| Rep. Smith Introduces Cyber
Crime Bill |
12/13. Rep. Lamar
Smith (R-TX) and Rep.
Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) introduced HR 3482, a bill
pertaining to cyber crimes. The bill was referred to the House Judiciary
Committee, of which Rep. Smith is a member.
Rep. Smith, who is the Chairman of the Crime Subcommittee,
issued a release
which states that the bill "strengthens cyber crime and
cyber terrorism laws by providing better coordination and
resources for law enforcement. The bill recommends that the
U.S. Sentencing Commission amend its guidelines to strengthen
cyber crime penalties to better reflect the seriousness of the
offence."
He also stated that the bill "provides liability
protection to Internet Service Providers who make a good faith
effort to assist law enforcement and establishes an Office of
Science and Technology at the Department of Justice that will
coordinate the development and technical assistance for new
law enforcement technologies. |
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| House Subcommittee Holds
Hearing on DMCA § 104 Report |
12/12-13. The House
Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet
and Intellectual Property held two days of hearings titled
"The Digital Millenium Copyright Act: Section 104
Report."
The Copyright Office
(CO) was directed by § 104 of the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA) to provide a report evaluating the
effects of the amendments made by Title I of the DMCA and the
development of electronic commerce and associated technology
on the operation of 17 U.S.C. §§ 109
and 117,
and the relationship between existing and emergent technology
and the operation of §§ 109 and 117. The CO Report
recommended that the first sale doctrine not be extended to
digital transmissions. However, the CO did recommend creating
an exemption from liability for infringement of a copyright
owner's reproduction right for temporary buffer copies that
are incidental to a licensed digital transmission of a public
performance of a sound recording -- that is, buffer copies
made during audio streaming over the Internet.
See, Marybeth
Peters' (Register of Copyrights) prepared testimony
of December 12. See also, opening
statement of Rep.
Howard Coble (R-NC), the Chairman of the Subcommittee, and
opening
statement of Rep.
Howard Berman (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the
Subcommittee. See also, prepared testimony of witnesses on
December 12: Carey
Ramos (National Music
Publishers Association), Cary
Sherman (Recording Industry
Association of America), and Emery
Simon (Business Software
Alliance).
See, statements and testimony of December 13 hearing: Rep.
Coble, Rep.
Berman, Marybeth
Peters, Marvin
Berenson (Broadcast Music Inc.), Jonathan
Potter (Digital Media Association), and Gary
Klein (Consumer Electronics Assoc.). |
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| People and Appointments |
12/14. The law firm of Fenwick
& West announced a new management structure. The
principal feature of the new structure is the formation of an
Executive Committee, made up of the two Managing Partners and
five other members, to develop and implement strategic plans.
The two Managing Partners will be responsible for day to day
management of the firm. The initial members of the new
Executive Committee are Gordon
Davidson, who has been re-elected as chair of the firm,
managing partners John
McNelis and Laird
Simons, and corporate partner Dennis
DeBroeck, intellectual property partner David
Hayes, tax partner Ronald
Schrotenboer and litigation partner Claude
Stern. In addition, Matthew
Quilter was elected chair of the firm's corporate group,
and Timothy
Roake was elected chair of the litigation group. David
Hayes will continue as chair of the intellectual
property group, and James
Fuller will continue as chair of the tax group. See, F&W
release.
12/10. Larry Cockell was named SVP and chief security
officer of AOL Time Warner, effective January 14, 2002. He is
currently Deputy Director of the U.S. Secret Service. See, AOL
release. |
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| Christmas Schedule |
| The Tech Law Journal Daily E-Mail Alert will not be
published on Monday, December 24, Tuesday, December 25, or
Wednesday, December 26. |
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| Federal Circuit Opinions |
12/12. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (FedCir) issued its divided opinion in Smith
v. Ethicon, a patent claim construction case
involving affixing sutures within bones. Plaintiffs, Smith
& Nephew and John Hayhurst, the holder U.S.
Patent No. 5,601,557, filed a complaint in U.S. District
Court (DOr) against Ethicon alleging patent infringement. The
District Court granted summary judgment of non-infringement,
both literal and under the doctrine of equivalents. Judge
Newman wrote the opinion of the Court of Appeals vacating and
remanding, in which Judge Gajarsa joined. Judge Michel wrote a
lengthy dissent.
12/13. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (FedCir) issued its opinion in In
Re Thrifty, affirming the decision of the TTAB.
The TTAB had sustained the Examining Attorney's refusal to
register the mark proposed in the service mark application on
the grounds that it failed to provide an acceptable
description of the mark. The applicant sought a mark "in
the color blue" placed on the wall of a building. |
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| More News |
12/14. Rep. Ed Markey
(D-MA) released a statement
in which he criticized NBC for its decision to air hard liquor
ads on the NBC network. He said that "pitching hard
liquor when under aged children are in the audience is
shameful." Rep. Markey is the ranking Democrat on the House Commerce Committee's
Telecom and Internet Subcommittee.
