7/20. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), the Chairman and ranking Republican of the Senate Judiciary Committee's (SJC) Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, announced opposite positions on whether the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should block AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile USA.

Sen. Kohl (at left) wrote in a letter to the DOJ and FCC that "I have concluded that this acquisition, if permitted to proceed, would likely cause substantial harm to competition and consumers, would be contrary to antitrust law and not in the public interest, and therefore should be blocked by your agencies."

In previous Congresses, Sen. Kohl and former Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH), formerly the Chairman and ranking Republican on the Antitrust Subcommittee, often acted in unison and on a bipartisan basis on antitrust matters.

In contrast, Sen. Lee (at right) issued a release in which he stated that "the merger has the potential to provide significant network efficiencies".

Sen. Lee wrote that "The mobile phone market is a critical component of our nation's economy and the proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile deserves careful review. In my view, the merger has the potential to provide significant network efficiencies that may help alleviate capacity constraints, enable enhanced service quality, and facilitate expansion of a 4G LTE nationwide network, which would in turn create opportunities for handset innovation and continued development of data-rich applications."

He added that "I have confidence that the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission will take steps to ensure that the market remains competitive and that regional carriers continue to enjoy access to popular handsets and roaming arrangements on the nationwide networks."

Sen. Kohl wrote in his letter that this merger "would amount to a four-to-three merger among national cell phone providers", and if this merger is approved, "AT&T and Verizon will control nearly 80% of this market".

He continued that "T-Mobile has been a price leader in the cell phone market", and "Removal of such a maverick price competitor from such a highly concentrated market -- a competitor that disciplines price increases from all three other national cell phone competitors, not only AT&T -- raises a substantial likelihood that prices will rise following this merger. Such a result is unacceptable under antitrust law and as a matter of communications policy."

He also argued that the merger would "lessen the innovation that has been the keystone of this industry".

He also wrote "on the issue of national vs. local market, I believe this acquisition is properly analyzed on a national basis as a merger of two of the four national cell phone companies. The local competitors that AT&T cites are not full-fledged competitors to the four national carriers, as they are hamstrung by their need to pay their national competitors large sums in roaming and special access charges (and their ability to obtain data roaming for new technologies is seriously in question) and their inability to access many of the most in-demand smartphones." (Parentheses in originals.)

He also disputed AT&T's claims that the merger would result in efficiencies.

He also wrote that "There is considerable doubt as to whether Sprint could survive as an independent competitor should AT&T and Verizon capture a combined 80% market share after this acquisition." And, "a duopoly in this crucial marketplace would be a wholly unacceptable outcome."

Further, he wrote that "I find no feasible or practical merger conditions that could significantly remedy this harm."

Sen. Kohl's letter drew praise from groups that oppose the merger.

Ed Black, head of the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), stated in a release that "We could not agree more with Chairman Kohl’s articulate, well-documented assessment of the merger and its disastrous effects on competition and innovation. This merger would harm consumers, slow economic growth and stifle innovation in the burgeoning wireless marketplace."

He added that "As the most experienced antitrust legislator on Capitol Hill, we are not surprised that the Senator and his staff were able to see through AT&T’s massive lobbying and PR blitzkrieg and analyze the facts on the ground, not the spin. No matter how you dress it up, this merger is ugly."

Gigi Sohn, head of the Public Knowledge (PK), stated in a release that the PK agrees with Sen. Kohl "wholeheartedly". She wrote that "AT&T should not be allowed to buy T-Mobile".

Derek Turner of the Free Press stated in a release that "Senator Kohl's letter and recent statements from other leading members of Congress, including Reps. Markey, Eshoo, Conyers and Inslee, indicate that opposition to this unprecedented consolidation is growing. And it will only continue to grow as policymakers and the public learn how the facts contradict AT&T's pro-merger propaganda. The undeniable truth is that this merger would be a disaster for American consumers, competition and innovation."

7/20. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) sent a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that criticizes AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA, but stops short asking that it be blocked.

They wrote that the merger "would be a troubling backward step in federal public policy -- a retrenchment from nearly two decades of promoting competition and open markets to acceptance of a duopoly in the wireless marketplace."

They continued that "Such industry consolidation could reduce competition and increase consumer costs at a time our country can least afford it. Further, it could also discourage investment and restrict innovation in both the wireless and wireline infrastructure market as well as in the associated applications and device markets."

