Tech Law Journal
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Oct. 23, 2000
8:00 AM ET.
Alert No. 47.

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News Briefs

10/20. The COPA Commission released its report to Congress on protecting child from online porn. It contains no recommendations for new legislation. Rather, it calls for industry self regulation, education, consumer empowerment, and enforcement of existing laws. See, TLJ story.
10/20. Commerce Sec. Norman Mineta concluded his three day campaign tour of western states. On Friday, he was in New Mexico with Sen. Jeff Bingamon (D-NM), who is running for for re-election. Mineta gave several speeches in which he addressed "closing the digital divide in Indian country". He also spoke about the Commerce Department's recent TOP grant to the Pueblo of Santa Ana to fund a broadband wireless intranet. See, speech in Sante Fe to tribal Governors, speech in Sante Fe to the NITI, and speech in Cochiti Pueblo.
10/20. USPTO Director Todd Dickinson gave a speech at the annual meeting of the AIPLA. See, TLJ story regarding Dickinson's comments regarding diversion of patent fees, patent reexaminations, business method patents, and databases protection. See also, TLJ story regarding intellectual property and the American Dream.
10/20. The NTIA released a document titled Plan to Select Spectrum for Third Generation Wireless Systems in the United States. This plan was developed by the NTIA, in cooperation with the Department of Defense, the FCC, and other agencies. The NTIA described this document as "the first step in the process that will allow the FCC to identify spectrum for third generation wireless systems." See, release.
10/19. Bruce Mehlman, lobbyist for Cisco Systems, spoke at a luncheon meeting of the Online Communications Practice Committee of the Federal Communications Bar Association. He addressed many issues, including 3G spectrum reassignment. "That fight is going to be ugly," he said. See, TLJ story.
10/19. The Senate passed S 1854, the "Hart- Scott- Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 2000," by unanimous consent. The Senate adopted an amendment in the nature of a substitute which was offered by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) for Senators Hatch and others. The amendment renames the bill the "21st Century Acquisition Reform and Improvement Act of 2000." It also rewrites Section 2 of the bill, which rewrites Section 7A(a) of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 18a(a)). It still amends the Clayton Act to increase the size of transaction threshold from $15 Million to $50 Million. The bill was originally introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH), and Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) in Nov. 1999. The bill has not passed the House.
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

PTO Director Addresses Fee Diversion, Business Method Patents, Reexams & Databases. USPTO Director Dickinson gave an speech in which he criticized the diversion of fees from the PTO, discussed the likelihood of new legislation affecting patent reexamination, and called for protection of databases. He also addressed business method patents, the first to file system, and other pending intellectual property issues.
PTO Chief Says Intellectual Property is Part of the American Dream. USPTO Director Todd Dickinson gave an address to the AIPLA in which he stated that the intellectual property system has become a representation of the American Dream.
COPA Commission Issues Report to Congress. The COPA Commission, which was charged by Congress with making recommendations for protecting children from online porn, released its report to Congress at an event on Capitol Hill. It recommended that the "online commercial adult industry should voluntarily take steps to restrict minors' ready access to adult content."
Cisco Lobbyist Addresses High Tech Policy Issues. Cisco lobbyist Bruce Mehlman gave an address to a FCBA luncheon in which he summarized high tech related policy issues that are current in Washington DC. He predicted that fight over spectrum for 3G wireless services, which will allow for mobile Internet access, will get ugly.
New Documents

Dickinson: speech to the AIPLA, 10/20 (HTML, TLJ).
COPA Comm.: report to Congress re protecting children from online porn, 10/20 (HTML, COPA Comm.).
GAO: report on technological and regulatory factors affecting consumer choices of ISPs, 10/19 (PDF, GAO).
Sessions: S 1854 ES re increasing the size of transaction threshold for HSR proceedings, 10/19 (HTML, TLJ).
New and Updated Sections

Calendar (updated daily).
News from Around the Web (updated daily).
Quote of the Day

"Funding is probably the most important issue that we need to address. We can only be of limited help to the IP community if appropriators and those folks who put together the budget continue to limit the access to the fees which and your clients pay. The federal appropriations strategy to remain below established budget caps must put both the administration and Congress under increasing pressure to find sources of revenue to fund a lot of government programs. Understandably, given our success perhaps, our fee collections have become a fairly inviting target for diversion to these programs."

Todd Dickinson, USPTO Director
(source)