| GAO Reports that Lack of Funding and
Brain Drain Cause Patent Application Backlog |
|
10/4. The Government Accountability Office (GAO)
released a report [43 pages in PDF]
titled "U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Hiring Efforts Are Not Sufficient to Reduce
the Patent Application Backlog".
The report finds that there is a large and growing backlog of patent application at the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The USPTO is
hiring more patent examiners, but it is constrained by funding limitations. Also, the
report finds that the USPTO is losing many young examiners, in part because
USPTO production goals lead examiners to work overtime and while on leave.
The report does not address Congressional diversion of USPTO fees to
subsidize other government programs.
The GAO report states that "increases in both the volume and
complexity of patent applications have lengthened the amount of time it takes
the agency to process them. As a result, the inventory of patent applications
that have not yet been reviewed, called the backlog, has been growing for over
15 years -- since fiscal year 2002 alone, the backlog has increased by nearly 73
percent to about 730,000 applications."
The report finds that "the patent application backlog has
continued to increase, and it is unlikely that the agency will be able to reduce
the backlog simply through its hiring efforts."
"From 2002 through 2006, patent examiner attrition has continued to significantly
offset USPTO's hiring progress." It adds that the "USPTO hired 3,672 patent
examiners between 2002 and 2006, and 1,643 patent examiners left the agency during this
time."
Moreover, the report adds that young examiners are the most likely to leave.
The report also discusses possible causes. It states that USPTO management asserts that
examiners leave for personal reasons, while "union officials told us that attrition can
primarily be attributed to the insufficient amount of time provided to patent examiners to
meet their production goals." The report states that its own survey supports the union
viewpoint.
It also states that "to meet their production goals, the majority of patent examiners
had to work substantial unpaid overtime in the last 12 months, while many others worked while
on annual leave."
The report states that "funding levels" limit how many examiners
the USPTO can hire.
The report was prepared for Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA),
the ranking Republican on the House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee. Rep. Davis stated in a release that "Everyone needs to
understand that the diversion of fees from USPTO to other government programs
helped create this problem."
He also commented that the USPTO "has been unable to effectively combat its
brain drain."
|
|
|
| Net Neutrality Proponents Seek
Congressional Hearings |
|
10/3. The Open Internet Coalition
(OIC) sent letters to the Chairmen and ranking Republicans on the House and Senate Judiciary
and Commerce Committees asking them to hold hearings on "recent anti-consumer and
anti-free speech actions by Verizon, AT&T and Comcast". See, for example,
letter
to Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), Chairman
of the House Commerce Committee.
The members of the OIC include Earthlink, Google, eBay, PayPal, Skype, Tivo,
and YouTube. The OIC wants the Congress or Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) to impose network neutrality mandates on
broadband service providers.
The letter asserts that recently "several industry members have taken
blatantly anti-consumer actions that call into question the industry’s
commitment to serving the interests of consumers." It argues that these actions
"demonstrate that the telephone and cable companies should not be trusted to
safeguard our basic Internet freedoms. For two years, we have urged Congress to
adopt legislation that would preserve an open and interconnected Internet ...
Now, more than ever, the open Internet is increasingly threatened by telephone
and cable companies who enjoy the public rights of way to provide Internet
access to consumers' homes."
The OIC letter states that hearings should "explore the activities of the
telephone companies and consider legislation that would protect a fundamental
tenet of the Internet, which is to allow citizens to communicate without threat
of censorship or other anti-consumer behavior from a handful of gatekeepers."
The OIC's allegation against Verizon relates to text messaging by an abortion
policy group. See also,
story titled
"Verizon Wireless and Net Neutrality Advocates Clash Over Text Messaging" in TLJ Daily
E-Mail Alert No. 1,647, September 27, 2007.
The OIC's allegation against AT&T is that it "censored a live Webcast of a
Pearl Jam concert when the lead singer made statements that were critical of the
Bush Administration".