Rep. Conyers, who represents a Detroit, Michigan district, is the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee (HJC). Rep. Eshoo (at left), who represents a Silicon Valley district, is the ranking Democrat on the House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications and Technology (SCT). Rep. Markey, who represents a Boston, Massachusetts area district, is a senior member of the HCC.

See also, Rep. Markey's release.

Also, on July 15, Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA), a member of the HCC, sent a separate letter to AT&T and T-Mobile USA in which he raised concerns about the merger, and propounded questions, to be answered by July 29, 2011.

7/20. The Congress has enacted statutes that give authority to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to review and block mergers on antitrust grounds. The Congress has not enacted any comparable statute that gives the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authority to conduct these antitrust merger reviews. Nevertheless, the FCC started doing so in the late 1990s, under the guise of conducting license transfer approval proceedings.

These proceedings are adjudications. And, as with adjudications in courts of law, the parties have due process rights. Among these are the right to an impartial judge or decision maker. If members of Congress are influencing the decision makers at the DOJ, FTC, or FCC, this might give rise to an argument that due process rights are violated.

Members of Congress have considerable leverage over the DOJ, FTC, or FCC. The relevant committees engage in constant oversight. The agencies are in need of amendments to statutes, and annual appropriations. The Congress's annual appropriations bill for the DOJ, for example, specifies the funding level for the Antitrust Division. And, it will not go unnoticed that Sen. Kohl is a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC), and the Subcommittee responsible for the DOJ's budget.

However, department and agencies, and the federal courts, apply a much lighter version of due process in agency adjudications than the courts do in litigation.

One of the reasons that the Congress establishes departments and agencies with adjudicatory powers is to dispense with the due process rights that have attached for centuries in judicial litigation. This enables members of Congress to interfere with agency decisions in adjudications in a manner that would plainly violate the due process right to an impartial decision maker in a case or controversy in a court constituted under Article III of the Constitution.

TLJ has asked attorneys in the DOJ's Antitrust Division about the function of the Congress in its antitrust merger reviews. However, said lawyers have declined to comment.

Pillsbury and Gulf Oil. Neglect of the due process right to an impartial decision maker in agency adjudications is not complete. The Courts, in exercising judicial review of agency decisions, have paid some slight attention to the right. In particular, in the old and solitary 1966 opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals (5thCir) in Pillsbury Co. v. FTC, 534 F.2d 952, the Court overturned an agency decision due to interference from the Congress

Pillsbury was a judicial review of a final agency decision in which the Court of Appeals held that the due process rights of the Pillsbury Co. were violated.

However, it is unlikely that a violation of any Pillsbury rule would impact the AT&T T-Mobile proceedings.

First, regarding the FCC's proceeding, the FCC goes to great lengths to avoid issuing a final order, of which the parties would have standing to seek review. The FCC's strategy in its merger reviews is to reach an agreement with the parties. Basically, the FCC demands concessions from the parties. It waits until the parties relent, and ("voluntarily" in the words of the FCC) agree to the FCC's demands. If instead, the FCC were to issue an order, compelling the parties to do something, or blocking the merger, that would be a final order subject to judicial review. If the FCC were to issue a reviewable order, then the denial of due process under Pillsbury could be asserted as a grounds for reversal of the FCC. However, even if the FCC Commissioners did not want the merger to proceed, they could wait and let the DOJ take action to block it, and/or they could set the matter on for an agency hearing, in the distant future, which is still not yet a final order.

Second, regarding both the FCC and DOJ reviews, Pillsbury is simply an old case, decided 45 years ago by a distant Court of Appeals that rarely hears petitions for review or appeals of agency orders. Hypothetically, if there were judicial review of a final order of the FCC or DOJ in an AT&T T-Mobile proceeding, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia would most likely hear the case.

Third, the holding in Pillsbury is constrained by the 1977 opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals (3rdCir) in Gulf Oil Corporation v. Federal Power Commission, 563 F.2d 588. In Gulf Oil the Court rejected an attempt to overturn a Federal Power Commission (FPC) order on the grounds that House Commerce Committee (HCC) members pressured the FPC.

