CB SYSTEMS GOES INTO LIQUIDATION
Latest reports suggest CB Systems, one of Scotland's few independent legal systems suppliers, has gone into voluntary liquidation. The company's user base is understood to have featured a number of well known Scottish law firms including Stronachs in Aberdeen, Thorntons in Dundee and Henderson Boyd Jackson in Edinburgh.

NAPSTER GIVEN 72 HOURS
Following the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeal's recent decision referring the case back to the trial court, Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, of US District Court in San Francisco, has now issued the injunction she reworded on the order of the appeals court.

Napster has been told it will have just 72 hours to filter out copyrighted material from its web site. But, in an unusual twist, the ruling places much of the burden on the recording industry which must first supply Napster with the title of the song, the name of the artist and the name of the file containing the infringing material it wants barred from being swapped on the service.

Hilary Rosen, president of the Record Industry Association of America, said the record labels would comply fully with the court's order and "looked forward to the end of Napster's infringing activity."

MIDWARE LAUNCH WEB BASED CRM SYSTEM
Midware Systems of New South Wales, Australia, has just launched what it believes is the first web-based client relationship management system (CRM) specifically designed for the legal market. The product is called Consero and provides staff with access to client information via the web at anytime, from anywhere.

According to Midware chief operating officer Richard Hugo-Hamman, another benefit is that "it uses carefully selected and secure live information from a firm's existing databases, not warehoused, eliminating unnecessary duplication of effort and reducing support staff requirements, it actually saves time and cost". When integrated with Midware's Open Practice PMS software, the new CRM system can also gives lawyers the ability to remotely manage their calendar, view legal documents and input matter information and actions. www.midware.com.au

HARD TIMES FOR THE BIG GUYS
Some of the biggest players in the commercial world have suffered legal setbacks this week. Sweden's Supreme Court has ruled ruled that Microsoft had no case to bring regarding the use of the name Excel by a small Swedish software company based in Gothenburg. That company started trading under the name Excel in 1983, well before Microsoft launched its Excel product in 1988. Microsoft launched legal action in 1996 after the Swedish company refused to change its name.

The next upset was dealt by the domain names arbitration body WIPO which has ruled that Scottish businessman Irving Remocker is fully entitled to the www.yourmove.com domain name he registered and is free to do with it what he wishes. His rights to the name had been challenged by insurance group CGU - the company has an insurance product called "Your move" - which claimed Mr Remocker was infringing its copyright and had registered the domain in bad faith.

And, finally, a US Appeals Court has ruled that America Online cannot assert trademark rights over other email service providers in the phrase "You Have Mail" when using it simply to inform a subscriber that there are new messages in their email inbox.

L&H TURF OUT LERNOUT
In the latest twist in the saga of the troubled Belgian speech recognition software company Lernout & Hauspie, the new CEO Philippe Bodson has forced the company's co-founder Jo Lernout to resign both from the board of directors and as L&H's chief technology officer. L&H's other co-founder Pol Hauspie resigned last year.

Mr Bodson told a news conference in Brussels that he hoped to be able to reveal within the next two weeks what had happened to the $100 million that vanished from the books of its Korean subsidiary last year. Hinting that fraud was the most likely explanation, he described Korea as "a real catastrophe... the situation is as bad as one could possibly imagine." He also confirmed that negotiations were underway to sell off various parts of the business, including Mendez translation and automotive software unit for $335 million and that the company had scheduled an EGM for 27th April.

BUDGET CONTAINS SOME CHEER FOR UK IT SECTOR
Although the budget speech by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown did not resolve the ongoing dispute between the Inland Revenue and the IT market over the IR35 tax and national insurance regime, this week's speech did contain some crumbs of comfort in the shape of proposals for tax relief on the creation of software, databases and other forms of intellectual property. The proposals will bring software in line with accountancy rules already covering other types of intangible assets. There were also complaints from the IT industry that the Treasury missed an opportunity to address the problem of the taxation of the unapproved share option schemes that are widely used by internet start-up companies.

MORE CONFUSION OVER EMAIL USAGE
Market research company Vanson Bourne has published more details of a study it recently conducted into the use of email by UK businesses. The study found that while 75 percent of businesses now use email in "legally binding situations", half the companies in the survey thought the legal disclaimers included on email messages had no legal meaning and 44 percent did not have an official policy on the use of email by staff in commercially sensitive situations.

COULD OFT REPORT OPEN UP THE LEGAL WEB ?
This week's report by the UK Office of Fair Trading has come down hard on the legal profession, suggesting that they should be subject to the full force of competition law. However while the proposals now go off to consultation and must await further action by the Department of Trade & Industry, some the OFT report's suggestions could help open up the provision of legal services via the internet.