Finally, the OIC alleged that Comcast "has cut off Internet customers who the
company said were using too much capacity".
|
|
|
| SEC Commissioner Discusses Internet Based
Fraud |
|
10/1. Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) Commissioner
Kathleen Casey gave a
speech in
Seattle, Washington, in which she discussed internet intrusion fraud, and use of
the internet in pump and dump and Ponzi schemes.
Casey (at right) said that "Our internet enforcement group was among the
first to discover a new trend in internet-based fraud that has been dubbed the
``intrusion´´ cases."
She explained that "In these cases the perpetrator, sometimes affiliated with
a foreign crime syndicate, hacks into an online brokerage account and places
purchase orders for large blocks of relatively obscure or lightly traded stocks.
The perpetrator then sells this same stock in his own account, quickly posting
thousands of dollars in paper gains. The owner of the intruded account is left
with a depleted bank account and shares of worthless stock."
She said that Ponzi schemes have been around for almost 100 years, and
"despite the enactment of several major laws, the creation of the SEC, the
hiring and training of thousands of investigators and prosecutors, and the
proliferation of investor education and alerts, Ponzi's scheme survives."
"Perhaps the internet or other new technologies have made it possible to
disguise these schemes or employ ever more enticing sales pitches; perhaps it's
the greater access to the marketplace brought about by the internet and it's low
barriers to entry for those with a sinister idea and a laptop", said Casey.
She also said that "globalization of our markets, fueled by technological
innovation, continues to diminish the relevance of geographical boundaries that
have historically defined and dictated our approach to regulation".
|
|
|
| GAO Finds FCC Gives Some Stakeholders
Nonpublic Information |
|
10/3. The Government Accountability
Office (GAO) released a report [43
pages in PDF] titled "Telecommunications: FCC Should Take Steps to Ensure Equal
Access to Rulemaking Information".
This report describes the Federal
Communications Commission's (FCC) rule making process, and focuses on just
one aspect of the the FCC's lack of transparency -- that "some
stakeholders had access to nonpublic information that could give them an
advantage in the rulemaking process".
The report states that the GAO interviewed stakeholders who
participated in several rulemaking proceedings. It relates that "we
also were told by 9 of 12 stakeholders -- both those involved with our case
studies and stakeholders who regularly participated in FCC rulemakings -- that
they knew when proposed rules were scheduled for an upcoming vote well before
FCC released the agenda to the public because they hear this information from
FCC bureau staff and commissioner staff. This advance information is not
supposed to be disclosed outside of FCC."
It continues that "Once the agenda is public, FCC rules
generally prohibit stakeholders from lobbying FCC. As a result, stakeholders
with advance information about which rules are scheduled for a vote would know
when it may be most effective to present their arguments to FCC, while
stakeholders without access to this information may not."
The report also notes that not all ex parte filings comply with
the FCC's ex parte rules.
The report was prepared for
Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the
House Commerce Committee's (HCC)
Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.
He issued a
release that states that the GAO report shows that FCC information "is often leaked
to corporate insiders long before it becomes public".
Rep. Markey wrote that "The FCC has a duty to be above-board in developing
and implementing its rules. When the `corporate insiders´ and `K-Street´ crowd
have the inside track on decisions critical to telecommunications, media,
broadband or wireless policy, then the public and consumers, are at an inherent
disadvantage. Both the law and the public interest, require that rulemaking
decisions adhere to principles of openness and objectivity."
He continued that "The good news is that the FCC has rules against disclosing
inside information before everyone knows it publicly. The bad news is that it
appears violations of such rules are a daily reality at the FCC. I believe the
FCC should take immediate steps to protect the integrity of its rulemaking
process. The public deserves to know that these decisions are made on the up-and-up, with
no unfair advantage to any one side in these important policy debate".
There are many other procedures employed by the FCC that are not covered by
this report that also reduce the transparency of its proceedings.
For example, while the FCC publishes an agenda of its meetings one week before the
scheduled time of the meeting, it rarely follows that agenda. It adds and deletes items
without providing the required one week notice. Also, the FCC often does not hold its meeting
at the scheduled time, and reschedules without one week notice.
