AllThingsD » penalties http://allthingsd.com Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:49:25 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://allthingsd.com/theme/images/logo-rss.jpg All Things Digital http://allthingsd.com/ 144 22 Oracle to SAP: You Owe Us Another $212 Million http://allthingsd.com/20101210/oracle-wants-another-212-million-from-sap/ http://allthingsd.com/20101210/oracle-wants-another-212-million-from-sap/#comments Sat, 11 Dec 2010 06:15:14 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=54220 Oracle is putting the screws to SAP again.

In court papers filed Friday, the company demanded SAP pay it $212 million in interest on top of the $1.3 billion in damages it was awarded in the TomorrowNow lawsuit. Should Oracle’s demand be approved, SAP’s total penalties would rise to $1.63 billion.

SAP, which argued in court that it should be held liable for no more than $28 million, clearly has no plans to pay Oracle the interest to which it says it’s entitled.

Said an SAP spokesman, “We don’t believe that Oracle is entitled to any additional compensation beyond the final judgement in this case.” 

Reached for comment, Oracle declined to give one.

PREVIOUSLY:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101210/oracle-wants-another-212-million-from-sap/feed/ 0 FCC to Google: A $350 “Equipment Recovery Fee”? What's Up With That? http://allthingsd.com/20100127/fcc-to-google-a-350-%e2%80%9cequipment-recovery-fee%e2%80%9d-whats-up-with-that/ http://allthingsd.com/20100127/fcc-to-google-a-350-%e2%80%9cequipment-recovery-fee%e2%80%9d-whats-up-with-that/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:02:30 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=33604 The Federal Communications Commission, which has sent letters to all major carriers regarding their wireless early-termination fees, has expanded its investigation to include an industry newcomer: Google.

On Tuesday, the agency sent a letter to the search company inquiring about the $350 “equipment recovery fee” it has attached to its new Nexus One phone. Levied in addition to a $200 termination fee from T-Mobile, Google’s charge means that Nexus One users who cancel service in under 120 days face a total of $550 in penalties.

“The combination of ETFs from Google and T-Mobile for the Nexus One is unique among the four major national carriers,” the FCC said in its letter. “Consumers have been surprised by this policy and by its financial impact. Please let us know your rationale(s) for these combined fees, and whether you have coordinated or will coordinate on these fees and on the disclosure of their combined effect.”

Among the other questions put to Google:

  • Does the ETF itself vary by device (e.g., higher ETFs for advanced devices)? If higher ETFs apply to a certain class of devices, exactly how is that class defined?
  • Are ETFs prorated so that the customer’s liability decreases over time? If so, what is the exact schedule by which they are prorated?
  • Press reports and public statements from wireless companies have attributed ETFs to several different factors. What is the rationale for your ETF(s), and how specifically do the structure and level of those ETF(s) relate to that rationale?

Google (GOOG) has previously dismissed questions likes these, claiming fees like those it has implemented are “standard practice” for third-party resellers of mobile service, who are only trying to recoup subsidies they offer customers who sign up for multiyear service contracts.

But that doesn’t quite explain why the fees charged by Google and T-Mobile together amount to far more than most ETFs. Now that the FCC is asking, Google will have to offer a more complete explanation.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100127/fcc-to-google-a-350-%e2%80%9cequipment-recovery-fee%e2%80%9d-whats-up-with-that/feed/ 0 Google CEO: I Ain’t Afraid of No Feds… http://allthingsd.com/20090508/google-ceo-i-ain%e2%80%99t-afraid-of-no-feds/ http://allthingsd.com/20090508/google-ceo-i-ain%e2%80%99t-afraid-of-no-feds/#comments Sat, 09 May 2009 00:02:27 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=17300

