After losing millions of dollars in similar cases in Europe, EBay has something to celebrate now that they’ve defeated fine jewelry retailer Tiffany & Company in court this week. The case which has been in the works for a number of years was relatively open and shut as the deciding judge, the Honorable Richard J. Sullivan, issued an almost 70 page opinion listing all the reasons why EBay could not be held responsible for hunting down counterfeiters. In fact, the judge has placed most blame on Tiffany & Co. for not doing more to regulate counterfeit goods themselves. Judge Sullivan declared that essentially EBay, “can rely on intellectual property holders to monitor their sites, as long as they promptly remove material when rights holders complain.”

While EBay plans to keep current regulation processes in place, there are no plans to increase the amount of counterfeit control in the US despite the changes that will be made to the European side of the site. Tiffany & Co. plans to appeal the decision to the United States Court of Appeal hoping to prove that EBay is clearly infringing upon their trademark and profiting from the crime. In the chance that the appeals court decides to rule against the online auction house, EBay will face more punitive damages but it could make it easier when it comes time to enforce new counterfeit regulations.

Source: New York Times

Twenty- seven year old Adam Vitale of Brooklyn was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and ordered to pay fines of $180,000 after spamming over one million AOL users in 2005. Vitale was set up by the Secret Service almost three years ago now under the suspicion that he had been operating under false identities in order to complete his spam services. The trap he fell into with the unidentified government informant involved distributing emails throughout the AOL community in hopes of convincing users to shell out cash for a false computer security program.

In recent years the Department of Justice has taken greater care to ensure spammers do not go unpunished as the frequency and intensity of their crimes has taken a disturbing turn for the worse around the world. In the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, specific regulations were set to define spam and make it easier to catch perpetrators, including Vitale. Vitale directly violated the act by taking advantage of other computers in order to retransmit the emails and falsify headers to make them impossible to trace, so he thought. After being charged for his violations, it didn’t take Vitale much time to decide he’d be better off admitting to his crime.
In spite of his previous 22 convictions, this spammer will see the lighter side of his possible sentence because of his confession. The DOJ seems to be sending the message that you can run but you can’t hide to any and all spammers still hoping for that successful scam.

Source: MSNBC

In an update to the Georgia gun law uproar earlier this month, a hearing has been rescheduled for August 11th to decide what course the lawsuit between the Hartsfield-Jackson airport and GeorgiaCarry.org will take. The law allowing concealed firearms to be carried in public including on mass transportation went into affect on July 1 and is causing problems for a number of Atlanta officials. Workers for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority have openly opposed the new allowance but seem to be aware that the law is most likely not going anywhere. Instead, MARTA officials and employees have drafted a petition to install bulletproof shields in their rail cars and buses. So far the petition has received over 1,000 signatures, a sign that many are concerned their safety may be compromised with the new law.

Firearm enthusiasts have been counting the legislation as yet another victory this summer but MARTA officials and members of the Georgia Restaurant Association alike feel they were blindsided by the bill. After months of assurance that the bill would not have time to pass this session, the groups feel as if they were not a given proper warning to fight its passage. While MARTA has concentrated their complaints on actions of nervous passengers injuring innocent bystanders in an emergency situation, the restaurant group finds problems with the deadly combination of weapons and alcohol. Although the law contains a provision stating anyone handling a licensed weapon in a restaurant cannot be served alcohol, restaurants are unsure how they are intended to enforce the rule. While the airports may not stand much of a chance in court, it looks like that case will not be the last legislators hear about the passage of this bill.

Source: WRDW.com, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

This week the New York Times reports a growing demand from members of Congress and women’s organizations to enforce Title IX, guaranteeing parity between the genders in education, to science departments in the country’s universities. Congressional requests have driven NASA, DOE and the National Science Foundation to conduct investigations at America’s top schools for science to determine whether the low numbers of women in certain physical sciences can be attributed to sex discrimination. If non-compliance with Title IX is found, some universities may implement quotas to ensure that more women enter these fields.

However, critics of the government’s new strategy abound, arguing that women may prefer to go into other fields, and that an assumption of discrimination actually disparages the free choice of women to enter any field they please. The statistics do reflect that while a high proportion of women are pursuing degrees and careers in science, they are largely absent from physics and engineering. However, the Times cites a study of gifted math students, in which psychologists found that talented women felt pressured by their teachers to pursue the sciences as “torch bearers” for other girls. Another study concludes that the differentiation in academic interests between girls and boys occurs long before their college years. According to these researchers, women’s actual preferences (ie, more interest in working with people) may be more to blame for the disparity in science departments than any anti-female bias.

Critics of the Title IX investigations cringe thinking about the loss of male talent that could result from university quota systems, and even female scientists decry the move, arguing that it fosters an assumption that women need the extra boost to make it in the field. But, Congress pushes on, and analysts claim that eventually, Title IX will reign supreme in the sciences.

Source: The New York Times