Up-Front
Net2Phone loses legal suitfiled against Cable & Wireless
His Lordship, Justice Henry Graham, hasruled in favour of Cable & Wireless in a civil suit broughtbefore him by the American-based Internet Telephony Provider (ITP),Net2Phone, Inc.; Silvanus Technologies Limited; and Howard Petersonin the Grand Court in the Cayman Islands.
Net2phone claimed that Cable & Wireless had unlawfully interferedwith their business when it blocked access to its website andnetwork thereby preventing its customers in the Cayman Islandsfrom using a device known as the 'Yap Jack'. The firm foundedits claim on the argument that they were not providing a telecommunicationsservice and as such was not guilty of breaching Cable & Wireless'license to provide national and international systems and servicesin the Cayman Islands.
Justice Graham rejected this argument on the grounds that theplaintiffs were concerned with the production and marketing ofa telephone service that intentionally breached the Cable &Wireless license. His Lordship determined that Cable & Wirelesshad acted appropriately by blocking access.
However, Mr. James Knapp, a vocal opponent of Cable & Wireless'local rates on Monday October 30, said: "I don't think we'veheard the end of it, " in connection with the impasse betweenNet2Phone and Cable & Wireless over the blocking of the former'swebsite, thereby impeding the availability of Voice-over-InternetPhone (VoIP) service in the Cayman Islands.
Mr. Knapp of SEGOES Ltd., an established Internet financial tradingfirm -- explaining that he was not a party to the lawsuit -- thathis only interest in the matter stemmed from the fact that hethought it was "a terrible thing for Cable & Wirelessto have done ... to shut down Net2Phone."
He went on to say: "The fact that they have won one motiondoesn't mean a thing. There are any number of bright young lawyerson this island who will be only too willing to file other motions,"the businessman said.
Commenting on the outcome of the case, Company Executive Vice-Presidentof Legal and Public Policy, Ms Lisa Agard, said "Cable &Wireless believes that issues of this nature are always betterresolved through discussion between the parties concerned withoutrecourse to litigation. We regret that this matter had to be determinedby a court of law."
Other litigants in the civil suit were unavailable for commentfor this report.
On 15th September Net2Phone and the two local Plaintiffs commencedproceedings against Cable & Wireless (Cayman Islands) Ltd,claiming that Cable & Wireless had unlawfully interfered withtheir business.
Cable & Wireless filed a counter-claim alleging that Net2Phonewas inducing its to breach their contracts with the company. Theterms of agreement customers have with the company expressly prohibitthem from using or accessing any type of Internet telephony fromthe Cayman Islands.
Cable & Wireless contended that its actions of blocking accessto Net2Phone, were entirely lawful. The company was seeking touphold the contracts with customers and protect its rights underthe 25-year license granted it by the Government of Cayman Islands.
Cable & Wireless also applied to dismiss the Plaintiffs' claim,on the grounds that it had no solid legal foundation.
Mr. Peterson, one of the plaintiffs, was contacted for a commentin this matter and issued the following:
"I would like to express my disappointment very stronglyin the outcome of this matter. This was an issue based on globaltrends in internet access and a high level of technology thatwas not given an opportunity to be addressed in a trial wherethe experts could have been called in and questioned.
While this tiny victory for Cable & Wireless may not affectthe technology in itself, it has, however, impacted negativelyon the future of e-commerce in these islands and an economy thatis trying to catch-up with other jurisdictions for internet business.
The fact that one company has the power within their license tocontrol the kind of hardware that one uses to access the Internetor connect to phone lines; to control what software one may useand how it is used; to control how it creates data to the Internet;to control the very content of transmissions; to change the structureand terms of conditions based on changes in the technology withoutadvising its customers; and more importantly, to stop anythingthat they think will adversely affect their revenue in a negativeway; is in no way conducive to the growth and development of theCayman Islands.
I fear that if each household should have a computer and Internetaccess , they may well find themselves using software and evenhardware that at one point was allowed to be used but can laterbe terminated. For example, e-mail.
If each person or company uses e-mail as the primary means ofcommunicating instead of the normal long-distance faxes and calls,e-mail service could be disrupted."