| Commerce Department Touts
Its Tech Budget |
2/5. Department of Commerce
(DOC) officials held a press conference at which they
discussed the President's proposed budget for the DOC for
Fiscal Year 2003. Philip Bond, Under Secretary of Commerce for
Technology, stated that "the Bush budget is a pro tech
budget". He cited the proposed budget's 8% increase in
research and development funding, 21% increase funding for the
USPTO, increase in funding for basic research at universities,
and increase in information technology spending.
James Rogan,
Director of the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office (USPTO), stated that the USPTO would
receive a 21% increase in funding. He stated that this
increase would be used to hire 950 new patent examiners, and
to "transform trademarks to a fully electronic
operation". He elaborated that the goal of the new
hirings is to reduce patent pendancy. He stated that there are
currently 3,200 examiners, and that the worst shortage is in
the area of electrical engineers. He added that "pendancy
is up around three years" in this area.
He was asked about salary increases for patent examiners. He
responded that "I certainly would be open to a market
based approach". However, he added that he is also
constrained by federal regulations, and labor agreements. He
added that the current economic recession has made the
stability of government employment more attractive, and
reduced turnover.
Nancy Victory, Assistant Secretary for the NTIA,
focused on spectrum management related funding. She stated
that the proposed budget would provide $3.3 Million for
spectrum management and telecommunications research. This
includes $2.7 Million to upgrade the NTIA's research
facilities in Colorado that test new technology applications
for radio frequency spectrum use. These funds would also
support the NTIA's overhaul of the interagency process for
managing spectrum, and the NTIA's "paperless spectrum
process".
Kenneth Juster, the Under Secretary of Commerce of Export
Administration, discussed a new $20 Million item to create
within the Bureau of Export
Administration's (BXA's) Critical
Infrastructure Assurance Office (CIAO) a Homeland Security
Information Technology and Evaluation Program. This program
would develop initiatives in the next two years for
information sharing between law enforcement agencies and the
intelligence community, particularly with respect to
electronic databases, to promote homeland security.
Juster also stated afterwards that the Bush administration
strongly supports S 149,
the Export Administration Act of 2001, sponsored by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY). The
Senate passed the bill in early September 2001. Juster also
stated that the administration hopes that the House will soon
pass a version of the bill similar to that of the Senate.
Conrad Lautenbacher, Administrator of NOAA,
and Arden Bement, Director of the NIST,
also participated in the event. |
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| USPTO Funding |
2/5. James
Rogan spoke at the Department of Commerce (DOC) press
conference about U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
funding under the President's proposed budget for FY 2003. He
stated that "we will get the equivalent of all of the
fees that we collect".
The DOC also stated in a release
that "The President's FY 2003 budget request for the
United States Patent and Trademark Office is $1.365 billion.
The 21.2% increase allows the agency to spend a 100% of its
statutory fees plus an additional $45 million to hire 950
patent examiners and transform trademarks to a fully
electronic system by 2004. ... The budget request also
includes a one-time surcharge of $207 million in order to
fulfill the agency's business plan and to meet the President's
priorities."
James Rogan said "the PTO is one of the few agencies that
actually does not operate off taxpayers' money. It operates
off self funding. But, like other areas of government where
fees are collected, those monies all go into the general fund,
and then are disbursed by Congress."
He added that "because of the President's increased
funding for our budget, which I think I have said is going to
be over 21 percent of baseline from fiscal year 2002. The fees
will be collected. They will be deposited, I suppose, at the
Treasury, in the general fund, and then will be disbursed. And
so, when we get to disbursement, we will get the President's
-- we will get the equivalent of all of the fees that we
collect, we expect to collect for fiscal year 2003. Plus there
is a surcharge -- a one year surcharge that the President is
proposing. We will get an additional 45 million dollars off of
that surcharge of, I think, 204 million. The remaining dollars
from the surcharge will go to fund homeland security and the
President's economic defense effort." (Editor's Note:
Rogan probably meant to say 207, rather than 204.)
