| Lessig Versus the CTEA |
7/13. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (DCCir) issued an order
and opinion in Eldred
v. Ashcroft, a challenge to the
constitutionality of the Copyright
Term Extension Act. The Appeals Court denied plaintiff's
petition for a rehearing en banc.
The original plaintiff of record is Eric Eldred, the
proprietor of the unincorporated Eldritch Press, a website
that republishes the works of others that are not protected by
copyright. However, the suit is being pursued by Laurence
Lessig and other law professors who disagree with recently
enacted intellectual property statutes.
The 105th Congress passed the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA)
to extend the maximum duration of copyrights from 75 to 95
years. The late Rep. Sonny Bono (R-CA) sponsored the House
version of the bill in 1997. Hence, the statute is also known
by his name. (See, P.L. 105-298, 112 Stat. 2827. It amends 17
U.S.C. 304(b).)
On January 11, 1999 the plaintiffs filed their original complaint
in U.S. District Court (DDC). (See also, TLJ
story.) On June 28, 1999, the plaintiffs filed their Second
Amended Complaint. Plaintiffs allege, among other claims,
that the CTEA violates the First Amendment and the copyright
clause of the Constitution. On October 27, 1999, the District
Court ruled that the CTEA does not violate the Constitution.
See, Memorandum
of the Court. (See also, TLJ
story.) On February 16, 2001, the U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir)
issued its opinion
affirming the District Court.
Plaintiffs asserted in their petition for rehearing that the
Court of Appeals erred in its treatment of the contentions
advanced by one of the amici, The Eagle Forum (i.e., Phillys
Schlafly). Judge Ginsburg, writing for the Court, rejected the
argument. Judge Sentelle dissented.
See also, TLJ
summary of Eldred v. Reno. |
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| Crime |
| 7/13. The U.S. District Court (SDCal)
sentenced Ira Itskowitz, Daniel Rearick, and Linsday Wellman
for various crimes associated with a telemarketing operation
that defrauded over 3,000 victims of almost $50,000,000
through its design, development and marketing of a series of
"high-tech" telecommunications related securities.
Itskowitz was sentenced to 71 months imprisonment, 3 years
supervised release, and ordered to pay $49,031,740 in
restitution to victims. Rearick was sentenced to 60 months
imprisonment, 3 years supervised release, and ordered to pay
$46,526,740 in restitution to victims. Lindsay Wellman, an
attorney who conspired to structure $149,000 in currency
transactions under $10,000.00 each to avoid reporting
requirements of the IRS was sentenced to 3 years supervised
probation with 8 months custody in a community confinement
center. See, USAO
release. |
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| New Documents |
USCA:
opinion
in Eldred v. Ashcroft re CTEA, 7/13 (HTML, USCA).
Tristani:
speech
re merger of cable companies, 7/13 (HTML, FCC).
Furchtgott-Roth:
speech re
broadband and FCC regulation, 7/12 (HTML, AEI).
RIAA:
memorandum
in support of motion to dismiss Felton v. RIAA. |
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| About Tech Law Journal |
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and e-mail alert that provides news, records, and analysis of
legislation, litigation, and regulation affecting the computer
and Internet industry. This e-mail service is offered free of
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Contact: 202-364-8882; E-mail.
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Privacy
Policy
Notices
& Disclaimers
Copyright 1998 - 2001 David Carney, dba Tech Law Journal. All
rights reserved. |
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| Felton Versus the DMCA |
7/13. The Recording Industry
Association of America (RIAA) filed a motion to dismiss
and memorandum
in support [PDF] in Felton
v. RIAA, a case filed by Edward Felton and
others in U.S. District Court (DNJ) against the
RIAA, SDMI and Attorney General John Ashcroft, seeking a
declaration that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
is unconstitutional. The RIAA argues that there is no
adversity of interest, and that the plaintiffs lack standing.
See also, RIAA
release.
The RIAA's memorandum states that the "Plaintiffs' true
agenda, however, is not to adjudicate a real dispute but to
obtain favorable press attention and to secure an advisory
opinion on the constitutionality of the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act. Plaintiffs have therefore filed an Amended
Complaint full of vaporous imaginings and chimerical fears. We
respectfully submit that even the Amended Complaint fails to
pass muster, and must be dismissed under Rule 12(b)(1)"
of the FRCP.
The plaintiff's lawsuit followed a letter from the Secure Digital Music Initiative
(SDMI) to Felton threatening a lawsuit under the DMCA if he
published a particular paper. However, the RIAA stated in its
memorandum that "Defendant RIAA has repeatedly expressed
publicly and in correspondence with Plaintiffs' counsel --
both before and after this lawsuit was filed -- that it has no
objection whatsoever to Plaintiffs publishing or presenting
their three papers. Thus, as to that aspect of the Amended
Complaint, there is no adversity of interests between
Plaintiffs and the RIAA ..."
The SDMI. The SDMI is a music industry group that is
attempting to develop a watermark based system to prevent
music piracy. Watermarking embeds copyright information in
digital music files to enable devices like MP3 players and
recorders to refuse to make copies of copyrighted music. Last
year the SDMI issued a "Public Challenge" to help
choose among four proposed watermarking technologies. It
invited researchers to attempt to remove the copyright
watermarks. Felton responded, and successfully defeated all
four technologies. The SDMI then sought to prevent Felton from
presenting or publishing his findings.
