| Napster Hearings |
| 2/14. Sen. Orrin Hatch
(R-UT) made statement
in the Senate regarding the opinion
[PDF] of the U.S. Court
of Appeals (9thCir) in A&M Records v. Napster.
He stated that "the Judiciary Committee will need to hold
hearings on the decision's possible implications and to get an
update on developments in the online music market." He
added that "I know that people in Congress are weighing
various legislative solutions ..." Sen. Hatch is the
Chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over
intellectual property matters. The Committee held a hearing on
Internet music copying last summer. See, TLJ
story of July 12, 2000. Also, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT),
who is the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee,
released a statement.
He said that "The Court of Appeals has sent the case back
to the District Court to ensure that the rights of creators
are protected and that the online marketplace is just that,
and not a free-for-all." |
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| House Passes ECEA |
| 2/14. The House passed HR 524,
the Electronic Commerce Enhancement Act, by a vote of
409 to 6, after a brief debate. See, Roll
Call No. 14. This bill requires the NIST
to assist small and medium-sized manufacturers to integrate
and utilize e-commerce technologies and business practices.
The House passed an identical bill in the 106th Congress as HR 4429;
but it did not pass the Senate. The bill is sponsored by Rep. James Barcia
(D-MI). |
|
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| Reciprocal Comp. |
2/14. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (4thCir) issued its opinion
in Bell Atlantic Maryland v. MCI WorldCom, case seeking review
of a decision made by the Maryland Public Service
Commission (MPSC) on reciprocal compensation rights
under telecommunications interconnection agreements. The
Appeals Court held, two to one, that the action against the
MPSC and its individual members in their official capacity is
barred by the Eleventh
Amendment. Judge Niemeyer wrote the opinion,
and Widener joined; King dissented.
2/14. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (4thCir) issued its opinion
in BellSouth v. North Carolina Public Services Commission,
another case seeking review of state decisions regarding
reciprocal compensation rights. The same three judge panel
ruled, two to one, that the Eleventh Amendment barred the
action against the state. |
|
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| New Documents |
USCA:
opinion
in Amazon v. Barnes and Noble re patent infringement and
validity, 2/14 (HTML, TLJ).
USCA: opinion
in Bell Atlantic Maryland v. MCI WorldCom re reciprocal
compensation, 2/14 (HTML, USCA).
USCA: opinion
in BellSouth v. North Carolina Public Services Commission re
reciprocal compensation, 2/14 (HTML, LOC).
Hatch:
statement
in the Senate re Napster decision, 2/14 (HTML, TLJ)
FCC: annual report on
Cable Industry Prices, 2/14 (MS Word, FCC).
Hatch:
S 320,
the Intellectual Property and High Technology Technical
Amendments Act, 2/13 (HTML, LOC). |
|
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| More News |
2/14. The Senate Communications Subcommittee held a hearing
on ICANN. See,
statements of:
• Michael
Roberts (ICANN CEO)
• Vint
Cerf (ICANN)
• Michael
Froomkin (Univ. of Miami)
• Roger
Cochetti (VeriSign Network Sol.)
• Brian
Cartmell (eNIC Corp.)
2/14. The House
Science Committee held its organizational meeting for the
107th Congress. See, list of
members.
2/14. The Congressional
Internet Caucus Advisory Committee hosted a large
reception and technology demonstration in the Hart Senate
Office Building. New FCC Chairman
Michael Powell spoke briefly, as did all four Co-Chairs of the
Congressional Internet
Caucus: Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT), Sen. Patrick Leahy
(D-VT), Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), and Rep. Bob Goodlatte
(R-VA).
2/14. The Department of Commerce's International Trade
Administration published a notice
in the Federal Register in which it invites U.S. companies to
participate in the High Technology Solutions Trade Mission.
The itinerary includes visits to Paris, Florence, and Warsaw
on May 12-22, 2001. Recruitment closes on April 1, 2001. See,
Federal Register, Feb. 14, 2001, Vol. 66, No. 31, at Page
10271.