The Court wrote in its opinion that "We agree, of course, with the principle underlying Pillsbury: The courts must not tolerate undue legislative interference with an administrative agency's adjudicative functions. We also are sensitive to the legislative importance of Congressional committees on oversight and investigation and recognize that their interest in the objective and efficient operation of regulatory agencies serves a legitimate and wholesome function with which we should not lightly interfere."

It also wrote that "bias induced by legislative interference as to questions of law, on the other hand, does not necessarily render invalid an agency's decision"

The opinion in Gulf Oil is also full of language limiting Pillsbury. It refers to "undue" interference and "incidental" intrusions. It states that for there to be a due process violation, the Congress must "seriously" influence, and there must be a showing that the agency decision "resulted from Congressional pressure upon the Commission".

It also states that an "identical resolution" in a similar proceeding refutes such a showing. The FCC and DOJ have been approving every wireless merger to come before them.

HCC Discussion of Pillsbury. The HCC's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology (SCT) held a hearing on May 13, 2011 titled "FCC Reform". Four Commissioners of the FCC appeared as witnesses. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), opponents of the AT&T T-Mobile merger, used the occasion to, arguably, seek to influence the Commissioners.

Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), the Chairman of the SCT, cautioned Rep. Markey about the "Pillsbury rule" and the "Pillsbury time frame".

He said, "I would remind members of the Committee that we have to be a little careful since there is a decision before them, when it comes to the Pillsbury rule and all."

Genachowski was asked about the meaning and effect of Pillsbury. He had no answer. Neither did FCC staff or HCC staff. Walden said, "they are going to their Blackberries", and then proceeded with the hearing.

Rep. Eshoo proceeded with her second five minute round of questions. She also stated, "God help us if Members of Congress can't come in as members of a committee and express an opinion." She added, "Whether Pillsbury or anything else gets in the way here, I am not a lawyer to make that determination."

At the conclusion of Rep. Eshoo's questions, Rep. Walden asked if the FCC staff had answers. Genachowski said "not yet".

A confused exchange followed. Rep. Markey stated, "I want to know if my Congressional prerogatives are in any way contradicted by any prerogatives of the FCC ... I don't want to end the hearing until that is established."

Rep. Walden said that "This is an issue before the Commission, and we have to to be cognizant of these rules". He added that "we will probably have a hearing on this issue".

Rep. Markey asked, "is the intention of the hearing which you are going to have, to in any way affect the decision of the FCC?"  Rep. Walden responded, "not if it violates the Pillsbury rule". He added that "I won't hold it until I find the answer to that question".

Rep. Markey said that Rep. Walden had made an "accusation that there is a potential Pillsbury violation". Rep. Walden said that "that was not my intent", and "if it was assumed that way, I take it back".

7/20. The House Judiciary Committee (HJC) approved HR 2552 [LOC | WW], the "Identity Theft Improvement Act of 2011", on a straight party line vote.

This bill responds to the 2009 opinion [18 pages in PDF] of the Supreme Court held in Flores-Figueroa v. U.S., 556 U.S. __. The bill will make it easier to obtain convictions in certain identity theft cases, including some involving computer intrusions. It will also make it easy to prosecute crimes involving the use immigration related fake identification.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the Chairman of the HJC, wrote in his opening statement that "the Supreme Court held that the aggravated identity theft statute requires the government to prove that the defendant knew the means of identification belonged to another person. It is not sufficient that the government prove that the defendant knew that the identification was fake, or even that it was stolen."

Rep. Smith focused on the impact of this bill on identity theft in immigration cases.

For a detailed summary of this bill, see story titled "Rep. Goodlatte and Rep. Schiff Introduce Bill Regarding ID Theft and Computer Intrusion" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,260, July 16, 2011.

This short bill would merely amend 18 U.S.C. § 1028 and 18 U.S.C. § 1028A by adding a new subsection (j) to section 1028 regarding "State of Mind Proof Requirement". It provides that "In a prosecution under subsection (a)(7) or under section 1028A(a), the Government need not prove that the defendant knew the means of identification was of another person."

Section 1028(a)(7) provides in part that "Whoever ... knowingly transfers, possesses, or uses, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person with the intent to commit, or to aid or abet, or in connection with, any unlawful activity that constitutes a violation of Federal law, or that constitutes a felony under any applicable State or local law ... shall be punished".

