| Bills Introduced |
1/24. Sen. Jeff
Bingaman (D-NM) introduced S 164,
the Technology for Teachers Act of 2001, a bill to
authorize the Education
Department's Office
of Educational Technology to award grants, contracts, or
cooperative agreements on a competitive basis to train
teachers to use technology. The bill was referred to the Senate Health, Educ. and
Labor Committee.
1/23. Sen. John Kerry
(D-MA) introduced S 150,
the Broadband Deployment Act of 2001. The bill would
amend the Internal Revenue Code to provide a tax credit
of 10% for certain expenditures related to the deployment of
broadband Internet access facilities for users in underserved
areas. The bill defines broadband as "transmission of
signals at a rate of at least 1,500,000 bits per second to the
subscriber and at least 200,000 bits per second from the
subscriber." The bill was referred to the Senate Finance
Committee.
1/22. Sen. Jay
Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced S 88,
the Broadband Internet Access Act of 2001, a bill
designed to promote deployment of broadband Internet access
facilities through tax credits. This bill would offer a
10% tax credit per year for five years to companies that
deploy "current
generation broadband" telecom technologies to
both residents and businesses in rural or underserved urban
areas, and offer a 20% tax credit per year for five years to
companies that invest in "next
generation broadband" services to all
residential customers. The bill had 32 original cosponsors. It
was referred to the Senate
Finance Committee. See, Rockefeller release. |
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| Internet Filtering |
| 1/26. The EPIC
submitted a FOIA request
to the Defense Department (DOD) regarding its dealings with
Internet filtering company N2H2,
the maker of Bess. The Wall Street Journal reported on Jan. 26
that N2H2 sells a product named Class Clicks that consists of
"monthly reports that detail where kids are going on the
Internet". However, the data is aggregate; it does not
identify individual students, or schools. The DOD has
purchased the report. As a federal agency, it is subject to
the FOIA. The EPIC requested copies of records regarding DOD
communications with N2H2, and regarding N2H2 products. |
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| New Documents |
NAB: complaint
challenging CO rule on webcasting royalties, 1/25 (HTML, TLJ).
USDC:
post
verdict ruling in Simon v. mySimon, 1/25 (PDF, USDC).
USCA:
order
modifying opinion in ASCENT v. FCC, 1/26 (TXT, USCA).
EPIC:
comment
re public access to electronic case files, 1/26 (HTML, EPIC).
PF:
comment
re public access to electronic case files, 1/26 (HTML, EPIC). |
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| FCC News |
1/26. The FCC's C and F
Block broadband PCS
spectrum auction, which began on Dec. 12, 2000, ended on Jan.
26. It raised a total net revenue of $16,857,046,150.00. See, release.
1/26. The U.S. Court
of Appeals (DCCir) issued an order
modifying its opinion
in ASCENT
v. FCC. The original opinion
"vacated" the FCC's order in its SBC Ameritech
merger proceeding. The merger order approved the merger of SBC
and Ameritech, with many conditions. It permitted SBC to offer
advanced services, such as DSL, through a separate affiliate.
While the intent of the Court was to overturn the separate
subsidiary portion of the merger order, the opinion, read
literally, vacated the entire order. The order of Jan. 26
clarifies that the merger order is "vacated in part"
and that "the vacatur applies only insofar as the Order
authorizes exemption of advanced services provided through the
Order's prescribed affiliate structure from the obligations
imposed on incumbent local exchange carriers by 47 U.S.C. §
251(c)."
1/26. Outgoing FCC General
Counsel Christopher Wright spoke on "FCC Legal
Issues" at a Federal
Communications Bar Association's Young Lawyers Committee
luncheon. He was asked how things will change in the Office of
General Counsel under the new FCC Chairman, Michael Powell. He
stated that "the role of the litigation division doesn't
change;" it will defend FCC orders. He also discussed
many of the recent and pending court cases which impact
telecommunications or the Internet, including the Iowa
Utilities Board cases, the Florida pole access case, the EEO
rules cases, and the Portland, Henrico, and Broward open
access cases. |
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| Electronic Case Files |
| 1/26. The comment period closed for submitting comments in
response to the Judicial Conference of the United States' Request for
Comment on Privacy and Public Access to Electronic Case Files.
