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Skype Outage Raises VoIP Reliability Issues
Venture Business News |
2007/08/20 10:40
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IDC analyst Rebecca Swensen said the Skype outage -- traced to Microsoft's set of Windows updates rolled out last week -- serves as a reminder that the reliability of VoIP is not the same as traditional telephone networks, but she pointed out that, historically, Skype's network has been reliable, and said that the reliability of VoIP is improving. Skype said that the disruption of its service that occurred globally last week had been triggered by a massive rebooting of Windows computers around the world, and that no malicious activities or security issues had been involved. The high number of restarts, which occurred as the Windows computers rebooted after receiving a routine set of patches through Windows Update, "affected Skype's network resources," wrote Skype spokesperson Villu Arak on Monday morning. The reboot unleashed a flood of log-in requests, which -- when combined with the lack of existing peer-to-peer network resources because of the rebooting -- "prompted a chain reaction that had a critical impact." Normally Skype's peer-to-peer network has an inbuilt ability to self-heal, Arak observed. However, last week's interruption of service "revealed a previously unseen software bug within the network resource allocation algorithm which prevented the self-healing function from working quickly," he explained. |
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Comcast Wins Legal Battle With Direct T.V.
Breaking Legal News |
2007/08/20 10:05
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A legal battle between Comcast Corp. and the DirecTV Group in Los Angeles ended in DirecTV having to stop attacking Comcast in its ads.
The two companies charged each other with false advertising, but Comcast won out last week when U.S. District Judge John Grady told DirecTV it can't cite false studies claiming its High definition product is better than Comcast's, said The Hollywood Reporter Sunday.
DirecTV was using "favorable results" from a TNS survey in recent ads, though the judge said the survey compared a DirecTV digital signal to an analog signal from Comcast.
Another ad cited a survey from Alliance Consulting Group of professional home-theater installers that claimed they preferred the picture quality of DirecTV over cable, though the judge deemed that one unfair, as well.
Grady's ruling said DirecTV must "immediately cease and refrain in any territory in which Comcast provides cable television" advertising any claims stemming from the TNS or Alliance Consulting Group surveys. |
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Whole Foods Takeover of Wild Oats on Hold
Court Watch |
2007/08/20 10:01
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A federal appeals court said Monday it needs more time to consider whether to block Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFMI) from buying Wild Oats Markets Inc. (OATS).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit temporarily put the deal on hold until it can hear more arguments although the three-judge panel said the decision "should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits" of the case.
The Federal Trade Commission on Friday asked the court to stay a decision Thursday by U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman that allowed the transaction to proceed. The agency wants to block the deal on antitrust grounds.
The panel ordered the FTC to explain by Wednesday afternoon why it appealed. Whole Foods will have until Thursday to respond. The accelerated schedule suggests the court plans to move quickly.
Whole Foods is blocked "from taking any further steps to acquire the stocks, assets or any other interest" in Wild Oats until the judges issue a further ruling.
Shares of Whole Foods fell $1.15, or 2.6%, to $43.19 Monday, while shares of Wild Oats fell 7 cents to $17.85. |
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AT&T Class Action Suit to Proceed
Class Action |
2007/08/20 09:59
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A lawsuit alleging that AT&T's mobile phone customers received inferior service after the company's wireless division was sold to Cingular Wireless can proceed as a class action, a federal appeals court ruling, quoted by an Associated Press report said.
The Associated Press report said at issue was a clause in old Cingular contracts that forced customers to litigate their grievances independently, instead of grouping together for a class action lawsuit.
A three-judge panel in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the contract was a violation of California law.
The ruling is further condemnation of so-called "class action waivers," which other courts have ruled illegally shield companies engaged in potentially harmful conduct, the report said.
The court took a "clear position protecting consumers and their right to pursue class action relief," Bill Weinstein, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers, was quoted by the report as saying.
The case was filed as a national class action lawsuit in 2006 by Kennith Shroyer of Porterville, California, the report said.
Shroyer had switched his AT&T cell phone accounts to Cingular after Atlanta-based Cingular's $41 billion acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services in October 2004.
Shroyer claimed Cingular let AT&T's service deteriorate in a scheme to force AT&T customers to switch to Cingular under less favorable contract terms.
The US District Court for the Central District of California ordered the case into individual arbitration last year because of the class action waiver in Shroyer's contract, the report added.