The Letter. On April 9, Matthew Oppenheim, Secretary of
the SDMI Foundation, wrote a letter
to Edward
Felton, an associate professor in the Department of
Computer Science at Princeton
University, and others, warning them that public release
of information concerning the Secure Digital Music Initiative
(SDMI) "could subject you and your research team to
actions under the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act ..." Felton was scheduled to
participate in the 4th International Information Hiding
Workshop on April 25-29 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Lawsuit. On June 6, Felton and others filed their Original
Complaint in U.S. District Court against the RIAA, SDMI,
and AG Ashcroft. The plaintiffs filed their First
Amended Complaint on June 26, 2001. The plaintiffs seek a
declaration that the DMCA is unconstitutional for violating
the First Amendment, and for exceeding the enumerated powers
of the Congress. |
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| FCC Commissioner Tristani
Addresses Cable Mergers |
| 7/13. FCC Commissioner Gloria
Tristani gave a speech
in Washington DC to the Alliance for Community Media titled
"Public, Educational, and Governmental Access Channels:
Localism and Diversity In Action." She also addressed
mergers. She stated that "As cable operators get bigger,
control over programming will be held by fewer and fewer
gatekeepers. This enormous power concerns me. It's one thing
to say there are a diversity of voices out there, and the
Internet will ensure that no one exerts undue control over
America's information conduits. But look where the vast
majority of Americans spend the most of their free time - in
front of the television." She continued that "the
content of television has far more influence on what Americans
know, what they think, and how they govern themselves that
whatever is on the Internet or in the newspapers. Television
is a uniquely powerful and influential medium, and government
regulators should think long and hard before approving another
round of cable consolidation." |
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| DOJ v. Microsoft |
| 7/13. The Department of
Justice and state plaintiffs in the Microsoft antitrust
case filed a Motion
for Immediate Issuance of Mandate with the U.S. Court of
Appeals (DCCir) in
order to allow "proceedings on remand to go forward as
quickly as possible." The motion also states that
"The United States and the State Plaintiffs do not intend
to petition for rehearing" and that "the United
States and the State Plaintiffs do not intend to seek Supreme
Court review of the case at this stage." The motion asks
the Appeals Court promptly remand the case to the U.S.
District Court (DDC). |
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| Monday, July 16 |
1:00 PM. The Senate
Commerce Committee's Science, Technology, and Space
Subcommittee will hold a hearing on security risks for the
e-consumer. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.
6:30 PM. The House Rules
Committee will meet. The agenda includes the Commerce,
State, Justice and the Judiciary appropriations bill for FY
2002. Location: |
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| Tuesday, July 17 |
9:30 AM. The Senate
Commerce Committee will hold a hearing to on media
concentration. Room 253, Russell Building.
10:00 AM. The Senate
Finance Committee will meet to mark up SJRes 16 (re U.S.
Vietnam Trade Agreement), S 643 (re implementation of
agreement establishing a U.S. Jordan Free Trade area), S 942
(re reauthorization of TANF Supplemental Grant program for one
year), and an original committee resolution calling for an
investigation of the importation of certain steel products.
See, notice
[PDF]. Location: 215 Dirksen Building.
3:00 PM. EU Commissioner for Trade Pascal Lamy will
give a speech titled "The New WTO Round: The European
Point of View." Location: Zenger Room, National Press Club, 529 14th
St. NW, 13th Floor, Washington DC. |
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| People and Appointments |
7/12. The Senate
Banking Committee approved several nominations, including Roger
Ferguson (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System), Donald Powell (Chairman of the FDIC), Angela
Antonelli (CFO of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development), Jennifer Dorn (Federal Transit
Administrator), and Ronald Rosenfeld (President of
GINNIE MAE).
7/11. Nine people joined the San Francisco area offices of the
law firm of Perkins Coie
in its patent prosecution practice. The firm acquired the Iota
Pi Law Group of Palo Alto. Peter Dehlinger, head of the
Iota Pi Law Group, joined Perkins Coie as a partner. Linda
Judge joined as an associate. Four registered Patent
Agents, Judy Mohr, LeeAnn Gorthey, Larry
Thrower, and Jacqueline Mahoney, also joined. Mohr
and Thrower also are enrolled in law school. Perkins Coie also
hired three patent prosecution associates, Barbara Courtney,
Richard Gregory, and Michael Martensen, who
previously worked for the law firm of Wilson Sonsini.
See, release.
7/9. Former Rep. Richard
Zimmer (R-NJ) joined the Washington DC office of the
law firm of Gibson Dunn &
Crutcher as of counsel in the firm's Corporations
Department and its Public Policy Group. He was a Member of
Congress from 1991 through 1997, and sat on the House Ways and
Means Committee. See, release.
7/13. Rep. Bob
Goodlatte (R-VA), a Co-Chair of the Internet Caucus, named
Janet Polarek as his new press secretary. She replaces Michelle
Semones, who joined Dittus
Communications, a Washington DC based public relations
firm, as Associate Director of Technology Policy.
7/10. Todd
Stern joined the Washington DC office of the law firm
of Wilmer Cutler &
Pickering as a partner. He was previously an aide to
former President Clinton. He will focus on congressional
investigations and crisis management. See, WCP
release [PDF]. |
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