| House Committee Holds
Hearing on NextWave Settlement |
12/11. The House
Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Telecommunications
and the Internet held a hearing on the proposed settlement
agreement involving NextWave
and disputed spectrum licenses. Key members of the Committee,
including Chairman Billy
Tauzin (R-LA), argued that the Congress should swiftly
approve legislation implementing the settlement.
Rep. Tauzin stated that "this settlement ought to be
approved as rapidly as we can do it." He stated that
"this gets the spectrum out", and that "it
respects the property rights" of auction winners. FCC
Chairman Michael
Powell testified at the hearing in defense of the
settlement. He urged the Congress to "consider what
posture the Government actually is in, as opposed to where we
all wish it stood." He argued that the settlement is the
best alternative available. See, Powell
statement.
On November 27 the FCC released the proposed
settlement agreement [PDF] between the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC), NextWave, the Department
of Justice (DOJ), and the Auction 35 winners. The
agreement requires approval by the bankruptcy court, and
passage of legislation by Congress by December 31, 2001. The
Congress is currently on the verge of recessing for the year.
The proposed settlement has encountered opposition in
Congress. On December 6, Sen.
Ernest Hollings (D-SC) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ),
the Chairman and ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce
Committee, announced their opposition to the proposed
settlement. See, transcript
[PDF] of press conference.
Rep. Fred Upton
(R-MI), the Chairman of the Subcommittee, argued that
"there is probably not a better alternative than what is
on the table before us." Rep. Rick Boucher
(D-VA), a senior Democrat, argued that the settlement is in
the public interest for several reasons. He argued that there
is currently an acute shortage of spectrum, and the deal would
allow immediate use of the disputed spectrum; he argued that
the federal government would derive $10 Billion in revenue
from the deal; he argued that it would provide an economic
stimulus; and, he argued that it would facilitate the
deployment of Third Generation (3G) wireless services.
Several members of the Committee stated that the House should
take more time to examine the settlement before passing any
legislation. Rep. Ed
Markey (D-MA), the ranking member of the Telecom
Subcommittee, criticized the settlement, and concluded that
"Congress would do well to further examine this
settlement with more time next year." See, Markey
statement. Similarly, Rep. John Dingell
(D-MI), the ranking Democrat on the full Committee, stated
that "I think that there are many questions to be asked
and answered before we legislate."
See also, prepared testimony of witnesses: Joseph
Hunt (U.S. Department of Justice), Denny
Strigl (Verizon Wireless), Frank
Cassou (NextWave Telecom), and Jim
Winston (Urban Communicators).
NextWave obtained spectrum licenses at FCC C Block auctions in
1996. The FCC permitted NextWave to obtain the licenses, and
make payments under an installment plan, thus creating a
debtor creditor relationship between NextWave and the FCC.
NextWave did not make payments required by the plan, and filed
a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition. The FCC cancelled the
licenses. However, the FCC was blocked by the bankruptcy
court, citing § 525
of the Bankruptcy Code. The U.S. District Court (SNDY)
affirmed. However, the U.S. Court of
Appeals (2ndCir) issued its order and opinion
of reversal in May 2000. The FCC then proceeding to re-auction
the disputed spectrum in Auction 35. NextWave next petitioned
the FCC to reconsider its cancellation of its licenses. The
FCC refused, and NextWave petitioned for review in the
District of Columbia. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir)
ruled in its June 22, 2001, opinion
that the FCC is prevented from canceling the spectrum licenses
by § 525 of the Bankruptcy Code. The FCC has petitioned
the Supreme Court for writ of certiorari. The Supreme Court
has not yet announced a decision on this petition. The terms
of the settlement agreement require that implementing
legislation be passed by the Congress by December 31. |
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| NextWave Spectrum Licenses
and Wireless Internet Services |
12/11. Under the terms of the proposed
NextWave settlement agreement [PDF], the disputed spectrum
would immediately be made available to the Auction 35 winning
bidders, including Verizon
Wireless, Cingular, and others.
