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. 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
…"
(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 Actiance, Inc. (Formerly FaceTime Communications, Inc.)
FaceTime Communications became Actiance, Inc on January 11, 2011 following an agreement to
transfer the FaceTime trademark to Apple.
FaceTime Communications enables the safe and productive use of Unified Communications and Web 2.0,
including instant messaging, blogs and social networking. Ranked number one by IDC for five consecutive
years, FaceTime's award-winning solutions are used by more than 1,500 customers for the security,
management and compliance of real-time communications. FaceTime supports or has strategic partnerships
with all leading IM, unified communications providers and social networks including AOL, Google, Yahoo!,
Skype, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
FaceTime is headquartered in Belmont, California. For more information visit
http://www.facetime.com or call 888-349-3223.
PR Contact Information: