DMCA Abuse?
After someone electronically lifted embarrassing e-mails from Diebold Inc. and posted them online, the company responded with a tactic that more and more companies are using to put a lid on Internet distribution of sensitive information: Diebold sent cease-and-desist notices to organizations hosting Web sites and forums that had published, or even linked, to the e-mails. The messages portrayed participants in Diebold's electronic voting business confirming their critics' worst nightmares about security vulnerabilities. Information may want to be free. But specialists say that sending such notices under the 5-year-old DMCA succeeds, in the vast majority of cases, in promptly curtailing online distribution. The technique is so effective, critics contend, that it is often abused in situations where no copyright protection applies or ' as with the Diebold case ' there would be a strong fair use defense.
Net News
A company that operates numerous music Web sites will have to pay the largest civil penalty levied to date over violating COPPA, and the Federal Trade Commission is apparently serving public notice that it intends to vigorously enforce the privacy rules.
States Reach Out to Collect Internet Taxes
Realizing the sizable impact of revenues from Internet sales, key states such as New York and California now require taxpayers to declare any tax they owe on out-of-state purchases.
Record Industry Still Pursuing File-Sharers
The U.S. music industry recently sued 531 more individuals for online copyright infringement through anonymous "John Doe" styled suits. The RIAA, continuing to cite digital piracy as a major cause of slumping CD sales for the third year in a row, announced that it filed five separate lawsuits against 531 users of undisclosed Internet Service Providers.
Web-Tracking Data: An Under-Utilized Legal Resource
Several years ago, businesses like WebSideStory began offering dedicated Web-tracking services. These services can capture and analyze many aspects of Web traffic and create a multitude of customized reports. Such digital market research has become indispensable to many online businesses. (Its use has also raised many concerns about privacy, which are beyond the scope of this article.) On the other hand, it offers significant, yet largely unrecognized, benefits to trademark attorneys in their efforts to assist clients. This article briefly outlines some of the ways that trademark attorneys can utilize this data.
Canada's Music Industry Joins Piracy Crackdown
Following the lead of their American counterparts, Canada's biggest music producers recently asked the courts to order Internet service providers to identify customers who illegally swap songs on the Internet.
Coping With COPPA
While the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) was designed to rein in commercial Web sites that target children as buyers of goods, it has caused legal difficulties for those who provide services such as camps, schools, after-school activities and sports clubs. COPPA, the only law specifically to target online information privacy, applies only to Web sites that collect information from children. The providers of such services must regularly wrestle with the ways they collect prospects from their sites. COPPA requires commercial Internet sites to refrain from collecting personal data from children under the age of 13 without parental consent.
e-Commerce Sales Rise ' Again
U.S. retail e-commerce spending continued rising ' in total volume of e-sales and as a percentage of all retail transactions ' in the fourth quarter last year.
