| Broadband |
| 2/15. Sen. Sam
Brownback (R-KS) said that he will re-introduce a bill
intended to spur deployment of broadband Internet access
facilities in rural areas. He stated in a speech in the Senate
that "in urban and suburban areas, they are getting
access to high-speed Internet access ... In the rural areas of
my State and in many places across the country, they are not
getting access to high-speed Internet. ... I will shortly be
submitting a bill to try to address this inequity that is
taking place and to keep this digital divide from further
exacerbating the economies in suburban areas versus rural
areas." He introduced S 877,
the Broadband Internet Regulatory Relief Act, in the 106th
Congress. It would have provided regulatory relief to ILECs
(incumbent local exchange carriers). Sen. Jay Rockefeller
(D-WV) has already introduced his "broadband bill"
in the 107th Congress. S 88,
the The Broadband Internet Access Act of 2001, would provide tax
credits to companies that deploy high speed Internet
access facilities in underserved areas. |
|
|
| NYT v. Tasini |
| 2/14. Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters wrote a letter
to Rep. James
McGovern (D-MA) regarding the case New York Times v.
Tasini. The issue in Tasini is whether, under Section
201(c) of the Copyright Act, newspaper and
magazine publishers that publish articles written by freelance
authors automatically have the right to subsequently include
those articles in electronic databases. She wrote:
"§201(c) cannot be read as permitting publishers to make
or authorize the making of public displays of contributions to
collective works. Section 201(c) cannot be read as authorizing
the conduct at the heart of Tasini. The publishers in Tasini
assert that because the copyright law is 'media-neutral,' the
§201(c) privilege necessarily requires that they be permitted
to disseminate the authors' articles in an electronic
environment. This focus on the 'media-neutrality' of the Act
is misplaced." The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear
oral arguments in NYT v. Tasini on March 28. |
|
|
| New Documents |
ICANN:
Preliminary
Fiscal Year 2001-2002 Budget, 2/19 (HTML, ICANN).
Murkowski:
S 346,
a bill to split the 9th Circuit, 9/15 (HTML, LOC).
Peters:
letter
re NYT v. Tasini, 2/14. (HTML, TLJ).
Coble:
HR
614, the Copyright Technical Corrections Act of 2001, 2/14
(HTML, LOC).
Coble:
HR 615,
the Intellectual Property Technical Amendments Act of 2001,
2/14 (HTML, LOC).
Gillmor:
HR 646,
the Federal Communications Commission Reform Act, 2/14 (HTML,
LOC).
Thurman:
HR
604, the Internet Toy Safety Awareness Act, 2/13 (HTML,
LOC).
Capps/Feinstein:
HR 573
and S 307,
the Teacher Technology Training Act, 2/13 (HTML, LOC). |
|
|
| Quote of the Day |
"... the success of our economy and quality of modern
life can be directly attributed to the innovation and genius
of our patent and trademark system, whether it be in the
fields of computers, media, aerospace, or
bio-technology."
Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC), Congressional Record, Feb.
14. |
|
|
|
| New Bills |
2/14. Rep. Howard
Coble (R-NC), introduced HR
614, the Copyright Technical Corrections Act of 2001,
and HR 615,
the Intellectual Property Technical Amendments Act of 2001.
Both bills are cosponsored by Rep. Howard Berman
(D-CA). Coble and Berman are the Chairman and ranking Democrat
on the House
Judiciary Committee's Courts, Internet, and Intellectual
Property Subcommittee. Rep. Coble stated that HR 614
"corrects errors in references, spelling, and
punctuation". He said that HR 615 "makes a
small number of other non-controversial changes requested by
the PTO. For example, it changes the title of the chief
officer of the PTO from 'Director' to 'Commissioner.' It also
clarifies some of the agency's administrative duties and the
protections for the independent inventor community."
These two bills are similar to S 320 ES,
the Intellectual Property and High Technology Technical
Amendments Act of 2001, which passed the Senate on Feb. 14 by
a vote of 98-0.
2/14. Rep. Paul
Gillmor (R-OH) introduced HR 646,
the Federal Communications Commission Reform Act, a
bill to establish a commission to study the FCC. The bill is cosponsored by
six other members of the House Commerce Committee, the
committee with jurisdiction. The commission created by this
bill would "study and report on the organizational
structure of the Federal Communications Commission, with an
emphasis on determining (1) whether that structure should be
changed to reflect the current state of telecommunications,
including the rise of the Internet; and (2) whether there
should be a reduction in the number of commissioners."