The President's
detailed DOC proposal [PDF] states that fees collected in
FY 2003 will total $1,527 Million, and that the proposed FY
2003 appropriation for the USPTO is $1,365 Million. The DOC
statement that the proposal would allow the "agency to
spend a 100% of its statutory fees", and Rogan's
statement that "we will get the equivalent of all of the
fees that we collect", would be based on excluding the
$207 Million in additional user fees from the categories of
"statutory fees" and "fees that we
collect". Hence, under the proposed budget, the USPTO is
estimated to collect a total fo $1,527 Million in user fees.
Of this, $1,320 Million would come from "statutory
fees", and $207 Million would come from "one time
surcharge" fees. The proposed appropriation to the USPTO
of $1,365 would be $45 Million more than the $1,320 in
"statutory fees", but $162 Million less than total
user fees collected by the USPTO. This would leave $162
Million in USPTO user fees collected pursuant to the "one
time surcharge" to be diverted to other government
programs. |
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| Rep. Coble Visits USPTO |
2/5. USPTO Director James Rogan met with Rep. Howard Coble
(R-NC), Chairman of the House Judiciary
Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and
Intellectual Property, at the USPTO.
The USPTO stated in a release
that "Chairman Coble was given a demonstration of the
agency's award winning trademark electronic filing system,
which is used by more than 25% of the agency's trademark
customers to file their applications. During his visit,
Chairman Coble also saw a presentation of the desk top search
systems used by patent examiners to electronically access
nearly 20 million U.S. and international patents and more than
1,000 non patent data bases. Examiners use these search
systems to find information that will help determine the
novelty of an invention. Patent Examiners performed 10 million
electronic searches last year."
Rep. Coble stated that "I look forward to working with
Under Secretary Rogan and President Bush to secure the
necessary funding to help the agency reach its goals". |
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| FTC Announces ID Theft
Affidavit |
| 2/5. The Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) released a model ID
Theft Affidavit [PDF] to be used by victims of identity
theft to attempt to restore their reputations. Currently,
victims often have to fill out separate forms for each
fraudulent account opened by thieves. The FTC prepared this
model affidavit in conjunction with banks, credit grantors and
consumer advocates. See also, FTC release. |
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| NTIA Reports on Growth of
Internet & Computer Use |
2/5. The National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
published a report
[100 pages in PDF] titled "A Nation Online: How Americans
Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet". See also, executive
summary.
This report concludes that "More than half of the nation
is now online. In September 2001, 143 million Americans (about
54 percent of the population) were using the Internet -- an
increase of 26 million in thirteen months. In September 2001,
174 million people (or 66 percent of the population) in the
United States used computers."
Broadband. The report found growing use of broadband
Internet connections. "Between August 2000 and September
2001, residential use of high speed, broadband service doubled
-- from about 4 to 11 percent of all individuals, and from 11
to 20 percent of Internet users."
Handheld Devices. The report found that "The vast
majority of Internet users in the United States still access
the Internet through a desktop or laptop computer. Although
the number of people using alternative Internet access devices
is increasing ..." It found that 4.8 percent of
households have an Internet enabled cell phone or pager, and
1.8 percent of households have an Internet enabled personal
digital assistant (PDA) or other handheld device.
Internet Indecency. The survey upon which the report is
based "asked for the first time whether parents were more
concerned about exposure of children to material on the
Internet or to material on television. On a nationwide basis,
a majority of respondents (68.3 percent) said that they were
more concerned about their children’s exposure to material
over the Internet."
The report also found both that "The concern about
exposing children to inappropriate online content does not,
however, result in lower levels of Internet use at home"
and that "this concern was seldom a factor when
households opted to discontinue an Internet subscription or
made the decision not to subscribe."
