9/20. The House rejected HR 6429 [LOC | WW | PDF], the "STEM Jobs Act of 2012" by a vote of 237-180. Republicans vote 227-5. Democrats voted 30-153. See, Roll Call No. 590.

The House considered this bill under suspension of the rules, which meant that a two thirds majority was required for passage. This bill won a simple majority, but not a two thirds majority, and hence, failed to pass.

This bill would create a new program that would provide up to 55,000 visas per year to aliens with Ph.D.s, and then Masters degrees, in math, science engineering or technology (STEM). It would also eliminate a comparably sized diversity lottery visa program. See, stories titled "House to Consider STEM Visa Bill" and "Rep. Lofgren Introduces Alternative STEM Visa Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,448, September 14, 2012, and "STEM Visa Bills Update" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,451, September 19, 2012.

While this vote may suggest that Republicans support creating a STEM visas program, while Democrats tend to oppose this, there were also other issues and political strategies that affected members' votes.

For example, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) represents a Silicon Valley District where many companies would benefit from employment of aliens with STEM visas. She stated in the House that she supports the concept of a STEM visas program, but opposed HR 6429, in part, because it would terminate the diversity lottery visa program.

On September 14, she introduced her own bill that would create a similar STEM visas program, but maintain the diversity visa lottery. Her bill also differs with HR 6429 on other matters not related to STEM visas. See, HR 6412 [LOC | WW | PDF], the "Attracting the Best and Brightest Act of 2012".

Also, House Republicans leaders made the decision to bring this bill to the floor under suspension of the rules. Had this bill been considered pursuant to a simple majority vote, it would have passed. Suspension of the rules prevents the offering of amendments. Rep. Lofgren might offered her bill as an amendment in the nature of a substitute. But, the House Republicans decided not to permit this course of action.

Moreover, the House Republican leadership could have brought HR 6429 to the floor pursuant to a closed rule that would have provided for a simple majority vote, but still made no amendments in order. Had they done this, HR 6429 likely would have passed.

House Republican leaders pushed HR 5949 [LOC | WW], the "FISA Amendments Act Reauthorization Act of 2012", through the House last week, pursuant to such a closed rule. There was a substantial risk that if certain amendments had been allowed, such as to shorten the term of the extension, or to provide for more oversight, they would have passed.

The House Republicans have not achieved passage of a STEM visas bill in the House. However, they have achieved a roll call vote demonstrating overwhelming Republican support for a STEM visas bill, and overwhelming Democratic opposition. Republican candidates, party committees, and fund raisers now have the opportunity to position the Republican party as the pro technology, pro innovation, and pro economic development party on this issue.

However, the Republican leadership may have been more interested in using this vote to posture and position, and reap the fund raising and electoral results that might result therefrom, than to implement policies that would actually provide US companies, workers, and consumers the innovative and economic fruits of such policies.

Also this week, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) introduced S 3553 [LOC | WW, the "Benefits to Research and American Innovation through Nationality Statutes Act of 2012" or "BRAINS Act". While this bill would create a STEM visas program, it would only last for two years. See also, Sen. Schumer's release.

Technology groups rushed this week to endorse the concept of creating a STEM visas program, whatever the vehicle might be.

For example, the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) praised the STEM visas components of all three bills. Ed Black, head of the CCIA, stated in a release that "The gridlock on skilled immigration has amounted to unilateral disarmament in the global competition for talent.  Continuing to limit our nation’s economy’s access to this foreign-born talent makes no sense. We look forward to responsible leaders in both parties reaching agreement to move forward with a STEM visa bill that can be passed by both chambers of Congress this year."

Similarly, the Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC) endorsed all three proposals to create a STEM visas program. The ITIC's Andy Halataei stated in a release that these proposals would "halt the practice of educating and then sending abroad our best STEM students to compete against us".

While most tech groups endeavor never to criticize either political party, the Consumer Electronics Association (CE), and especially its leader, Gary Shapiro (at right), has a history of speaking freely and frankly.

Shapiro stated in a release after the vote on HR 6429 that "we are disappointed that today one party put attracting the best immigrants and innovation second to some concept of random immigration. But, I appreciate the support of the 30 Democrats who voted for this bill."

Shapiro added that "Many of the world’s top students come to the U.S. to obtain advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and math. The STEM Jobs Act would have allowed these individuals to use their knowledge and skills to create jobs here in America. Defeat of this bill means we are continuing to train foreign-born students only to force them to work for our global competitors."