Rep. Rick Boucher
(D-VA) and Verizon Wireless CEO Denny
Strigl argued at the hearing of the House Telecom
Subcommittee on December 11 that the proposed settlement would
facilitate the deployment of Third Generation (3G) wireless
services. 3G is a technology that is intended to bring
broadband Internet access to portable devices.
Strigl testified that "most European countries are way
ahead of us" on both the licensing of 3G spectrum, and in
the development of related software and hardware. He added
that "without the spectrum out there, that you are
licensing, we are not only behind -- we are desperately
behind."
In response to a question from Rep. Boucher, Strigl said that
"it is difficult to say exactly any amount of spectrum
that will be devoted to 3G services as opposed to voice
services. Our intention is to meet our capacity demands, and
at the same time roll out 3G services over the entirety of our
spectrum. Here is what I know for certain: that without this
spectrum, we cannot devote any of the spectrum we have to
anything other than voice and short messaging services. Data
-- particularly high speed data -- is not a possibility in our
major cities with the limited spectrum that we have
today."
Rep. Boucher stated that "in the event that Congress does
not approve this settlement, and for various reasons, the
companies that successfully bid for this spectrum in the
re-auctions, decide to take their investment dollars
elsewhere, because the complexities that arise out of the
absence of Congress approval, you would see an effect, then,
on the ability of the United States to have the near term
deployment of Third Generation services." Strigl agreed
with this statement.
Rep. Boucher also asked: "And you would say that this
spectrum is essential to carriers to have to deploy Third
Generation services?" Strigl agreed. |
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| DOJ Executes Search
Warrants in Software Piracy Investigations |
12/11. The Department of
Justice (DOJ) announced that "in three separate
federal law enforcement actions federal agents executed
approximately 100 search warrants worldwide against virtually
every level of criminal organizations engaged in illegal
software piracy over the Internet." See, DOJ
release.
One action, titled "Operation Buccaneer" by the DOJ,
is targeting "organizations engaged in the illegal
distribution of copyrighted software, games and movies over
the Internet". It involves the "execution of 58
search warrants ... within the United States and abroad."
A second action, titled "Operation Bandwidth" by the
DOJ, is an undercover investigation of "entities and
individuals involved with illegal access to computer systems
and the piracy of proprietary software utilizing ... storage
sites on the Internet." The DOJ also stated that it
resulted in the "execution of over 30 search warrants
across the United States and Canada."
A third action, titled "Operation Digital Piratez"
by the DOJ, is another undercover investigation which resulted
in the execution of 8 search warrants. The DOJ stated that it
in addition to software piracy "sites and those who
operated them, it also targeted the ``cracking groups´´
specifically created for the purpose of pirating software so
that it may be distributed over the Internet in violation old
U.S. copyright laws."
The DOJ announcement did not reference any arrests,
indictments, or other charges. |
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| FEC to Request Public
Comments on Computer Based Voting Systems |
12/11. The Federal Election
Commission (FEC) announced that it will adopt and release
at its Thursday, December 13, meeting a request for public
comment on two volumes of voluntary standards for states and
voting system vendors for computer based voting systems.
Public comments will be due by February 1, 2002.
The FEC also stated in a release
that the proposed standards will include the "Conclusion
that controls cannot be developed at the present time to make
remote Internet voting sufficiently risk resistant to be
confidently used by election officials and the voting public,
therefore standards cannot be written for the testing and
qualification of these systems." |
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| EU Commission Releases
Paper on Merger Regulation |
| 12/11. The Commission of European Communities released a document
[PDF] titled "Green Paper on the Review of Council
Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89". See also, Annexe
I and Annexe
II [both PDF]. This paper proposes revisions to the
Commission regulation regarding mergers, No.