The FCC rarely releases the text of its reports, orders, memoranda, notices
at the time that it adopts them. Information about the contents of its adopted
items is disseminated by means other that the public release of the items.
FCC officials involved in open rule making proceedings sometimes speak at events regarding
those proceedings. These officials sometimes disclose information about those proceedings
and/or receive oral comments from interested parties. The FCC does not apply its written
comment or ex parte rules or the Administrative Procedure Act to these meetings on the basis
that these are public events. However, not all such meetings are public. For example,
reporters are sometimes excluded.
|
|
|
| Supreme Court News |
|
10/1. The Supreme Court of the US (SCUS)
denied certiorari Hynix Semiconductor v. Rambus, a patent infringement case.
This is Sup. Ct. No. 06-1681. See,
Orders
List [83 pages in PDF] at page 13.
10/1. The Supreme Court of the US (SCUS) denied
certiorari in Gersh Korsinsky v. USPTO, a case regarding the consequences of
failure to timely pay patent maintenance fees. This is Sup. Ct. No. 07-185. See,
Orders
List [83 pages in PDF] at page 46, and April 5, 2007,
opinion [7 pages in
PDF] of the U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir), App. Ct. No. 2007-1029.
10/1. The Supreme Court of the US
(SCUS) denied certiorari in Pfizer v. Apotex, a case involving an
Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA). This case is Sup. Ct. No. 06-1582. The
SCUS's
Orders List [83 pages in PDF] at page 74 states that "The motion of
Washington Legal Foundation for leave to file a brief as amicus curiae is
granted. The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied. The Chief Justice took
no part in the consideration or decision of this motion and this petition." See
also, March 22, 2006, opinion
[41 pages in PDF] of the U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir), App. Ct. No. 2006-1261
10/1. The Supreme Court of the US
(SCUS) denied certiorari in Official Committee v. Adelphia Communications,
Sup. Ct. No. 06-1586. The SCUS's
Orders List [83
pages in PDF] at page 74 states that "The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied.
Justice Breyer took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition."
10/1. The Supreme Court of the US (SCUS) denied
certiorari in Teva Pharmaceuticals v. Eli Lilly, Sup. Ct. No. 06-1642. See,
Orders
List [83 pages in PDF] at page 74.
10/1. The Supreme Court of the US (SCUS) denied
certiorari in Systems Unlimited v. Cisco Systems, Sup. Ct. No. 07-30. The
Orders
List [83 pages in PDF] at page 76 states that "The petitions for writs of certiorari
are denied. Justice Breyer took no part in the consideration or decision of
these petitions."
|
|
|
|
Washington Tech Calendar
New items are highlighted in red. |
|
|
| Friday, October 5 |
|
The House will meet at 3:00 PM.
The Senate will meet in pro forma session only.
9:00 - 11:00 PM. The American Enterprise
Institute (AEI) will host a panel discussion Stoneridge Investment v. Scientific
Atlanta. The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on October 9, 2009. See also,
story titled "story titled "Supreme Court to Consider 10b Liability of Stock
Issuers' Vendors" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,625, August 21, 2007. The speakers
will be Louis Bograd (Center for
Constitutional Litigation), Jonathan Cuneo (Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca),
Theodore Frank
(AEI), Robert
Gasaway (Kirkland & Ellis),
Harvey Pitt
(Kalorama Partners), and
Michael Greve
(AEI). See,
notice. Location: AEI, 12th floor, 1150 17th St., NW.
Day two of a four day convention of the
Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).
At 10:00 - 11:15 AM there will be a panel titled "Jailed on the Job:
Do We Need a National Shield Law". The speakers will be Mike Walter (WUSA
anchor), Randall Eliason (American University), Eve Burton (General Counsel of the
Hearst Corporation), Jim Taricani (WJAR reporter), and Bruce Sanford (Baker
Hostetler). See, conference web site.
