| FCC 3G NPRM |
2/22. Feb. 22 was the deadline to file comments with the FCC in response
to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [see, TXT
and PDF
versions] regarding reallocation of spectrum for use by Third
Generation (3G) wireless services. The FCC received
numerous comments. 3G is intended to provide broadband
Internet access to portable devices. The NPRM sought comments
on introducing 3G services in frequency bands currently used
for cellular, broadband PCS,
and SMR
services, as well as in five other frequency bands: 1710-1755,
1755-1850, 2110-2150, 2160-2165, and 2500-2690 MHz. Spectrum
currently allotted to the private sector or government
entities for other purposes will have to be reallocated.
2/22. Numerous comments were filed by industry. For example,
the Telecommunications
Industry Association (TIA), a manufacturers' trade group,
filed a comment
[23 pages in PDF] in which it stated that "Additional spectrum must be made
available that is suitable for advanced communications
services, such as 3G mobile systems." See also, Motorola comment
[PDF], Qualcomm comment
[PDF], and Ericsson comment
[PDF] (See, ET Docket No. 00-258.)
2/22. In contrast, incumbent users of spectrum under
consideration for use for 3G services generally oppose sharing
or reallocation of spectrum currently assigned to them. For
example, the Catholic Television Network (CTN) submitted a
comment in which it opposed reallocation of spectrum used by
educational institutions. CTN is an incumbent Instructional
Television Fixed Service (ITFS) user of spectrum in the 2.5
GHz band. CTN has long used ITFS to distribute educational,
training, and religious programming to schools, parishes,
hospitals, and other locations. Educators are now in the
process of upgrading their systems to provide two-way
interactive services. |
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| Spectrum Markets |
| 2/7. 37 economists filed a comment
[8 pages in PDF] with the FCC
in response to its Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking [PDF] regarding secondary markets
in spectrum. The proceeding is titled In the Matter of
Promoting Efficient use of Spectrum Through Elimination of
Barriers to the Development of Secondary Markets. (See, WT
Docket No. 00-230). The comment states that "We strongly
encourage the Commission to adopt market-oriented rules
opening the radio spectrum and capturing its full potential
for society. Current spectrum policies continue to decrease
consumer welfare and reduce the effectiveness of the wireless
half of our telecommunications world. Without an initiative to
eliminate unnecessary bureaucratic restrictions, spectrum will
continue to be artificially scarce in some uses and wasted in
others." |
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| DeCSS Case |
2/19. The Justice Department filed a motion to intervene,
file a brief, and participate in oral argument, in Universal
City Studios v. Eric Corely with the U.S. Court of
Appeals (2ndCir) on Feb. 8, 2001. The Appeals Court
granted the motion on Feb. 20. This case is also known as the DeCSS
hacker case. Several movie makers sued Corely and others
in U.S. District Court (SDNY)
on Jan. 14, 2000, alleging violation of the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) for publishing code
for circumventing the plaintiffs' copy protection technology
(known as CSS) for the DVD versions of their movies. The
District Court entered its amended final judgment on Aug. 23,
2000, permanently enjoining defendants from violating the DMCA.
The Court rejected defendants' argument that their acts
constituted protected free speech.
2/19. The U.S. Attorney filed a brief on
Feb. 19, in which its argued that the District Court should be
affirmed, and the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA
should be upheld. It wrote: "Until fairly recently,
artists and authors had only to contend with the bootleg
distribution of their works in hard-copy form; they now face
the reality of uncontrollable, on-line infringement. Embracing
the digital medium as their own, infringers threaten to usurp
much if not all of the Internet market for copyrighted
works." |
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| Napster Delays |
| 2/23. Napster filed a
petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc with the U.S. Court of Appeals
(9thCir). Napster seeks review of the Feb. 12 opinion
[PDF] of a three judge panel of the court that largely upheld
District Court Judge Patel's findings regarding patent
infringement. See, Napster
release. |
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| People |
2/21. The law firm of Covington
& Burling announced that two of its former partners, Ethan
Posner and Jean Veta, have returned from stints at
the Justice Department.
Posner was a Deputy Associate Attorney General. He worked on
several topics, including prescription drug sales over the
internet, bankruptcy reform, and class action reform. Veta was
a Deputy Associate Attorney General. She was involved in
e-commerce, technology, and privacy issues. See, release
[PDF].