This report was based upon data collected in September 2001 by
the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, a survey
of approximately 57,000 households and more than 137,000
individuals in the U.S. |
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| What Digital Divide? |
2/5. The NTIA's "Nation Online" report marks a
shift from similar reports issued by the NTIA during the
Clinton administration. These earlier reports focused on
differences in technology adoption rates based on race, income
and region. These reports labeled these differences
"digital divides". The Clinton NTIA called upon
government policy makers to close these pernicious divides.
In contrast, this most recent report omits the "digital
divide" rhetoric. It focuses instead upon the rapid
growth of Internet use by all categories. It concludes that
"Internet use is increasing for people regardless of
income, education, age, race, ethnicity, or gender."
Income. The "Nation Online" report found that
"Between December 1998 and September 2001, Internet use
by individuals in the lowest income households (those earning
less than $15,000 per year) increased at a 25 percent annual
growth rate. Internet use among individuals in the highest
income households (those earning $75,000 per year or more)
increased from a higher base but at a much slower 11 percent
annual growth rate."
Race. The report also found that "Between August
2000 and September 2001, Internet use among Blacks and
Hispanics increased at annual rates of 33 and 30 percent,
respectively. Whites and Asian American/ Pacific Islanders
experienced annual growth rates of approximately 20 percent
during these same periods."
Rural v. Urban. Finally, the report found that
"Over the 1998 to 2001 period, growth in Internet use
among people living in rural households has been at an average
annual rate of 24 percent, and the percentage of Internet
users in rural areas (53 percent) is now almost even with the
national average (54 percent)."
The report wraps up with a brief analysis of
"inequality". See page 91 [PDF page 95]. It states
that "In discussions of changing computer and Internet
use, a common question is whether inequality has been rising
or declining. While previous chapters in this report show that
inequality remains, this chapter shows that inequality has
been declining ..." It attributes this decline to the
expanding use of the Internet at schools, work, and libraries,
and to declining prices of computers and Internet access.
The report concludes that "The Internet has become a tool
that is accessible to and adopted by Americans in communities
across the nation. Approximately two million more people
become Internet users every month, and over half of the
population is now online. Those who have been the least
traditional users -- people of lower income levels, lower
education levels, or the elderly -- are among the fastest
adopters of this new technology. As a result, we are more and
more becoming a nation online". |
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| More News |
2/5. The House Rules
Committee adopted an open rule
for consideration of HR
3394, the Cyber Security Research & Development Act.
The bill would authorize funding for computer and network
security research and development and research fellowship
programs. One hour has been allotted for debate. The House is
likely to take up the bill on Thursday, February 7.
2/4. The Bureau of Export
Administration (BXA) published in its web site a report
titled "Export Administration Annual Report; Fiscal Year
2001". See also, executive
summary [10 pages in PDF].
2/5. The General Accounting
Office (GAO) released a report [PDF]
titled "Human Services Integration: Results of a GAO
Cosponsored Conference on Modernizing Information
Systems". The report states that "Conference
presenters maintained that systems modernization is needed
because there are major gaps in the capabilities of states’
information systems to meet information needs for
administering and overseeing welfare reform. With its shift in
emphasis from income maintenance to self-sufficiency, welfare
reform has a need for greater data sharing and systems
capability to support new partnerships among diverse service
providers and variations among local operations." |
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| About Tech Law Journal |
Tech Law Journal publishes a free access web site and
subscription e-mail alert. The basic rate for a subscription
to the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert is $250 per year. However, there
are discounts for entities with multiple subscribers. Free one
month trial subscriptions are available. Also, free
subscriptions are available for law students, journalists,
elected officials, and employees of the Congress, courts, and
executive branch, and state officials. The TLJ web site is
free access. However, copies of the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert and
news items are not published in the web site until one month
after writing. See, subscription
information page.
Contact: 202-364-8882; E-mail.
P.O. Box 4851, Washington DC, 20008.
Privacy
Policy
Notices
& Disclaimers
Copyright 1998 - 2002 David Carney, dba Tech Law Journal. All
rights reserved. |
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| Wednesday, Feb 6 |
The House will meet at 10:00 AM.
