Dear IFAST Participants:
 

 

IFAST, your independent organization administering IRM and SID codes, and performing other functions to ensure international roaming since 1996, is having its independence and future challenged.

 

The IFAST Management Team made a decision on December 7, 2004 to change secretariat service providers.  In a lawsuit filed in February of 2005, ATIS (a USA corporation) contends that IFAST belongs to ATIS and had no right to make a decision to change secretariat services. In February, ATIS sued IFAST Management Team members David Crowe (Canada) and Ed Hall (USA) and others, and asked the courts for an injunction to stop IFAST from administering IRMs and SIDs.

 

One of the reasons to leave ATIS was because ATIS changed its structure from that of a Secretariat organization to a Standards Development Organization (SDO). As part of this new direction ATIS requires all participants in associated committees to pay ATIS membership fees in addition to any committee fees (e.g. IRM fees). ATIS also claimed, for all committees, ownership of all intellectual property, control of committee functions to include appointing committee leaders, and complete control of all committee finances.  When ATIS began to institute these changes, Ed Hall, an ATIS employee at the time, negotiated verbal waivers to maintain IFAST's operational independence.

 

When Ed Hall announced to the IFAST Management Team his decision to leave ATIS, the IFAST Management Team could not be assured that our agreements with ATIS would be honored and that IFAST's organizational independence would be respected. The ATIS lawsuit makes clear that these concerns were valid.

 

Upon learning that Ed Hall's new company, TelecomXchange International, LLC (TXI), would be able to provide secretariat services for IFAST, the Management Team voted to change secretariats from ATIS to TXI. Ed Hall did not participate in the Management Team's discussion or the vote on this matter.

 

Since moving to TXI, IFAST has taken several critical steps to ensure its future independence. IFAST has been incorporated as IFAST, LTD, the name "IFAST" has been trademarked, and much of IFAST’s intellectual property has been copyrighted. The IFAST Management Team is now the Board of Directors of IFAST, LTD. As an incorporated entity, IFAST, LTD now has the legal standing to protect itself and its interests.

 

There has been no interruption of IRM and SID administration, including ongoing enhancements to IFAST processes. The Board of Directors has taken the steps necessary to preserve the integrity of assignment processes and to protect IFAST, LTD by filing court papers to intervene in the litigation to prevent ATIS from interrupting assignments.

 

There are several concerns that the IFAST Board of Directors would like to share with you:

·        ATIS is asking that all IRM and SID assignment activities cease until the conclusion of this lawsuit, claiming that no harm will be done to anyone in the industry. We disagree: IFAST, LTD must protect its interest and be allowed to continue its assignment activities.

·        ATIS contends that it owns IFAST. We disagree: IFAST always has been an independent organization, and must remain so.

·        Should ATIS win their suit, David Crowe and Ed Hall (two of three co-founders of IFAST in 1995) will not be able to continue with their critical day-to-day administrative activities for IFAST and their knowledge of international roaming issues as well as their experience and proven commitment to our organization, will be lost.

 

We will continue to manage IFAST assignment activities without interruption during this lawsuit unless ATIS wins its injunction. Should this happen, IFAST would most likely halt IRM and SID assignment activities until resolution of the court case. A court hearing on the injunction is scheduled for May 6, 2005.

 

All court documents are available on the US District Court for the State of Maryland (Baltimore) court website. The case number is 1:05-cv-00440-CCB. The URL is:

 

https://ecf.mdd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl

 

Nominal fees apply to downloading or viewing court documents.

 

There are some things that your organization could do:

·        There are open positions on the IFAST board of directors, particularly as Asian Representative, European/African Representative and Technical Advisor. If you feel that a member of your organization could fill one of these positions, please contact us.

·        You can express your concerns in a letter to lawyers for 1) IFAST, 2) Messrs. Hall and Crowe or 3) ATIS. Contact information is provided below. Please note that any letters submitted may be included as documentation in the case.

·        You may wish to contact the trade representative at the US embassy, either directly or through a government intermediary, to make your concerns about how this US court action is affecting your access to the international IRM and SID resources.

 

Regards,

 

 

 

 

Bernardo Martinez
Chairman, IFAST 

   

Syed Zaeem Hosain
Treasurer, IFAST

 

 

 

 April 15th, 2005

 

________________________________________________________ 

 

List of Legal Representatives

IFAST

Barry J Reingold:  BReingold@perkinscoie.com

Perkins Coie LLP

607 Fourteenth St. NW

Washington, DC, 20005

USA

 

Messrs. Hall and Crowe 

Charles A Diorio:  cadiorio@ober.com

Ober, Kaler, Grimes and Shriver

120 East Baltimore St.

Baltimore, MD, 21202

USA

 

ATIS   

Richard A Ripley:  richard.ripley@bingham.com

Bingham, McCutcheon LLP

1120 Twentieth St. NW, Suite 800

Washington, DC, 20036

USA