Volume 6, Issue 5

Editors

Robert W. Pearce, Jr.

John C. McElwaine

 Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, L.L.P.

1-800-237-2000

www.nelsonmullins.com

Nelson Mullins has more than 350 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

neil.grayson@nelsonmullins.com

  Lloyd Farr

lloyd.farr@nelsonmullins.com

  Charleston Contacts

High speed Internet use surges

The Federal Communications Commission recently reported that high speed Internet use by businesses and households in the United States rose 34 percent in 2004 to 37.9 million lines. The head of the agency said that with the U.S. ranking approximately sixteenth in the world in terms of broadband use, the deployment of high speed Internet use through broadband is the agency’s highest priority. (source: siliconvalley.com)

Southern Cal has its records hacked

The University of Southern California’s online application database was hacked, but how many records were actually downloaded is currently unknown. The Southern California database contains approximately 270,000 records of past applicants, with records including such information as names and Social Security numbers of the applicants. The university has pledged that it will beef up its security measures on this Web site. (source: c/netnews.com)

Teenagers prefer IM over email

According to a recent survey by the non-profit Pew Internet and American Life Project, teenagers in the U.S. prefer instant messaging to communicate with each other online. Even though the study showed that 90 percent of online teens also use email, there was much greater enthusiasm for instant messaging. Seventy-five percent of teenage Internet users use instant messaging frequently, with nearly half of them saying that they exchanged instant messages on a daily basis. Nearly one-third of the teenagers said they had sent music or video clips over instant messaging. The survey also found that 90 percent of teenagers say they use the Internet, up from 74 percent. (source: thewashingtonpost.com)

Thirteen students charged with computer felonies in Pennsylvania

In Kutztown, Pennsylvania, a group of thirteen high schoolers have been charged with felonies for using school-issued laptops improperly, downloading forbidden Internet information and using monitoring software to actually spy on district administrators. Certain parents of the high schoolers claim that authorities are overreacting just because their kids outsmarted the school district’s technology workers. However, the school district begs to differ and states that it only reported the students to police after other punishments including detentions and suspensions failed to stop the improper computer usage. A school official said that the students “fully knew it was wrong and they kept doing it” after being warned. “Parents thought we should reward them for being creative. We don’t accept that.” (source: washingtonpost.com)

Apple loses iPod patents to Microsoft

Certain patents related to Apple’s iPod device were recently rejected. Apple lost its attempt to patent some of its device’s technology because rival Microsoft had filed a similar application five months previously. Apple plans to appeal the decision in an effort to make sure that it does not have to pay royalties to Microsoft for each iPod sale. Apple’s sale of iPods accounted for approximately 75 percent of all MP3 players sold in the U.S., according to a recent survey. (source: siliconvalley.com)