6/4. The ProPublica (PP) and New York Times (NYT) published in their web sites on June 4, 2015 substantially identical stories titled "Hunting for Hackers, N.S.A. Secretly Expands Internet Spying at U.S. Border".

The authors are Charlie Savage of the NYT and Julia Angwin, Jeff Larson, and Henrik Moltke of the PP. The stories state that they are "based on documents provided by Edward J. Snowden". See, PP story and NYT story.

The stories state that "the Obama administration has expanded the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance of Americans' international Internet traffic to search for evidence of malicious computer hacking".

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) stated in a release that "Today's report that the NSA has expanded its warrantless surveillance of Internet traffic underscores the critical importance of placing reasonable and commonsense limits on government surveillance in order to protect the privacy of Americans."

Sen. Leahy continued that the "Congress took an important step in this direction this week by passing the USA FREEDOM Act, but I have always believed and said that more reforms are needed. Congress should have an open, transparent and honest debate about how to protect both our national security and our privacy. As Congress continues to work on surveillance and cybersecurity legislation, I will continue to fight for more reforms, more transparency, and more accountability -- particularly on issues related to the privacy of Americans' personal communications."

The PP and NYT stories are long, but only describe the program with vague language.

The PP and NYT state that the program is conducted "without a warrant and on American soil, for data linked to computer intrusions originating abroad -- including traffic that flows to suspicious Internet addresses or contains malware".

They add that this is an "expansion of the NSA's warrantless surveillance program, which allows the government to intercept Americans' cross-border communications if the target is a foreigner abroad".

The stories also state that the Department of Justice (DOJ) "allowed the agency to monitor only addresses and “cybersignatures” -- patterns associated with computer intrusions -- that it could tie to foreign governments. But the documents also note that the NSA sought permission to target hackers even when it could not establish any links to foreign powers."

Neither the PP nor the NYT published any of the documents obtained from Snowden. Nor do the stories identify by name or number any statutes.

However, it is Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which is codified at 50 U.S.C. § 1881a, that contains the "outside" the US surveillance authority that the PP and NYT stories describe.

This section was enacted by the 110th Congress by HR 6304 [LOC | WW], the "Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008". It is Public Law No. 110-261.

This Act allows federal surveillance, without individualized court approval, under the FISA, of people believed to be outside of the US. More specifically, it pertains to "the targeting of persons reasonably believed to be located outside the United States to acquire foreign intelligence information". And, it allows access to the content of communications.

This provision has always been controversial. U.S. citizens are located abroad, persons abroad communicate with persons inside the US, and those conducting surveillance often do not know the location of the persons they are attempting to surveil. Hence, this provision enables the government to conduct warrantless wiretaps and other content surveillance of US citizens located in the US when communicating with persons whom the government believes are abroad.

Foreigners located outside the U.S. are not protected by the 4th Amendment. The US government can wiretap them at will without court approval without violating US law. However, the 2008 Act authorizes surveillance that also results in the interception of communications of persons who are protected by the 4th Amendment.

It should be noted that the provision in the 2008 Act does require a court order. However, it allows broad generalized orders. It allows orders that cover entire surveillance programs, without identification or description of any person, phone, or email account. The 4th Amendment requires individualized orders. That is, it requires orders "particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized".

The 2008 Act also contains some limitations on this broad surveillance authority. For example, the government "may not intentionally target any person known at the time of acquisition to be located in the United States" under this authority.

The debates in the Congress during consideration of this 2008 statute, and its temporary predecessor enacted in 2007, focused on interception of voice communications and e-mail, but not cyber intrusions. Moreover, while the statute is huge, it makes no reference to surveillance of cyber intrusions.

Section 702 is sunsetted, but it was not one of the three provisions extended by the just passed USA FREEDOM Act. Its sunset is December 31, 2017. The 112th Congress extended its sunset in HR 5949 [LOC | WW], the "FISA Amendments Act Reauthorization Act of 2012".

6/4. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced in a release a "cybersecurity incident potentially affecting personnel data for current and former federal employees, including personally identifiable information".

The OPM added that "approximately 4 million" individuals' personally identifying information (PII) "may have been compromised", and that "additional PII exposures may come to light".

The New York Times published a story on June 4, 2015 titled "Data Breach Linked to China Exposes Millions of U.S. Workers" by David Sanger and Julie Davis that states, without attribution, that "There seems to be little doubt among federal officials that the attack was launched from China, but it was unclear whether the attack might have been state sponsored."