9/19. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) held an executive business meeting at which it approved SConRes 50, a resolution "Expressing the sense of Congress regarding actions to preserve and advance the multistakeholder governance model under which the Internet has thrived".

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski praised the SFRC in a release "for strongly reaffirming America’s support for Internet freedom and the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance by passing this resolution. The proposals by some countries to restrict the free flow of information online would threaten one of the most powerful engines for global economic growth and the spread of democracy in human history. I fully support today’s vote, which makes clear that the World Conference on International Telecommunications must embrace the success of the last two decades of liberalization in telecom regulation as well as the existing multi-stakeholder model in order to ensure continued investment and growth of the Internet around the globe."

The House approved HConRes 127 on August 2, 2012. See, stories titled "House Approves Resolution Opposing International Internet Regulation" and "Ambassador Kramer Addresses Upcoming WCIT" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,420, August 4, 2012.

See also, story titled "Internet Technical Standards Bodies Oppose Internet Regulation" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,439, September 3, 2012.

The World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) will be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on December 3-14, 2012. See, event web site.

9/20.The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) held an executive business meeting at which it approved the nomination of William Baer to be Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division by a vote of 12-5, without debate.

All of the Democrats and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) voted yes. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) voted no. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) voted pass.

The SJC held a hearing on this nomination on July 19, 2012. See, SJC web page with hyperlink to video.

9/20.The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) held an executive business meeting at which it approved S 3486 [LOC | WW], the "Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act" by voice vote, without debate. The SJC approved an amendment in the nature of a substitute [26 pages in PDF] offered by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT).

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) and others introduced a related bill in the House on September 19, 2012. See, HR 6432 [LOC | WW]. The original cosponsors are Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), and Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC). That is, the bill is backed by the Chairmen and ranking Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee (HJC) and its Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet.

This bill would implement two patent law treaties, the "Hague Agreement Concerning International Registration of Industrial Designs", concluded in 1999, and the "Patent Law Treaty", concluded in 2000. The Senate did not ratify these treaties until 2007.

Sen. Leahy and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) introduced S 3486 on August 2, 2012. For an explanation of the bill, see Sen. Leahy's statement in the Congressional Record, August 2, 2012, at Page S5980.

9/18. Jamie Love, head of the Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), wrote a short piece in the KEI web site in which he complained that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) WiFi network "blocks access to a number of groups that have followed SOPA and the TPP intellectual property negotiations, particularly those critical of the USPTO positions on intellectual property issues."

He added that "Among the NGOs that were blocked were aclu.org, cdt.org, citizen.org, eff.org, healthgap.org, keionline.org and publicknowledge.org. Among the sites NOT BLOCKED were the industry lobby groups BSA, MPPA, RIIA, and PhRMA."

He stated that on a visit to the USPTO he attempted to use its WiFi network to access the KEI web site, but received an error message that stated, "Access Denied (content_filter_denied)" and "Your request was denied because this URL contains content that is categorized as: ``Political/Activist Groups´´ which is blocked by USPTO policy. If you believe the categorization is inaccurate, please contact the USPTO Service Desk and request a manual review of the URL." (Parentheses in original.)

The USPTO sent this statement in response to an inquiry from TLJ: "The USPTO does not have a policy of blocking political advocacy sites. We learned recently that the third-party vendor that provides security for our wi-fi network used by the public at our Alexandria headquarters had applied an overly broad filter. That vendor is also the party that selected the specific sites that would be included in its filtering system. When we learned that political advocacy groups and news sites were being blocked, we immediately instructed that vendor to remove the filter. There has never been any such filter on the Internet access for USPTO employees or contractors."

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 1998-2012 David Carney. All rights reserved.

The House will meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business. It will consider HR 3409 [LOC | WW, the "Stop the War on Coal Act of 2012". See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for the week.

The Senate will meet at 12:00 NOON.

TIME? The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold its mock auction in advance of Auction 901, which begins on September 27. This will auction high cost universal service subsidies through reverse competitive bidding. It is also titled "Mobility Fund Phase I Auction". See, September 14 Public Notice (DA 12-1456), and notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 180, September 17, 2012, at Pages 57085-57086.

