7/28. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [104 pages in PDF] titled "Emergency Communications: Vulnerabilities Remain and Limited Collaboration and Monitoring Hamper Federal Efforts".

It states that high winds, earthquakes, volcanic mudflows, floods, tsunamis, and terrorist nuclear explosions and electromagnetic pulses "can disrupt continuity of communications". It also describes the likely impacts of various scenarios.

Moreover, the report states that "Spikes in demand following a disaster can cause communications systems to crash and system outages place additional demands on remaining systems." Also, the report states that limits to interoperability between first responder systems create further vulnerabilities.

The report also discusses the state of federal agency activities and planning.

This report recommends that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) "work to complete a memorandum to establish the Emergency Communications Preparedness Center".

It also recommends that the DHS and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) "establish a forum, or other mechanism, to better collaborate to identify and discuss challenges, opportunities, and potential ways to better align their emergency communications efforts, such as the National Emergency Communications Plan and the 700 MHz Public/Private Partnership".

It also recommends that the DHS "provide guidance and technical assistance to federal agencies in developing formal emergency communications plans". Finally, it recommends that the DHS and FCC "systematically track, assess, and respond to stakeholder groups’ recommendations".

7/29. The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) released a paper [PDF] on July 27, 2009, titled "Privacy Recommendations for the Google Book Search Settlement".

It argues that before the U.S. District Court (SDNY) approves the settlement, "Google should issue a set of privacy commitments that explains both its general approach to protecting reader privacy and its process for addressing privacy in greater detail", and then the District Court "should monitor implementation of these privacy commitments as part of its ongoing supervision of the settlement".

The paper also outlines the CDT's privacy related concerns with the settlement agreement.

On July 29, the Internet Archive (IA) released a statement in which it wrote that "Despite repeated requests, Google has declined to give any details about what privacy controls it would put in place on its Book Search product. Will Google track the books that we are reading and make this information available to sell advertising against it? Will Google refuse to share information with the government about what books people are reading, as libraries routinely do? Will Google even publish a robust privacy policy on its Book Search product before the settlement issue is resolved?"

The IA also asserted that the Google books settlement "creates what is effectively a monopoly in the Book Rights Registry. The Books Rights Registry will be a privately-held, privately-administered exclusive marketplace where digitized books are priced. Why should this function be handed over to a monopoly controlled through the Authors Guild and AAP?  Why can’t there be an open framework that allows for more than one registry – giving rights holders and others a choice? For domain names, consumers and businesses have a choice of where to register a domain name – creating competition. Will Google endorse an open system?"

See also, the Electronic Privacy Information Center's (EPIC) web page titled "Google Books Settlement and Privacy", and the American Civil Liberties Union's (ACLU) Northern California office's web page titled "Google: Don't Close the Book on Reader Privacy".

7/29. Microsoft announced in a release, and Yahoo announced in a parallel release, that they have entered into a ten year "agreement" under which "Microsoft will now power Yahoo! search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies' premium search advertisers."

Microsoft's new Bing search engine will be used on Yahoo's web sites. Yahoo will provide the sales force for search advertising (but not display advertising) for both companies.

The companies described, but did not release the text, of the agreement.

They stated that the agreement provides that "Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10 year license to Yahoo!'s core search technologies, and Microsoft will have the ability to integrate Yahoo! search technologies into its existing web search platforms"

It further provides that "Microsoft’s Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo! sites. Yahoo! will continue to use its technology and data in other areas of its business such as enhancing display advertising technology."

It further provides that "Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers. Self-serve advertising for both companies will be fulfilled by Microsoft’s AdCenter platform, and prices for all search ads will continue to be set by AdCenter’s automated auction process."

"Each company will maintain its own separate display advertising business and sales force."

"Microsoft will compensate Yahoo! through a revenue sharing agreement on traffic generated on Yahoo!’s network of both owned and operated (O&O) and affiliate sites." In addition, "Microsoft will pay traffic acquisition costs (TAC) to Yahoo! at an initial rate of 88% of search revenue generated on Yahoo!’s O&O sites during the first 5 years of the agreement."