Location: Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, 400 New Jersey Ave., NW.
Deadline to submit comments to the Department of Commerce's (DOC)
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)
regarding the foreign policy based export controls in the Export
Administration Regulations to determine whether they should be modified,
rescinded or extended. See, notice in the Federal Register, September 5, 2007,
Vol. 72, No. 171, at Pages 50912-50913.
|
|
|
| Saturday, October 6 |
|
Day three of a four day convention of the
Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). At 9:45 - 10:45
AM, Leonard Downey, Editor of the Washington Post, will speak. At 12:00 NOON - 12:30
PM Ryan Cox (Media Bloggers Association) will give a speech titled "Blogger and
Journalists: Friends or Foes". See, conference
web site.
Location: Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, 400 New Jersey Ave., NW.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Tuesday, October 9 |
|
The Supreme Court of the
U.S. (SCUS) will hear oral argument in Stoneridge Investment v. Scientific
Atlanta, Sup. Ct. No. 06-43. See, SCUS
docket, and story titled
"Supreme Court to Consider 10b Liability of Stock Issuers' Vendors" in TLJ
Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,625, August 21, 2007.
6:00 - 9:00 PM. The DC Bar
Association will host a continuing legal education (CLE) program titled
"Beginner's Guide to Publishing Law and Publishing Agreements". It will
cover, among other topics, Google's book program and internet publishing. The speaker
will be Gail Ross (Lichtman Trister &
Ross). The price to attend ranges from $80 to $115. For more information, call
202-626-3488. See,
notice. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, B-1 Level, 1250 H St., NW.
2:00 - 4:00 PM. The
House Science Committee's (HSC)
Subcommittee on Research and Science Education Subcommittee will hold a
hearing titled "Assessment of the National Science Board’s Action Plan for
STEM Education". The HSC will webcast this hearing. Location: Room 2318,
Rayburn Building.
Deadline to submit comments to the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in response to its notice of proposed
rulemaking (NPRM) regarding revising its rules of practice pertaining to any
claim using alternative language to claim one or more species. See,
notice in the Federal Register, August 10, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 154, at
Pages 44992-45001.
Extended effective date of the Federal
Communications Commission's (FCC) rule that requires local exchange
carriers (LECs), including incumbent LECs and competitive LECs, and commercial
mobile radio service (CMRS) providers to have an emergency backup power
source "for all assets that are normally powered from local AC commercial
power, including those inside central offices, cell sites, remote switches and
digital loop carrier system remote terminals." See,
notice in the Federal Register, August 10, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 154, at
Pages 44978-44979. This proceeding is EB Docket No. 06-119 and WC Docket No.
06-63.
|
|
|
| Wednesday, October 10 |
|
9:00 AM - 2:40 PM. The U.S.
Chamber of Commerce will host a conference titled "RFID Solutions: Securing
the Commerce of Tomorrow". The speakers will include
Hugo Teufel (Chief
Privacy Officer of the Department of Homeland Security),
Dan Caprio (Progress & Freedom Foundation), Bill
McDermott (P/CEO of SAP Americas), David Nabarro (UN Development Group), and Mark Roberti
(RFID Journal). Prices vary. See,
notice and registration
page. For more information, contact Drew Preston at 202-463-5500 or ncfevents at
uschamber dot com. Location: Ronald Reagan Building, Atrium Ballroom, 1300 Pennsylvania
Ave., NW.
9:30 AM. The Federal Communications Commission's
(FCC) North American Numbering Council (NANC) will meet. See,
notice in the Federal Register, September 24, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 184, at
Pages 54263-54264. Location: FCC, Suite 5-C162, 445 12th St., SW.
6:00 - 8:00 PM. The Federal
Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) International Telecommunications Practice
Committee will host an event titled "Panel Discussion with Telecom Attaches from
Foreign Embassies". The speakers will also include
Michael Copps (FCC Commissioner) and
David Gross (Department of
State). Prices vary. See,
registration form [PDF].