TIME? The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) will hold a hearing regarding Mexico's participation in the negotiation of a Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. The OUSTR seeks comments on numerous issues, including "electronic commerce issues" and "trade-related intellectual property rights issues". The deadline to submit written requests to present oral testimony is September 4. The deadline to submit written comments is 12:00 NOON on September 4. See, notice in the Federal Register Vol. 77, No. 141, July 23, 2012, at Pages 43131-43133. Location: OUSTR, Rooms 1, and 2, 1724 F St., NW.

The House Commerce Committee (HCC) will hold a hearing titled "The LightSquared Network: An Investigation of the FCC's Role". See, notice. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

9:30 - 11:00 AM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled "Does the PCAST Report Move Spectrum Policy in the Right Direction?". The speakers will be Richard Bennett (ITIF), Michael Calabrese (New America Foundation), and Preston Marshall (University of Southern California). See, notice. Location: ITIF/ITIC, Suite 610A, 1101 K St., NW.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The Net Caucus will host an panel discussion titled "Internet TV: What Must Congress Do About It? Television Regulations Coming To Your Laptop Soon?" Free. Lunch will be served. Register by contacting rsvp at netcaucus dot org or 202-638-4370. Location: Room B-338, Rayburn Building.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and George Washington University (GWU) will host a brown bag lunch titled "Can Trade Agreements Facilitate the Free Flow of Information?: The Trans-Pacific Partnership as a Case Study". The speakers will be Jonathan McHale (Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Telecommunications and Electronic Commerce Policy), Jayme White (staff, Senate Finance Committee's Subcommittee on International Trade), Usman Ahmed (eBay), Rashmi Rangnath (Public Knowledge), and Susan Aaronson (GWU). See, notice. Location: GWU, Elliot School of International Affairs, 6th Floor, 1957 E St., NW.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "Meet the FCBA President -- A Mentoring Event with Laura Phillips". The speaker will be Laura Phillips (Drinker Biddle). She will address career development, professional growth opportunities, mentoring, and other topics. For more information contact Justin Faulb at faulbjl at gmail dot com or Brendan Carr at BrendanTCarr at gmail dot com. Location: __.

1:00 - 2:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast and teleconferenced panel discussion titled "Patent Litigation: Strategies and Techniques". CLE credits. Prices vary. See, notice.

2:00 - 4:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Consumer Advisory Committee will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 174, September 7, 2012, Page 55214. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, TW-C305, 445 12th St., NW.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Media Bureau (MB) regarding TiVo's petition [15 pages in PDF] for waiver and clarification of the FCC's rules regarding set top boxes, codified at 47 C.F.R. § 76.640(b)(4)(iii). See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 173, September 6, 2012, at Pages 54910-54911.

The Supreme Court will hold its opening conference for the October Term 2012.

TIME? The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) will hold a hearing regarding Canada's participation in the negotiation of a Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. The OUSTR seeks comments on numerous issues, including "electronic commerce issues" and "trade-related intellectual property rights issues". The deadline to submit written requests to present oral testimony is September 4. The deadline to submit written comments is 12:00 NOON on September 4. See, notice in the Federal Register Vol. 77, No. 141, July 23, 2012, at Pages 43131-43133. Location: OUSTR, Rooms 1, and 2, 1724 F St., NW.

12:00 NOON. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast panel discussion titled "Making the Most of Your IPad/Tablet -- Tools and Tips for Bar Staff". The speaker will be Tom Mighell. Prices vary. No CLE credits. See, notice.

12:00 NOON. Deadline to submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) to assist it in preparing its annual report to the Congress on the People's Republic of China's (PRC) compliance with its World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 161, August 20, 2012, at Pages 50206-50207. See also, story titled "OUSTR to Receive Comments and Hold Hearing on PRC Compliance with WTO Obligations" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,431, August 17, 2012.

1:00 - 4:00 The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Technological Advisory Council will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 168, August 29, 2012, at Pages 52332-52333. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th St., SW.

1:00 - 4:00 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES) will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 181, September 18, 2012, at Pages 57558-57559. Location: NOAA, auditorium, 1301 East West Highway, Silver Spring, MD.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled "Recommendations from the mHealth Task Force". The speakers will include Julius Genachowski (FCC Chairman), Robert Jarrin (Qualcomm), Julian Goldman (Partners Healthcare System), Douglas Trauner (TheCarrot.com), and Robert Atkinson (ITIF). See, notice. Location: ITIF/ITIC, Suite 610A, 1101 K St., NW.

Yom Kippur begins at sundown.