4064/89. In particular, it addresses increasing the
Commission's jurisdiction over merger reviews (at the expense
of member states), other procedural issues, and the "respective merits of the ``dominance test´´
as laid down in the Merger Regulation and of the ``significant
lessening of competition test´´ used in certain other
jurisdictions." See also, EU
release. |
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| Theft of Trade Secrets |
12/11. The U.S.
District Court (NDCal) sentenced Say Lye Ow to 24 months
of imprisonment on a felony charge of copying a trade secret
in violation of the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, 18
U.S.C. § 1832. He stated in his Plea
Agreement [PDF] of September 14, 2001, that he copied
without authorization computer files relating to the design
and testing of the Merced microprocessor, now known as Itanium.
He further stated that he knew that the materials contained
trade secrets belonging to Intel,
and that he copied them for use at his then new employment at Sun Microsystems. See, USAO
release.
12/4. The U.S.
District Court (NDCal) sentenced Mikahel Chang to one year
of imprisonment on a felony charge of copying a trade secret
in 18
U.S.C. § 1832. Chang stated in his Plea Agreement that he
received, possessed and appropriated without authorization
stolen trade secret information belonging to his former
employer, Semi Supply, Inc., of Livermore, California. The
trade secrets were customer and order information in sales
databases. See, USAO
release and CCIPS
release. |
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| PR China Now a WTO Member |
12/11. The People's Republic of China became the 143rd
member of the World Trade
Organization (WTO). December 11, 2001, was 30 days after
the PR China notified the WTO that it had completed its
domestic ratification of its accession package.
Commerce Secretary Donald Evans released a statement
in which he said that its "accession to the WTO will open
China's market to American exports of industrial goods,
services, and agriculture to an unprecedented degree, and
strengthen the world economy. For the first time, American
firms have unprecedented freedom to trade in China by buying
and selling their own products there." |
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| People |
| 12/12. Chuck Dziedzic will retire from the FCC at the end of the year
after a long carreer. In 1995, he joined the Video Services
Division as Assistant Chief. His responsibilities have
included the transition of the MDS/ ITFS spectrum from analog
to two way services in a digital environment and 3G use of the
spectrum. See, FCC
release. |
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| Wednesday, Dec 12 |
9:00 AM. - 2:30 PM. The American
Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a program titled
"Telecommunications Policy as Trade Policy: Negotiations
with Japan over Interconnection Pricing". See, online information and
registration page. Location: Wohlstetter Conference
Center, AEI, 1150 17th Street, NW.
9:00 AM. FTC Commissioner Mozelle Thompson will participate in
a private forum titled, "From Principles to
Performance," sponsored by the American Advertising
Federation. Location: Ronald Reagan Building and International
Trade Center, Pennsylvania Avenue and 13˝ Street, NW.
Day two of a two day conference hosted by the Information
Technology Association of America (ITAA) titled Developing
Cyber Security Solutions in the e-Gov Era. This is an
invitation only event. For information, contact Shannon
Kellogg at skellogg @itaa.org.
The press contact is bcohen@itaa.org.
See, agenda.
Location: Executive Briefing Center, Computer Sciences
Corporation, 3170 Fairview Park Drive, Falls Church, VA.
9:30 AM. The FCC will hold a meeting. The agenda
includes the following: (1) a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM)
initiating a comprehensive examination of the appropriate
regulatory framework for incumbent local exchange carriers' (ILECs')
provision of broadband services; (2) a NPRM to initiate
the FCC's triennial review of the definitions of and rules
concerning access to ILEC unbundled network elements; (3) an
order in regarding the FCC's plans for nationwide thousands
block number pooling (CC Docket No. 96-98 and CC Docket No.
99-200); (4) a second NPRM concerning new equal employment
opportunity rules for broadcast licensees and cable entities;
(5) a Report and Order concerning allocation and service rules
to reallocate television channels 52-59; and (6) a
First Report and Order to provide for new ultra wideband
(UWB) devices (ET Docket No. 98-153). Location:
Commission Meeting Room, FCC, 445 12th Street, SW, Room
TWC305.
