Press Release
Court Declares Reuters Messaging May No Longer Use FaceTime Technology
BELMONT, Calif. - July 29, 2008 - The United States District Court for
the Southern District of New York today entered judgment in favor of FaceTime
Communications Inc. in a contract dispute with Thomson Reuters Inc. over
Reuters' use of FaceTime's intellectual property. According to the court,
Thomson Reuters must cease use of FaceTime technology effective August 1, 2008.
Since 2006 FaceTime technology has been used in a component of the Reuters
Messaging Network that provides instant messaging compliance for its financial
customers.
Many financial institutions rely on the Reuters Messaging Compliance Manager to
ensure compliance with SEC and Sarbanes-Oxley regulations for logging,
archiving and retrieval of electronic communications regarding financial
transactions. Reuters has not renewed its license with FaceTime following its
expiration on January 31, 2008. After efforts to renegotiate the contract
failed, FaceTime filed suit against Reuters to protect its intellectual
property rights.
"While we are pleased that FaceTime's intellectual property rights are
protected, we are concerned about Reuters' timetable for installing replacement
technology in light of its representations to the court as to its ability to
provide adequate compliance protection for its customers," said Kailash
Ambwani, president and CEO of FaceTime Communications. Ambwani elaborates on
the FaceForward blog.
Concern over timing of the technology change is based on Reuters'
representations to the court in the lawsuit. Reuters' pleadings, filed earlier
this month, state:
|
"24.
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If Thomson Reuters were suddenly unable to make use of the Reuters Messaging
compliance product, Thomson Reuters' customers would be crippled in their
day-to-day business operations.… |
|
25. |
There is no practical immediate substitute for the Reuters Messaging compliance
product in the event of any disruption. Any development of a suitable
replacement (and complete transition of existing customers to the new product)
would take several months (and would involve tremendous expenditure of money
and labor) for Thomson Reuters to convert to an alternative product …"
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(Decl.of Eran Barak, pp. 6-7; 1:08-cv-4730-CM Document 19)
Today's final judgment declares:
| "1. |
The parties' Source Code Licensing Agreement terminated effective February 1,
2008. |
| 2. |
Effective February 1, 2008, Reuters cease[d] to be authorized to "copy, use,
distribute or sublicense the Licensed Material or the Derivative Works" (i.e.,
works created by Reuters that incorporate or rely on the Licensed Material) to
customers ("End Users"). |
| 3. |
The contractually permitted "grace period" for continuing use of the Licensed
Material and/or Derivative Works incorporating the Licensed Material by End
Users holding existing sublicenses expires on July 31, 2008, pursuant to
Section 8.4.2 of the Agreement." |
FaceTime customers can get more information through FaceTime Customer Support
at enterprisesupport@facetime.com or by calling toll free in North America at
1-888-349-3223, option 2, or +1 650-631-6400.
About FaceTime Communications
FaceTime Communications enables the safe and productive use of instant
messaging, Web usage and Unified Communications platforms. Ranked number one by
IDC for four consecutive years, FaceTime's award-winning solutions are used by
more than 900 customers – including nine of the 10 largest U.S. banks – for
security, management and compliance of real-time communications. FaceTime
supports or has strategic partnerships with all leading public and enterprise
IM network providers, including AOL, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Skype, IBM and Jabber.
FaceTime is headquartered in Belmont, California. For more information visit
http://www.facetime.com or call 888-349-FACE.
The FaceForward blog, at http://blog.facetime.com,
offers thoughts and opinions about the changing nature of Internet communications.
PR Contact:
Joshua Barnes
A&R Edelman
650-762-2865
joshua.barnes@ar-edelman.com
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