9:00 AM - 12:30 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) First Responder Network Authority Board will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 178, September 13, 2012, at Pages 56622-56623. Location: DOC, Secretary's Conference Room, 14th and Constitution Ave., NW.

12:00 NOON - 1:00 PM. The Heritage Foundation will host an event titled "Supreme Court Preview: 2012 Term". The speakers will be Paul Clement (Bancroft) and Thomas Goldstein (Goldstein & Russell), and Todd Gaziano (Heritage). See, notice. Location: Heritage, 214 Massachusetts Ave., NE.

2:00 - 4:15 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a panel discussion titled "The Ethics of Outsourcing E-Discovery". The speakers will be Conrad Jacoby (efficientEDD), Thomas Mason (Zuckerman Spaeder), and Ashish Prasad (Discovery Services). The price to attend ranges from $89 to $129.  CLE credits. See, notice. For more information, call 202-626-3488. The DC Bar has a history of barring reporters from its events. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

2:00 - 3:30 PM. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division's (AD) Economic Analysis Group (EAG) will host a presentation titled "Promotional Reviews: An Empirical Investigation of Online Review Manipulation". The speaker will be Judy Chevalier (Yale School of Management and NBER). See, paper with the same title by Chevalier, Yaniv Dover (Dartmouth) and Dina Mayzlin (USC). For more information, contact Gloria Sheu at gloria dot sheu at usdoj dot gov or 202-532-4932 or Nathan Miller at nathan dot miller at usdoj dot gov or 202-307-3773. Location: Liberty Square Building, EAG conference room, LSB 9429, 450 5th St., NW.

4:00 - 5:30 PM. The George Mason University School of Law's Information Economy Project will host a lecture by Bronwyn Howell titled "Regulating Broadband Networks". Free. See, notice. Location: GMU law school, Founder's Hall, Room 111, 3301 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA.

EXTENDED TO OCTOBER 25. Deadline to submit initial comments to the Copyright Office (CO) regarding proposed changes to CO regulations for reporting Monthly and Annual Statements of Account for the making and distribution of phonorecords under the compulsory license. See, original notice in the Federal Register (FR), Vol. 77, No. 145, Friday, July 27, 2012, at Pages 44179-44197, and extension notice in the FR, Vol. 77, No. 176, September 11, 2012, at Pages 55783-55784.

12:00 NOON. The World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Tracking Protection Working Group will meet by teleconference. The call in number is 1-617-761-6200. The passcode is TRACK (87225).

12:30 - 1:30 PM. The American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) will host a webcast panel discussion titled "USPTO Statistics Initiative". The speakers will be Manny Schecter (IBM), Bradley Forrest (Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner), David Wiley (USPTO). CLE credits. Prices vary. See, notice.

12:30 - 2:00 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host an on site and teleconferenced panel discussion titled "Recent US Free Trade Agreements: Where We Are and Where We Are Going". The speakers will be Claudia Candela (Director of Trade, Colombia Trade Bureau), Everett Eisensstat (Trade Counsel, Senate Finance Committee), Elif Eroglu (US Customs and Border Protection), and Felicia Nowels (Akerman Senterfitt). No CLE credits. Prices vary. See, notice. Location: Akerman Senterfitt, Suite 750, 750 9th St., NW.

EXTENDED TO OCTOBER 19. Deadline to submit comments to the Copyright Office (CO) in response to its Notice of Inquiry (NOI) regarding creating a small copyright claims process. See, extension notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 179, September 14, 2012, at Pages 56874-56875.

The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Auction 901 is scheduled to begin. This will auction high cost universal service subsidies through reverse competitive bidding. It is also titled "Mobility Fund Phase I Auction". See, Public Notice (PN) [21 pages in PDF] released on February 2, 2012. It is DA 12-121 in AU Docket No. 12-25. See also, notice in the Federal Register (FR), Vol. 77, No. 28, February 10, 2012, at Pages 7152-7162, notice in the FR, Vol. 77, No. 46, March 8, 2012, at Pages 14012-14014, and notice in the FR, Vol. 77, No. 105, May 31, 2012, at Pages 32092-32111. See also, September 14 Public Notice (DA 12-1456), and notice in the FR, Vol. 77, No. 180, September 17, 2012, at Pages 57085-57086.

12:00 NOON - 1:15 PM. The American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law will host an on site and teleconferenced panel discussion titled "Effects of Patent Assertion Entities on Competition and Innovation". The speakers will be Andrea Murino (Wilson Sonsini), Robert Harris (Charles River Associates), Margaret Ward (Jones Day), and Jeffrey Wilder (DOJ Antitrust Division). Free. No CLE credits. See, notice. Location: Wilson Sonsini, 5th floor, 1700 K St., NW.