The Washington Post published a story on Thursday night, June 4, titled "Chinese breach data of 4 million federal workers" by Ellen Nakashima that states, citing only "U.S. officials", that "Hackers working for the Chinese state breached the computer system" of the OPM.

6/4. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) amended and approved S 1137 [LOC | WW], the "Protecting American Talent and Entrepreneurship Act of 2015", or "PATENT Act".

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and others introduced this bill on April 29, 2015. See, stories titled "Senators Introduce PATENT Act " and "Summary of S 1137, the PATENT Act" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,722, May 4, 2015.

The vote on final passage was 16-4. The no votes were cast by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), and Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE).

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) stated in his opening statement, which he read at the meeting, that "So-called patent trolls cost our economy billions of dollars each year and have a crippling effect on innovation across all sectors -- from main street businesses to America’s largest technology companies."

He said that businesses receive "vague and hostile demand letters accusing them of infringing questionable patents. Even though these businesses have done nothing wrong, some agree to unwarranted settlements to avoid costly litigation. And those who do fight back are forced to spend millions in litigation costs, often with no chance of recovering attorney’s fees if and when they prevail."

This bill would, among other things, amend the Patent Act to provide:

• heightened pleading requirements (HPRs) for patent infringement actions (at Section 3),
• stays of certain actions against customers who purchased an alleged infringing product (Section 4),
• temporary stays of pretrial discovery pending resolution of certain preliminary matters, including motions to dismiss (at Section 5),
• limited fee shifting based upon an objectively unreasonable standard (at Section 7),
• increased transparency of patent transfers (at Section 10),
• requirements regarding the contents of demand letters (at Section 8),
• some protection against abusive demand letter practices (at Section 9).

The SJC approved a substitute version of the bill, which it further amended at this meeting. The bill as approved on June 4 also contains:

• language further limiting fee shifting
• language that addresses at length abusive conduct in the inter partes review and post grant proceedings (at Section 11)
• a provision allowing the USPTO to create a market for certificates that entitle holders to preferential treatment at the USPTO (at Section 15(f))
• a provision that entitles universities to micro entity fee discounts

Gary Shapiro, head of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), praised SJC approval of this bill. He stated in a release that it "closes the legal loopholes used by patent trolls -- the individuals and companies that don’t invent or manufacture anything useful, but rather abuse our patent system and extort American innovators".

Managers' Amendment. At the beginning of the meeting, the SJC approved by unanimous consent an amendment in the nature of a substitute (also referred to during the markup as the managers' amendment) offered by Sen. Grassley. The SJC then considered numerous amendments to this managers' amendment.

Sen. Grassley released a copy of this amendment earlier in the week. See, story titled "Sen. Grassley Releases Revised Version of PATENT Act" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,735, June 2, 2015.

Sen. Grassley wrote in his opening statement, which he read at the meeting, about the new language in Section 11 regarding inter partes review and post grant proceedings. He said that "I worked with the Ranking Member, Senator Cornyn, Senator Schumer, Senator Hatch, and a number of my other Committee colleagues on this particular piece. This effort was in response to concerns that had been raised by certain industry groups about what they saw as abuse of the administrative proceedings at the PTO. At the same time, there were also other stakeholders that believed these proceedings have been very effective at getting rid of weak patents."

He continued that "This piece is the product of discussions with various industry stakeholders, including the life sciences and tech groups. I think that many of us believe that the post grant proceedings at the PTO are working quite well with respect to weeding out poor quality and improperly granted patents. So it was our goal to address concerns, but not derail the very important function that these proceedings have in knocking out weak claims and patents."

Sen. Leahy explained in his opening statement, which he read at the meeting, the provision regarding preferential treatment at the USPTO. He stated that this bill "strengthens a program created by the PTO in 2012 to reward select patent holders who use their inventions to address a humanitarian issue that significantly affects the public health or quality of life of an impoverished population.  Those who receive the award are given a certificate to accelerate certain PTO processes".

Then, the bill "enhances the program by making the certificates transferable to improve their usability and increase the incentives of the Patents for Humanity Award. It is a straightforward, cost-neutral provision that will strengthen this program and encourage innovations to be used for humanitarian good."

