10/22. The Senate rejected a motion to invoke cloture on S 1751, the "Class Action Fairness Act of 2003", by a vote of 59-39. See, Roll Call No. 403.

Senate Democrats lack the votes to defeat this bill on an ordinary majority vote. So, they have utilized a filibuster. Filibusters can be terminated by a cloture vote. However, cloture motions required a three fifths majority to pass. See, Senate Rule No. 22.

This bill, sponsored by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) (at right) and others, would reform class action procedure. The bill states that its purposes are "(1) assure fair and prompt recoveries for class members with legitimate claims; (2) restore the intent of the framers of the United States Constitution by providing for Federal court consideration of interstate cases of national importance under diversity jurisdiction; and (3) benefit society by encouraging innovation and lowering consumer prices."

The bill would amend 28 U.S.C. § 1332, regarding diversity jurisdiction, to provide that "The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action in which the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $5,000,000, exclusive of interest and costs, and is a class action in which -- (A) any member of a class of plaintiffs is a citizen of a State different from any defendant; ..."

The bill would also increase court scrutiny of non-cash settlements. It provides that "The court may approve a proposed settlement under which the class members would receive noncash benefits or would otherwise be required to expend funds in order to obtain part or all of the proposed benefits only after a hearing to determine whether, and making a written finding that, the settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate for class members."

It would also prevent geographic discrimination in payments to class members. It provides that "The court may not approve a proposed settlement that provides for the payment of greater sums to some class members than to others solely on the basis that the class members to whom the greater sums are to be paid are located in closer geographic proximity to the court."

The bill also would prohibit class counsel from paying bounties. Finally, the bill provides for clear written notices concerning a proposed settlements.

The vote broke down substantially along parties lines, with all but one Republican supporting the bill, and all but eight Democrats opposing the bill.

The eight Democrats who voted in favor of the cloture motion (and thus, in support of the bill) were Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Sen. Zell Miller (D-GA), and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE).

Sen. James Jeffords (I-VT) voted yes. One Republican, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), voted no.

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), who are off running for President, and missing many votes, missed this vote too.

The House has already passed its version of the bill, and President Bush and Vice President Cheney have recently given speeches in which they have supported this legislation.

The Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) opposes the bill. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports the bill. Thomas Donohue, P/CEO of the Chamber, stated after the vote in a release that "This is a missed opportunity to get rid of an anchor dragging on our economic growth ... The current system of rampant venue shopping and abusive settlements costs every American $721 each and every year."

He added that "Based on the remarks made by a number of Senators after today's vote, however, we do remain encouraged about the prospects for the Senate passing class action reform this year. We intend to work quickly to try and address the concerns raised by a number of Senators on the floor after today's vote"

10/22. The U.S. Court of Appeals (4thCir) issued its unpublished opinion [5 pages in PDF] in Newman v. Motorola, a products liability case in which a cell phone user alleges that his Motorola phone gave him brain cancer. The Appeals Court affirmed the District Court's decision to exclude certain expert testimony offered by the plaintiffs.

Christopher Newman and his wife filed a complaint in U.S. District Court (DMd) against Motorola and others. The District Court ruled that an expert witness for the plaintiffs, Lennart Hardell, could not testify at trial for the purpose of expressing an expert opinion on the issue of causation. (See, opinion at 218 F. Supp. 2d 769.)

This appeal deals only with the issue of exclusion of this expert testimony. However, in resolving this issue, and applying Rule 702, Federal Rules of Evidence, the Appeals Court examined, and commented upon the one expert's research in support for the proposition that cell phones cause brain cancer. It found it lacking.

Rule 702 provides that "If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise, if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case."

The Court wrote that "Federal Rule of Evidence 702 requires a trial judge to perform a gatekeeping function with respect to expert testimony; for such testimony to be admissible, the judge must determine that it is both reliable and relevant." It added that "In the end, the trial judge has ``considerable leeway´´ in making the admissibility determination."

The Court wrote: "The district court identified several problems with Dr. Hardell’s proffered testimony on causation, and we mention two. Most significantly, the district court observed that Dr. Hardell’s research fails to show that users of cellular phones face an increased risk for developing malignant brain tumors. Although Dr. Hardell testified that his research shows an increased risk for developing brain tumors generally, he achieved this result only by considering the occurrence of a particular subtype of benign tumors, specifically, benign acoustic neurinomas. The district court questioned the relevance of research linking the use of cellular phones to the development of acoustic neurinomas because Dr. Newman does not have an acoustic neurinoma; he has a malignant astrocytoma."

