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 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
All
court documents are available on the US District Court for the State of
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
Regards,
Bernardo
Martinez
Syed Zaeem
Hosain
________________________________________________________ List of Legal Representatives IFAST Barry
J Reingold: BReingold@perkinscoie.com Perkins Coie LLP
607
Messrs. Hall and Crowe
Charles A Diorio: cadiorio@ober.com Ober, Kaler, Grimes and Shriver
ATIS
Richard A Ripley: richard.ripley@bingham.com Bingham, McCutcheon LLP
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