12:00 NOON - 2:30 PM. The Federalist Society will host a panel discussion titled "Supreme Court Preview: What Is in Store for October Term 2012?". The speakers will be Tom Goldstein (Goldstein & Russell), Nicholas Rosenkranz (Georgetown University Law Center), Carrie Severino (Judicial Crisis Network), Stuart Taylor (National Journal), Kenneth Wainstein (Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft), and Pete Williams (NBC News). See, notice and registration page. Location: National Press Club, 529 14th St., NW.

1:00 - 2:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast and teleconferenced panel discussion titled "Counsel or iCounsel: Ethical and Practical Issues in Using Artificial Intelligence in E-Discovery". The speakers will be John Barkett (Shook Hardy & Bacon), Julia Brickell (H5), Jeffrey Fowler (O’Melveny & Myers), Dera Nevin (McCarthy Tétrault), and Kris Vann (H5). Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice.

5:00 PM. The University of Maryland's (UM) Cyber Security Center will host a presentation titled "The State of the Hack" by Kevin Mandia (CEO of Mandiant). This event is free, and open to the public, but registration is required. See, notice. Location: UM, Kim Engineering Building Lecture Hall, Room 1110, MD.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host an event titled "An Evening with a Hacker". Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice. The deadline for registrations and cancellations is 12:00 NOON on September 26, 2012. Location: Bingham & McCutcheon, 2020 K St., NW.

10:30 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may hold an event titled "Open Meeting". See, FCC tentative agenda and story titled "FCC Releases Tentative Agenda for September 28 Meeting" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,443, September 7, 2012. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room (Room TW-C305), 445 12th St., NW.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The Tech Freedom (TF) will host a panel discussion titled "Should the FTC Sue Google Over Search?" The speakers will be Eric Clemons (University of Pennsylvania business school), Allen Grunes (Brownstein Hyatt), Glenn Manishin (Troutman Sanders) and Geoffrey Manne (Lewis & Clark law school). The TF will webcast this event. See, notice and registration page. Location: Monocle Restaurant, 107 D St.,  NE.

12:15 - 1:45 PM. The New America Foundation (NAF) will host a panel discussion titled "Fair Play: The State of Competition in the Business Broadband Marketplace". The speakers will be Michael Copps, Chip Pickering (Broadband Coalition), Gene Kimmelman (Global Partners), Todd Thibodeaux (CompTIA), Joseph Gillan (Gillan Associates), and Michael Calabrese (NAF). See, notice. Location: NAF, Suite 400, 1899 L St., NW.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Intellectual Property Committee will host a brown bag lunch regarding the Aereo service, and the public performance rights and reproduction rights of broadcasters. See, complaint [36 pages in PDF] filed on March 1, 2012, in the U.S. District Court (SDNY) in WNET v. Aereo, D.C. No. 1:12-cv-01543-AJN. The District Court issued its opinion [PDF] on July 11 denying the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction, citing the U.S. Court of Appeals' (2ndCir) 2008 opinion in Cartoon Network v. CSC Holdings, 536 F.3d 121. See, story titled "2nd Circuit Reverses in Remote Storage DVR Copyright Case" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,806, August 5, 2008. The speakers will be David Wittenstein (Dow Lohnes), Robert Garrett (Arnold & Porter), and Seth Davidson (Edwards Wildman). Location: Wilkinson Barker Knauer, Suite 700, 2300 N St., NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making (FNPRM) [67 pages in PDF] regarding Medical Body Area Network (MBAN) coordinators for the 2360-2390 MHz band. The FCC adopted and released this item on May 24, 2012. It is 12-54 in ET Docket No. 08-59. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 143, Wednesday, July 25, 2012, at Pages 43567-43570.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) in response to its July 31, 2012 Public Notice that requests comment on a proposed survey of urban rates for fixed voice and fixed broadband residential services. That DA 12-1199 in WC Docket No. 10-90. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 168, August 29, 2012, at Pages 52279-52292.

Deadline to submit comments to the Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in advance of its October 4 meeting of its Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC). See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 158, August 15, 2012, at Pages 48968-48969. See also, story titled "Spectrum Management Advisory Committee to Meet" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,431, August 17, 2012.