| People & Appointments |
5/11. Bryan Tramont will become Chief of Staff in the
FCC's Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau. He is currently Senior Legal
Advisor to FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth.
Previously, he was an associate in the Washington DC office of
the law firm of Wiley Rein &
Fielding. HFR will leave the FCC as soon as the Senate
confirms his replacement. The Senate Commerce Committee's
confirmation hearing is scheduled for Thursday, May 17. Katie
King, who is currently an Attorney Advisor in the Common
Carrier Bureau, will be HFR's Senior Legal Advisor with
responsibility for wireless and international issues for the
short remainder of his tenure. See, HFR
release [PDF] and FCC
release.
5/8. Four lawyers, Ann
Ford, Mark
Tidman, Lisa
Trovato, and Emily
Sexton, joined the Washington DC office Piper Marbury
in its intellectual property practice group. All four
previously worked in the Washington DC office of the law firm
of Baker & Hostetler.
Ford practices in the areas of international trademark and
copyright law, including the the use of intellectual property
on the Internet. Tidman practices in the areas of trademark,
trade dress and unfair competition practice and prosecution.
Trovato handles drafting and negotiating intellectual property
licensing, joint venture and e-commerce related agreements as
well as counseling clients with respect to trademark,
copyright and domain name matters. Saxton handles trademark
prosecution and enforcement, copyright counseling and
enforcement, and domain name infringement actions. See, release.
5/7. Paul
Rogers and Ross
Meador joined the San Francisco office of the law firm
of Preston Gates &
Ellis as partners in the firm's business and technology
practices. See, release. |
|
|
| Unused E-Rate Subsidies |
| 5/11. The GAO
released a report
[PDF] titled "Schools and Libraries Program: Update on
E-Rate Funding." The FCC run e-rate
program subsidizes schools' and libraries' expenses for
telecommunications, Internet access, and internal connections
by taxing telephone use. The FCC has fixed the subsidy level
at $2.25 Billion per year. The GAO report contains two
findings. First, the total dollar amount of requests for
subsidies is now more than $2.25 Billion per year, and
continues to grow. Second, schools and libraries are not
spending a significant portion of their allotted subsidies.
The GAO report states that "Data from January 2001
indicate that more than $880 million (24 percent) of the $3.7
billion committed to applicants for the first 2 program years
remains unused." The report also found that "For the
third program year (2000), the requests exceeded $4.2
billion." The report was prepared at the request of the Senate
Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce,
Justice, State and the Judiciary. This subcommittee has
jurisdiction over the FCC budget. It ranking Democrat, Sen. Ernest Hollings
(D-SC), is also the ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce
Committee, which oversees the FCC. |
|
|
| Spread Spectrum Devices |
| 5/10. The FCC proposed to revise its rules for spread
spectrum systems. It released a Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [PDF]. See also, Trends
in Spread Spectrum Devices [PDF], a presentation made by
the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology at the FCC's
May 10 meeting. (ET Docket No. 99-231.) See also, FCC
release. The FCC's NPRM "proposes to revise the rules
for frequency hopping spread spectrum systems operating in the
2.4 GHz band to reduce the amount of spectrum that must be
used with certain types of operation, and to allow new digital
transmission technologies to operate pursuant to the same
rules as spread spectrum systems. It also proposes to
eliminate the processing gain requirement for direct sequence
spread spectrum systems". |
|
|
| New Documents |
GAO:
report
re e-rate program, 5/11 (PDF, GAO).
FCC: NPRM
re spread spectrum devices, 5/10 (PDF, FCC).
USCA:
opinion
in Adams v. Battle Creek re ECPA and pagers, 5/11 (HTML, USCA).
Tauscher:
H.
Con. Res. 132 re international e-commerce, 5/10 (HTML,
LibCong).
Manzullo:
HR
1782, a bill to create the position of Assistant USTR for
Small Business, 5/9 (HTML, LibCong).
Weller:
HR
1769, the Technology Education and Training Act of 2001, a
bill to provide a tax credit for technology training expenses,
5/9 (HTML, LibCong).
Upton:
HR
1765, a bill to increase penalties for common carrier
violations of the Communications Act of 1934, 5/8 (HTML,
LibCong).
Upton:
HR
1735, the Telecommunications Development Fund Improvement
Act, 5/3 (HTML, LibCong).
Thompson:
S
851, the Citizens' Privacy Commission Act of 2001, 5/9
(HTML, LibCong).
Lieberman:
S
803, the E-Government Act of 2001, 5/1 (HTML, LibCong). |
|
|
|
| New Bills |
5/10. Rep. Ellen
Tauscher (D-CA) and Rep.