Registrations and cancellations are due by 5:00 PM on September 28. Location:
House of Sweden, 2900 K St., NW.
Deadline to submit initial comments to the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to
its Eighth Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making announcing tentative channel designations.
This item is FCC 07-138 in MB Docket No. 87-268. See, FCC
Public Notice (DA 07-3914) [PDF] and
notice in the Federal Register, September 10, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 174, at
Pages 51575-51581.
|
|
|
| Thursday, October 11 |
|
10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Department of State's (DOS) Advisory
Committee on International Communications and Information Policy will hold a meeting. See,
notice in the Federal Register, September 18, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 180, at
Pages 53275-53276. Location: DOS, Truman Building, 2201 C St., NW.
11:00 AM - 1:00 PM. The
Copyright Alliance will host
an event titled "Exponential". The scheduled speakers are
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the House
Judiciary Committee (HJC), Rep. Howard Berman
(D-CA), Chairman of the HJC's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual
Property (SCIIP), Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN),
Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL), Stuart Taylor (book
author and journalist), and Lloyd Dangle (graphic artist). Lunch will be served. RSVP to
Diana Walters at Diana_Walters at NicklesGroup dot com. Location: Cannon Caucus Room,
Third Floor, Cannon Building.
Deadline to submit comments to the
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regarding its Draft Federal
Information Processing Standard 140-3, titled "Security
Requirements for Cryptographic Modules". See,
notice in the Federal Register, July 13, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 134, at Pages
38566-38567.
|
|
|
| Friday, October 12 |
|
Extended deadline to submit reply comments to the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in
response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding Section 612 of
the Communications Act, which is codified at
47 U.S.C. § 532, which requires cable operators to set aside channel
capacity for commercial use by video programmers unaffiliated with the
operator, and Section 616 of the Communications Act, which is codified at
47 U.S.C. § 536, which prohibits a cable operator or other multichannel video programming
distributor (MVPD) from requiring a financial interest in any program service as a condition
for carriage of such service, from coercing a programmer to grant exclusive carriage rights,
or from engaging in conduct that unreasonably restrains the ability of an unaffiliated
programming vendor to compete fairly by discriminating against such vendor on the basis of
affiliation or nonaffiliation. The FCC adopted this item on March 2, 2007, and released the
text on June 15, 2007. This NPRM is FCC 07-18 in MB Docket No. 07-42. See,
notice in the Federal Register, July 18, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 137, at Pages 39370-39377,
and
Public Notice [PDF] (DA 07-3736) extending comment deadlines.
Deadline to submit comments to the
National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST)
Compuer Security Division (CSD) regarding its
Draft
Special Publication 800-28 Revision 2 [60 pages in PDF], titled "Guidelines on
Active Content and Mobile Code".
|
|
|
| People and Appointments |
|
10/4. Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM)
announced that he will not run for re-election to the Senate next year. See also,
statement by
President Bush.
10/3. Scott Wiener was named SVP, Partner Development at Frontier Wireless. He
previously worked for Sprint Nextel.
10/1. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Commissioner Annette
Nazareth announced her intention to leave the SEC to return to the private sector.
She did not set a departure date. See, SEC
release.
9/27. Joel Harris was named Chair of the Department
of Commerce's (DOC) newly created DOC Technology Council. See,
release.
|
|
|
| About Tech Law Journal |
Tech Law Journal publishes a free access web site and
subscription e-mail alert. The basic rate for a subscription
to the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert is $250 per year. However, there
are discounts for subscribers with multiple recipients. Free one
month trial subscriptions are available. Also, free
subscriptions are available for journalists,
federal elected officials, and employees of the Congress, courts, and
executive branch. The TLJ web site is
free access. However, copies of the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert are not
published in the web site until one month after writing. See, subscription
information page.
Contact: 202-364-8882.
P.O. Box 4851, Washington DC, 20008.
Privacy
Policy
Notices
& Disclaimers
Copyright 1998-2007
David Carney,
dba Tech Law Journal. All rights reserved. |
|
|