Posts on ‘June 24th, 2009’

America’s so-called spam king and his cohorts are going to prison. Alan Ralsky, whom federal prosecutors called one of the world’s most notorious spammers, and four co-defendants pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court in Detroit for their roles in an international spamming scheme that sent billions of illegal e-mail advertisements to pump up Chinese “penny” stocks. The defendants then reaped profits by causing trades in these same stocks while others bought at the inflated prices, prosecutors alleged.

Amazon.com has agreed to pay $51 million to Toys “R” Us to end five years of litigation over an online-marketing alliance that went sour. Their lawyers struck the deal when they showed up in court on June 11 for a hearing on the amount of damages Amazon would have to pay Toys “R” Us for violating the exclusivity that was at the heart of their arrangement to sell toys on Amazon’s Web site. Though the settlement is confidential, 8-K filings reveal that Amazon is to pay the lump sum within 45 days.

Intellectual Ventures, the secretive “invention capital company” that lays claim to some 27,000 patents, is making tech companies that it identifies as infringing on its patents pay — in a big way. Its latest deal: a licensing agreement with financial software company Intuit that will bring in $120 million, according to sources. Tech companies deal with countless infringement accusations from patent holders — but the size of the agreements that IV has been extracting, without ever bringing a lawsuit, makes them stand out.

Although the Obama administration appears to have backed off from more extreme plans to merge the Securities and Exchange Commission in a major consolidation of agencies, the SEC may still surrender authority to the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and a new consumer protection agency. Inept as some divisions of the SEC may have been, however, it does not follow that moving around the boxes on a regulatory design chart will improve matters, says law professor John C. Coffee Jr.

Despite the bench’s mounting frustration with the senseless, slipshod way keyword search is conducted in e-discovery, lawyers still don’t know how to fashion effective, defensible queries. Until better judicial guidance emerges, follow EDD Special Master Craig Ball’s step-by-step guide.

In her work on the 2nd Circuit, Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s preoccupation with case history contributes to long, plodding opinions that some see as a weak spot in her resume. A sometimes leaden writing style has emerged as a point of criticism now that Sotomayor has been nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court — even though the writing of some current justices also fails to soar. But supporters say that Sotomayor’s focus on details and unembellished language shows thoroughness, humility and transparency.

The Justice Department on Tuesday denied a New York Times report that suggests the federal government may soon halt its efforts to compel the Swiss bank UBS to release the names of thousands of American investors amid an ongoing tax evasion investigation. “While the Department is always willing to consider settlement in any case, the suggestion that the Department is planning to drop this suit is simply untrue,” a DOJ spokesman said in a statement.

Ever since Bernard Madoff surrendered to the FBI after acknowledging he had no excuse for a fraud that exceeded $13 billion, defense attorney Ira Lee Sorkin has been in a unique position, trying to salvage what he can for a client whose guilt was established from the start, even if that means winning only an outside chance Madoff could walk out of prison for a brief period at the end of his life. Tuesday, Sorkin outlined factors he said weighed in Madoff’s favor, including his age and his cooperation with authorities.

The most effective way for a general counsel to reduce the costs of outside counsel may be to change law firms. The dramatic step can save your budget, but it confronts the incumbents’ advantage. To introduce new law firms and to reduce the disadvantages faced by hopeful new firms, so that you can consider competitive newcomers hungry for your work and test the market for cost-saving replacements, consultant Rees W. Morrison offers 10 steps to level the practice field for nonincumbents.