10:00 AM. The Senate
Finance Committee will hold a hearing titled Ongoing
U.S. Trade Negotiations. The scheduled witnesses are Robert
Zoellick (USTR), Gary
Broyles (Nat. Assoc. Wheatgrowers), George Scalise (Semiconductor Industry
Association), and Arthur Wainwright (Nat. Assoc. of Manufacturers).
See, release
[PDF]. Location: Room 215, Dirksen Building.
10:00 AM. The House
Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on HR 2341,
the Class Action Fairness Act of 2001, sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte
(R-VA). Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.
10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The FCC's Advisory Committee for the
2003 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-03) will meet.
Location: FCC, 445 12th Street, SW, Room TWC305 (Commission
Meeting Room), Washington DC. This meeting had previously been
scheduled for January 30. See, FCC
notice of postponement [PDF].
10:00 AM. The House
Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing on President
Bush's FY 2003 budget proposal. HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson
will testisfy. Location: Room 1100, Longworth Building.
11:45 AM. Mark Forman, Associate Director for Information
Technology at the OMB will speak at
the Center for Strategic &
International Studies (CSIS) about the Bush
administration's plans for expanding electronic government at
the federal level. See, CSIS
release. Location: CSIS, 4th floor conference room, 1800 K
Street, NW.
12:00 NOON. USPTO Director
James Rogan
will speak at a Congressional Economic Leadership Institute
luncheon regarding the role of the USPTO in advancing
technological innovation and revitalizing the economy. See, USPTO
release. Location: Room B-340, Rayburn Building.
12:15 PM. The FCBA's
Online Committee will host a brown bag lunch. The speaker will
be Ed Thomas, chief of the FCC's Office of Engineering and
Technology (OET). The topic will be "Broadband When?
A View from the OET". RSVP to Scott Harris at sharris
@harriswiltshire.com. Location: Lampert & O'Connor,
5th Floor, 1750 K St., NW.
2:00 PM. The Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) and the Antitrust Division of the
Department of Justice (DOJ) will hold the first of a series of
joint hearings on antitrust and intellectual property.
The hearings are titled "Competition and Intellectual
Property Law and Policy in the Knowledge Based Economy".
The speakers at the opening hearing will be Timothy Muris (FTC
Chairman), Charles James (AAG for the Antitrust Division),
James Rogan (Director of the USPTO), Judge
Pauline Newman (U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit), Robert Pitofsky
(Georgetown University), Todd Dickinson (Howrey Simon),
Gerald Mossinghoff (Oblon
Spivak), Richard Gilbert (U.C. Berkeley), and Richard
Levin (President of Yale). See, FTC
release and DOJ
release. Location: Room 432, FTC, 600 Pennsylvania Ave.,
NW.
2:00 PM. The House
Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing on President
Bush's FY 2003 budget proposal. OMB Director Mitch Daniels
will testify. Location: Room 1100, Longworth Building.
Deadline to submit comments to the FCC regarding Verizon's Section
271 application to provide in region interLATA services in
the state of Vermont. See, FCC
notice [PDF]. This is CC Docket No. 02-7.
Extended deadline to submit additional comments to the Copyright Office in
response to its March 9, 2001, Notice
of Inquiry concerning the interpretation and application
of the copyright laws to certain kinds of digital
transmissions of prerecorded musical works in light of an
agreement between the RIAA,
the NMPA, and
The Harry Fox Agency (HFA). See, 17
U.S.C. § 115. See, notice
in Federal Register. This is Docket No. RM 2000-7B. |
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| Thursday, Feb 7 |
The House will meet at 10:00 AM. It will likely take up HR
3394, the Cyber Security Research and Development Act,
sponsored by Rep. Sherwood
Boehlert (R-NY). The House Science Committee
approved the bill on December 12, 2001, by a unanimous voice
vote. The bill would authorize the funding of new research and
education programs pertaining to cyber security. See, TLJ
Alert No. 323, Dec. 7, 2001.
