| New Documents |
FCC: request
for public comments re co-location of antennas, 12/26 (PDF,
FedReg).
Verio: petition
to revoke Register.com's registrar accreditation agreement
with ICANN, 12/21 (HTML, ICANN).
FCC: Order
re AT&T and MediaOne merger conditions, 12/21 (MS Word,
FCC).
DOJ: Competitive
Impact Statement re WorldCom acquisition of Intermedia,
12/21 (HTML, DOJ).
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| Quote of the Day |
"More and more jobs are relying on computers and
electronic communications. Doctors talk to other doctors using
e-mail. Attorneys use the Internet to study the law."
Norman Mineta, Secretary of Commerce, from speech
to students at the Birney Elementary School in Washington DC,
Dec. 22. |
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| News Briefs |
12/26. The FCC published
its Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register
regarding removing some regulatory barriers to the development
of secondary markets in spectrum rights. (WT Docket No.
00-230.) The FCC adopted this NPRM at its meeting on Nov. 9,
and released it to the public on Nov. 27. Comments are due
by Feb. 9, 2001; reply comments are due by March 9, 2001. See,
Federal Register, Dec. 26, 2000, Vol. 65, No. 248, at pages
81475 - 81486.
12/26. The FCC released a request
for public comments [PDF] on procedures for review of
co-locations of antennas under the National Historic
Preservation Act (NHPA), Comments are due by
Jan. 23, 2001.
12/22. NTIA
chief Greg
Rohde released a statement
regarding the increase in funding for the NTIA for FY 2001. NTIA
funding was increased from $73.4 Million in FY2000 to
$100.4M in FY 2001. Technology Opportunities Program (TOP, aka
TIIAP) grants were increased from $15.5M to $45.5M. "I
want to express my appreciation to Congress," said Rohde.
Bill Clinton signed the appropriations bill for the Commerce,
Justice, and State Departments for FY 2001 on Dec. 21.
12/22. The USTR published
a notice
in the Federal Register that it is extending the deadline for
public comments on the U.S. Singapore free trade agreement
until Jan. 5, 2001. See, Federal Register, Dec. 22, 2000, Vol.
65, No. 247, at pages 80982 - 80983.
12/21. The SEC announced
that it settled a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matter
with IBM. To put the
agreement into effect, the SEC filed a complaint
in U.S. District Court (DDC)
against IBM alleging illegal payments to foreign officials by
an IBM subsidiary in Argentina in 1994, in violation of §13(b)(2)(A)
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. IBM consented to the
entry of a judgment ordering it to pay a $300,000 penalty;
but, it made no admissions. IBM-Argentine entered into a $250
Million contract to integrate and modernize the computer
system of a commercial bank owned by the Argentine government.
$4.5 Million went to several bank directors. See, SEC
release.
12/21. The FCC issued an Order
[MS Word] in which it found that AT&T
has not complied with its Order
approving the merger of AT&T and Media One. This
order required AT&T to submit, by December 15, 2000, a
statement that it would either (a) divest its interests in TWE,
(b) terminate its involvement in TWE's video programming or
(c) divest its interests in other cable systems, such that it
will have attributable ownership interests in cable systems
serving no more than 30% of MVPD subscribers nationwide.
AT&T General Counsel James Cicconi wrote a letter to the
FCC on Dec. 15 which stated that AT&T made the necessary
election. The FCC Order of Dec. 21 states that while AT&T
"filed a written document that purports to comply with
this condition, we conclude that this submission does not
satisfy our Merger Order." (CS Docket 99-251.)
2/21. FCC Chairman
Wm. Kennard remained defiant of the Congress on the topic of low
power FM licensing. The FCC announced on Dec. 21 that
"255 noncommercial educational applicants in 20 states
are eligible for new low power FM (LPFM) licenses." See, FCC
release. The FCC also announced pending applications. See,
release.
Chairman Kennard also released a statement.
"I predict that as these first stations go on the
air," said Kennard, "these new LPFM stations will
not create any harmful interference problem for existing radio
service." The appropriations
bill for the Commerce, Justice and State
Departments, which was just enacted into law, limits the FCC's
authority to issue LPFM licenses.
12/21. The FCC's Common
Carrier Bureau released its bi-annual study titled Trends
in Telephone Service. It found, among other things, that
the number of lines (and wireless channels) used by homes and
small businesses for Internet access with a capacity at least
200 kbps in at least one direction increased to 4.3 Million
lines (and wireless channels) in the first half of 2000. This
was a 57% increase over the second half of 1999. See, FCC
summary [PDF, 2 pages].
12/21. The Antitrust
Division of the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) filed its Competitive
Impact Statement with the U.S. District Court (DDC)
in the proceeding pertaining to WorldCom's acquisition of Intermedia. On Nov. 17
WorldCom and the DOJ reached an agreement regarding WorldCom's
acquisition of Intermedia, under which WorldCom agreed to
divest all of Intermedia's assets, except its controlling
interest in Digex. To put
this agreement into effect the DOJ filed a complaint and
proposed consent decree in the U.S.
District Court (DDC). The objection of the DOJ related to
the circumstance that both WorldCom and Intermedia owned
Internet backbone networks. Digex provides web and
applications hosting for e-businesses.
12/21. Commerce Sec. Norman Mineta gave a speech
at the Birney Elementary School in Washington DC at which he
discussed high tech jobs and a "digital divide". See
also, DOC
release.
12/21. MP3.com and Warner
Music Group (WMG) entered into a non exclusive marketing
and promotion agreement and a video license agreement. See, MP3.com release. In
June, WMG settled its claims in the copyright infringement
lawsuit brought by affiliates of the five major record
companies against MP3.com. |
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| Editor's Note: This column includes all News Briefs
added to Tech Law Journal since the last Daily E-Mail Alert.
The date indicates when the event occurred, not the date of
posting to Tech Law Journal. |
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| News Briefs |
| 12/21. Verio filed a petition
with ICANN
requesting the termination of ICANN's Registrar
Accreditation Agreement with Register.com. See, ICANN
release. Verio is currently on the loosing end of
litigation with Register.com. On Aug. 3, 2000 Register.com
filed a complaint in
U.S. District Court (SDNY)
against Verio for accessing its Whois database for mass
marketing purposes. The complaint and motion for preliminary
injunction alleged that Verio's use of software robots to
collect information from Register.com's Whois database to
solicit Register.com customers to become Verio customers, and
misleading of its customers, violates §43(a) of the Lanham Act
and the Computer
Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986, and constitutes
trespass to chattels and breach of contract under the common
law of New York. On Dec. 8, the Court found that Register.com
had demonstrated both likelihood of success upon the merits,
and irreparable harm, on all grounds, and thus issued a preliminary
injunction order restraining Verio from "Accessing
Register.com's computers and computer networks in any manner,
including, but not limited to, by software programs performing
multiple, automated, successive queries ..." |
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