Finally, the two companies stated that "The agreement protects consumer privacy by limiting the data shared between the companies to the minimum necessary to operate and improve the combined search platform, and restricts the use of search data shared between the companies. The agreement maintains the industry-leading privacy practices that each company follows today."

Ed Black, head of the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), stated in a release that "This deal appears to strike a reasonable balance with Microsoft and Yahoo cooperating on search, while remaining vigorous competitors in other key Internet markets -- such as Webmail and Instant Messaging. In fact, it is this dynamic that antitrust authorities should focus on in their review. Ensuring that this deal is structured narrowly and in such a way as to ensure that Microsoft and Yahoo do indeed remain aggressive competitors in all other markets besides search, is the most logical role for antitrust regulators."

Black added that "Last year, CCIA raised concerns about Microsoft acquiring Yahoo and later said a possible Google and Yahoo search deal should receive regulatory scrutiny. We think such scrutiny is also appropriate for this proposal. However, preliminary indications show this proposal attempts to address important competition issues in a careful way."

7/24. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court (SDNY) against the City of New York and various officials challenging its ordinance mandating that electronics manufacturers provide free door to door electronics waste collection in the city.

Gary Shapiro, head of the CEA, stated in a release that "Manufacturers recognize that they have a key role in providing recycling opportunities for consumers, and have recycled billions of pounds of electronics through voluntary programs ... However, they do not have the only role. The responsibilities and costs for electronics recycling should be shared among all stakeholders, including city and state governments, retailers, recyclers and consumers."

The complaint alleges that the ordinance would "impose crushing costs and excessive burdens".

The complaint alleges violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 based upon violation of the dormant commerce clause, the equal protection clause, substantive due process, the takings clause of the 5th Amendment, and the contracts clause in Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution.

The complaint also alleges violation of the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) and City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR), violation of New York state administrative procedure, and violation of New York law regarding extraterritorial exercise of police power.

The complaint seeks declaratory and injunctive relief and damages.

This case is Consumer Electronics Association, et al. v. City of New York, et al., U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, D.C. No. 09-CR-6583.

7/27. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) published a notice in the Federal Register requesting comments on the free trade agreement (FTA) between the U.S. and Korea. Representatives of the two nations signed this FTA back on June 30, 2007. Democrats in the Congress have declined to approve it. Comments are due by September 15, 2009. This FTA includes technology related provisions. See, text of the FTA, and sections regarding telecommunications [17 pages in PDF], electronic commerce [4 pages in PDF], and intellectual property rights [35 pages in PDF]. See, Federal Register, July 27, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 142, at Page 37084.

7/20. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) stated in a release and another release that it participated in a meeting in Rabat, Morocco on July 16 and 17, 2009, to negotiate an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The OUSTR stated that "Participants in this meeting agreed that the next round will be hosted by the Republic of Korea in November 2009. With regard to the progress of negotiations, participants confirmed their intention to conclude the agreement as soon as possible in 2010." See also, the European Commission's release.

7/30. The U.S. Court of Appeals (7thCir) issued its opinion in Gabbanelli v. Gabbanelli, a trademark dispute involving the issues of the effect of an arbitration clause in a prior settlement agreement, and the award of compensatory and statutory damages. This case is Gabbanelli Accordians & Imports, LLC v. Ditta Gabbanelli Ubaldo Di Elio Gabbonelli, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, App. Ct. No. 08-1569, an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, D.C. No. 02 C 4048, Judge James Zagel presiding. Judge Richard Posner wrote the opinion of the Court of Appeals, in which Judge Wood and Flaum joined.

