10/10. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) floated a new proposal in ongoing agriculture trade negotiations that are a part of the broad Doha Development Agenda trade negotiations. This proposal addresses export competition, market access, and domestic support.

USTR Robert Portman (at right) stated in a release that "The United States is committed to breaking the deadlock in multilateral talks on agriculture, and unleashing the full potential of the Doha Round". See also, USTR summary.

Agriculture is not technology. However, resolution of agriculture trade disputes is probably a necessary precondition for reaching a broader trade agreement that would include provisions promoting free trade in technology.

Harris Miller, President of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), stated in a release that "This important action moves us towards WTO agreements that advance the global marketplace for IT products and services while creating more and better paying jobs for US IT workers."

Trade negotiators are working under a two month deadline. The World Trade Organization (WTO) will hold its Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong on December 13-18, 2005. See, WTO notice.

10/8. David Conrad was hired by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) as General Manager of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). See, ICANN release.

10/6. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) hired Michael Turk for its newly created position of VP of Grassroots. He previously worked as the eCampaign Director for the Republican National Committee (RNC), and for the Bush-Cheney 2004 re-election campaign. The NCTA promoted Rick Cimerman to the position of VP of State Government Affairs. The NCTA also promoted Lisa Schoenthaler to the position of VP of Association Affairs and the Office of Rural/Small Systems. See, NCTA release.

10/10. eBay and VeriSign announced "a strategic alliance that calls for the two companies to collaborate on payment services and security initiatives for e-commerce. Under the terms of the agreements, PayPal, an eBay company, will acquire VeriSign's payment gateway business and combine it with PayPal's leading merchant services platform. VeriSign will also provide eBay and PayPal with a suite of security services that includes the deployment of two-factor authentication, a security system that gives customers a one-time password or digital certificate to help protect against online identity theft." See, PayPal release and VeriSign release. This transaction is subject to regulatory approval. eBay acquired PayPal in 2002.

10/7. The European Commission gave its approval to the merger of Verizon and MCI WorldCom. See, Verizon release and MCI release.

10/5. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released the text [89 pages in PDF] of a Memorandum Opinion and Order (MO&O) that addresses petitions for reconsideration, a request for waiver, and a request for declaratory ruling, in its 800 MHz public safety proceeding. This MOO is FCC 05-174 in WT Docket 02-55, ET Docket No. 00-258, RM-9498, RM-10024, and ET Docket No. 95-18. The FCC adopted this item on October 3, 2005.

10/3. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) released a notice [PDF] requesting nominations for seven positions on the Board of Directors of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC).

9/30. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its tenth annual report [107 pages in PDF] on the state of competition in the Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS) industry. See also, FCC release [3 pages in PDF]. This report is FCC 05-173 in WT Docket No. 05-71.

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The House will not meet the week of October 10-14. See, Republican Whip Notice.

The Senate will not meet the week of October 10-14. It will next meet on October 17 at 2:00 PM.

1:30 - 4:30 PM. The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) will meet. The agenda includes presentations by John Chambers (Ch/CEO of Cisco Systems) and Thomas Noonan (P/CEO of Internet Security Systems). See, notice in the Federal Register, September 2, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 170, at Pages 52420 - 52421. Location: National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor.

Day one of a two day conference hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Open Web Application Security Project regarding the OWASP. See, notice and conference web site. Location: NIST, Green Auditorium, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regarding proposed changes to Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 201, titled "Standard for Personal Identity Verification of Federal Employees and Contractors. See, notice in the Federal Register, September 8, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 173, at Pages 53346 - 53347.

Day two of a two day conference hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Open Web Application Security Project regarding the OWASP. See, notice and conference web site. Location: NIST, Green Auditorium, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD.

Yom Kippur.