[ See post to watch video ]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090508/google-ceo-i-ain%e2%80%99t-afraid-of-no-feds/feed/ 0 Sun Open-Sources U.S. Antibribery Laws http://allthingsd.com/20090508/sun-open-sources-us-anti-bribery-laws/ http://allthingsd.com/20090508/sun-open-sources-us-anti-bribery-laws/#comments Fri, 08 May 2009 18:39:10 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=17271 briberyA couple bombshells in Sun Microsystems’s latest 10-Q filing. Seems the company believes it may have violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans the bribery of foreign government officials. “During fiscal year 2009, we identified activities in a certain foreign country that may have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). We initiated an independent investigation with the assistance of outside counsel and took remedial action,” the company explained in the filing. “We recently made a voluntary disclosure with respect to this and other matters to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the applicable governmental agencies in certain foreign countries regarding the results of our investigations to date. We are cooperating with the DOJ and SEC in connection with their review of these matters and the outcome of these, or any future matters, cannot be predicted.”

It’s not clear what activities are at issue here, but if they’re found to be in violation of the FCPA, Sun (JAVA) could be in a for a rough time of it. As the company itself notes, “The FCPA and related statutes and regulations provide for potential monetary penalties, criminal sanctions and in some cases debarment from doing business with the U.S. federal government in connection with FCPA violations, any of which could have a material effect on our business.”

Also disclosed in the filing: three class action suits seeking to block Oracle’s $7.4 billion acquisition of the company. “Three putative shareholder class action were filed by individual shareholders on April 20, 2009, April 30, 2009 and April 30, 2009, respectively, in Santa Clara County Superior Court naming Sun and certain of our officers and directors, as well as Oracle Corporation, as defendants,” Sun explains. “The complaints, which are similar, seek to enjoin the proposed acquisition of Sun by Oracle Corporation and allege claims for breach of fiduciary against the individual defendants and for aiding and abetting a breach of fiduciary duty against the corporate defendants. The complaints generally allege that the consideration offered in the proposed transaction is unfair and inadequate. Sun and the other defendants have not yet responded to the complaints.”

Wonder what Oracle (ORCL) will make of all this?

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090508/sun-open-sources-us-anti-bribery-laws/feed/ 1 NBC Universal CEO: I Can Has Pro-IP Act? http://allthingsd.com/20080502/pro-ip/ http://allthingsd.com/20080502/pro-ip/#comments Fri, 02 May 2008 07:00:07 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20071207/pro-ip/ zucker_lolz.jpg
If there was an Emmy Award for legislation production, NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker would surely win it. Last October he called upon Congress to pass a bill that would create a dedicated intellectual-property enforcement bureau and today it’s looking more and more like he’s going to get it.

This week members of the House Judiciary Committee passed the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property (called “PRO IP” groan…) Act of 2007, legislation that would create an “anti-piracy czar” at the White House level, a separate IP-enforcement division at the Justice Department and ratchet up already high civil penalties for copyright infringement.

The measure is backed by many of the most powerful politicians on the House Judiciary Committee, including John Conyers (D., Mich.), Lamar Smith (R., Texas) and “Hollywood” Howard Berman (D., Calif.), the content cartel and, of course, Zucker, who likes to tell everyone that it dramatically advances the cause of protecting innovation, technological invention and creativity.

Said Zucker, “This is such an important step in combating this incredibly serious piracy and counterfeiting problem that’s getting worse, not better.”

In Zucker’s eyes, maybe. But not in the eyes of consumer folks like Google Senior Copyright Counsel William Patry who calls Pro IP “the most outrageously gluttonous IP bill ever introduced in the U.S.” and consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge which feels it is in sore need of adjustment.:

This bill takes already extraordinary copyright damages and increases them, expanding the threat of litigation intended to stifle competition and innovation. … Increasing penalties is one of the least necessary, and quite possibly counterproductive, actions the committee could take, particularly when current law is adequate to deal with most infringement issues and because the higher penalties serve only to force faster and larger settlements potentially from innovators. … Instead of following the course of this bill, the committee should look to the future, to a more realistic and rational copyright regime that can adapt pre-VCR copyright laws to a post-YouTube world.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20080502/pro-ip/feed/ 0