The bill as approved incorporates S 1402 [LOC | WW], the "Patents for Humanity Program Improvement Act".  See, stories titled "Sen. Leahy Again Introduces Bill to Provide for Alienable USPTO Acceleration Certificates" and "Commentary: Preferential Treatment in the Patent Process" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,729, May 25, 2015.

Demand Letters. The SJC approved by voice vote an amendment to the managers' amendment offered by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) that deals with demand letters. The bill as introduced addresses abusive demand letters. The managers' amendment retains this. Sen. Feinstein's amendment revises this to bar including a demand for a specific amount of money in exchange for a license in a demand letter.

Sections 8 and 9 of this bill would amend the Patent Act. Section 8 specifies requirements for the contents of demand letters. Section 8 amends the Patent Act to affect Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforcement of Section 5 of the FTC Act (15 U.S.C. § 45) in matters involving fraudulent and misleading pre-litigation demand letter practices. The bill, however, would not amend the FTC Act. This very awkward statutory structure reflects the sponsors' purpose of avoiding referrals of the bill to the Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) and the House Commerce Committee (HCC).

First, Section 8 of this bill as approved would add a new Section 299C to Title 35 titled "Pre-Suit written notice". It enumerates items to be included in pre-suit demand letters. This list contains a lighter version of the heightened pleading requirements. For example, the sender must identify the patent, and at least one claim of that patent, alleged to be infringed. The sender must also identify what product or process infringes, and why.

The bill provides that the consequences of non-compliance are that the defendant is given additional time to file an answer to the complaint, and that a claimant seeking to establish willful infringement may not rely on evidence of pre-suit notification that is not in compliance.

There is no outright mandate that all demand letters must include the enumerated items.

However, Section 9 would add a new Section 299D to Title 35 titled "Bad-faith Demand Letters". It would regulate the "widespread sending" of patent infringement demand letters.

Section 5 of the FTC Act provides in part that "unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, are hereby declared unlawful". However, this bill would not amend the FTC Act (over which the Commerce Committees have jurisdiction). Rather, it would awkwardly amend Title 35 (over which the Judiciary Committees have jurisdiction), but in a manner that would impact FTC enforcement of the FTC Act.

The bill would provide that patent infringement demand letter practices are an unfair or deceptive act or practice within the meaning of Section 5 of the FTC Act if demand letters employ any of numerous enumerated practices.

For example, there is "a pattern of false statements or threats" representing that administrative or judicial relief has been sought, or will be brought.

Or, "the assertions contained in the communications lack a reasonable basis in fact or law" because the person asserting the patent is not the appropriate person to make the assertion, the patent has expired or been held unenforceable, the sender knows that the recipient is authorized by the patentee, the sender falsely represents that an investigation of the recipient's alleged infringement has occurred, or the communications falsely state that litigation has been filed against, or a license has been paid by, similarly situated persons.

Or, the demand letters can violate Section 5 by omission. That is, there is a violation if "the content of the written communications is likely to materially mislead a reasonable recipient because the content fails to include facts reasonably necessary to inform the recipient ... of the identity of the person asserting a right to license the patent" and "of the patent ... alleged to have been infringed".

Notably, Section 9 of the bill does not expressly preempt any state laws regarding unfair or deceptive trade practices, or demand letter practices.

Sen. Feinstein stated at the mark up that demand letters sent to small businesses that demand money can be extortionate" . She offered an amendment directed at the demand for money.

Her amendment amends Section 8 of the bill to provide, for example, that a "shall not contain ... a request for, demand for, or offer to accept a specific monetary amount in exchange for a license, settlement, or similar agreement to resolve allegations of patent infringement".

Fee Shifting. The SJC rejected by a vote of 5-15 an amendment offered by Sen. Durbin that would have amended Section 7 regarding fee shifting.

Currently, 35 U.S.C. § 285 provides that "The court in exceptional cases may award reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party." That is, each party ordinarily pays its own attorneys. And, except in "exceptional cases", the winner cannot recover its attorneys fees at the conclusion of the case. Fee shifting could have a significant impact, because a party often pays millions of dollars in legal fees to pursue or defend a patent case to judgment.

A straight fee shifting rule would provide that the loser reimburses the winner for its attorneys fees. But, that is not the approach of this bill.

The bill as introduced in April contained a limited fee shifting provision. The managers' amendment approved on June 4 further limited shifting.

