To All Legal :

BNA Computer Technology Law Report is a bi-weekly web-based publication.  
Issue highlights come through email to subscribers. Jan 5 Highlights is 
attached FYI.   Click on the URL for interested item, it will take you to the 
full-text of that report.  I have attached a screen shot of 1st page of item 
#2 for your reference.  Once you are in the report, you may search back 
issues and browse TOC.  

If you just want to go to BNA site to view this publication.  Go to BNA 
Publication Alpha list http://www.bna.com/prodcatalog/all/alpha.html, select 
Computer Technology Law Report, sign on with USER ID:  enrony2k  Password:  
bnaweb22 . ID/PW are in lower case.  Please evaluate the publication and let 
me know if you would like to be on distribution.  

I am also getting ready to renew BNA Daily Labor Report (USER ID:  enrondlr   
PW:  bnaweb22), Daily Environment Report (USER ID:  enronden   PW:  
bnaweb22),  Antitrust & Trade Regulations Daily (USER ID:  enronatd   PW:  
bnaweb22).  If you are not already on distribution for these titles and are 
interested to receive them, let me know which ones to add your name.    


Thanks,
Sylvia Hu
Corporate and Law Information Services
713-853-6775
sylvia.hu@enron.com



----- Forwarded by Sylvia Hu/Corp/Enron on 01/05/2001 09:16 AM -----

	"BNA Highlights" <bhighlig@bna.com>
	01/04/2001 11:15 PM
		 
		 To: "BNA Highlights" <bhighlig@bna.com>
		 cc: 
		 Subject: Jan. 5 -- BNA, Inc. Computer Technology Law Report


______________________________

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY LAW REPORT
Highlights & Table of Contents
January 5, 2001
______________________________

ISSN 1529-9376

Registered Web subscribers can access the full text of these
articles by using the URL link supplied.

Information about becoming a subscriber or signing up for a
FREE Web trial is available at http://web.bna.com or call
BNA Customer Relations at 1-800-372-1033, Mon. - Fri. 8:30
am - 7:00 pm (ET).
__________

HIGHLIGHTS
__________


AOL, MICROSOFT FIGHT OVER INSTANT MESSAGING AS FCC CONSIDERS
MERGER

Two information technology giants--America Online and
Microsoft--are pulling the Federal Communications Commission
in different directions as the agency reviews AOL's planned
merger with Time Warner. Microsoft urges the FCC not to
clear the deal without imposing instant-messaging
"interoperability" conditions on AOL. . . . Page 9

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3u6d9q8_


CLAIM THAT AOL 5.0 CODE WRONGLY DENIED ACCESS TO COMPETITORS
ADVANCES

The class action litigation against America Online Inc. and
its version 5.0 software, alleging a common law product
liability claim and a violation of the federal Computer
Fraud and Abuse Act, moves forward with a trial date set for
2003 and an amended complaint recently filed. In essence,
the suits claim that the AOL 5.0 software makes it
impossible to get access to another ISP, once the software
is installed with AOL chosen as the default ISP. Also, the
plaintiffs claim, AOL knew from its beta testers that these
and other problems existed, but that the online giant
refused to fix the software before releasing it. . . . Page
5

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3u5f3f7_


LICENSE AMBIGUOUS ON REMOTE SERVICE AND STAND-ALONE PRODUCTS

A software license that did not specifically enumerate
permitted uses and contemplated purposes was ambiguous, a
federal district court in Michigan rules. Under the license
agreement, the licensee could sublicense the software only
as a component of its products. The dispute comes after the
licensee announced plans to offer services from the
company's premises remotely, via Internet. . . . Page 7

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3v0h7u3_


CIVIL SERVANT'S E-MAIL MESSAGES EXEMPT FROM RELEASE AS
PUBLIC RECORD

The contents of e-mail messages sent and received by a
county employee were public records under Washington state
law, but were nevertheless exempt from disclosure as
personal information, a Washington appeals court rules. The
court says that the number of personal messages sent by the
employee, who was being paid to perform government
administrative duties, was a matter of public concern, but
the contents of the messages were personal in nature and
outside the realm of interests promoted by the state open
records law. . . . Page 6

