Oct. 11, 2000
8:00 AM ET.
Alert No. 39. |
TLJ Home Page
News from
the Web
Calendar
Search
Tech Law Journal is a free access online publication that
provides news, records, and analysis of legislation, litigation, and
regulation affecting the computer and Internet industry.
This email service is offered free of charge to anyone who requests
it.
Contact TLJ:
202-364-8882.
E-mail.
P.O. Box 15186, Washington DC, 20003.
Notices
& Disclaimers
Privacy
Policy
Copyright 1998 - 2000 David Carney, dba Tech Law Journal. All rights
reserved. |
|
|
| News Briefs |
10/10. Bill Clinton signed HR
4444, a bill extending permanent normal trade relations status
to the People's Republic of China. See, statements
at signing ceremony by Clinton, Rep. Hastert, Sen. Roth, Rep.
Archer, Sen. Moynihan, Rep. Rangel, and Sec. Albright.
10/10. ICANN
announced the results of its election of large members. Karl Auerbach won
the seat for North America. He works in the Advanced Internet
Architectures group at Cisco. He
ran a "reform" campaign in which he condemned "the
capture of ICANN by special interests - particularly pro-trademark
groups and name registries and registrars." He is also a
non-practicing attorney, and a member of the Calif. State Bar and
its intellectual property section. See also, Auerbach campaign web site.
German Andy Mueller-Maguhn
won the seat for Europe. He is the Speaker of the Chaos Computer Club. Brazilian Ivan
Moura Campos, the CEO of Akwan
Information Technologies, won the seat for Latin America and the
Carribean. Masanobu
Katoh easily won the seat for Asia, Australia and the Pacific.
He is Japanese, and works for Fujitsu, but lives in the suburbs of
Washington DC. Nii
Quaynor won for Africa. See also, elections
results page.
10/10. FCC Chairman Wm. Kennard
gave a blunt speech
titled "What Does $70 Billion Buy You Anyway? Rethinking Public
Interest Requirements at the Dawn of the Digital Age" in which
he harshly criticized broadcasters on two fronts: delay in deploying
digital TV, and failure to carry more debates and election content.
He called broadcasters "spectrum squatters." See also, FCC
release.
10/10. The Supreme Court of
the U.S. denied NextWave's petition
for writ of certiorari. See, Orders List
[PDF] at page 5. NextWave obtained licenses at the FCC's C-block
auctions in 1996, but was unable to make payments, and filed for
bankruptcy. The FCC cancelled the
licenses, but was blocked by the bankruptcy court. The District
Court affirmed. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (2nd Cir.) issued its order reversing and
remanding the case on Nov. 24, 1999; it issued its opinion
explaining its reversal in May 2000. The Supreme Court made no
comment. FCC Chairman Wm. Kennard
said that "This is another chapter closed. This is an important
step in proceeding toward the December 12 auction." See, FCC
release.
10/10. The RIAA and NMPA
announced that they will license musical compositions for
distribution on the Internet. Transactions will be handled by The
Harry Fox Agency, a wholly owned subsidiary of the NMPA. "This
opens a new era in the licensing of music on the Internet,"
stated NMPA CEO Edward Murphy in a press release. "Broad
utilization by distributors of the licensing resources of HFA will
make getting licensed music into the hands of the consumer that much
easier. The arrangement will also enable accurate identification of
Internet music files, a critical requirement for copyright owners
and their songwriter partners." See, RIAA release.
10/10. Mark Simeon Jakob entered a plea of not guilty in U.S.
District Court (CDCa)
in the Emulex Internet hoax prosecution.
10/5. The SEC filed a
complaint in U.S. District Court (DHa) against Robert Moore,
individually, and doing business as the Kingdom of Enenkio. The
complaint alleges that Moore used a web site, e-mail, and Internet
bulletin board postings to offer for sale "Enenkio Gold War
Bonds" in violation of federal
securities laws. Judge Susan Mollway issued a temporary
restraining order against further violation of securities laws, and
freezing assets. (Case No. CV 0000651 SOM) The Kingdom of Enenkio web site
asserts that Wake Island is a sovereign state. The war bonds web page does
not specify Enenkio's planned military operations. However, the
Kingdom also sells stamps. See also, SEC release.
Editor's Note: This column includes all News Briefs added to
Tech Law Journal since the last Daily E-Mail Alert. The dates
indicate when the event occurred, not the date of posting to Tech
Law Journal. |
|
|
| New TLJ Stories |
Kennard
Blasts Broadcasters for Spectrum Squatting and Scant Elections
Coverage. (10/11) FCC Chairman Kennard harshly criticized TV
broadcasters for their slow deployment of digital television, and
their failure to broadcast debates, other elections content, and
free advertising. He stated that the broadcasters' slow conversion
to digital TV constitutes "spectrum squatting". It
prevents the FCC from auctioning their analog spectrum to providers
of wireless services, including Internet access.
|
| New Documents |
Kennard: Speech
re DTV and broadcasters' election coverage, 10/10 (HTML, FCC).
|
| New and Updated Sections |
Calendar
(updated daily).
News
from Around the Web (updated daily).
|
| Quote of the Day |
"I think not only do we open up the rule of law so that we can
have the right of rule of law when we sell our products there, we
open it up to make sure that our products are protected with the
copyright laws that we think are important, and intellectual
properties that we hold so dear. But you know what -- we open it up
so that we can exchange ideas and values and culture. And that's an
important thing."
Rep. Denny Hastert (R-IL), at the signing ceremony for the
PNTR bill. (source) |
|