The managers' amendment provides in part that "In connection with a civil action in which any party asserts a claim for relief arising under any Act of Congress relating to patents, upon motion by a prevailing party, the court shall determine whether the position of the non-prevailing party was objectively reasonable in law and fact, and whether the conduct of the nonprevailing party was objectively reasonable. If the court finds that the position of the non-prevailing party was not objectively reasonable in law or fact or that the conduct of the non-prevailing party was not objectively reasonable, the court shall award reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party unless special circumstances, such as undue economic hardship to a named inventor or an institution of higher education (as defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))), would make an award unjust. The prevailing party shall bear the burden of demonstrating that the prevailing party is entitled to an award." (Parentheses in original. Emphasis added by TLJ.)

The bill as introduced contained the "objectively reasonable" qualification. The managers' amendment added the "undue economic hardship" qualification.

Sen. Durbin's rejected amendment would have excepted universities, technology transfer organizations, and their licensees, from the fee shifting provision.

Sen. Durbin's amendment provided that the above quoted fee shifting provision, except in "exceptional cases", "shall not apply to a civil action in which the party alleging infringement is ... (A) an institution of higher education ... (B) a non-profit technology transfer organization whose primary purpose is to facilitate the commercialization of technologies developed by 1 or more institutions of higher education; or (C)
a party ... (i) that has licensed the patent or patents that are the subject of the alleged infringement from an institution of higher education or a non-profit technology transfer organization; and (ii) whose primary business is not the assertion and enforcement of patents or the licensing resulting therefrom".

It failed. Only Sen. Durbin, Sen. Vitter, Sen. Coons, Sen. Whitehouse, and Sen. Blumenthal voted for it.

Reduced Patent Fees for Universities. The SJC approved by unanimous consent an amendment offered by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) that adds a new section to the bill titled "Institutions of Higher Education and Non-Profit Research".

It would amend 35 U.S.C. § 123, which provides a definition of "Micro Entity". These Micro Entities are entitled to a discount on patent fees.

Sen. Cornyn's amendment provides that the Micro Entity discount also applies to certain applicants who are either employees of institutions of higher education, have assigned their interest to an institution of higher education, or are institutions of higher education.

This amendment has nothing to do with patent trolls, abusive patent litigation, or abusive demand letter practices.

Moreover, it would financially benefit large universities for which patent portfolios are a huge economic enterprise. It would also reduce fee collections, which are the source of USPTO funding.

Large universities are well organized, politically active, and have a powerful lobbying presence in Washington DC.

Coons Amendments. The SJC rejected a series of amendments offered by Sen. Coons.

The SJC rejected by a vote of 6-14 an amendment offered by Sen. Coons that would have stricken Section 3 of the bill, which imposes heightened pleading requirements (HPR).

The SJC rejected by a vote of 6-14 an amendment offered by Sen. Coons that would have amended the heightened pleading requirements (HPR) section. The bill provides that the HPRs do not apply to actions for infringement brought under 35 U.S.C. § 271)(e). Sen. Coons amendment would have revised this. But then, this Section 271(e) does not affect information technologies.

The SJC rejected by a vote of 4-16 an another amendment offered by Sen. Coons that pertained to HPRs and Section 271(e).

(And, the SJC rejected by a vote of 5-15 an amendment offered by Sen. Vitter that pertained to HPRs and Section 271(e).)

The SJC rejected by a vote of 3-17 an amendment offered by Sen. Coons. Section 5 of the bill imposes some limits on discovery in patent infringement actions. Sen. Coons' amendment pertained to discovery in Section 271(e) actions, which relate to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) matters.

Sen. Coons offered then withdrew an amendment that would have added a new section titled "Fairness in Post-Grant Proceedings".

Sen. Coons offered then withdrew an amendment that would have added a new section titled "Standing in Post-Grant Proceedings".

See also, SJC web page with hyperlinks to all amendments, and web page with roll call votes.

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The House will not meet.

The Senate will not meet.

8:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day two of a two day event hosted by the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) titled "7th Annual Trademark Bootcamp". See, notice. Location: Hilton Alexandria Old Town, Alexandria, VA.

9:00 AM - 3:00 PM. The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics' (RTCA) NextGen Advisory Committee will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 99, May 22, 2015, at Pages 29789-29790. Location: RTCA, Suite 910, 1150 18th St., NW.

