By Geng Chen DOJ Defends Expansive Interpretation of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act NPR reports that Richard Downing, deputy chief of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section at the Department of Justice, testified before a House Judiciary subcommittee on the DOJ’s proposal to broaden its reading of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”). An advance copy of Downing’s written statement, obtained by CNET, advocated for criminal prosecutions based on violations of Web sites’ “terms of service” policies or ... Read More...
Archive for the ‘Antitrust’ Category
By Adam Lewin Damages Reinstated by First Circuit in Tenenbaum / RIAA Suit The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reinstated a $675,000 jury verdict entered against Joel Tenenbaum for copyright infringement of 30 sound recordings accomplished using file-sharing software. At trial, the jury determined that Tenenbaum was guilty of willful infringement and awarded the plaintiff record companies statutory damages of $22,500 for each song as permitted under 17 U.S.C. § 104(c). Judge Nancy Gertner of the ... Read More...
By Andrew Crocker AT&T/T-Mobile Merger Blocked by Justice Department The New York Times reports that the Justice Department is seeking to prevent the proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile, which are respectively the second and fourth largest mobile carriers in the United States. In a suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Justice Department stated that the merger would “substantially lessen competition” in the wireless marketplace and lead to price increases. According to Bloomberg ... Read More...
Written by Mehdi Eddebbarh & Jack Burns Edited by Albert Wang Editorial Policy I. Introduction Patent law strives to stimulate innovation by awarding inventors a temporary monopoly over patented inventions. Antitrust law seeks to ensure efficient competition, in part by restricting monopolistic behavior. Perhaps the most scrutinized area of intersection between patent law and antitrust law is the proper treatment of “reverse payments,” also referred to as “pay-for-delay” settlements. Arkansas Carpenters Health and Welfare Fund v. Bayer AG, 625 F.3d ... Read More...
By Nathan Lovejoy Lime Wire Damages Limited To One Statutory Damage Award Per Work Judge Kimba Wood ruled on March 10th that the statutory damages provision of the Copyright Act authorizes only one damage award per work infringed rather than one award for every infringement. Wood noted that had she adopted the record industry plaintiff’s interpretation the potential damages against the file-sharing software company would be “more money than the entire recording industry has made since Edison’s invention of the ... Read More...