7/29. The U.S. Court of Appeals (2ndCir) issued a revised opinion [35 pages in PDF] in Rescuecom v. Google, . The Court of Appeals vacated the District Court's dismissal of the trademark holder's complaint regarding use of trademarked terms in meta data for internet advertising. See also, story titled "2nd Circuit Addresses Google's Sale of Trademarked Terms as Keywords in Context Based Advertising" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,922, April 6, 2009.

7/27. Owen Moody pled guilty in U.S. District Court (CDCal) to criminal copyright infringement in connection with his uploading a copyrighted movie to the Pirate Bay web site. The Department of Justice (DOJ) stated in a release that a third party uploaded an Academy Award screener copy of the movie, titled "Slumdog Millionaire", to one web site. Moody downloaded that copy, uploaded it to Pirate Bay, and published hyperlinks to that copy on other web sites.

7/24. A grand jury of the U.S. District Court (DNJ) returned an indictment that charges Barry Goldman with eight counts of using the U.S. mail to deliver obscene DVDs. The DOJ seeks forfeiture of internet domain names. See, Department of Justice (DOJ) release. See also, September 16, 2008 release regarding related indictment by the U.S. District Court (DMont). Goldman lives in the state of Florida. Internet related criminal charges enable forum shopping by the DOJ.

The House will not meet. It will return from its August recess on September 8.

The Senate will meet at 2:00 PM. It will resume consideration of HR 2997 [LOC | WW], the "Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010". The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) is a part of the Department of Agriculture (DOA).

9:30 - 11:00 AM. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host an event to release and discuss a report titled "A Defense Strategy for Taiwan". See, notice. Location: 12th floor, 1150 17th St., NW

Day one of a two day workshop hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) titled "Third Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Interim Roadmap Public Workshop". See, notice in the Federal Register, July 24, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 141, at Page 36672. Location: Westfields Marriott Washington Dulles, 14750 Conference Center Drive, Chantilly, VA.

Extended deadline for the Department of Commerce's (DOC) International Trade Administration (ITA) to issue the preliminary results of its countervailing duty administrative review regarding dynamic random access memory semiconductors from the Republic of Korea. This pertains to the complaint of Micron Technology, Inc., alleging that Hynix Semiconductor, Inc. is receiving new subsidies. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 14, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 70, at Page 17166.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its further notice of proposed rulemaking (FNPRM) regarding number porting. The FCC adopted and released the text [56 pages in PDF] of this FNPRM on May 13, 2009. It is FCC 09-41 in WC Docket No. 07-244 and CC Docket No. 95-116. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 2, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 126, at Pages 31667-31675.

Effective date of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) new number porting rules adopted in its May 13, 2009, Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making [56 pages in PDF]. This item is FCC 09-41 in WC Docket No. 07-244 and CC Docket No. 95-116. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 2, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 126, at Pages 31667-31675.

Day two of a two day workshop hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) titled "Third Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Interim Roadmap Public Workshop". See, notice in the Federal Register, July 24, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 141, at Page 36672. Location: Westfields Marriott Washington Dulles, 14750 Conference Center Drive, Chantilly, VA.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Trading Tech v. eSpeed, App. Ct. No. 2008-1392, a patent infringement case involving software for electronic trading in the futures market. Location: Courtroom 201.

2:30 PM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing titled "The Performance Rights Act and Parity among Music Delivery Platforms". The witnesses will be Sheila Escovedo (MusicFIRST Coalition), Bob Kimball (Real Networks), Marian Leighton-Levy (Rounder Records), Steve Newberry (National Association of Broadcasters), Ralph Oman (George Washington University Law School), and James Winston (National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters). See, notice. The SJC will webcast this event. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

Deadline for states and territories to submit applications for grants under the E-911 grant program authorized by the ENHANCE 911 Act. See, notice in the Federal Register, June 5, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 107, at Pages 26965-26981, and story titled "NTIA and NHTSA Publish E-911 Grant Program Rules" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,949, June 5, 2009.

