Internet Law Assignment

Assignment 1

AT&T and Skype Skype, created in Estonia, is one of the very few European IT (Information Technology) companies which has now a worldwide fame and seen as a pioneering in exploiting the Voice Protocol for communicating on Internet. It is known for its application for phoning computer-to-computer, computer-to-phone and now also phone-to-phone with the democratization of personal portable Internet devices. Another giant of phone communication, AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph) is the main phone operator in the United States of America (USA). It provides communication services to individuals and companies. Skype has not targeted the US market as a particular market, separated from its world strategy of expansion. Nevertheless, in July 2012, Skype and AT&T signed a contract. AT&T would use the various applications created by Skype for reducing the cost of communication between employees of AT&T first, as an experiment, before maybe proposing a collaboration for an offer to US companies, already using AT&T for their communications. The terms of use of the application, defined by Skype and accepted by AT&T, mentioned that in case of a legal conflict in the effects of the use of the application, Estonian Law would be used by the judge, as a basis for solving the potential issues. Another article of the contract mentions a strict use of the current version of the application (at the time of the agreement 3.0). Any reverse engineering like an upgrade would lead to a breach of the current contract. This provision is necessary, according to Skype, because it would make impossible the use of some functionalities of the application agreed to in the contract (reason of obsolescence). In December 2014, Skype decided to implement some an upgrade of the application from version 3.0 to 4.4 for more fluidity and interoperability with the upcoming Google’s operating system Android “KitKat”. Employees of AT&T in the USA accepted and proceeded with the upgrade on their Android device, expecting this improvement. However, since the upgrade the application began to malfunction, employees started to comment and complain on blogs about this malfunctioning. Apparently a malware has been introducing during the upgrade process in the device. This malware sends unsolicited advertisements to the whole contact list located in the device of each employee. Finally, an employee, who had a phone conversation intercepted and released on the Internet while using the Skype application wants to sue Skype for not monitoring the voice protocol system. Even with all these “internal” problems t, AT&T and Skype are in discussion to merge their activities in the Telecommunication sector by 2017. You are a lawyer specialized in IT law. You are asked by the CEOs of AT&T and Skype to provide legal expertise on the case, in a memorandum. 1. Please discuss the question of the choice of the court in this case and advise on which court (s) may hear the case of conflict between these companies? 2. Even if it is mentioned initially in the contract, would the court actually use the Estonian law? Please discuss the different possibilities according to principles.

Requirements - A4 paper - 800 -1000 words - Arial (font) - 11 point font - 2,5 cm margins - 1,5 line spacing - Header with your name, Assignment #, and date

International bachelor of law Program 2016-2017

Course Description: INTERNET LAW