The Court continued: "The district court also questioned the reliability of Dr. Hardell’s research because it failed to demonstrate a dose-response relationship, that is, it failed to show that with greater use of cellular phones, a person faced a greater risk of developing a tumor. Showing a dose-response relationship is, as Dr. Hardell agreed, an important factor in establishing causation. In short, Dr. Hardell’s testimony faced problems of both relevance and reliability, as the district court determined."

Hence, the Appeals Court concluded that the District Court did not abuse its discretion, and affirmed.

This opinion is short, but not insignificant. The Court did not state why it designated it as unpublished. It did write, however, that "Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c)."

This case is Christopher Newman and Frances Newman v. Motorola, et al., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, No. 02-2424, an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore, Judge Catherine Blake presiding, D.C. No. CA-00-2609-CCB.

10/21. Rep. Butch Otter (R-ID) introduced HR 3352, the "Security and Freedom Ensured Act of 2003 (SAFE) Act". This bill is similar, but not identical, to S 1709, also titled the SAFE Act, introduced in the Senate on October 2 by Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID).

HR 3352 would modify several sections of the criminal code and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to revise changes made by the USA PATRIOT Act. The "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001" was passed by the 107th Congress as HR 3162. It became Public Law 107-56 on October 26, 2001.

The bill would amend Section 501 of the FISA. This is the section of the FISA that provides for "Access to Certain Business Records for Foreign Intelligence and International Terrorism Investigations".

The bill would also amend 18 U.S.C. § 3103a to limit the authority to delay notice of search warrants, also known as "sneak and peak" warrants.

See also, story titled "Senators Craig and Dubin Introduce Bill to Modify PATRIOT Act " in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 753, October 6, 2003.

The original cosponsors of HR 3352 are Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Rep. Tom Udall (D-NM), Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), and Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ).

10/22. The Department of Commerce (DOC) announced that it has picked the winners of its annual National Medals of Science and Technology. See, DOC release for the list of winners.

The White House press office also issued a release that states that "The National Medal of Technology recognizes men and women who embody the spirit of American innovation and have advanced the nation's global competitiveness. Their groundbreaking contributions commercialize technologies, create jobs, improve productivity and stimulate the nation's growth and development. This award, established by Congress in 1980, is administered by the Department of Commerce."

This release also states that "The National Medal of Science honors individuals in a variety of fields for pioneering scientific research that has led to a better understanding of the world around us, as well as to the innovations and technologies that give the United States its global economic edge."

President Bush will award medals to the winners at a White House ceremony on November 6.

These sorts of awards are one of the things that governments do to incent innovation and pick winning technologies. Another approach is for the government to pick certain technologies that it determines ought to be developed, and provide funding to the entities that its picks to research and develop those technologies. Yet a third approach is to establish and maintain a government mechanism that gives limited property rights to all innovators, and leaves it to investors in the market to decide what to fund, and to consumers in the market to pick winning technologies.

The Constitution provides for this third approach. It states that "The Congress shall have the power ... To Promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." It also provides that "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States."

The federal government is now involved in all three approaches listed above.

Some members of Congress are focusing on the property rights regime. Members of the Congressional Caucus on Intellectual Property have written a letter to House Republican and Democratic leaders asking that a vote be scheduled on HR 1561, the "United States Patent and Trademark Fee Modernization Act of 2003 ".(The letter was written on October 15, and then circulated for more signatures.)

They wrote that "A well-functioning USPTO has been vital to the United States' commercial and scientific base by providing an economic engine and preserving the incentives for innovation as guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. For more than two hundred years, the agency has helped secure the economic success of the United States by empowering inventors, such as Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers ..."

The letter continues that the USPTO "is severely in need of additional resources and thus is in a true crisis." The problem derives from the situation that the USPTO is funded by user fees, but some of these fees are diverted to subsidize other government programs, leaving the USPTO underfunded.

President Bush, like President Clinton before him, has continued to submit budgets to the Congress that divert user fees. Moreover, the Congress has for over a decade passed appropriations bills that continue this diversion. The appropriations bill for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State (CJS bill) for fiscal year 2004 that the House passed in July, and the CJS bill that the Senate Appropriations Committee passed in September, continue the diversion.

