| FTC Chairman |
| 3/22. FTC Chairman Robert
Pitofsky stated that "I plan to step down from the
Commission promptly after a new chairman is confirmed by the
full Senate. I am willing to stay on as Chairman until that
time to make sure the FTC enjoys a smooth transition. However,
I anticipate that the new Chairman should be in place by June
1 at the latest." See, release.
Pitofsky's term does not expire until September. President
Bush will nominate George Mason University law professor Timothy
Muris to be the next FTC Chairman. |
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| FTC & Antitrust |
| 3/22. The FTC announced that it
will hold another workshop on competition issues that
arise in connection with business to business (B2B) and
business to consumer (B2C) e-commerce. The workshop will be
held on May 7 and 8 in Washington DC. See, release. |
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| More Congress News |
3/22. The House
Government Reform Committee's Technology and Procurement
Subcommittee held a hearing titled "Toward a Telework
Friendly Government Workplace: Successes and Impediments in
Managing Federal Telework Policies."
3/21. Rep. Michael Honda
(D-CA) and Rep. Steve
Horn (R-CA) introduced HR 1149, a bill to amend the
Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 to create as a
component of the Volunteers in Service to America program a
technology corps that uses VISTA volunteers and other persons
to facilitate the use of information technology in schools,
libraries, and community centers.
3/21. Sen. Bob Smith
(R-NH) introduced S 589, a bill to make permanent the moratorium
on Internet taxes. It was referred to the Senate Commerce
Committee. |
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| Covenants Not to Compete |
| 3/22. The California Court of Appeal
issued its opinion
[PDF] in Advanced
Bionics Corp. v. Medtronics Inc., a case regarding
a covenant not to compete in an employment contract.
Order affirmed; petition for writ of mandate denied. |
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| New Documents |
CCA:
opinion
re covenants not to compete, 3/22 (PDF, CCA).
NTIA:
report
to Congress on §§ 109 and 107 of the Copyright Act, 3/22
(HTML, NTIA).
NTIA:
comments
re software defined radio, 3/21 (HTML, NTIA).
USPTO: notice
re Patent Cooperation Treaty, 3/22 (TXT, FedReg).
Milberg:
complaint
in Bodner v. Amazon.com alleging violation of federal
securities laws, 3/21 (PDF, Milberg).
Unger:
speech
re raising capital on the Internet, 3/9 (HTML, SEC). |
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| Quote of the Day |
"The popularity of the Internet as a means of
connecting investors with issuers has put squarely on the
Commission's plate the question of how to regulate
"offers" of securities in both public and private
offerings in the Internet age. Does it make sense to regulate
communications during the pre-effective period? Who should be
able to access electronic roadshows – and should they be
open to all investors? Perhaps now is the time
to consider regulating offers at the point of sale."
Laura Unger, Acting Chairman of the SEC, March 9 speech
at the University of Cincinnati. |
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|
| High Tech Exports |
3/22. The Senate
Banking Committee amended and approved S
149, the Export Administration Act of 2001, a bill
which eases restraints on the export of most dual use
products, such as computers and software. The mark-up was
originally scheduled for March 15, but was delayed to allow
the Bush administration more time to review it. Committee
Chairman Phil Gramm
(R-TX) offered a manager's amendment which incorporates
changes requested by the administration. National Security
Advisor Condoleezza Rice submitted a letter in which she
stated that if the changes contained in the manager's
amendment are adopted, then "the Administration will
support the bill." See also, committee
release.
The Export Administration Act expired in 1990. Since, then,
the administration has used a series of temporary emergency
powers to continue its export control regime. The current
extension expires on August 20. Sen. Gramm stated at the
hearing that the bill "is based on a belief that we want
the United States to be the leader in high-tech development
and employment while, at the same time, we protect the
technologies that could be used to harm us or our
allies." He added that it will "build a higher fence
around a smaller number of things."
Sen. Gramm offered an amendment on behalf of Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT),
who was not present, that repeals provisions of the 1998
National Defense Authorization Act which require the president
to use MTOPS
to set restrictions on the export of high performance
computers. On March 21 Sen. Bennett and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)
introduced this proposal as a stand alone bill, S 591. See, Bennett
release.
Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY),
sponsor of the bill, offered an amendment regarding the sunset
provision of the bill, by allowing the President to extend it.
Under the amendment, the authority under the Act will
terminate on Sept. 30, 2004, unless the President provides to
Congress a detailed report on both the Act and the operation
of export controls, and provides to Congress either a
"legislative reform proposals" or certification
"that no legislative reforms are necessary."
Sen. Jim Bunning
(R-KY) stated that he may offer an amendment on the Senate
floor to raise penalties for violation of the Act.
All amendments were passed by voice vote without opposition.
The vote on the bill, as amended, was 19 to 1. Sen. Richard Shelby
(R-AL), the sole dissenter, stated that "we need to make
sure that there is a balance here, and that the Defense
Department is at the table." He also wants a "blue
ribbon commission" to study the issue. |
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| IP News |
3/22. The House
Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, Internet,
and Intellectual Property held an oversight hearing titled ICANN,
NEW gTLDS, and the Protection of Intellectual Property.