2/20. Deborah Garza will join the Washington DC office
of the law firm of Fried
Frank as a partner in the antitrust section on March 1,
2001. She previously was an antitrust partner in the
Washington DC office of Covington
& Burling. The head of Fried Frank's antitrust
section, Rick
Rule, moved from Covington in January. Both Rule and Garza
worked in Antitrust
Division of the Justice Department during the Reagan and
elder Bush administrations. Garza rose to Chief of Staff and
Counselor in 1988-89. Rule rose to be the Assistant Attorney
General in the Antitrust Division. See, release.
2/20. The law firm Greenberg
Traurig announced that Vincent
Chieffo joined the firm's Los Angeles office as a
shareholder in the intellectual property and entertainment
practice areas. He handles litigation and transactional
matters involving copyright, literary rights, rights of
publicity, film financing, international partnerships, music
publishing, recording artists, and record companies. See, release.
2/15. Alexander Lynch and Babak (Bo) Yaghmaie
will become partners in the law firm of Wilson Sonsoni.
They previously worked in the New York office of Gunderson
Dettmer. They will also head the newly created New York
City office of Wilson Sonsoni. Lynch and Yaghmaie represent
technology companies in venture finance, public offerings,
mergers and acquisitions. See, release.
2/15. The law firm of Wilson Sonsoni
announced that it will open an office in Salt Lake City, Utah.
It will be headed by Robert O'Connor, Shawn Lindquist, and Shannon Whisenant. O'Connor was
previously general counsel at InsurQuote Systems, in Provo,
Utah. Lindquist was previously general counsel at Whizbang
Labs, in Provo, Utah. Both were at Wilson Sonsoni before
taking in house positions. Whisenant will move from the Palo
Alto office of Wilson Sonsoni. See, release. |
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| Today |
9:30 AM. First day of oral argument before the U.S. Court
of Appeals, En Banc, in U.S. v. Microsoft. Location:
Ceremonial Courtroom, 333 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington
DC. See, Order
[PDF] setting schedule.
1:00 - 3:30 PM. The FCC's WRC-03 Advisory Committee's Informal
Working Group 6: Public Protection and Other Issues will hold
a meeting. Location: FCC, 445 12th Street, SW, 6th Floor, Room
6-B516, Washington DC. See, notice
of meeting.
Deadline to file comments with the USTR
pertaining to the WTO dispute settlement
proceeding regarding § 110(5)(B)
of the U.S. Copyright Act. A WTO Dispute Settle
Body has found the statute is inconsistent with U.S. treaty
obligations under the TRIPs
Agreement. See, notice
and request for comments in the Federal Register. |
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| Congress |
1/22. The Senate
Finance Committee announced its subcommittee assignments.
The Subcommittee on International Trade will include Orrin
Hatch (R-UT) (Chairman), Max Baucus (D-MT) (Ranking Democrat),
Charles Grassley (R-IA), Fred Thompson (R-TN), Frank Murkowski
(R-AK), Phil Gramm (R-TX), Trent Lott (R-MS), James Jeffords
(R-VT), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), John Rockefeller (D-WV), Tom
Daschle (SD), Kent Conrad (D-ND), John Kerry (D-MA), Blanche
Lincoln (D-AR), Bob Graham (D-FL), Robert Torricelli (D-NJ).
See, release.
2/15. Sen. John McCain
(R-AZ) and Sen. Fritz
Hollings (D-SC) introduced 368,
the American Voting Standards and Technology Act. Title I
pertains to the conduct of elections. It requires, among other
things, that the NIST
conduct a study of voter participation and emerging voting
technology, including "any future and emerging
technologies for use in elections, such as Internet
voting." See, McCain release
regarding voting standards. Titles II and III are unrelated.
Title II would create a Center of Excellence for Electronic
Commerce at NIST to encourage the use of electronic commerce
technologies by federal agencies. Title III would create an
"Enterprise Integration Initiative" within NIST. |
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| More News |
2/23. The AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies
published a report titled Law
and Policy in the Age of the Internet [43 pages in PDF] by
Robert Litan. It addresses privacy, intellectual property,
taxation, and policies relating to broadband access to the
Net.
2/23. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir)
issued its opinion
in USA v. Wilson, a bank fraud case. Wilson stole individuals'
identities, and then fraudulently obtained and used credit and
ATM cards in their names. The legal issues on appeal
(sufficiency of the evidence, and sentencing guidelines) are
not significant. However, what may be noteworthy is that while
this was a extensive identity theft operation, the opinion
does not state that there was any hacking into databases, or
even use of the Internet. Wilson obtained the personal
information of his victims an old fashioned way -- from
corrupt bank employees. |
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