2/13. Rep. Lois Capps
(D-CA) introduced HR 573,
the Teacher Technology Training Act, in the House. Sen. Dianne Feinstein
(D-CA) introduced S 307,
the Teacher Technology Training Act, in the Senate. These
identical bills would authorize $100,000,000 for each of the
years 2002 through 2006 to be awarded by the Secretary of
Education in grants to state education agencies, which would
in turn award grants to local education agencies to provide
"classroom-related technology training for licensed or
certified elementary school or secondary school
teachers." The bills have been referred to the House Education and
Workforce Committee and the Senate Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions Committee.
2/13. Rep. Karen
Thurman (D-FL) introduced HR
604, the Internet Toy Safety Awareness Act, a bill
that requires safety labels for certain Internet advertised
toys and games. The bill also instructs the Consumer Product Safety Commission
to promulgate regulations. It has been referred to the House Commerce Committee.
Rep. Thurman is not a member. However, Rep. Bart Stupak
(D-MI), who is a cosponsor of the bill, is. |
|
|
| More News |
2/19. The ICANN
published in its web site its Preliminary
Fiscal Year 2001-2002 Budget.
2/16. HP announced that it
settled its patent lawsuit against Teco Information
Systems Europe Limited (Teco Europe) regarding thermal inkjet
cartridges. HP recently instituted patent infringement
proceedings in Germany, France and the UK against
International United Technology Co. Ltd. (IUT). HP filed a
lawsuit in the UK against Teco Europe for acting as the
European distributor of thermal inkjet cartridges made by IUT.
Under the settlement, Teco Europe has agreed to stop importing
IUT inkjet cartridges and pay compensation to HP. HP's
litigation against IUT continues. See, HP
release. |
|
|
|
| 9th Circuit Divide |
| 2/15. Sen. Frank
Murkowski (R-AK) introduced S 346,
the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Reorganization Act of 2001.
This bill would split the U.S. Court of Appeals,
Ninth Circuit, into two circuits. It would create a new
12th Circuit comprised of the states of Washington, Oregon,
Alaska, Idaho, Montana, and Hawaii. The 9th Circuit would be
left with the states of California, Arizona, and Nevada. The
bill is cosponsored by all of the Republican Senators from the
states that would be in the new 12th Circuit. The bill has
been referred to the Senate Judiciary
Committee. |
|
|
| People |
2/14. Stuart Eizenstat joined the Washington DC
office of the law firm of Covington
& Burling as a partner and head of its international
practice. He was previously Deputy Secretary of the Treasury
in the Clinton administration. Recently, he worked on Foreign
Sales Corporation (FSC) tax regime issues.
2/12. Andrew Berg joined the Washington DC office of
the law firm of King &
Spalding as a partner in the firm's antitrust practice. He
will counsel clients involved in mergers and acquisitions and
antitrust matters before the FTC, the Antitrust Division of the
Department of Justice, state attorneys general and in private
litigation. He also works on consumer protection and unfair
and deceptive trade practice matters involving advertising,
marketing, and credit practices at the FTC. He was previously
a partner at Akin Gump.
See, release. |
|
|
| Privacy |
| 2/16. The Wall Street Journal published an article which
stated that "The Internet's phone book is up for sale --
and though the listings may represent a treasure trove for
marketers, the move also risks a serious privacy backlash. At
issue are millions of entries in the domain-name database
operated by the Network
Solutions unit of VeriSign
..." The EPIC
promptly wrote a letter
to the Rep. Fred Upton
(R-MI) and Rep. Ed
Markey (D-MA), the Chairman and ranking Democrat on the
House Telecom Subcommittee, and Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT)
and Sen. Ernest Hollings
(D-SC), the Chairman and ranking Democrat on the Senate
Communications Subcommittee, that cited this article. EPIC
urged the Members of Congress "to examine whether this
sale is currently permissible and if so, whether it is
therefore necessary to adopt new legislation to safeguard the
information that is provided by Internet users and companies
as a condition of registering a domain name. We believe that
the sale violates well established principles of U.S. law as
well as international privacy standards, including privacy
rules specifically developed to address concerns related to
privacy in the context of domain name registration." |
|
|
| Today |
| 9:30 AM. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (DC Cir) will hear oral argument in Global Naps v. FCC.
Judges Williams, Sentelle and Rogers will preside. This is a
Petition for Review of an FCC Memorandum
Opinion and Order (FCC 99-381) regarding reciprocal
compensation for ISP bound traffic. Globals Naps is a CLEC
that provides phone service in Massachusetts. Bell Atlantic
filed a complaint with the FCC alleging illegal tariffs by
Global Naps. The FCC released its order on Dec. 2, 1999 which
ruled the tariff to be illegal. Global Naps then filed this
Petition for Review with the Court of Appeals. Bell Atlantic
(now Verizon) intervened. See, TLJ
Case Summary. |
|
|
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