8:30 AM - 12:00 NOON. Day two of a two day on site and teleconferenced meeting of the The Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE). This meeting will also be listen only teleconferenced. The call in number is 1-800-369-2154. The passcode is 8915613. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 90, May 11, 2015, at Page 26895. Location: DOC, 1401 Constitution Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Illumina v. Ariosa Diagnostics, App. Ct. No. 14-1815. This is an appeal from the U.S. District Court (NDCal) in a patent infringement case involving digital analysis of multiple samples of DNA for prenatal detection of Downs Syndrome and other conditions. The patent in suit is U.S. Patent No. 7,955,794 titled "Multiplex nucleic acid reactions". Panel M. This case is the first of three on the schedule. See, oral arguments schedule. No live webcast. Archived audio webcast. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Circuit Check v. QXQ, App. Ct. No. 15-1155. This is an appeal from the U.S. District Court (EDWisc) in a patent infringement case involving circuit board testing devices. Panel N. This case is the third of four on the schedule. See, oral arguments schedule. No live webcast. Archived audio webcast. Location: Courtroom 402, 717 Madison Place, NW.

12:00 NOON - 1:00 PM. The Internet Caucus will host a panel discussion titled "Internet Governance, ICANN and Congress.SUCKS: Where Is Control Of The Internet Going?". The speakers will be __. Free. Open to the public. Lunch will be served. Location: Room 2237, Rayburn Building.

12:00 NOON - 1:00 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast panel discussion titled "The Microsoft Cases: A Retrospective and Lessons Learned". The speakers will be Randall Weinsten (FTC), Harry First (NYU School of Law), Andrew Gavil (Howard University School of Law), MJ Moltenbrey (Paul Hastings), William Page (University of Florida law school), and Rick Boulton (MiCRA). Prices vary. No CLE credits. See, notice.

Deadline to submit written comments to the Department of Commerce's (DOC) International Trade Administration's (ITA) President's Export Council in advance of its June 10, 2015 meeting. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 93, May 14, 2015, at Page 27632.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding the FCC's rules that require commercial mobile radio service (CMRS) providers to transmit 911 calls from non-service initiated (NSI) devices. The FCC adopted and released this NPRM on April 1, 2015. It is FCC 15-43 in PS Docket No. 08-51. See also, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 87, May 6, 2015, at Pages 25977-25989.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding eliminating certain common carrier rules from which the FCC has recent forborn. The FCC adopted this NPRM on February 2, 2015, and released it on February 6, 2015. It is FCC 15-33 in WC Docket No. 15-13. See also, notice in the Federal Register Volume 80, No. 87, May 6, 2015, at Pages 25989-25994.

The House will meet at 2:00 PM.

The Senate will meet at 3:00 PM.

12:00 NOON. Deadline to submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) regarding adding the nation of Mauritius to the parties to the negotiation of the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA). The original parties were "Australia, Canada, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Costa Rica, European Union on behalf of its member states, Hong Kong China, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Switzerland, and Turkey". Paraguay, Liechtenstein and Uruguay subsequently joined. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 89, May 8, 2015, at Pages 26607-26608.

8:00 AM - 1:30 PM. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) will host an event titled "CSIS-JETRO Conference on Asia-Pacific Economic Integration and the Role of the United States and Japan". The speakers will include Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO). Breakfast will be served. See, notice. Location: CSIS, 1616 Rhode Island Ave., NW.

8:30 AM - 5:30 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the Department of the Interior's (DOI) National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC). The agenda includes "Geospatial Privacy", "Crowd-Sourced Geospatial Data", "3D Elevation Program", and other topics. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 89, May 8, 2015, at Page 26582. Location: DOI, South Interior Building Auditorium, 1951 Constitution Ave., NW.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day one of a three day meeting of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics' (RTCA) Special Committee 231, Terrain Awareness Warning Systems. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 103, May 29, 2015, at Page 30757. Location: RTCA, Suite 910, 1150 18th St., NW.

10:00 AM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) President's Export Council's (PEC) Subcommittee on Export Administration (SEA) will hold a partially closed meeting. The agenda includes discussion of export control reform. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 100, May 26, 2015, at Pages 30040-30041. Location: DOC, Hoover Building, Room 3407, 14th Street between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, NW.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers Committee will host an event titled "Network Management: Expanding and Using Your Connections". The speakers will be Mark Brennan (Hogan Lovells), Kristine Fargotstein (FCC), Jenn Holtz (NTIA), Megan Stull (Google), and others. No webcast. No CLE credits. Bring your own lunch. Free. See, notice. For more information, contact Kristine Fargotstein at kfargotstein at gmail dot com or Rachael Bender at RBender at mobilefuture dot org. Location: Hogan Lovells, 555 13th St., NW.