10:00 AM. The House
Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing on the
President's Trade Agenda for 2002. U.S. Trade Representative
(USTR) Robert
Zoellick will testify. Location: Room 1100, Longworth
Building.
10:00 AM. The Senate
Judiciary Committee has scheduled an executive business
meeting. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.
12:30 PM. Tom Ridge, Director of the Office of Homeland
Security will speak at a luncheon. Location: Ballroom, National Press Club, 529 14th
St. NW, 13th Floor. |
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| Friday, Feb 8 |
The House will not be in session.
9:00 AM - 12:30 PM. The FTC and the Antitrust Division of the
Department of Justice (DOJ) will hold the second in a series
of joint hearings on antitrust and intellectual property.
There will be two concurrent sessions, titled "Patent Law
for Antitrust Lawyers" and "Antitrust Law for Patent
Lawyers". See, FTC
release and DOJ
release. Location: Rooms 432 and 332, respectively, of the
FTC, 600 Penn. Ave., NW.
TO BE DECIDED ON THE BRIEFS.
9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals
(DCCir) will hear oral argument in Chameleon Radio Corp
v. FCC, No. 00-1546. Judges Edwards, Sentelle and
Silberman will preside.
10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The American
Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a panel discussion
titled "Should the Government Promote Open Source
Software?
" The speakers will be Robert Hahn
(AEI Brookings Joint Center), James Bessen (Research on
Innovation), David
Evans (NERA), Lawrence
Lessig (Stanford), and Craig
Mundie (Microsoft). See, online registration
page. Location: AEI, 12th Floor, AEI, 1150 17th Street,
NW.
10:00 AM. Chris Murck, Chairman of the American Chamber of
Commerce in China, will speak on the U.S. relationship
with China. He will also comment on China's membership into
the WTO and its likely impact on the global marketplace. For
more information, contact Micaela de Leon Vivero at mdeleon
@apcoworldwide.com or 202 778-1024. Location: Murrow Room,
National Press Club, 529
14th St. NW, 13th Floor.
10:30 AM. The Department of
Commerce (DOC) will host a homeland security technology
fair. Location: Main Lobby, DOC, 14th St. and Constitution
Ave., NW.
12:15 PM. The FCBA's
Wireless Telecommunications Practice Committee will host a
lunch. The topic will be "Hot Wireless Issues on the
Hill". The price to attend is $15.00. RSVP to Wendy
Parish at wendy@fcba.org
by 12:00 NOON on February 6. Location: Sidley & Austin,
Room 6-E, 1501 K Street, NW.
Sixth Anniversary of passage of the Telecommunications Act of
1996. |
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| Tuesday, Feb 12 |
9:30 AM. The U.S.
Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in WorldCom
v. FCC, No. 01-1218. Judges Tatel, Garland and Williams
will preside.
9:30 AM. The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee's
Subcommittee on International Security, Proliferation and
Federal Services will hold a hearing to examine multilateral
non-proliferation regimes, weapons of mass destruction
technologies, and the war on terrorism. Location: Room 342,
Dirksen Building.
10:00 AM. The Senate
Banking Committee will hold a hearing on accounting and
investor protection issues surrounding the problems with Enron
and other public companies. The witnesses will be five former
Chairmen of the SEC, Roderick
Hills, Harold Williams, David Ruder, Richard Breeden, and
Arthur Levitt. Location: Room 538, Dirksen Building.
12:15 PM. The FCBA's
Common Carrier Committee will host a brown bag lunch. Kathleen
Abernathy (FCC Commissioner) and Nanette
Thompson (Chair of the Regulatory Commission of
Alaska) will speak about universal service. RSVP to
Rhe Brighthaupt at rbrighth
@wrf.com. Location: Wiley
Rein & Fielding, 1750 K St., NW, 10th Floor.
12:15 PM. The FCBA's
Transactional Practice Brown Committee will host a brown bag
lunch on wireless transactions. RSVP to Tina Screven at 202
383-3337. Location: Wilkinson
Barker & Knauer, 2300 N Street NW. |
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