12/13. Covad issued a release
in which it stated that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court (DDel)
"approved the reorganization plan for Covad
Communications Group, Inc. and Covad anticipates that it will
exit from its pre-negotiated bankruptcy around December 20,
2001, the expected date the plan becomes effective.
12/14. World Trade Organization
(WTO) Director General Mike Moore gave a speech
regarding organization changes in the WTO Secretariat, and
staff appointments and changes.
12/14. Thomas Leahy was sentenced by the U.S. District Court (WDWash)
to one week in jail for unlawfully manufacturing audio and
video recordings of live musical concerts, without the consent
of the performers, and then selling the CD and VHS video
cassette recordings for commercial advantage or private
financial gain. He also lost his computer. See, USAO
release. |
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| Subscriptions |
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information page. |
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| About Tech Law Journal |
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Copyright 1998 - 2001 David Carney, dba Tech Law Journal. All
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| Monday, Dec 17 |
The House will meet in pro forma session at 2:00 PM.
The Senate will meet at 12:30 PM. At 1:00 PM it will begin
consideration of the ESEA Conference Report. It will also will
resume consideration of the farm bill.
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Department of Commerce's Technology Administration
will host a workshop titled "Understanding Broadband
Demand: Digital Content & Rights Management". Phillip
Bond and Bruce Mehlman of the Technology Administration will
moderate. The morning session (9:15 - 11:45 AM) will address
public demand for digital media. The speakers will be Brendan
Traw (Intel), Andy Moss (Microsoft), Jack Valenti (MPAA), Jeff
Okkonen (Liquid Audio ), Peter Fannon (Panasonic), Robert
Holleyman (BSA), Victor McCrary (NIST), Dave Winston (Winston
Group), Scott Sander (SightSound), William Check (NCTA), Rhett
Dawson (ITIC), David Cheriton (Cisco). The afternoon session
(1:15 - 3:45 PM) will address barriers to digital media
online. The speakers will be Preston Padden (Disney),
Elizabeth Frazee (AOLTW), Manus Cooney (Napster), Rick White
(TechNet), Rick Lane (NewsCorp), Eric Scheirer (Forrester),
Mark Bohannon (SIIA), Jonathan Potter (DiMA), Tim Sheehy
(IBM), Gary Klein (CEA), Mitch Glazier (RIAA), Matt Gerson (Vivendi),
Jenny Toomey (Future of Music Coalition), Justin Lilley (Bertelsman),
Joel Wiginton (SONY). Location: Department of Commerce, 14th
& Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room 4830. |
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| Tuesday, Dec 18 |
The House will meet at 12:30 PM for morning hour and 2:00 PM
for legislative business. No recorded votes are expected
before 6:30 PM.
9:30 AM. The Senate
Finance Committee will meet to consider amendments to HR
3005, the Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority Act of
2001. See, release
[PDF]. The Committee met on December 12, and approved this
bill. However, the meeting was rushed because Sen. Robert Byrd
(D-WV) invoked an ancient Senate rule which had the effect of
shutting down all committee meetings. Location: Room 215,
Dirksen Building.
12:15 PM. The FCBA's
Young Lawyers Committee will host a brown bag lunch. The
speakers will be Commissioner Michael Copps' Legal Advisors:
Jordan Goldstein, Paul Margie, and Susanna Zwerling. For more
information contact Chris Moore at 202 224-9584 or moorecva @aol.com or Yaron
Dori at 202 637-5458 or ydori@hhlaw.com.
1:30 PM. The U.S. International Telecommunication Advisory
Committee (ITAC) will hold a meeting. See, notice
in Federal Register. Location: State Department. |
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| Wednesday, Dec 19 |
10:00 AM. The House
Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and
Consumer Protection will hold a hearing titled Electronic
Communications Networks in the Wake of September 11th.
Rep. Stearns (R-FL) will preside. Room 2123, Rayburn Building.
10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Federal Communications Commission's
(FCC) Advisory Committee for the 2003 World Radiocommunication
Conference (WRC-03 Advisory Committee) will hold a meeting.
See, notice
in Federal Register. Location: FCC, 445 12th Street, SW, Room
TW-C305.
Deadline to submit oppositions and comments to the FCC in
response to Cingular Wireless', Nextel's, and Verizon
Wireless' petitions for reconsideration of certain provisions
of the FCC's October 12 orders addressing and conditionally
approving requests for waivers and approval of revised
deployment plans for wireless Enhanced 911 (E911) services.
See, FCC
Notice. (CC Docket No. 94-102.)
Deadline to submit comments to the National Telecommunications
and Information Administration (NTIA) in response to its
Request for Comments on Deployment of Broadband Networks and
Advanced Telecommunications. See, notice. |
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| Thursday, Dec 20 |
| 1:30 PM. The U.S. International Telecommunication Advisory
Committee (ITAC) will hold a meeting regarding preparations
for the 2002 World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC).
See, notice
in Federal Register. |
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