3:00 PM. Deadline for Representatives to submit proposed amendments to HR 2596 [LOC | WW], the "Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016", to the House Rules Committee (HRC). See, notice.

3:30 - 5:00 PM. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) will host a panel discussion titled "Digital India: How Information Technology Can Augment Development". The speakers will include Ravi Shankar Prasad (India's Minister for Communications & Information Technology). See, notice. Location: CSIS, 1616 Rhode Island Ave., NW.

8:30 AM - 4:00 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the Department of the Interior's (DOI) National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC). The agenda includes "Geospatial Privacy", "Crowd-Sourced Geospatial Data", "3D Elevation Program", and other topics. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 89, May 8, 2015, at Page 26582. Location: DOI, South Interior Building Auditorium, 1951 Constitution Ave., NW.

8:30 AM - 5:00 PM. Day one of a three day meeting of the Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB). Free. Open to the public. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 99, May 22, 2015, at Page 29625. Location: National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, 9600 Gudelsky Drive, Room B-105, Rockville, MD.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day two of a three day meeting of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics' (RTCA) Special Committee 231, Terrain Awareness Warning Systems. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 103, May 29, 2015, at Page 30757. Location: RTCA, Suite 910, 1150 18th St., NW.

9:30 AM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) International Trade Administration's (ITA) President's Export Council will meet. Webcast. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 93, May 14, 2015, at Page 27632. Location: __.

10:00 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing titled "Passenger Rail Safety: Accident Prevention and On-Going Efforts to Implement Train Control Technology". The witnesses will include Charles Mathias (FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau), D.J. Stadtler (Amtrak), and Robert Lauby (Federal Railroad Administration). Live webcast. See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing titled "Examining the Federal Regulatory System to Improve Accountability, Transparency and Integrity". The witnesses will be __. Live and archived webcast. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:30 AM. The Senate Appropriations Committee's (SAC) Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies will meet to mark up S __, the "Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2016". See, notice. Location: Room 192, Dirksen Building.

1:30 PM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing on the nomination of Judge Luis Restrepo (USDC/EDPenn) to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals (3rdCir). Live and archived webcast. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit comments to the Department of Agriculture's (DOA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and the Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in response to their request for comments regarding President Obama's memorandum titled "Expanding Broadband Deployment and Adoption by Addressing Regulatory Barriers and Encouraging Investment and Training". See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 82, April 29, 2015, at Pages 23785-23787.

Supreme Court conference day. See, 2014-2015 calendar. Closed to the public.

8:30 AM - 5:00 PM. Day two of a three day meeting of the Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB). Free. Open to the public. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 99, May 22, 2015, at Page 29625. Location: National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, 9600 Gudelsky Drive, Room B-105, Rockville, MD.

9:00 - 11:00 AM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and Technology Policy Institute (TPI) will host a panel discussion titled "Innovation, Regulation, and the EU's Digital Single Market Strategy". The speakers will be Andrea Glorioso (Delegation of the European Union to the USA), Stephen Ezell (ITIF), Christopher Yoo (University of Pennsylvania law school), and Daniel Sepulveda (U.S. Department of State). Free. Open to the public. Breakfast will be served from 8:30 AM. See, ITIF notice and TPI notice. Location: Holeman Lounge, National Press Club, 13th floor, 529 14th St., NW.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day three of a three day meeting of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics' (RTCA) Special Committee 231, Terrain Awareness Warning Systems. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 103, May 29, 2015, at Page 30757. Location: RTCA, Suite 910, 1150 18th St., NW.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing titled "Oversight of FCC Field Offices". The hearing will examine FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposal to close 16 of 24 FCC field offices. See, notice. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda includes __. Live and archived webcast. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM - 6:00 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board. The agenda includes discussion of "potential PNT service disruptions if radio spectrum interference is introduced". See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 101, May 27, 2015, at Pages 30270-30271. Location: Marriott Hotel, 80 Compromise St., Annapolis, MD.

10:30 AM. The Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) will meet to mark up three bills, including S __, the "Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2016". See, notice. Location: Room 106, Dirksen Building.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host an event titled "FCBA Annual Meeting and Luncheon". The keynote speaker will be FCC Commissioner Michael O'Reilly. No CLE credits. No webcast. Prices vary. Lunch will be served. See, notice. Location: Capitol Hilton, 1001 16th St., NW.