HR 1561 would change this. It would allow the USPTO to spend on its operations all of the user fees that it collects. The IP Caucus letter warns that if this bill is not passed, "patent pendency will increase dramatically", "pendency would jump to over 40 months in 2008" and "patent holders would be unable to rely on the quality of their patents and will risk expensive and lengthy litigation".

When Phil Bond, the Under Secretary for the Technology Administration (TA), and other Commerce Department officials held a briefing in February on the Administration's FY 2004 budget proposal, Bond stated that there was a total of $123 Billion for research and development. The USPTO budget is about one one-hundredth as large. The President's budget proposal included $1.4 Billion for the USPTO. HR 2799, the House CJS bill, provides for "$1,138,700,000" plus "an additional amount not to exceed $100,000,000 from fees collected in prior fiscal years" for the USPTO.

10/21. Jason Klitenic was named Deputy General Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security. He has been Deputy Associate Attorney General at the Department of Justice since January 2002. Before that, he was a partner in the law firm of Alston & Bird in Atlanta, Georgia.

10/20. The Senate confirmed Margaret Catharine Rodgers to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida by a vote of 82-0. See, Roll Call No. 401.

10/21. Andrew Snowdon was named Oversight and Investigations Counsel for the House Commerce Committee. He was previously an Associate Director for the National Association of Securities Dealers' (NASD) Department of Market Regulation. And before that, he worked at the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) as a senior counsel in the Division of Enforcement.

10/22. William Davenport was named Deputy Division Chief of the Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau's Investigations and Hearings Division. Hillary De Nigro, Trent Harkrader, and Dana Leavitt were named Assistant Division Chiefs. See, FCC release [PDF].

10/22. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT), and Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld regarding JetBlue's disclosure of customer information. They wrote that "We are writing to seek further information regarding why a Department of Defense contractor collected the personal information of more than one million passengers of a commercial airline, JetBlue Airways, and then matched that information against commercial databases to develop passenger profiles. These actions suggest the contractor may have violated the Privacy Act of 1974, and they raise disturbing questions about the reliability of safeguards in place at the Defense Department to protect Americans' privacy." See, also story titled "EPIC Submits Privacy Complaint To FTC Regarding JetBlue", also published in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 744, September 23, 2003.

10/22. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that on October 20, 2003 it adopted a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NALF) that fines four radio and TV stations for violation of the FCC's rules regarding radiofrequency radiation limits. This NALF is FCC 03-258. The FCC stated that this proceeding involves "a multi-user site where the power density level produced by each individual licensee was within acceptable limits, but the cumulative effect exceeded the limits established by the FCC." The FCC imposed a fine (proposed forefeiture) of $10,000 for each station. See, FCC release [PDF].

8:00 AM. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Michael Powell will address the breakfast session of the American Bar Association Summit titled "Diversity in the Legal Profession: Opening the Pipeline". Location: Grand Ballroom, Willard Intercontinental Hotel, 1401 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

8:15 AM. The George Washington Law Review at the George Washington University Law School (GWULS) will host a day long conference titled "Internet Surveillance, Privacy & USA PATRIOT Act". To register, contact Amanda Johnson at ajohnson@law.gwu.edu. Location, GWULS, 2000 H Street, NW.

8:30 AM - 3:30 PM. The Association for Maximum Service Television will host an event titled "MSTV 17th Annual Fall Conference: Digital Covalence". The speakers will include Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT), Will Nordwind (House Commerce Committee), Greg Rothschild (HCC), Bruce Franca (Deput Chief of the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology), Paul Galante (Advisor to FCC Chairman Michael Powell), Johanna Mikes (Advisor to FCC Commissioners Adelstein), and Catherine Bohigian (Advisor to FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin). The price to attend is $300. Location: Park Hyatt Hotel, 24th & M Streets, NW.

9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in AT&T v. FCC, No. 02-1221. Judges Ginsburg, Edwards, and Garland will preside. Location: 333 Constitution Ave. NW.

11:45 AM. The Cato Institute will host a panel discussion titled "Online Gambling: Lessons from the Internet and Illegal Bookmakers". The speakers will be Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Mike Knesevitch (Tradesports.com), Koleman Strumpf (UNC Chapel Hill), Raymond Sauer (Clemson University), and Justin Wolfers (Stanford Business School). See, notice and registration page. The event will be webcast. Lunch will be served after the program. Location: Cato, 1000 Massachusetts Ave., NW.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Cable Practice Committee will host a brown bag lunch. The speaker will be Jordan Goldstein, Senior Legal Advisor to FCC Commissioner Michael Copps. For more information, contact Catherine Bohigian at catherine.bohigian@fcc.gov. RSVP to: wendy@fcba.org Location: NCTA, 1724 Massachusetts Ave, NW.