2/13. Sen. Orrin Hatch
(R-UT) and Sen. Patrick
Leahy (D-VT) introduced S 320,
the Intellectual Property and High Technology Technical
Amendments Act of 2001, a bill to make technical
corrections in patent, copyright, and trademark laws. |
|
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|
| Amazon Patent Case |
| 2/14. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (FedCir) issued its opinion
in Amazon
v. Barnesandnoble, an appeal of a trial court
preliminary injunction order in a patent infringement
case concerning Amazon's "one click" method and
system for placing an order to purchase an item via the
Internet. Both Amazon.com
and Barnesandnoble.com
(BN) are online booksellers. At issue is Amazon's U.S.
Patent No. 5,960,411, which was issued on Sept. 28, 1999.
Amazon filed its complaint in U.S. District Court (WDWash)
on Oct. 21, 1999, against BN alleging patent infringement, and
seeking a preliminary injunction. Amazon alleged that BN's
"Express Lane" ordering system infringes its 411
patent. BN, in turn, challenged the validity of the 411
patent. The District Court issued a preliminary injunction,
and BN appealed that order. The Court of Appeals found that
Amazon carried its burden with respect to demonstrating the
likelihood of success on the issue of infringement, but that
BN raised substantial questions as to the validity of the 411
patent. It found that the District Court committed error
by misreading the factual content of the prior art references,
and by failing to recognize that BN had raised a substantial
question of invalidity of the asserted claims in view of these
prior art references. However, the Court hastened to add,
"this conclusion only undermines the prerequisite for
entry of a preliminary injunction. Our decision today on the
validity issue in no way resolves the ultimate question of
invalidity." Reversed and remanded. |
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| Financial Services Comm. |
2/14. The House
Financial Services Committee held its organizational
meeting. Rep. Richard
Baker (R-LA) will chair the Subcommittee on Capital
Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises. Rep. Peter King (R-NY)
will chair the Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy,
Technology, and Economic Growth. Rep. Spencer Bachus
(R-AL) will chair the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions
and Consumer Credit. See release.
See also, membership
list.
2/14. House
Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael Oxley (R-OH)
and all six Subcommittee chairs held a news conference
regarding the Committee's oversight plan. See. release.
Rep. Oxley said that there will be a comprehensive review
of the Securities Acts. "We will be taking a serious
look. When you look at the real world today, with people
trading online. Some of the discount brokers -- now 75% of
their trades are online. We are looking at statutes and
regulations that go back to the 1930s. I think that it is
reasonable to assume that some of them may be antiquated,
duplicative, out of date. And, we are going to take a serious
look at that. We will take some time. But we need a thorough
review of that. ... We are going to start soon. But I cannot
tell you when it is going to end."
2/14. Rep. Oxley stated that "with the passage of the electronic
signatures legislation in the last Congress, the upside
potential for great savings in the financial services area are
out there. The paperless society -- the idea that we can use
electronic commerce to our advantage in lowing consumer costs
-- we'll save a lot of trees in the process. It has tremendous
upside potential. Peter King, and his Subcommittee, will be
very active in doing that." Rep. Oxley also explained the
jurisdictions of the new Financial Services Committee and the House Commerce Committee
over electronic commerce. "Well, all of the transactional
things that deal with financial services is under our
jurisdiction. Everything that has to do with electronic
commerce in general stays with the Commerce Committee. ... It
is the functionality of what you are doing, by the electronic
method, that determines jurisdiction, not the avenue itself
..." |
|
|
| FCC Cable Report |
| 2/14. The FCC
released its annual
report on Cable Industry Prices [36 pages in
MSWord]. The report found that "both competitive and
noncompetitive operators increased their average monthly rates
by 5.8% ..." and that "the competitive differential
between competitive and noncompetitive operators remained
constant at 5.3% between 1999 and 2000." It also found
that "cable operators point to increased programming
costs to explain a significant portion of their rate
increases. ... On a per channel basis, the average monthly
rate for competitive operators remained constant for the year
ending July 1, 2000, while for noncompetitive operators the
average monthly rate per channel increased by one cent or 1.5%
over the same period." The report also found that
"47% offered Internet services and 7% offered
telephone service. ... Revenue from non-video sources
increased as a percent of total revenue from 1.5% to 3.5%
between 1999 and 2000." The NCTA
released a statement
saying the price increases were modest. The Consumers Union (CU)
released a statement
complaining about rate increases. "Obviously, this report
shows that it's time for Congress and the FCC to clamp down on
cable monopolies," said the CU's Gene Kimmelman. |
|
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| Quote of the Day |
"There is an apparent conflict in the goals that
America has. We want to dominate the world in high technology.