Subcommittee Chairman Howard
Coble (R-NC) said in his opening
statement that "the assignment of domain names is
done through a privately administered system which produces
registrations that result in a global presence, accessible
from anywhere in the world. In contrast, intellectual property
rights are publicly administered on a territorial basis and
are exercisable only within that territory. That is the crux
of the problem before us." See, prepared testimony of Elana
Broitman, Steven
Metalitz, Jeffrey
Neuman, and Louis
Touton.
3/22. The NTIA
submitted its report
to Congress on Sections 109 and 117 of the Copyright Act, as
required by § 104 of the Digital Millennium Copyright
Act. § 109, which contains what is known as the
"first sale doctrine," permits the owner of a copy
or phonorecord to sell or otherwise dispose of possession of
that copy or phonorecord without the authority of the
copyright owner, notwithstanding the copyright owner's
exclusive right of distribution. § 117 permits the owner
of a copy of a computer program to make a copy or adaptation
of the program for archival purposes or as an essential step
in the utilization of the program in conjunction with a
machine. The report reviews the comments received by the NTIA
in response to its June 5, 2000, request
for public comment, and testimony heard at its November
29, 2000 hearing.
3/22. The USTR announced that the
U.S. and Greece resolved their World
Trade Organization dispute over television piracy. This
case concerned the Greek government's failure to enforce its
intellectual property laws effectively against television
stations that broadcast U.S. copyrighted works without
authorization. See, release.
3/22. The USPTO
published a notice
in the Federal Register regarding amending its rules of
practice relating to applications filed under the Patent
Cooperation Treaty. See, Federal Register, March 22, 2001,
Vol., No. 56, at Pages 16004 - 16007. |
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| Pennsylvania PUC |
3/22. The Pennsylvania
Public Utility Commission (PUC), by a 5 to 0 vote, adopted
a plan for the "functional structural separation" of
Verizon Pennsylvania into wholesale and retail units. See, Joint
Motion by Chairman Quain and Vice-Chairman Bloom [PDF].
The PUC stated that "Verizon would continue to operate as
one company but the wholesale and retail divisions would be
required to operate at arms-length pursuant to a code of
conduct." See, PUC
release [PDF]. This is less than the requirement of
forming a separate affiliate, for which AT&T had lobbied. Verizon, which waged a
massive PR and lobbying campaign, declared victory. "The
commission recognized that dividing Verizon Pennsylvania into
two separate entities -- one to sell wholesale services and
one to sell retail services -- is unwarranted," said
Daniel Whelan, P/CEO of Verizon Pennsylvania. See, Verizon
release. Meanwhile, AT&T stated that "it is
disappointed that the PUC did not require full structural
separation of Verizon Pennsylvania, but heartened by the
Commission's recognition of Verizon's past abuses and resolve
to bring vibrant competition to the state’s local phone
market." See, AT&T
release. The PUC was also disturbed by Verizon's
campaigning. Said Commissioner Quain, "there exists a
very public prima facie case that Verizon has pursued
an extensive, systematic campaign of misinformation in
connection with the structural separation case." See,
Quain statement
[PDF]. See also, statement
[PDF] by Commissioner Brownell and statement
[PDF] by Commissioner Fitzpatrick. See also, CompTel response
and USTA response.
3/22. BellSouth
responded to the petition filed by AT&T on March 21 with the Florida Public Service
Commission seeking structural separation of BellSouth into
separate retail and wholesale operations. Joseph Lacher,
President of BellSouth Florida, said, "It is time, if not
long past time, for AT&T to stop complaining and start
competing." See, BellSouth
release. See also, AT&T
release. |
|
|
| FCC |
3/21. The NTIA
submitted comments
to the FCC in its rule making proceeding on software
defined radio (SDR).
3/22. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (DC Cir) heard oral argument in Coalition for
Noncommercial Media v. FCC, Appeal No. 00-1253. This is a
petition for review of an FCC order approving a license
transfer associated with the sale of WNEQ-TV by the Western
New York Public Broadcasting Association (WNYPBA) to LIN
Television Corp. |
|
|
| Trade News |
3/22. Sen. Pat Roberts
(R-KS) introduced the Permanent Trade Promotion Authority and
Market Access Act of 2001, a bill to give the President fast
track trade negotiating authority. "It is imperative
that Congress gives the Executive Branch every tool possible
to aggressively pursue new trade agreements," said Sen.
Roberts. See, Roberts
release. Also, Sen.
Charles Grassley (R-IA), Chairman of the Senate Finance
Committee, stated that "the President's lack of trade
negotiating authority harms the vital national interests of
the United States, because it undermines our credibility at
the negotiating table." See, Grassley
release.
3/21. Sen. Chris Dodd
(D-CT) introduced S 586, a bill to authorize negotiation for
the accession of Chile to the North American Free Trade
Agreement, to provide for fast track consideration, and for
other purposes; to the Committee on Finance. |
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