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM. The President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) will hold a meeting by teleconference. The first part of the meeting, which will be open to the public, will be a discussion of issues related to Hurricane Katrina. The second part of the meeting, which will be closed to the public, will be a discussion of the shutdown of cellular services in the tunnels into and out of Manhattan following the terrorist attacks in London on July 7, 2005. To participate, contact Elizabeth Hart at 703 289-5948 or hart_elizabeth at bah dot com by 5:00 PM on Tuesday, October 11, 2005. See, notice in the Federal Register, September 28, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 187, at Page 56731.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a program titled "New SEC Enforcement Director Speaks: Stay the Course or New Directions in SEC Enforcement?". The speaker will be Linda Thomsen (Director of the SEC's Enforcement Division). Larry Ellsworth (Jenner & Block) will moderate. The price to attend ranges from $5-$10. For more information, call 202 626-3463. See, notice. Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, 1250 H Street NW, B-1 Level.

2:00 - 4:00 PM. The Department of States' (DOS) International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) will meet to prepare for ITU-T Advisory Group. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 13, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 133, at Page 40414. Location: undisclosed. The DOS states that "Access to these meetings may be arranged by contacting Julian Minard at minardje at state dot gov.

Deadline to submit comments to the Interim Chief Copyright Royalty Judge, on behalf of the Copyright Royalty Board, on the existence of controversies to the distribution of the 2003 cable royalty fund. See, notice in the Federal Register, September 13, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 176, at Pages 53973 - 53974.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) regarding its out of cycle reviews of Ukraine and Saudi Arabia. Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974 requires the USTR to identify 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. See, notice in the Federal Register, September 8, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 173, at Pages 53410 - 53412. See also, story titled "USTR Lifts Trade Sanctions on Ukraine and Announces Special 301 Out of Cycle Review" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,205, September 1, 2005. See also, notice in the Federal Register, September 14, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 177, at Pages 54436 - 54437.

12:00 NOON. Andrew Chin ( University of North Carolina Law School) will deliver a paper titled "Artful Prior Art and the Quality of DNA Patents". This event is a part of the George Washington University Law School's (GWULS) intellectual property workshop series. RSVP by Tuesday, October 11, to Rosalie Kouassi at rkouassi at law dot gwu dot edu. Location: GWULS, Faculty Conference Center, 5th Floor Burns, 716 20th St., NW.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Mass Media Practice Committee will host a brown bag lunch. The topic will be "Meet the Media Bureau Chief -- Donna Gregg". No RSVP is requested. For more information, contact Ann Bobeck at abobeck at nab dot org. Location: National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), 1771 N Street, NW.

2:00 PM. The Cato Institute will host a panel discussion titled "Restoring Property Rights After Kelo v. New London". The speakers will be Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Roger Pilon (Cato), and John Echeverria (Georgetown Environmental Law and Policy Institute). See, notice and registration page. Cato will webcast the event. Lunch will be served after the program. Location: Cato, 1000 Massachusetts Ave., NW.

8:00 AM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host a breakfast. The speaker will be Sen. John Ensign (R-NV). See, registration form [PDF]. Registrations and cancellations are due by 12:00 NOON on October 14. The price to attend ranges from $30 to $55. Location: J.W. Marriott, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, bottom level.

9:00 AM - 1:00 PM. The Chamber of Commerce will host an event titled "Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Fixing a Broken System". The price to attend ranges from free to $145. For more information, contact Winsome Walker at 202 463-5500. See, notice. Location: __.

2:30 PM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) may hold a hearing on pending judicial nominations. The SJC frequently cancels of postpones hearings without notice. Press contact: Blain Rethmeier (Specter) at 202 224-5225, David Carle (Leahy) at 202 224-4242 or Tracy Schmaler (Leahy) at 202 224-2154. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

6:00 - 9:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a continuing legal education (CLE) seminar titled "What Every Lawyer Needs to Know About Antitrust Law". The speakers will include William Kovacic (George Washington University Law School), Michael Brockmeyer (DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary), and Laura Wilkinson (Weil Gotshal & Manges). The price to attend ranges from $70-$125. For more information, call 202 626-3488. See, notice. Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, 1250 H Street NW, B-1 Level.