Section 1028A(a)(1) provides in part that "Whoever, during and in relation to any felony violation enumerated in subsection (c), knowingly transfers, possesses, or uses, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person shall, in addition to the punishment provided for such felony, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 2 years". Subsection (c) enumerates numerous fraud related crimes, including computer fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1030.

The HJC rejected an amendment offered by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) by a vote of 10-16. See, roll call. All of the yes votes were cast by Democrats. All of the no votes were cast by Republicans.

His amendment would have provided that the amendment applies to Section 1028(a)(7), but not 1028A(a).

The vote on final passage was 16-10. See, roll call. Again, all Republicans voted together, for the bill, and all Democrats voted together, against the bill. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the co-sponsor of the bill is a Democrat, and a former member of the HJC. However, he gave up his seat on the HJC for a seat on the House Appropriations Committee (HAC) in 2007.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for morning hour, and at 12:00 NOON for legislative business. It will consider HR 1315 [LOC | WW], the "Consumer Financial Protection Safety and Soundness Improvement Act of 2011", and HR 2551 [LOC | WW], the "Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2012", pursuant to a rules. See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for week of July 18.

The Senate will meet at 9:30 AM. It will begin consideration of The House will consider HR 2560 [LOC | WW], the "Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011".

CANCELLED. 10:00 AM. Day two of a two day meeting of the House Judiciary Committee (HJC) to mark up bills. The seventh of seven items on the agenda is HR 1981 [LOC | WW], the "Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011", a bill to mandate data retention. See, stories titled "House Crime Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Data Retention Bill", "Summary of HR 1981, Data Retention Bill", and "Summary of Existing Data Retention Mandates" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,257, July 13, 2011. See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The House Science Committee (HSC) will meet to mark up HR 2096 [LOC | WW], the "Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2011". See, notice. Location: Room 2318, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda again includes consideration of Steve Six (to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit), Christopher Droney (USCA/2ndCir) Jane Milazzo (USDC/EDLa), Robert Mariani (USDC/MDPenn), Cathy Bissoon (USDC/WDPenn), Mark Hornak (USDC/WDPenn), and Robert Scola (SDFl). The SJC will webcast this event. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

12:15 - 1:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers Committee will host a brown bag lunch. The speaker will be Julius Knapp, long time Chief of the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET). He will discuss "career development" and "professional growth opportunities". For more information, contact Susan Ornstein at susan dot goldhar at gmail dot com, or Brendan Carr at bcarr at wileyrein dot com. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th St., SW.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host an event titled "The ABCs of IP: A Primer on Patent, Copyright, and Trademark Law". The speakers will be Janet Fries (Drinker Biddle & Reath), Gary Krugman (Sughrue Mion), Steven Warner (Fitzpatrick Cella), and Mark Williamson (Fitzpatrick Cella). The price to attend ranges from $40 to $55. For more information, contact 202-626-3463. See, notice. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, B-1 Level, 1250 H St., NW.

Day one of a two day event hosted by the Minority Media and Telecom Council (MMTC) titled "25th Anniversary Access to Capital and Telecom Policy Conference". The speakers will include Robert McDowell (FCC Commissioner), Marc Morial (head of the Broadband Opportunity Coalition), Lewis Dickey (Cumulus Media), Walter McCormick (US Telecom), Dean Garfield (Information Technology Industry Council), Bret Perkins (Comcast), Joseph Waz (Comcast), Tom Tauke (Verizon), and James Cicconi (AT&T). See, conference web site. Location: Westin Georgetown Hotel, 2350 M St., NW.

The House may meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for week of July 18.

Day two day event hosted by the Minority Media and Telecom Council (MMTC) titled "25th Anniversary Access to Capital and Telecom Policy Conference". See, conference web site. Location: Westin Georgetown Hotel, 2350 M St.,  NW..

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its 4th Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [16 pages in PDF] regarding out of band emission limits for mobile Broadband Radio Service (BRS) and Educational Broadband Service (EBS) devices operating in the 2496-2690 MHz band. This item is FCC 11-81 in WT Docket No. 03-66 and RM-11614. The FCC adopted this FNPRM on May 24, 2011, and released the text on May 27, 2011. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 109, Tuesday, June 7, 2011, at Pages 32901-32906.