Location Change. 10:00 AM.
The Senate
Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the future of
the Microsoft settlement. The scheduled witnesses
include Charles James (Antitrust
Division), Jay Himes (NY Office of the Attorney General),
Charles Rule (counsel to Microsoft), Lawrence
Lessig (Stanford), Mark Cooper (Consumer Federation of
America), Jonathan Zuck (Association
of Competitive Technology), Matthew Szulik (Red Hat,
Inc.), and Mitchell Kertzman (Liberate Technologies).
Location: Room 106, Dirksen Building.
10:00 AM. The Senate
Finance Committee will hold a business meeting. The agenda
includes mark up HR
3005, the Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority Act of
2001. Location: Room 215, Dirksen Building.
2:00 PM. The House
Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet
and Intellectual Property will hold the first part of a two
part hearing titled "The Digital Millenium Copyright Act:
Section 104 Report." The witnesses will be Marybeth
Peters (Register of Copyrights), Carey Ramos (NMPA), Cary
Sherman (RIAA),
and Emery Simon (Business
Software Alliance). Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building. |
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| Thursday, Dec 13 |
Day one of a two day conference titled the "19th Annual
Institute on Telecommunications Policy & Regulation".
Location: International Trade Center.
9:15 AM - 4:30 PM. The International
Trademark Association will host a CLE program titled
"Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) Practice for
Advanced Practitioners Forum." The price to attend is
$395. See, brochure
and agenda.
Location: Crystal Gateway Marriott, 1700 Jefferson Davis
Highway, Arlington, VA.
10:00 AM. The Senate
Judiciary Committee will hold a business meeting.
Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.
10:00 AM. The House
Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet
and Intellectual Property will hold the second part of a two
part hearing titled "The Digital Millenium Copyright Act:
Section 104 Report." The witnesses will be Marybeth
Peters (Register of Copyrights), Marvin Berenson (Broadcast Music Inc.), Jonathan
Potter (Digital Media
Association), and Gary Klein (Consumer
Electronics Association). Location: Room 2141, Rayburn
Building.
10:00 AM. The Federal Election
Commission (FEC) will meet. The agenda includes adoption
of a request for public comments on proposed voluntary
guidelines for computer based voting systems. Location:
FEC, Commission Meeting Room, 999 E. St., NW, 9th floor.
2:00 PM. The Progressive
Policy Institute (PPI) and the NanoBusiness Alliance
will jointly host a panel discussion on the public policy
implications of emerging science and business of nanotechnology.
The panelists will be Rob Atkinson (PPI), Mark Modzelewski (NanoBusiness
Alliance), Mike Roco (National Nanotechnology Initiative),
Steve Johns (Ardesta Capital),
Meyya Meyyapan (NASA
Ames Center for Nanotechnology), Steve Wilson (NYU Center
for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology), Stephan
Maebius (Foley and Lardner Law), and Josh Wolfe (Lux Capital). Location:
Capitol Building, Room SC4.
2:00 PM. House Science
Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert
(R-NY) will hold a year end on the record question and answer
session on Committee business, accomplishments, and plans for
next year. Location: Room 2318, Rayburn Building.
6:00 PM. The FCBA will
hold its 15th Annual FCBA Chairman's Dinner. The reception
begins at 6:00 PM; dinner begins at 7:30 PM. Location:
Washington Hilton & Towers, 1919 Connecticut Avenue, NW. |
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| Friday, Dec 14 |
8:30 - 10:00 AM. The American
Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a press breakfast on
"The Role of the FCC in Restricting the Ownership of
Licenses". Harold Furchtgott Roth and other AEI scholars
will speak. RSVP to Veronique Rodman at 202 862-4871 or vrodman@aei.org. Location:
AEI, 1150 17th Street, NW, 11th Floor Conference Room.
Day two of a two day conference titled the "19th Annual
Institute on Telecommunications Policy & Regulation".
Location: International Trade Center. |
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