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Farouk Shami's business has landed in court often

02.02.10

Farouk Shami's soul story - Palestinian immigrant turned chairman of a principal Houston hair care products company - epitomizes the excellent journey to the American dream. But Shami's road to good fortune has been paved with plenty of legal potholes.

Since the 1990s, Shami's throng has been involved in more than 80 lawsuits, according to district and federal court records within reach online.

The lawsuits, which range from dissolved partnerships to trademark and contractual disputes to sensuous harassment claims, mark the challenges Shami has encountered in his climb to become miscarry and head of Farouk Systems Inc., which sells the popular CHI hair-straightening iron and BioSilk tresses care line. Its executives say the privately held retinue is valued at $1 billion and employs 2,800 people.

"We go by the law. We appliance the law. We get protected by the law," said Shami, 67. He added, laughing, "You certain, one time I met a lady at a party. ... She said, 'Oh, so you're Farouk who sues everybody?' ... I said, 'I sue everybody? I protected myself. Protected the fellowship.'"

Source: Austin American-Statesman

Intelligence chiefs say another terror attempt in U.S. is 'certain'

02.02.10

Washington (CNN) -- Another attempted incendiary attack on the United States in coming months is "non-specified," the heads of major U.S intelligence agencies told a Senate panel Tuesday.

Al Qaeda remains the top security threat to the Mutual States, but a growing cyber-security threat also must be addressed by the U.S. aptitude community, the heads of the CIA, the FBI and other agencies told the Senate Gen Committee.

The hearing covered a range of security issues and became contentious, with Republicans on the panel arguing with Democratic counterparts and the intelligence chiefs on how the Obama supplying has handled terrorism suspects such as the failed Christmas Day bomber of a U.S. airliner.

Asked by cabinet chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, of the likelihood of another attempted demon attack on the United States in the next three to six months, the officials agreed with Supervisor of National Intelligence Dennis Blair's initial retort of "certain."

Source: CNN

Roche, Lego, and Google File Most Domain Arbitration Cases in 2009

19.01.10

Top UDRP filers for 2009.

Here’s a bulletin to all the cybersquatters out there: don’t mess with the companies on this list.

Using figures from UDRPSearch , Domain Name Wire tabulated the total reckon of UDRP cases filed by these companies in 2009. This isn’t as acquiescent as it sounds, given that both WIPO and National Arbitration Forum use strange names for some companies, and some companies even use multiple names when filing cases with the same provider. Furthermore, Governmental Arbitration Forum doesn’t disclose the complainant until after a cause is decided, so a few late cases aren’t included in this figures.

F. Hoffmann-La Roche (56) - the pharmaceutical giant filed 54 cases with WIPO and 2 with Nationalist Arbitration Forum. Part of the uptick was to take down sites promoting Tamiflu for swine flu. La Roche didn’t lose out any of them.

LEGO Juris (55) - just because it sells colored blocks, doesn’t designate Lego is all fun and games. It filed 55 cases last year, and has yet to spend.

Source: Domain Name Wire (blog)