10:00 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing on several nominees, including Dennis Hightower (to be the Deputy Secretary at the Department of Commerce). See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Prometheus Labs. v. Mayo Collaborative Services, App. Ct. No. 2008-1403, a patent infringement case involving the issue of patentable subject matter. See, amicus curiae brief of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA). Location: Courtroom 201.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Source Search v. Leandingtree, App. Ct. No. 2008-1505. This is an appeal from the U.S. District Court (DNJ) in a patent infringement case involving U.S. Patent No. 5,758,328, titled "Computerized quotation system and method". Location: Courtroom 402.

2:30 PM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will meet in executive session. The agenda includes consideration of S 30 [LOC | WW], the "Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009", and S 251 [LOC | WW], the "Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009". The agenda also includes consideration of the nomination of Patricia Cahill to be a member of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

Deadline to submit to the Copyright Royalty Judges (CRJ) petitions to participate in, and filing fees for, the CRJ's proceeding to determine the distribution of royalty fees in the 2005 and 2006 digital audio recording technology (DART) sound recordings runds. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 6, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 127, at Page 31985.

8:00 AM - 6:00 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The meeting will be closed to the public from 8:00 - 10:00 AM. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 24, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 141, at Page 36923-36924. Location: Room 100, Keck Center of the National Academies, 500 5th St., NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Kara Technology v. Stamps.com, App. Ct. No. 2009-1027. Location: Courtroom 201.

12:45 - 2:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) International Telecommunications Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "Current Issues in Mexico's Telecommunications Industry: foreign investment restrictions, resale permits, cable, interconnection, spectrum auctions and local area consolidation". The speaker will be Ivan Ruiz (President of Mexico's Institute for Telecommunications Law). Register by August 3 with Jennifer Ullman at Jennifer dot ullman at verizon dot com. Location: Verizon, Suite 400, 1300 I St., NW.

10:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day two of a two day meeting of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Part of meeting on August 7 will include President Obama, and will be closed to the public. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 24, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 141, at Page 36923-36924. Location: the public portion of this meeting will be in the Truman Room, White House Conference Center, 726 Jackson Place, NW.

Deadline for the US, states and Microsoft to file a periodic joint status report with the U.S. District Court (DC) in US v. Microsoft, D.C. No. 98-1232. See, notice.

The Senate will not meet from August 10 through September 7. See, Senate calendar.

Deadline to submit comments to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in response to its notice of review of federal policy regarding its current limitations on federal web sites' use of tracking technologies, such as persistent cookies. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 27, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 142, at Pages 37062-37063, and story titled "OMB Seeks Comments on Federal Web Sites' Use of Cookies" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,974, July 27, 2009.

Revised filing deadline for Cox Enterprises, Calvary, Bonneville International, Scranton Times, and Morris Communications to file amendments to pending waiver requests or renewal applications or to file requests for permanent waivers of the newspaper broadcast cross ownership rule. See, FCC Public Notice numbered DA 09-1286.

7/28. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [35 pages in PDF] titled "Electronic Health Records: DOD and VA Efforts to Achieve Full Interoperability Are Ongoing; Program Office Management Needs Improvement".

7/27. The Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF) released an updated edition of its book [253 pages in PDF] titled "Parental Controls and Online Child Protection: A Survey of Tools and Methods". The author is the PFF's Adam Thierer.

7/24. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [78 pages in PDF] titled "Electronic Records Archive: The National Archives and Records Administration's Fiscal Year 2009 Expenditure Plan".

7/24. The American Antitrust Institute (AAI) released a paper [13 pages in PDF] titled "The Competition Policy in China: Past, Present and Future". The author is Wu Hanhong of the School of Economics at Renmin University of China.

7/21. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a notice in its web site titled "Clarification Regarding Annual Patent Attorney/Agent Registration Fee". This notice states that "The agency has not issued a notice to pay the annual practitioner maintenance fee for FY2009, nor has it required payment of the fee by September 30, 2009. No decision has been made to collect the fee in FY2009."

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