12:30 PM. The Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) will hold a news conference titled "National Cyber Security". The participants will include Orson Swindle (Federal Trade Commission), Bob Liscouski
(Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection, Department of Homeland Security), and Ken Watson (National Cyber Security Alliance). For more information, contact Holly Cherico at 703-247-9311 or hcherico@cbbb.bbb.org. Location: First Amendment Lounge, National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor.

4:00 PM. Roberta Kwall (DePaul University College of Law) will present a paper titled "In the Beginning ... The Impact of Genesis on Innovation". See, notice. For more information, contact Robert Brauneis at 202 994-6138 or rbraun@law.gwu.edu. Location: George Washington University Law School, Faculty Conference Center, Burns Building, 5th Floor, 716 20th Street, NW.

TIME? Joseph Liu (Boston College of Law) will give a lecture titled "Rationalizing Trademark Defenses". This is a part of Georgetown University Law Center's (GULC) Colloquium on Intellectual Property & Technology Law Series. For more information, contact Julie Cohen at 202 662-9871. Location: GULC, 600 New Jersey Ave., NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) pertaining to its rules governing the provision of air ground telecommunications services on commercial airplanes in order to enhance the options available to the public. The FCC adopted this NPRM on April 17, 2003, and released it on April 28, 2003. This is WT Docket No. 03-103. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 25, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 143, at Pages 44003 - 44011.

Deadline to submit requests to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to speak at its October 23, 2003 hearing regarding its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding computation and allocation of the credit for increasing research activities for members of a controlled group of corporations or a group of trades or businesses under common control. The rules implement the research and development tax credit codified at 26 U.S.C. § 41. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 29, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 145, at Pages 44499 - 44506.

7:30 AM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) will host a breakfast titled "New Horizons in the Digital Migration". The speaker will be FCC Chief of Staff Bryan Tramont. The price to attend is $35.00. Register by Tuesday, October 21, 2003. See, registration page. Location: J.W. Marriott Hotel, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

8:00 AM - 3:30 PM. The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advisory Committee for Computer and Information Science and Engineering will hold a meeting. See, notice in the Federal Register, September 22, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 183, at Page 55067. Location: NSF, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Room 1235, Arlington, VA.

9:00 AM. The U.S. District Court (DC) will hold a status conference in U.S. v. Microsoft, D.C. No. 98 cv 1232. Location: Courtroom 11, 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

Deadline for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding telecommunication relay services (TRS) and speech-to-speech services for individuals with hearing and speech disabilities. This is CG Docket No. 03-123. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 25, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 164, at Pages 50993 - 50998.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. Intellectual Property Section of the D.C. Bar Association will host a CLE course titled "Transactions Involving Intellectual Property, Part II: Intellectual Property in Financings and Bankruptcy". Prices vary. For more information, call 202 626-3488. Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, 1250 H Street NW, B-1 level.

12:00 NOON. Deadline to submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) regarding countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on intellectual property protection. Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974  requires the USTR to prepare a report. Section 182, which is codified at 19 U.S.C. § 2242, is also referred to as "Special 301". This is an out of cycle review. The USTR announced that this review will focus on Korea. However, it added that "Additional countries may also be reviewed as a result of the comments received pursuant to this notice, or as warranted by events." See, notice in the Federal Register, October 3, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 192, at Page 57503.

RESCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER 28. 2:00 PM. The House Ways and Means Committee will meet to mark up HR 2896, the "American Jobs Creation Act of 2003". This bill would, among other things, replace the FSC & ETI tax regimes that the WTO held to be illegal export subsidies. Location: Room 1100, Longworth Building.

5:30 - 7:30 PM. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a book forum. Charles Murray will discuss his book (due for release on October 21) titled Human Accomplishment : The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950. See, Amazon page. See also, AEI notice. Location: AEI, Twelfth floor, 1150 17th St., NW.

Deadline to submit nominations to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau for positions on the Board of Directors of its Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). See, FCC notice [PDF].

Deadline to submit written comments to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regarding its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding computation and allocation of the credit for increasing research activities for members of a controlled group of corporations or a group of trades or businesses under common control. The rules implement the research and development tax credit codified at 26 U.S.C. § 41. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 29, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 145, at Pages 44499 - 44506.