12:00 NOON - 1:00 PM. The Heritage Foundation (HF) will host a lecture by John Reynolds (Biola University) titled "Facebook Friends and Socialism: How Social Media Shapes Community". The HF will webcast this event. This event is free and open to the public. See, notice. Location: HF, 214 Massachusetts Ave., NE.

EXTENDED FROM JUNE 24. Extended deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [55 pages in PDF] regarding wireless signal boosters. The FCC adopted this item on April 5, 2011, and released the text on April 6, 2011. It is FCC 11-53 in WT Docket No. 10-4. See, original notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 90, Tuesday, May 10, 2011, at Pages 26983-26996. See also, FCC's June 20, 2011, Public Notice (DA 11-1078) and extension notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 122, Friday, June 24, 2011, at Page 37049.

EXTENDED TO AUGUST 24. Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [55 pages in PDF] regarding wireless signal boosters. The FCC adopted this item on April 5, 2011, and released the text on April 6, 2011. It is FCC 11-53 in WT Docket No. 10-4. See, original notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 90, Tuesday, May 10, 2011, at Pages 26983-26996. See also, FCC's June 20, 2011, Public Notice (DA 11-1078) and extension notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 122, Friday, June 24, 2011, at Page 37049.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Public Notice (PN) [6 pages in PDF] regarding the economic impact of low power FM stations on full service commercial FM stations. The FCC released this PN on May 10, 2011. It is DA 11-756 in MB Docket No. 11-83. See also, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 97, Thursday, May 19, 2011, at Pages 28983-28986, and story titled "FCC Seeks Comments on Economic Impact of LPFM on Commercial FM" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,244, May 18, 2011.

9:30 AM - 4:45 PM. The DC Bar Association will host an event titled "Legal Cybersleuth's Guide". The morning session is titled "Mastering Google and Beyond for Investigative Legal Research". The afternoon session is titled "Using Social Networking Sites for Investigative Legal Research While Avoiding Ethical Pitfalls". The speakers will be Carole Levitt and Mark Rosch (Internet for Lawyers). CLE credits. The DC Bar has a history of barring reporters from its events. For more information, call 202-626-3488. Prices vary. See, notice. Location: DC Bar, 1101 K St., NW.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee's (SJC) Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security will hold a hearing titled "The Economic Imperative for Enacting Immigration Reform". The witnesses will include Brad Smith (General Counsel of Microsoft) and Robert Greifeld (CEO of NASDAQ OMX Group). See, notice. The SJC will webcast this event. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Ways and Means Committee (HWMC) will hold a hearing titled "Tax Reform and Consumption-Based Tax Systems". See, notice. Location: Room 1100, Longworth Building.

10:00 - 11:30 AM. The Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) will host an event titled "Mobile Health: Innovations in Care & the Spectrum Challenge". The speakers will include Anand Iyer (COO-Well Doc, Inc.), Paul McRae (AT&T Emerging Healthcare Technologies), and Merrill Matthews (IPI). This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. Register by contacting Erin Humiston at erin at ipi dot org or 972-874-5139. See, notice. Location: Room 2325, Rayburn Building.

11:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing titled "Cybersecurity: An Overview of Risks to Critical Infrastructure". See, notice. Location: Room 2322, Rayburn Building.

1:30 PM. The Tech America (TA) will host an event to release and discuss a report on cloud computing by the Commission on the Leadership Opportunity in U.S. Deployment of the Cloud. For more information, contact Stephanie Craig at 202-682-4443 or Stephanie dot craig at techamericafoundation dot org. Location: Holeman Lounge, National Press Club, 13th floor, 529 14th St., NW.

9:00 AM. Day one of a two day meeting of the Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Information Systems Technical Advisory Committee (ISTAC). The July 27 portion of the meeting is open to the public. The agenda includes "Wassenaar Proposals for 2012", and industry presentations on "Coherent Optical Technologies", "Graphics Processors", and "60 GHz MMIC Applications". See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 130, Thursday, July 7, 2011, at Pages 39845-39846. Location: Room 3884, DOC, 14th Street between Constitution and Pennsylvania Aves., NW.

1:00 PM. The House Small Business Committee (HSBC) will hold a hearing titled "Bureaucratic Obstacles for Small Exporters: Is our National Export Strategy Working?". See, notice. Location: Room 2360, Rayburn Building.