If the ban on lawyers being involved in fee sharing arrangements with other professionals were eased, this could open the way to law firms being more actively involved in online legal service joint ventures, whereas currently they can only participate in co-marketing and referral schemes. Similarly the removal of the ban on lawyers using comparative advertising or earning fees by referring clients to third-parties would also widen the scope for their involvement in online legal services portals.

STUDENTS GO FOR GOLD
Golds Solicitors in Glasgow, in association with the Glasgow Graduate School of Law, is running a competition for post-graduate diploma students that offers them a chance to win £500 for creating the most imaginative online bulletin for their "clients". The objective is to encourage students to think in terms of using the internet as a communications medium so that when they go into practice, they make maximum use of the technology at their disposal. The closing date for the competition is 30th March.

BUTTERWORTHS STOUT JOINS SOFTLAW
Stephen Stout, the former head Butterworths Tolley in the UK, is leaving the legal publishing group to become the chief executive officer for the new London office of the Australian software company SoftLaw Pty Limited. SoftLaw is an established player in the legal expert systems market and has a number of high profile users among Australian government agencies.

Stout will be succeeded at Butterworths by Paul Virik, who takes over as the company's new chief executive office with effect from Monday 2nd April. Virik was previously with the UK business publisher Reed Business Information. www.softlaw.com.au

FEDERAL JURY CONVICTS ONLINE TRADER FOR POSTING FAKE NEWS
A federal jury sitting in Manhattan has convicted an online stock trader of securities fraud for posting a fake news release that was designed to resemble a profit warning from Lucent Technologies.

The ruling against Fred Moldofsky, a former dentist, is thought to be the first time a jury has convicted someone of securities fraud for posting bogus information online. Although others have been accused of posting false press releases on the web, those cases never came to trial because the defendants pleaded guilty to fraud charges. Moldofsky faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of at least $1 million. Sentencing is scheduled for 11th June. Moldofsky says he plans to appeal.

Moldofsky posted his fake press release, which appeared to come from Lucent, on the evening of 22nd March 2000 on a Yahoo! message board. The message said the company expected earnings to fall short of expectations in that year's second quarter. Lucent's stock initially fell 3.6 percent following the release but recovered once it was discovered the release was fake. Moldofsky's lawyers, who presented no witnesses at trial, did not dispute their client posted the message but contended he did not intend to profit from any fall in Lucent shares because he had not shorted the stock. The jury declined to accept this defence.

RANDOM HOUSE IN E-BOOK COPYRIGHT DISPUTE
The US publishing group Random House, part of the Bertelsmann group, has accused internet start-up Rosetta Books of illegally selling electronic versions of books by Random House authors. So, what's the catch?

The complication is Rosetta say they have valid contracts with the authors in question - Kurt Vonnegut, William Styron and Robert B Parker - to publish the their works in an e-book format. They also say Random House is the one who has got its legal facts wrong because it has no right to publish its authors in a digital format. While Random House admits some of its contracts predate even personal computers, it argues that its contracts are still sufficiently broadly worded to encompass new publishing media. For example, one contract talks about the right to publish "in whatever book forms may meet market demands", while a 1961 contract with Styron involves an exclusive licence to publish in English "in such style and manner as Random deems suitable".

Random House has file a lawsuit in the US District Court for Manhattan and is seeking unspecified damages as well as an injunction to stop Rosetta from selling the disputed e-book titles.

SOLUTION 6 SELLS LAWPOINT
Solution 6 Holdings has announced plans to sell its Lawpoint division to Thomson Legal & Regulatory, a subsidiary of the Thomson Corporation. The deal, which is said to be worth $75 million in cash, is part of Solution 6's ongoing strategy to dispose of its non-core assets. Lawpoint is the leading Australian reseller of government registry information.

ONLINE FRAUD NOT AS BAD AS FEARED
Finally, some good news. In its latest survey of credit card fraud in the UK, the Association of Payment Clearing Services says that while online credit card fraud has increased over the past twelve months - up from £2 million to £7 million - the growth rate was far slower than feared. Compared with the total volume of credit card fraud - nearly £300 million - APACS says internet fraud "is not a very serious issue". Half of all online credit card fraud involvement payments obtained by Caribbean-based porn web sites.

LEGAL TECHNOLOGY NEWS.COM - FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF LEGAL TECHNOLOGY INSIDER. NEXT ISSUE 15.03.2001