The company said the ruling is based on language in an old contract, but didn't provide details as to how its new contracts differed. |
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Granholm appoints 2 judges to Michigan appeals court
Politics |
2007/08/20 04:56
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| Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Monday appointed two new judges to the 28-member Michigan Court of Appeals. Elizabeth L. Gleicher, of Pleasant Ridge, will replace Judge Jessica Cooper, who stepped down to start a private practice. Jane M. Beckering, of Grand Rapids, will replace Judge Janet Neff, who recently was appointed to the U.S. District Court in western Michigan. Gleicher, 52, most recently was an attorney in private practice after four years as owner and partner of a Royal Oak law firm. She is a member of the Board of Visitors for Wayne State University Law School, where she once served as an adjunct faculty member. Gleicher earned her law degree from Wayne State University and got her bachelor's degree from Carleton College in Minnesota. Her term will expire Jan. 1, 2009. Beckering, 42, most recently served as an attorney with Buchanan & Beckering, PLLC law firm and as a mediator for the Kent County Circuit Court. She earned her law degree from the University of Wisconsin and received her bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan. Last year, Beckering ran unsuccessfully as a Democratic nominee in the Michigan Supreme Court election. Her term will expire Jan. 1, 2009. Granholm, a Democrat, has appointed five judges to the appeals bench since taking office in 2003. Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Clifford Taylor has said within recent months that four of the 28 appeals judgeships can be cut to save money during the state's budget crisis. But Granholm was unlikely to agree to limit her ability to replace vacancies on the appeals court, which former Republican Gov. John Engler filled with conservative-leaning appointees. |
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Court to decide on new Taylor trial delay
International |
2007/08/19 14:46
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The Hague - Judges presiding over the war crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor are expected to decide on Monday when the case will resume after his new defence team asked for a delay.
The trial chamber of the Sierra Leone tribunal, moved to The Hague for Taylor's trial, will hold a procedural hearing Monday to discuss the request of Taylor's new lawyers to postpone the trial until January 7, 2008. The prosecution has supported the move but said in a separate motion that the length of the adjournment should be decided by the judges.
Taylor, 59, the first African head of state to stand trial before an international court for war crimes, sacked his first lawyer on the grounds that he had no chance of receiving a fair hearing.
His trial officially opened on June 4 but the case got bogged down by the legal wrangling about Taylor's defence and was delayed several times.
Finally a new defence team was installed mid-July but lead counsel Courtenay Griffiths has argued he need more time to prepare. The defence already has about 40 000 pages of witness statements and documents to read through with many more expected to come as the case moves forward.
Once one of Africa's most feared warlords, Taylor has pleaded not guilty to all 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, rape and using child soldiers during the brutal 1991-2001 civil war in Sierra Leone.
Around 120 000 people were killed in the Sierra Leone conflict, with rebels mutilating thousands more, cutting off arms, legs, ears or noses.
Taylor is accused of arming, training and controlling Sierra Leone's notorious Revolutionary United Front (RUF), responsible for many of the mutilations, in exchange for still-unknown amounts of diamonds used to fund war.
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'Grand Theft Auto' Maker Put On Notice By SEC
Securities |
2007/08/17 09:26
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| Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., maker of the "Grand Theft Auto" video game franchise, said Wednesday it received a Wells notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission indicating that the agency may file charges against the company following an investigation of its past stock options practices. It was the latest in a string of blows to Take-Two, which earlier this month delayed the release of its most important upcoming title, "Grand Theft Auto IV," and warned it would post a loss for the year. The company is also still reeling from a shareholder coup that ousted its former management earlier this year. In an SEC filing, Take-Two said the SEC staff informed the company that it plans to seek authority from the Commission to file charges and pursue a civil monetary penalty. The Wells notice gives Take-Two a final chance to respond to the SEC and convince the agency not to file charges. In the filing, Take-Two said it expects "to resolve this investigation by means of a settlement rather than a contested litigation of charges ... the 'Wells' call represents a significant step forward towards that resolution." Take-Two said in April it had received a formal order of investigation from the SEC. The New York-based company had said a review uncovered a significant number of option grants that were backdated during a period of more than six years to August 2003. In February, former Take-Two Chief Executive Ryan Brant pleaded guilty to criminal charges over backdating options, becoming the first ex-CEO to do so in recent probes into options irregularities at dozens of U.S. companies.
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Class action or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued. This form of collective lawsuit originated in the United States and is still predominantly a U.S. phenomenon, at least the U.S. variant of it. In the United States federal courts, class actions are governed by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule. Since 1938, many states have adopted rules similar to the FRCP. However, some states like California have civil procedure systems which deviate significantly from the federal rules; the California Codes provide for four separate types of class actions. As a result, there are two separate treatises devoted solely to the complex topic of California class actions. Some states, such as Virginia, do not provide for any class actions, while others, such as New York, limit the types of claims that may be brought as class actions. They can construct your law firm a brand new website, lawyer website templates and help you redesign your existing law firm site to secure your place in the internet. |
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