David Dreier (R-CA) introduced H.
Con. Res. 132, a concurrent resolution expressing the
sense of Congress on the importance of promoting electronic
commerce. It states that the "Secretary of Commerce and
the United States Trade Representative should make the
promotion of cross-border trade via electronic commerce a high
priority." It was referred to the House Ways and Means
Committee. See, Dreier release.
Sen. Joe Lieberman
(D-CT) and Sen. John
McCain (R-AZ) introduced the same language in the Senate.
See, Lieberman
release.
5/9. Rep. Jerry Weller
(R-IL), Rep. James Moran
(D-VA), and others introduced HR
1769, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to
allow a credit against income tax for information technology
training expenses. It was referred to the House Ways and Means
Committee. The bill would allow a tax credit equal to
"100 percent of information technology training program
expenses" of up to $1,500 per employee, and $2,000 per
employee in specified cases. To qualify, the expenses must be
paid in connection with course work and certification testing,
and must "lead to an industry-accepted information
technology certification".
5/9. Rep. Don
Manzullo (R-IL) introduced HR
1782, a bill to amend the Trade Act of 1974 to provide for
the position of Assistant USTR for Small Business. The bill
was was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee.
Manzullo published a statement in the Congressional Record in
which he stated that "With the growth of the Internet
economy, more small businesses are able to export overseas but
sometimes face difficult obstacles in completing a sale."
He added that small business needs representation in trade
talks. He stated that "trade talks could have positive
benefits for small business exporters, primarily in the area
of trade facilitation. Topics of discussion under this
umbrella are streamlining trade dispute resolution procedures;
reforming the documentation and filing procedures for patent
and trademark protection; opening the public procurement
process by foreign governments to small businesses; enhancing
transparency in international tax, finance, customs
procedures, and trade rules; and exploring means to
internationalize the recognition of technical certification of
professionals."
5/10. Rep. Maurice
Hinchey (D-NY) introduced HR 1803, a bill to provide for
public library construction and technology enhancement. It was
referred to the House Committee on Education and the
Workforce. |
|
|
| Interactive TV NOI |
Friday, May 11, was the deadline to file reply comments with
the FCC in response to its Notice
of Inquiry (NOI) regarding cable open access. (See,
In the Matter of Nondiscrimination in the Distribution of
Interactive Television Services Over Cable, CS Docket No.
01-7.) The FCC's electronic
filing system contains 27 original comments and 7 reply
comments.
AT&T submitted a reply
comment in which it requested the FCC to close the
proceeding without recommending any new regulations. It stated
that interactive TV (ITV) is a nascent industry, that there is
no evidence of anti- competitive behavior, that the First
Amendment prohibits the regulation of ITV, and that concerns
over cable operators utilizing set-top boxes to discriminate
against unaffiliated ITV service providers are misplaced. See
also, similar reply
comment submitted by the NCTA.
Three consumer groups (MAP, CU,
and CFA) submitted a reply
comment that responded to the NCTA's original comment that
argued that regulation of ITV would violate the First
Amendment.
Motorola submitted a reply
comment in which it argued that the FCC should not propose
regulation of the nascent ITV area and should allow this new
technology to develop further before determining whether any
regulatory action is needed. It also argued that issues
relating to the retail availability of set-top equipment
should be handled in the in another FCC proceeding -- CS
Docket 97-80. |
|
|
| ECPA and Privacy |
| 5/11. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (6thCir) issued its opinion
in Adams
v. Battle Creek, a case involving the Electronic
Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). Adams is a police
officer for the City of Battle Creek Police Department. He was
issued an alpha numeric pager by the department. The
department cloned his pager and monitored his messages. Adams
filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court (WDMich)
alleging violation of the ECPA, the Fourth Amendment search
and seizure clauses, and various state laws. On cross motions
for summary judgment, the District Court ruled for Battle
Creek. The District Court held that the surreptitious
monitoring fell within the business use exception contained in
the ECPA. It held that the Fourth Amendment was not violated
because Adams had no expectation of privacy. The Appeals Court
reversed, holding that the business use exception did not
apply. Merritt wrote the opinion for the three judge panel;
Boggs joined; and Krupansky dissented. |
|
|
| Trade and E-Commerce |
5/5. Igor Abramov, Special Advisor to the U.S.
Department of Commerce, gave a speech
in Baku, Azerbaijan, regarding the importance of the rule of
law. He stated that "Electronic commerce, for example,
spans continents to create larger and more dynamic markets,
making geographic and territorial boundaries almost
irrelevant. This means that businesses can no longer afford to
rely only on personal relations. Today, they must also be able
to call on rule-based institutions for assurance that partners
will employ proper business practices or, when necessary, that
they have recourse to effective mechanisms for resolving
commercial disputes."
