# Legislation to have telephone and cable television companies modify
their networks to make it easier for law enforcement agencies to conduct
wiretaps and trace messages will be introduced in Congress. The bill
promises $500 million to help communications
companies pay for the development and installation of necessary
software. The legislation is sought by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and backed by the Clinton Administration. As drafted, the
legislation will not require computer network operators to provide
special access for law enforcement agencies, but they could seek a
warrant to examine billing records and other auditing information to
determine who had been communicating with whom. (New York Times, August
9, 1994, C1.)
# A New York state judge dismissed 113 lawsuits over injuries allegedly
caused computer keyboard use, filed against IBM and at least 12 other
computer keyboard makers. The judge ruled the state's statute of
limitations expired 3 years after a carpal-tunnel sufferer
first developed the condition, not 3 years after the sufferer realized
the condition could be linked to keyboard use. (San Jose Mercury News,
August 18, 1994, 1E.)
# Bob Dylan filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Apple
Computer, Inc. for using the name Dylan (short for Dynamic Language) for
a computer programming language. (San Jose Mercury News, August 26,
1994, 1C.)
# A Chinese court recognized a U.S. company's copyright, agreeing with
Walt Disney Co. that a Chinese publisher and its distributor had pirated
children's books bearing a Mickey Mouse logo and based on Disney's
animated films. This ruling came in the first
copyright case brought to trial in China by a U.S. company. (San Jose
Mercury News, August 5, 1994, 1F.)
# The Patent & Trademark Office tentatively approved Microsoft Corp.'s
application for trademark protection for the word "windows." (New York
Times, August 29, 1994, C1.)
# Suarez Corp. and writer Brock Meeks, author of the Cyberwire Dispatch
"newswire," have settled a defamation suit over a harshly critical
article about Suarez that Meeks had published on the Internet. Under the
settlement, Meeks agreed to pay Suarez's $64
court-filing fee, to fax questions to the company if he writes any
articles about it in the next 18 months, and to pay a $10,000 fine if he
violates the settlement terms. Meeks had run up a $25,000 bill for legal
costs defending himself. (Wall Street Journal, August 24,
1994, B6.)
# The United States and Japan entered into an agreement changing the
patent policies of both countries. Under the agreement, Japan will allow
foreign inventors to file patent applications in English and do away
with compulsory licensing in some instances, and both
countries will reduce the time for determination of patent requests,
among other things. The agreement will also speed a requirement under
the new General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade that U.S. patents be
granted for a period of 20 years after date of application
rather than 17 years after issuance. (New York Times, August 17, 1994,
C.1.)
# Federal judge Harold H. Greene (who oversees the antitrust consent
decree that broke up the old Bell System) ruled that AT&T may purchase
McCaw Cellular Communications Inc., the nation's biggest cellular
telephone company. The Federal Communications
Commission still needs to approve the transfer of McCaw's radio
licenses. (New York Times, August 26, 1994, C1.)
# The Business Software Alliance, backed by Microsoft Corp. and other
software producers, is pushing for legislation that would prevent the
Federal Communications Commission from setting standards for the
computer operating system interfaces to be used in set-top
boxes that are expected to be used by consumer for access to networks
being developed by phone and cable companies. Opponents say the
half-dozen critical interfaces should be standardized and available
equally to all competitors. (San Jose Mercury News,
August 9, 1994, 1E.)
# A federal jury ordered Nintendo of America to pay $208 million to
Alpex Computer Corp., which filed for bankruptcy protection in 1985. The
jury found that 118 Nintendo video games sold before July 31, 1989,
infringed a patent assigned to Alpex for video game
consoles with removable cartridges that attach to television sets and
control moving figures on the screen. The patent expired in May 1994.
(San Jose Mercury News, August 2, 1994, 1D; New York Times, August 2,
1994, C1.)
# Advanced Micro Devices Inc. sued Altera Corp., alleging Altera's
family of programmable logic devices infringe AMD patents. (San Jose
Mercury News, August 17, 1994, 8D.)
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