Lawyers in Love
Remaining the master of your cyber-domain
And sending holiday greetings

"Last night I watched the news from Washington, the capitol
The Russians escaped while we weren't watching them, like Russians will
Now we've got all this room, we've even got the moon
And I hear the U.S.S.R. will be open soon
As vacation land for lawyers in love"

"Lawyers In Love", by Jackson Browne

It does seem lately that our legal system has gotten strangely involved in our industry, but I can't decide whether so far the contribution is positive or negative. Consider the following news items:

• The convicted cracker Chris Lamprecht (known as Minor Threat) is restricted from using a computer while he is in prison, and once he is released cannot get work that involves using a computer or any kind of modem or telecommunications. This is perhaps the first time I've heard of a judge trying to exclude someone from cyberspace.
• The conflict over civil rights lawyer William Kunstler's legacy was resolved about a week ago when a judge ruled that his former colleague, Ron Kuby, had to relinquish the password on Kunstler's computer files to Kunstler's widow. Kuby also has to give up using Kunstler's name in his own legal business. This is the first time I've heard of a judge trying this tactic.
• If you thought that domain name conflicts were last year's news, a quick check to this web site will convince you that the number of cases is continuing to grow where two parties both want the same plot of cyberspace. A proposal before the IETF to expand the top-level domains (to things as company.biz etc.) will only make this worse.
• Finally, last week an international body came together to figure out where copyright law and practice should go, and part of the debate was what to do about various cyberspace issues. For example, if I have a copy of picture in my browser's cache, does that mean fair use or royalty due? Of course, our Senate (along with the appropriate legislative bodies around the world) still has to ratify this treaty.

Remaining the master of your cyber-domain

You see, someone else is using the name Web Informant for a print publication, and I am not a happy camper about it. Of course, they began using the name about a year after I did. We have both filed claims to trademark the name: on my application is the date I began using the name (September 1995). On their application is a date in 1990 (which is curious because the web to my knowledge didn't even exist in 1990). Generally, the trademark office looks for the date of first use and rules accordingly.

I don't want to get into all the legal nuances here. The other guys have a whole bunch of other "Informant" publications, and claim they own the entire series of marks, and that the 1990 date is the date when they began using the overall "informant" name. So, lawyers in love.

Holiday greetings!

I don't mean to suggest that all forms of electronic holiday cheer are bummers. For example, someone at First Virtual Holdings sent me a pre-paid card, which could be viewed just by clicking on the URL. You can buy your own greetings at their site, too.

Others sent me URLs to view pictures on their web site, which is equally nice. And if you haven't checked out GreetSt, do check it out and set up your entire 1997 reminders for birthdays, anniversaries, and the like. They'll send you friendly email when the time approaches, and generate attractive cards that will be mailed to your loved ones.

No, the humbug is for those people that send things like 1.5 megabyte email attachments or executable files that play various ditties. Neither are appreciated for download time or potential virus threats. (Indeed, I don't particularly like getting Word documents via email anymore but that is the subject of another column.)

Have a happy and safe holidays, and thanks for all your support, words of wisdom, wonderful and wild wit, and just plain attention over the past year.

David Strom
david@strom.com
+1 (516) 944-3407
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entire contents copyright 1996 by David Strom, Inc.