9:00 AM. The House Ways and Means Committee will meet to mark up HR 2896, the "American Jobs Creation Act of 2003". This bill would, among other things, replace the FSC & ETI tax regimes that the WTO held to be illegal export subsidies. Location: Room 1100, Longworth Building. This mark up was previously scheduled for Monday, October 27.

12:00 NOON. The Cato Institute will host a book forum. Charles Murray will discuss his book (due for release on October 21) titled Human Accomplishment : The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950. See, Amazon page. See also, AEI notice. Press contact: Veronique Rodman at 202 862-4871 or vrodman@aei.org. Lunch will follow the program. Location: Cato, 1000 Massachusetts Ave., NW.

6:00 - 9:15 PM. The Intellectual Property and International Law sections of the D.C. Bar Association will host a CLE course titled "Practical Guide to U.S. Implementation of the Madrid Protocol". Prices vary. For more information, call 202 626-3488. Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, 1250 H Street NW, B-1 level.

Deadline to submit comments to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regarding its proposal "to issue new guidance to realize the benefits of meaningful peer review of the most important science disseminated by the federal government regarding regulatory topics." See, OMB document [14 pages in PDF] titled "Peer Review and Information Quality".

10:00 AM - 5:30 PM. Day one of a two day event hosted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) titled "E911 Coordination Initiative". The event will address legal, regulatory, technical, and financial issues that arise in the implementation of wireless enhanced 911 services. See, letter [PDF] from Chairman Powell, and FCC release [PDF]. The event will be webcast. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th St., SW.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Department of State's (DOS) Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy (ACICIP) will meet. Ambassador David Gross, U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, is scheduled to attend. The agenda includes "communications policy issues, future directions of the Committee's work, discussion regarding countries of particular interest to the ACICIP, preparations for the World Summit on the Information Society, and consultation regarding the most important emerging technologies". See, notice in the Federal Register, October 10, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 197, at Page 58744. Location: Room 1107, Harry S. Truman Building, 2201 C Street, NW.

12:00 NOON. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Online Communications Practice Committee will host a brown bag lunch on wireline broadband issues. The speaker will be Jessica Rosenworcel, Legal Advisor to FCC Commissioner Michael Copps. RSVP to heidi@fcba.org. Location: Cole Raywid & Braverman, 1919 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Suite 200.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "Current Issues in Broadband Deployment". The speakers will include Kyle Dixon, Deputy Media Bureau Chief and Special Counsel to the Chairman on Broadband Policy. Location: Wilkinson Barker & Knauer, 2300 N Street, NW, Suite 700.

POSTPONED. 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will host a conference titled "21st Century Criminal Networks: Intellectual Property Theft and Counterfeiting". See, notice. Location: U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 1615 H. Street, NW.

9:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a pair of panel discussions titled "Class Action Reform: The Why and the Who". The speakers will be Richard Epstein (University of Chicago), David Rosenberg (Harvard), Judge Lee Rosenthal, Todd Zywicki (FTC), John Beisner (O’Melveny & Myers), Mark Perry (Gibson Dunn & Crutcher). See, AEI notice. Press contact: Veronique Rodman at 202 862-4871 or vrodman@aei.org. Location: AEI, Twelfth floor, 1150 17th St., NW.

9:15 AM - 5:15 PM. Day two of a two day event hosted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) titled "E911 Coordination Initiative". The event will address legal, regulatory, technical, and financial issues that arise in the implementation of wireless enhanced 911 services. See, letter [PDF] from Chairman Powell, and FCC release [PDF]. The event will be webcast. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th St., SW.

1:30 - 3:30 PM. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a panel discussion titled "The Patriot Act and Civil Liberties: Too Far or Not Far Enough?" The speakers will be Bob Barr (American Conservative Union), Alice Fisher (Latham & Watkins), and John Yoo (AEI). See, notice. Press contact: Veronique Rodman at 202 862-4871 or vrodman@aei.org. Location: Twelfth floor, 1150 17th St., NW.

2:00 PM. The House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing titled "United States - China Economic Relations and China's Role in the Global Economy". See, notice. Location: Room 1100, Longworth Building.

Day one of a three day convention of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA). Location: Grand Hyatt Washington.

The Cato Institute will host a conference titled "Telecom and Broadband Policy: After the Market Meltdown".