Davis Communications, Eastern Washington University Named in Internet On-Ramp Suit

Business Wire, Sept 21, 1999

SPOKANE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 21, 1999--

Internet On-Ramp, a Spokane, WA affiliate of Internet Ventures, Inc., announced today that it has filed suit against Davis Communications and Eastern Washington University for failure to honor a three-year agreement to provide Internet Ventures' PeRKInet(R) Broadband Internet service to University students.

The suit, which was filed in the Superior Court of the State of Washington, follows notice from the defendants prior to the start of the school year of their unwillingness to perform under the original agreement. The ISP Channel last week announced that it had reached an agreement with Davis and Eastern Washington to provide similar service using similar technology.

In the suit, Internet On-Ramp alleges Breach of Contract and Breach of the Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing. IOR also alleges Defamation/Disparagement of a Business, based on published comments from Davis and EWU. The suit seeks damages for all three allegations, attorneys fees and other costs and "any such other and further relief" deemed proper by the Court.

Optimal Systems Integrators, which was merged into IOR, entered into agreements with Davis and EWU in July, 1997 to supply PeRKInet(R) to 900 dormitory rooms at the University. The agreement stipulated that only within the first year of the agreement would Eastern Washington University have the right to terminate the agreement in writing if performance was unsatisfactory "At all times relevant thereto," the suit states, "IOR fully complied with the terms in the Agreement and at no time received any written communication from EWU or Davis stating otherwise."

The suit alleges that during the first half of this year, Davis and EWU negotiated, "without the knowledge of IOR," the agreements that facilitated the entry of ISP Channel onto the EWU campus. The defendants subsequently published several "false statements regarding IOR's capability to provide Internet services," the suit says. "At no time prior to these statements had IOR been contacted by anyone regarding its performance under and/or its compliance with the Agreement."

Internet Ventures (http://www.ivn.net), which offers dial-up and high-speed Internet access services to markets in the United States with populations of less than 500,000, currently owns and operates in 19 communities in California, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

Its PeRKInet(R) high-speed Internet access system, which utilizes patented technology, offers members the ability to connect to the Internet at up to 256Kbps, a speed that is more than four times faster than conventional X2 or Flex 56 modems.

IVI's current operations also provide comprehensive and market-specific Internet services in Ventura, Humboldt, Del Norte and San Joaquin Counties, CA; LaPlata, Mesa and Montezuma Counties, CO; Kootenai County, ID; Jackson, Josephine and Klamath Counties, OR; and Spokane County, WA.