5/10. Robert Verrue gave a speech
in Washington DC titled "The New Regulatory Framework for
Electronic Communications." Verrue is the Director
General of the European Commission's Information Society
Directorate General (DG XIII). |
|
|
|
| CompUSA Insider Trading |
| 5/10. The SEC filed a
civil complaint
in U.S. District Court (SDNY)
against Alejandro Duclaud and others in connection with
possible insider trading in CompUSA
stock in violation of federal securities laws. On January 24,
2000, CompUSA, a retailer of computer equipment, peripherals
and software, and Grupo Sanborns, S.A. de C.V., a Mexican
holding company, announced that Grupo Sanborns would acquire
CompUSA. Duclaud is an attorney in the Mexico City law firm of
Franck Galicia Duclaud &
Robles which represented Grupo Sanborns. The District
Court issued a temporary restraining order that prohibits the
defendants from obtaining their assets in brokerage accounts
in the U.S. or disposing of any assets, wherever held, in a
manner that could impair the SEC's ability to recover
ill-gotten gains and obtain civil penalties. The complaint
alleges violation of § 10(b)
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5
thereunder, and § 14(e) of the Exchange Act, and Rule
14e-3 thereunder. See, SEC
release. |
|
|
| Today |
12:00 NOON. The Senate will reconvene to consider S1, a bill
to extend programs and activities under the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965.
2:00 PM. The House will meet in pro forma session. |
|
|
| Tuesday, May 15 |
9:30 AM. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (DC Cir) will hear oral argument in U.S.
Cell Corp. v. FCC, Appeal No. 00-1072. Judges Henderson, Tatel
and Garland will preside.
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM. The U.S. Copyright Office will hold a
public roundtable discussion on the intellectual property
aspects of the preliminary draft Convention on Jurisdiction
and Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters being
negotiated by the Hague Conference on Private International
Law. See, notice
in Federal Register. Location: Library of Congress, John Adams
Building, Room LA-202, 110 Second Street, SE, Washington DC.
10:00 AM. The Senate
Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on "high
technology patents, relating to business methods
and the Internet." Location: Room 226, Dirksen Senate
Office Building.
10:00 AM. The Senate
Banking Committee will hold a meeting. The agenda includes
a vote on the nomination of James Jochum, to be
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration.
2:00 PM. The House
Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration and
Claims will hold a hearing titled "INS and the Executive
Office for Immigration Review." Location: Room 2237,
Rayburn House Office Building. |
|
|
| Crime |
5/3. A grand jury of the U.S. District Court (DConn)
returned a superseding indictment against Aleksey Ivanov
charging him with conspiring to make unauthorized intrusions
into computer systems owned by companies in the U.S.,
transmitting threats to damage those computer systems,
extortion, and stealing credit card numbers and merchant
account numbers. Ivanov, of Chelyabinsk, Russia, was arrested
in the U.S. last year while traveling to met with an
undercover company established by the FBI. See, release.
5/9. A grand jury of the U.S. District Court (NDCal)
returned an indictment
[PDF] against Robert Gordon, a former Cisco Systems employee,
charging two counts of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §
1343. Gordon, who is a former Vice President and Director of
Business Development, is alleged to have transfered stock
owned by Cisco to himself, and to fraudulently induced Cisco
to provide $15 Million to Spanlink, a Cisco affiliated
start-up company, so that he could fraudulently obtain $5
Million from Spanlink. See, release. |
|
|
| More News |
5/11. The EU Commission approved Bertelsmann's
acquisition of a controlling interest in the RTL Group, a
European TV and radio conglomerate. See, Bertelsmann
release.
5/10. The Association of
Communications Enterprises (ASCENT), AT&T, Competitive Telecommunications
Association (CompTel) and McLeodUSA filed a joint
petition with the Indiana
Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) seeking the structural
separation of SBC/Ameritech Indiana into separate retail
and wholesale operations. See, AT&T release,
ASCENT release,
and CompTel release.
5/10. Xilinx announced
that it would appeal the decision of U.S. District Court (NDCal) Judge James Ware in
Xilinx v. Altera. See, release.
Xilinx filed its complaint against Altera in U.S. District
Court (NDCa)
in 1993 alleging patent infringement. Xilinx makes
programmable logic devices, including integrated circuits,
software design tools, and predefined system functions
delivered as cores. Altera also produces programmable logic
devices. |
|
|
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