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July 2002 Volume 3, Issue 7
Editors Cherie W. Blackburn Robert W. Pearce, Jr. John C. McElwaine
1-800-237-2000 Nelson Mullins has more
than 275 attorneys firm-wide, with over 25 attorneys having
significant representation of e-commerce clients in areas including
patent, copyright and trademark protection; business planning,
securities and venture capital; and licensing, distribution and
contract preparation. Atlanta Contacts Neil Grayson Cherie
Blackburn Robert
Pearce John
McElwaine Charlotte Contact Jason
Sprenkle Myrtle Beach Contact Franklin
Daniels Columbia Contact Mark Dukes Greenville Contact Marvin
Quattlebaum William
Herlong Munich Contact Stefan Lode CyberWatch is an Internet Law Group news digest published as a service to Nelson Mullins’ clients and friends. The articles are summaries of particular developments in the law and are not intended to be a solicitation or to render legal advice. This publication can be considered advertising under applicable laws.
CyberWatch
is a trademark of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, L.L.P. |
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English City Council to Ban E-mails The Chief Executive of the Liverpool, England City Council has established an e-mail ban for Wednesday of every week. The ban limits the City Council staff’s ability to communicate electronically with each other but not with the outside world. The intent appears to be to promote the staff’s talking with each other again. A spokesperson for the City Council suggested that the Council staff “might find they have been given a useful reminder about what human contact is all about.” The Council established the once–a-week ban after determining that at least 95 percent of all internal communications were sent via e-mail. So face-to-face communication is being reinstated, at least on Wednesdays it seems. Credit: TheGuardian.co.uk Vatican Complaints Result in Internet Site Closures The Vatican newspaper recently published complaints about five Internet sites that they alleged carried blasphemies against God and the Virgin Mary. Following the complaint, an Italian Special Police Unit shut down the Internet sites by blacking out pages so that Internet visitors could not access the sites. The Vatican stated that the site closings affirmed that serious investigations can ensure that freedom of speech does not offend the “sensitivities and dignity of others.” Credit: Yahoo.com Trademark Applications Decline Along With Internet Gold Rush Following ten consecutive years of rising trademark applications, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reported a 23 percent decrease in new trademark applications during 2001. Analysts suggest that the number of trademark filings directly reflect the optimism of businesses and the success their new products and services will have. Approximately 221,700 trademark applications were filed in 2001, compared to approximately 288,000 filed in 2000. Applications are generally filed for products and services that will be available in the following months and years, and thus, reflect new company, and new product and service launches. Analysts have stated that the trademark filing bubble burst the same month that the NASDAQ Stock Index peaked, which was March 2000. During that month, more than 30,000 trademark applications were filed, making that the highest month of filings in the history of the USPTO. By December 2001, trademark applications fell to a level 50 percent below the level of March 2000. The growth of the Internet and Internet-related companies seems to have provided fuel to the fire for trademark applications, and it appears it will be some time before the heady days of early 2000 are reached again. On a positive note, with applications down, the USPTO now only has an average wait of 2-4 months for an examining attorney to begin the review of a new application, as opposed to more recent waits of 6-8 months. Credit: Law.com Internet Attacks Up Significantly According to a report by Internet security firm Riptech, Inc., Internet attacks against companies around the world grew significantly during the first half of 2002. More than 180,000 cyber-attacks were reported for the period from January through June of 2002, as opposed to only 160,000 attacks from July through December of 2001. The most heavily targeted companies were from the technology, financial services, and power and energy sectors. More than 70 percent of power and energy companies reported at least one major attack during the period from January to June 2002, while only 57 percent of those companies experienced attacks during the prior six months. According the report, approximately 40 percent of the attacks originated from computers in the United States, with most attacks, somewhat surprisingly, occurring Monday through Friday, rather than during weekends. Credit: WashingtonPost.com Internet Gambling Sites Too Easily Accessed by Children According to a recent report by the Federal Trade Commission, more than one in five internet gambling sites contained no warnings for minors and lacked screening mechanisms to keep children from gambling. With the majority of the gambling Websites based outside the United States, the FTC is debating how best to keep online gambling from becoming even more addictive for young children. The latest estimate was that these gambling sites would have 2002 revenues of approximately $3 billion. Credit: USAToday.com Minnesota Supreme Court Refuses to Enforce Internet Case The Minnesota Supreme Court recently ruled that a judgment against a Minnesota woman would not be enforced in Minnesota. The Alabama judgment against the woman was in response to her criticism in an Internet news group of an Alabama scholar in Egyptology. The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that messages posted on an Internet news group could have been read anywhere in the world and were not sufficient interaction with the State of Alabama to constitute jurisdiction for the plaintiff over the defendant. The plaintiff’s attorney vowed to appeal, stating that the ruling in essence gave those living in Minnesota the right to libel people anywhere in the world. Credit: SiliconValley.com U.S. Army Has July Fourth Release of Internet Game In a new recruiting effort, the U.S. Army released on July 4th the first installment of its new computer game that according to one report “will let players be all they can digitally be.” The Internet game, “America’s Army,” found at “AmericasArmy.com”, targets fans of other combat games such as “Quake” and “Half-Life.” Other games and versions will be rolled out in the near future as Army officials work to ensure that their computer servers can handle the expected traffic from game players. Credit: USAToday.com |