The Denver based Privacy
Foundation submitted a comment
in which it "recommends that a National Commission be
formed to conduct a comprehensive study to determine how court
documents should be publicly available and by what means --
paper and/or electronic." The Washington DC based Electronic Privacy Informatin
Center (EPIC) submitted a comment
in which argued that "The challenge is to formulate a
scheme that guarantees robust access to public records while
also preventing unwarranted invasions into the personal
matters of litigants and witnesses." For example,
"Unhindered access to bankruptcy case files may result in
a further increase in identity theft." |
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| More News |
1/26. The ICANN
announced that it will conduct a study of the structure of its
At Large membership to determine how individuals can
effectively participate in ICANN's policy development,
deliberations and actions for technical coordination of the
Internet. See, ICANN
release.
1/25. An individual filed a complaint in U.S. District Court (DColo)
against New
Era of Networks (NEON) alleging violation of federal
securities law. The plaintiff, who is represented by the law
firm of Berger & Montague,
seeks class action status. The plaintiff alleges violation of Sections
10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
NEON, based in Englewood Colorado, makes e-business enabling
software. Berger & Montague is a Philadelphia based law
firm that specializes in plaintiffs' class action litigation. |
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| Intellectual Property |
1/25. The National
Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and several broadcasters
filed a complaint
in U.S. District Court (EDPa)
against the Register of Copyrights challenging its Dec. 11 rule
[PDF] regarding webcasts of AM/FM signals. The Register of
Copyrights determined that broadcasters who choose to transmit
their radio signals over a digital communications network such
as the Internet may do so under a compulsory license, but that
the broadcaster is not exempt from a copyright owner's digital
performance right for sound recordings under these
circumstances. The NAB complaint alleges that the
Register of Copyrights exceeded its authority, and seeks
declaratory relief that the rule is invalid. See also, web site of the Copyright
Office.
1/25. The U.S. District Court (SDIn)
issued a post
verdict ruling [68 pages in PDF] in Simon
v. mySimon, a trademark infringement case.
Plaintiff, Simon Property Group (SPG), is a Delaware limited
partnership based in Indianapolis; it is a real estate
investment trust, that also operates a web site located a shopsimon.com. MySimon
Inc. is a California corporation owned by CNET Networks Inc.
that operates a comparison shopping web site located at mysimon.com. Last August
the jury found that mySimon's name, Internet address, and a
cartoon character named "Simon" violated SPG’s
rights under Section 43(a) of the Lanham
Act, and Indiana unfair competition laws. The jury
also rejected mySimon’s laches defense to the federal claim
and assessed compensatory damages totaling $16.8 Million.
Under SPG’s Indiana unfair competition claim, the jury
assessed punitive damages of an additional $10 million. This
still left pending SPG's request for injunctive relief. Both
parties also filed post verdict motions. The Court left
standing the verdict of liability for trademark infringement
and unfair competition. It awarded permanent injunctive relief
to SPG. But, it vacated all but $50,000 of the damages awards,
subject to a new trial on the issue of "corrective
advertising." Both parties stated that they will appeal.
Meanwhile, mySimon continues to use the Simon mark. See also, SPG
release [PDF] and CNET
release. |
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| People |
| 1/22. Fenwick & West
announced that Brian Kelly joined the firm as a partner
in the Licensing and Online Commerce Group. He will be
resident in the Washington DC office, but will also work out
of the Palo Alto and San Francisco offices. He has counseled
clients such as Intuit, Cisco, and Epicentric regarding the
creation and protection of intellectual property rights,
Internet and electronic commerce operations, and the
structuring and negotiation of software development,
distribution and other agreements. See, release. |
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