We want to do the research. We want to provide cutting-edge
products on the world market, and we want to dominate the
world market in those products. At the same time, we are the
principal guard at the gate in terms of the security of the
world. We are the protector of freedom on the planet, so we
have concerns about powerful technology getting into the wrong
hands."
Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX), statement
at hearing on export controls, Feb. 14. |
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| Export Controls |
2/14. The Senate
Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over some trade
issues, held a hearing on export controls and S 149,
the Export Administration Act. The bill authorizes the
Secretary of Commerce to identify items subject to export
control. It allows the Secretary to remove controls on an item
that has been determined to have foreign availability or
mass-market status, and requires the Secretary to make foreign
availability or mass-market status determinations within 6
months of receiving a petition for such status. John Hamre
(President and CEO of the Center
for Strategic and International Studies) and Donald
Hicks (Chairman of Hicks and Associates)
testified in support of the bill. See, statement
by Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX), prepared
statement of Hamre, and prepared
statement of Hicks.
2/14. The Export Administration Act is sponsored by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY); and
he is its leading proponent. He stated at the Senate Banking
Committee hearing that he expected a committee mark up,
"hopefully later this month." He also predicted that
the bill will come to a floor debate and vote sometime this
year. Sen. Paul Sarbanes
(D-MD), the ranking Democrat on the Committee, called the bill
"an excellent piece of legislative craftsmanship." Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX),
the Chairman of the Committee, pledged to work for passage of
the bill. He also stated, "don't get the idea that we
have closed the book on this bill. If you have got a better
idea, we will throw out ours, and take yours." Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT)
compared existing export restraints to the Smoot Hawley
tariff. "We could destroy American companies by cutting
them off from foreign markets," he said.
2/14. John Hamre, who until recently was Deputy
Secretary of Defense, has undergone a conversion on export
control issues. He previously fought against Congressional
efforts to liberalize export restraints on encryption and
hardware products. He stated at the Senate Banking Committee
hearing on the Export Administration Act that "I spent
two years when I was the Deputy Secretary fighting the
software industry on encryption issues -- absolutely convinced
that these guys were going to sell our security down the
river, if we didn't protect ourselves. And I bought it. I know
how to come up here and testify ... we all know how to put
testimony out front that makes it awkward for you to
vote." But then he "realized ... we are probably not
going to be safer as a country if all of the encryption
software is written overseas. It is a lot better if we know
what our companies are doing, and that they are talking to us,
and they give us a running start on how to stay up with
it." He argued that the the U.S. should "convert
from a transaction based licensing system to a process based
licensing system. In essence, rather than require companies to
submit licenses for each individual sale, instead the
government should license the export control procedures of a
company." That is, technology export companies should be
the "first line of defense". He advocated a
partnership between government and the private sector. He
stated that now the relationship is
"confrontational." |
|
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| Today |
Deadline to submit comments to the FCC in response to its Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding implementation of
the Children's Internet Protection
Act [PDF]. This statute provides that in order to be
eligible to receive FCC e-rate subsidies, schools and
libraries that have computers with Internet access must have
in place certain Internet safety policies, such as the use
porn filtering software.
9:10 AM. FCC Commissioner Harold
Furchtgott-Roth will deliver keynote remarks at a
Practicing Law Institute Conference. The title of his remarks
will be "Current FCC Enforcement Policy and
Philosophy." Location: Grand Hyatt Hotel, Washington DC.
10:00 AM. The House
Judiciary Committee will continue its mark up of HR
333, the "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer
Protection Act 2001." Room 2141, Rayburn Building.
10:00 AM. The Senate
Judiciary Committee will hold a business meeting. The
agenda includes the bankruptcy reform bill. Location:
Room 226, Dirksen Building.
9:30 AM - 12:00 NOON. The NTIA
and FCC will host a public
meeting between government and private sector regarding Third
Generation (3G) wireless services.
12:00 PM. The Cato Institute
will host a panel discussion titled "The New Medical
Privacy Regulations: Will They Protect Our Most Personal
Information?" The panelists will be Ronald Weich
(Zuckerman Spaeder), Sue Blevins (Institute for Health
Freedom), and Tom Miller (Cato Institute). Lunch will follow.
Location: Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Ave., NW,
Washington DC. |
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