Oct. 23, 2000
8:00 AM ET.
Alert No. 47. |
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| News Briefs |
10/20. The COPA Commission
released its report
to Congress on protecting child from online porn. It contains no
recommendations for new legislation. Rather, it calls for industry
self regulation, education, consumer empowerment, and enforcement of
existing laws. See, TLJ story.
10/20. Commerce Sec. Norman Mineta concluded his three day
campaign tour of western states. On Friday, he was in New Mexico
with Sen. Jeff Bingamon
(D-NM), who is running for for re-election. Mineta gave several
speeches in which he addressed "closing the digital divide in
Indian country". He also spoke about the Commerce Department's recent TOP
grant to the Pueblo of Santa Ana to fund a broadband wireless
intranet. See, speech
in Sante Fe to tribal Governors, speech
in Sante Fe to the NITI, and speech
in Cochiti Pueblo.
10/20. USPTO Director Todd
Dickinson gave a speech
at the annual meeting of the AIPLA.
See, TLJ
story regarding Dickinson's comments regarding diversion of
patent fees, patent reexaminations, business method patents, and
databases protection. See also, TLJ
story regarding intellectual property and the American Dream.
10/20. The NTIA
released a document titled Plan to
Select Spectrum for Third Generation Wireless Systems in the United
States. This plan was developed by the NTIA, in cooperation with
the Department of Defense, the FCC, and other
agencies. The NTIA described this document as "the first step
in the process that will allow the FCC to identify spectrum for
third generation wireless systems." See, release.
10/19. Bruce Mehlman, lobbyist for Cisco Systems, spoke at a luncheon
meeting of the Online Communications Practice Committee of the Federal Communications Bar Association.
He addressed many issues, including 3G spectrum reassignment.
"That fight is going to be ugly," he said. See, TLJ story.
10/19. The Senate passed S 1854,
the "Hart- Scott- Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of
2000," by unanimous consent. The Senate adopted an amendment in
the nature of a substitute which was offered by Sen. Jeff Sessions
(R-AL) for Senators Hatch and others. The amendment renames the bill
the "21st Century Acquisition Reform and Improvement Act of
2000." It also rewrites Section 2 of the bill, which rewrites
Section 7A(a) of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 18a(a)). It still amends
the Clayton Act to increase the size of transaction threshold from
$15 Million to $50 Million. The bill was originally introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH),
and Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI)
in Nov. 1999. The bill has not passed the House.
Editor's Note: This column includes all News Briefs added to
Tech Law Journal since the last Daily E-Mail Alert. The dates
indicate when the event occurred, not the date of posting to Tech
Law Journal. |
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| New TLJ Stories |
PTO
Director Addresses Fee Diversion, Business Method Patents, Reexams
& Databases. USPTO Director Dickinson gave an speech in
which he criticized the diversion of fees from the PTO, discussed
the likelihood of new legislation affecting patent reexamination,
and called for protection of databases. He also addressed business
method patents, the first to file system, and other pending
intellectual property issues.
PTO
Chief Says Intellectual Property is Part of the American Dream.
USPTO Director Todd Dickinson gave an address to the AIPLA in which
he stated that the intellectual property system has become a
representation of the American Dream.
COPA
Commission Issues Report to Congress. The COPA Commission,
which was charged by Congress with making recommendations for
protecting children from online porn, released its report to
Congress at an event on Capitol Hill. It recommended that the
"online commercial adult industry should voluntarily take steps
to restrict minors' ready access to adult content."
Cisco
Lobbyist Addresses High Tech Policy Issues. Cisco lobbyist
Bruce Mehlman gave an address to a FCBA luncheon in which he
summarized high tech related policy issues that are current in
Washington DC. He predicted that fight over spectrum for 3G wireless
services, which will allow for mobile Internet access, will get
ugly.
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| New Documents |
Dickinson:
speech
to the AIPLA, 10/20 (HTML, TLJ).
COPA Comm.:
report to
Congress re protecting children from online porn, 10/20
(HTML, COPA Comm.).
GAO:
report on technological and
regulatory factors affecting consumer choices of ISPs, 10/19 (PDF,
GAO).
Sessions:
S
1854 ES re increasing the size of transaction threshold for
HSR proceedings, 10/19 (HTML, TLJ).
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| New and Updated Sections |
Calendar
(updated daily).
News
from Around the Web (updated daily).
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| Quote of the Day |
"Funding is probably the most important issue that we need to
address. We can only be of limited help to the IP community if
appropriators and those folks who put together the budget continue
to limit the access to the fees which and your clients pay. The
federal appropriations strategy to remain below established budget
caps must put both the administration and Congress under increasing
pressure to find sources of revenue to fund a lot of government
programs. Understandably, given our success perhaps, our fee
collections have become a fairly inviting target for diversion to
these programs."
Todd Dickinson, USPTO Director
(source)
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