaint, Carib Inn, a Caribbean resort, claims it was defamed when an America Online user reported that her diving instructor was "stoned" during her dive at the resort. This case parallels the ongoing litigation in Stratton Oakmont v. Prodigy.
Cox's Internet Freedom Act
This is the Internet Freedom and Family Empowerment Act, introduced June 30, 1995 by Sen. Cox of California.
America Online: Billing Case
In this class action complaint, a group of lawyers alleges breach of contract by America Online for rounding all fractions of minutes upward in calculating charges.
Prodigy: Editorial Control
After a New York trial court ruled that Prodigy was responsible for libelous statements made on its message boards, a prodigy employee submitted this affidavit in support of a motion to reargue the matter.
Prodigy Libel Ruling
This is the partial summary judgment that held that an online service can be subject to the same rules of libel as a newspaper.
An investment brokerage sued Prodigy over allegedly libelous messages an unknown Prodigy member posted online. Prodigy maintains it merely provides a forum and is not responsible for statements by nonemployees.
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