12:20 - 5:30 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advisory Committee for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 92, May 13, 2015, at Page 27351. Location: NSF, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1235, Arlington, VA.

1:00 - 4:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Technological Advisory Committee will meet. See, Public Notice (DA 14-498) and notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 87, May 6, 2015, at Page 26048. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, Room TW-C305, 445 12th St., SW.

1:00 - 5:00 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will host a meeting to discuss "commercial use of facial recognition technology". See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 92, May 13, 2015, at Page 27293. Location: American Institute of Architects, 1735 New York Ave., NW.

6:00 - 8:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host an event titled "Annual Spring Reception and Champion of Intellectual Property Award". The speakers will be Sharon Prost (Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir)) and James Smith (Chief Administrative Patent Judge, USPTO). The price to attend ranges from $20 to $40. No CLE credits. No webcast. For more information, call 202-626-3463. The DC Bar has a history of barring reporters from its events. See, notice. Location: Dolley Madison House, 1520 H St., NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Media Bureau (MB) in response to its Public Notice (PN) requesting comments to assist it in preparing the report required by Section 109 of the STELA Reauthorization Act of 2014, Public Law No. 113-200. This report pertains to designated market areas and fostering localism. The FCC/MB released this PN on February 25, 2015. It is DA 15-253 in MB Docket No. 15-43. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 63, April 2, 2015, at Pages 17745-17748.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Public Notice (PN) regarding the May 20, 2015 recommendations of the FCC's Advisory Committee for the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15 Advisory Committee). This PN is DA 15-604 in IB Docket No. 04-286. The FCC released it on May 21, 2015. See also, appendix to this PN, and notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. __, __, 2015, at Pages __. See also, the NTIA's draft proposals.

Deadline to submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) the U.S. complaint filed with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the People's Republic of China (PRC) regarding providing export contingent subsidies to enterprises in several industrial sectors. See, original notice in the Federal Register (FR), Vol. 80, No. 91, May 12, 2015, at Pages 27225-27226, and correction notice in the FR, Vol. 80, No. 98, May 21, 2015, at Page 29382.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) and Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) in response to their Public Notice (PN) regarding trends in LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) and Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) technology. The FCC seeks information on "technologies and techniques they will implement to share spectrum with existing unlicensed operations and technologies such as Wi-Fi that are widely used by the public. Parties within the wireless industry are developing a version of commercial wireless LTE technology called LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) that is intended for operations in certain unlicensed frequency bands. LTE-U could operate in conjunction with licensed commercial wireless services using a technique called Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) whereby a channel in an operator's licensed spectrum is used as the primary channel for devices operating on an unlicensed basis." This PN is DA 15-516 in ET Docket No. 15-105. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 89, May 8, 2015, at Pages 26561-26563.

8:25 AM - 12:15 PM. Day two of a two day meeting of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advisory Committee for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 92, May 13, 2015, at Page 27351. Location: NSF, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1235, Arlington, VA.

8:30 AM - 12:00 NOON. Day three of a three day meeting of the Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB). Free. Open to the public. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 99, May 22, 2015, at Page 29625. Location: National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, 9600 Gudelsky Drive, Room B-105, Rockville, MD.

9:00 AM - 4:30 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of the Census's Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 86, May 5, 2015, at Pages 25661-25662. This advisory committee examines statistics prepared by both the DOC and the Department of Labor's (DOL) Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Location: U.S. Census Bureau, Conference Center, 4600 Silver Hill Road, Suitland, MD.

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Consumer Advisory Committee will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 94, May 15, 2015, at Pages 27952-27953. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room (Room TW-C305), 445 12th St., SW.

9:30 AM - 4:45 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a program titled "Preserving Intellectual Property Rights in Government Contracts: A Beginner's Guide". The speakers will be David Bloch (Winston & Strawn), Richard Gray (Department of Defense), John Lucas (Department of Energy), James McEwen (Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation). The price to attend ranges from $129 to $199. CLE credits. No webcast. For more information, call 202-626-3488. The DC Bar has a history of barring reporters from its events. See, notice. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

10:00 AM - 1:00 PM. Day two of a two day meeting of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board. The agenda includes discussion of "potential PNT service disruptions if radio spectrum interference is introduced". See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 101, May 27, 2015, at Pages 30270-30271. Location: Marriott Hotel, 80 Compromise St., Annapolis, MD