2:30 PM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing titled "Nominations". See, notice. The SJC will webcast this event. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [15 pages in PDF] regarding whether to make the grandfathered providers permanently eligible for universal service subsidies under the FCC's rural health care program. The FCC adopted this NPRM on June 20, 2011, and released the text on June 21, 2011. It is FCC 11-101 in WC Docket No. 02-60. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 123, Monday, June 27, 2011, at Pages 37307-37309.

Deadline to submit comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) regarding its proposed changes to certain patent fee amounts for FY 2012 to reflect fluctuations in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 123, Monday, June 27, 2011, at Pages 37296-37300.

9:00 AM. Day one of a two day meeting of the Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Information Systems Technical Advisory Committee (ISTAC). The July 28 portion of the meeting is closed. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 130, Thursday, July 7, 2011, at Pages 39845-39846. Location: Room 3884, DOC, 14th Street between Constitution and Pennsylvania Aves., NW.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The House Intelligence Committee (HIC) will hold a closed hearing titled "Ongoing Intelligence Activities". See, notice. Location: Room HVC-304, Capitol Building.

7/20. The House Judiciary Committee (HJC) met to mark up numerous bills on July 20, 2011. It approved six bills. The seventh of seven items on the agenda was HR 1981 [LOC | WW], the "Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011", a bill to mandate data retention.

The HJC adjourned without considering this bill. Hypothetically, it could mark up this bill at another mark up next week.

The bill is packed with significant and controversial provisions. The bill would create a mandate that all "electronic communication service" (ECS) and "remote computing service" (RCS) providers retain for 18 months "network addresses the service assigns to each account". However, the bill would exempt wireless providers. The bill would create broad new immunities for service providers. The bill would create no limitations on the reasons for accessing retained data, and it would not limit who could obtain access.

For a summary of this bill, see, stories titled "House Crime Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Data Retention Bill", "Summary of HR 1981, Data Retention Bill", and "Summary of Existing Data Retention Mandates" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,257, July 13, 2011.

7/20. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a notice, notice, notice, and notice in the Federal Register that announce that the Open Mobile Alliance, DVD Copy Control Association, Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium, and Advanced Media Workflow Association have disclosed, pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, changes to their membership. See, Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 139, Wednesday, July 20, 2011, at Pages 43346-43348.

7/20. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV) sent a letter to the Dow Jones and Company (DJC) regarding "phone hacking and bribery in the United Kingdom at properties owned by News Corporation". They wrote that "The American people need to be reassured that this kind of misconduct has not occurred in the United States and that senior executives at News Corporation properties in our country were not aware of or complicit in any wrongdoing." The News Corporation owns the DJC, which in turn publishes the Wall Street Journal.

7/20. The Authors Guild (AG) released a statement regarding the July 19, 2011, status conference before the U.S. District Court (SDNY) in Authors Guild v. Google, the Google books case. The AG wrote that "the parties have been in discussions about an opt-in settlement to the dispute". On March 22, 2011, the District Court issued its opinion [48 pages in PDF] denying, without prejudice, the motion for approval of the proposed class action settlement. The next status conference is scheduled for September 15, 2011. See also, story titled "District Court Rejects Google Books Class Action Settlement" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,206, March 22, 2011, and story titled "Orphan Works and the Court's Rejection of the Google Book Deal" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,207, March 23, 2011.

7/19. Intel announced in a release that "it signed a definitive agreement to acquire" Fulcrum Microsystems, a privately held fabless semiconductor company that designs Ethernet switch silicon for data center network providers. See also, substantially identical Fulcrum Microsystems release.

Tech Law Journal publishes a free access web site and a subscription e-mail alert. The basic rate for a subscription to the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert is $250 per year for a single recipient. There are discounts for subscribers with multiple recipients.

Free one month trial subscriptions are available. Also, free subscriptions are available for 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 two months after writing.

For information about subscriptions, see subscription information page.

Tech Law Journal now accepts credit card payments. See, TLJ credit card payments page.

TLJ is published by David Carney
Contact: 202-364-8882.
carney at techlawjournal dot com
3034 Newark St. NW, Washington DC, 20008.

Privacy Policy
Notices & Disclaimers
Copyright 1998-2011 David Carney. All rights reserved.