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3v1e2q9_

Lead Report

YEAR 2000: Xerox Corp.'s "considerable" three-year delay in
giving notice to its insurance carrier of potential
liability for Y2K remediation expenses prejudiced the
carrier and warrants dismissal of the action, a New York
trial court rules. The ruling appears to be the first to
address the notice issue, which is expected to affect
several other similar pending cases, including those brought
by Kmart Corp. and Nike Inc. . . . Page 4

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3v0z0r1_


________________

ALSO IN THE NEWS
________________

ANTITRUST: An action against Microsoft Corp. alleging injury
from unlawful monopolization of the licensing market for
Intel-compatible computers is stayed by a New York trial
court, pending a decision by the plaintiff on opting out of
a similar federal action. The court also dismisses state law
class action claims. . . . Page 8

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3u6b9c9_

ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE: The final report issued by an
independent review team for Carnivore, the FBI's Internet
surveillance tool, reiterates an earlier conclusion that the
system does not provide adequate protection from the risk of
unauthorized FBI interception of private electronic
communications. The report is largely unchanged from a
previous draft. . . . Page 10

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3u1x3c9_

TRADE SECRETS: Alleged trade secrets concerning pen-based
computer technologies, acquired by Microsoft Corp. after
they had been placed in a patent application, were not
sufficiently secret to support an action for trade secret
misappropriation by the software giant, a federal district
court in California rules. . . . Page 8

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3v1c6q7_


____

TEXT
____

YEAR 2000: Text of "American Guarantee & Liab. Ins. Co. v.
Xerox Corp.," (N.Y. Sup. Ct., New York Cty.). . . . Page 13

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3v1c7r3_


_________________

TABLE OF CONTENTS
_________________

LEAD REPORT

YEAR 2000
   Three-year delay in giving notice to insurer doomed claim
   for Y2K remediation expenses . . . Page 4
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3v0z0r1_


_________________

COURT PROCEEDINGS
_________________

ANTITRUST
   New York action against Microsoft put on hold . . . Page
   8
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3u6b9c9_

CONSUMER PROTECTION
   Case against America Online 5.0 software marches on with
   new complaint, trial date . . . Page 5
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3u5f3f7_

CONTRACTS
   License ambiguous on remote service, stand-alone product
   offering provisions . . . Page 7
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3v0h7u3_

COPYRIGHTS
   Call to hotline yields piracy settlement . . . Page 8
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3u1j1h7_

   Telemarketer settles piracy claims as part of BSA's
   'software truce' . . . Page 8
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3u1h9u5_

PUBLIC RECORDS
   Civil servant's e-mail messages were private, thus exempt
   from release as public record . . . Page 6
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3v1e2q9_

TRADE SECRETS
   Microsoft did not misappropriate trade secrets . . . Page
   8
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3v1c6q7_


____

NEWS
____

ANTITRUST
   AOL presses FCC for quick merger decision; Microsoft, AOL
   fight over instant messaging . . . Page 9
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3u6d9q8_

COMPUTER CRIME
   Congress approves bill allowing grants to local law
   enforcement for computer crime . . . Page 10
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3u3b7g9_

ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE
   Final report on Carnivore mostly unchanged; audit trail,
   use approval suggestions added . . . Page 10
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3u1x3c9_


____

TEXT
____

YEAR 2000
   New York Supreme Court, New York County, American
   Guarantee and Liability Insurance Co. v. Xerox Corp.
   filed Dec. 20, 2000 . . . Page 13
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3v1c7r3_


______________

TABLE OF CASES
______________

America Online Inc. Version 5.0 Software Litigation, In re
(S.D. Fla.) . . . Page 5
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3u5f3f7_

American Guarantee & Liab. Ins. Co. v. Xerox Corp. (N.Y.
Sup. Ct., New York Cty.) . . . Page 4
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3v0z0r1_

Compuware Corp. v. Tetranet Software Inc. (E.D. Mich.) . . .
Page 7
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3v0h7u3_

Cox v. Microsoft Corp. (Supreme Court, N.Y. (N.Y. County)) .
. . Page 8
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3u6b9c9_

Forcier v. Microsoft Corp. (N.D.Calif.) . . . Page 8
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3v1c6q7_

Tiberino v. Spokane County, Wash. (Wash. Ct. App., 3d Div.)
. . . Page 6
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/ctl.nsf/id/a0a3v1e2q9_

   _________________________________________________________
   __
   Computer Technology Law Report (ISSN 1529-9376)
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