5/8. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a joint report [78 pages in PDF] titled "Competition in the Real Estate Brokerage Industry". The report discusses the real estate brokerage industry, and how internet technologies have increased competition, and provided more information to consumers. However, it finds that state laws and regulations impede further competition.

The report states that "the Internet has surpassed the yard sign as the most important marketing tool to reach consumers". (Footnote omitted.)

The report finds that "real estate agents and brokers are changing the way they operate and are increasingly incorporating the Internet into their business models in a variety of ways, such as offering potential buyers the option to view full, detailed multiple listing services (``MLSs´´) online, using websites to gather ``lead´´ information on potential customers, and using the Internet to match home buyers and sellers."

However, the report also finds that "there are some indications that consumers are not enjoying all of the possible benefits of competition in the real estate brokerage industry. A number of developments have raised competitive concerns, particularly laws and regulations in some states that limit consumer choice of real estate brokerage service offerings and that prohibit rebates to consumers, anticompetitive agreements among brokers, and industry practices that impede competition. These practices can lead to substantial consumer harm through reduced choice of real estate brokerage services, higher fees, and limitations on the ability to access information about real estate listings."

It concludes that "although the real estate industry has undergone a number of substantial changes in recent years -- in particular as a result of technological advances such as the Internet -- competition in the industry has been hindered as a result of actions taken by some real estate brokers, acting through MLSs and NAR, state legislatures, and real estate commissions. In addition, consumers likely would benefit significantly from additional knowledge about the range of options available in brokerage services and fees."

The report recommends that agencies "should continue to monitor the cooperative conduct of private associations of real estate brokers, and bring enforcement actions in appropriate circumstances".

The report also recommends that "State legislators and industry regulators should consider repealing existing laws, rules and regulations, such as minimum-service and anti-rebate provisions, that limit choice and reduce the ability of new brokerage models (e.g., fee-for-service brokers, discount full-service brokers, virtual office website brokers, and broker referral networks) to compete and that do not appear to provide any consumer benefits that would justify such restrictions." (Parentheses in original.)

The report also recommends a further study, and consumer education.

See also, DOJ release and substantially identical FTC release.

5/8. The U.S. Court of Appeals (9thCir) issued an order [8 pages in PDF] in Sprint v. Palos Verdes Estates, a Section 332 action by a wireless service provider against a local government.  The order submits a question of state law to the Supreme Court of California.

The City of Palos Verdes Estates denied Sprint PCS Assets LLC's applications to construct two wireless facilities in public rights of way in the city. Sprint filed a complaint in U.S. District Court (CDCal) alleging violation of 47 U.S.C. § 332(c)(7)(B)(iii). The District Court granted summary judgment to Sprint. The city brought the present appeal.

In this order the Court of Appeals requests the Supreme Court of California to answer the following question of California state law: "Do California Public Utilities Code §§ 7901 and 7901.1 permit public entities to regulate the placement of telephone equipment in public rights of way on aesthetic grounds?"

The Court of Appeals added that "the question we pose is worthy of decision because it arises frequently in Telecommunications Act cases, its decision may be dispositive in this case, it is not answered by any opinions of the Supreme Court of California or the California Courts of Appeal, and it is currently pending in another case before the Supreme Court of California."

This case is Sprint PCS Assets LLC v. City of Palos Verdes Estates, et al., U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, App. Ct. No. 05-56106, an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, D.C. No. 03-00825-AHS.

5/2. Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) and others introduced HR 2102, the "Free Flow of Information Act of 2007". Also on May 2, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) introduced S 1267, the companion bill in the Senate.

These bills provide some protection to journalists, their sources of information, and their communications service providers from abusive seizure of documents by, and compelled testimony for, federal government entities. It is directed at both protecting the confidentiality of reporters' sources, and preventing government efforts to repress reporting by forcing disclosure of these sources.

Rep. Boucher wrote in a statement [MS Word] that this bill would create a "statutory privilege". Although, the bill only addresses compelled disclosure to, or seizure by, federal entities. It does not, for example, address pre-trial discovery by non-federal entities. Nor does it address admissibility of evidence. This bill would not amend the Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE). It is silent as to preemption of state laws.

The bill would provide some protection to reporters' and sources' interests in confidentiality. It would also offer some protection against government agencies that lack the ability or resources to conduct their own investigations, and rely upon compulsion of journalists as a substitute. The bill would do little else to protect the proprietary interests of publishers or data aggregators.

Sponsors' Explanations. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), the sponsor of the Senate bill, stated that "The free flow of information is an essential element of democracy". See, Congressional Record, May 2, 2007, at Page S5504.

But, he said that the free flow of information is under threat. "More than 30 reporters have recently been served subpoenas or questioned in at least four different Federal jurisdictions about their confidential sources. From 1991 to September 6, 2001, the Department of Justice issued 88 subpoenas to the media, 17 of which sought information leading to the identification of confidential sources. In fact, three journalists have been imprisoned at the request of the Department of Justice, U.S. attorneys under its supervision, or special prosecutors since 2000. As a result, the press is hobbled in performing the public service of reporting news."

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), a cosponsor of the Senate bill stated that "I hardly have to read the litany of grave wrongs that have been exposed because journalists called the powerful to account. And I don't have to remind you how many of those exposures relied on confidential sources. Without confidential sources, would we still be ignorant about abuse of power in the Watergate era?"

"But today, we find this cornerstone of self-government facing a new threat", said Sen. Dodd. "In a spate of recent cases, prosecutors have used subpoenas, fines, and jail time to compel journalists to reveal their anonymous sources."

Rep. Boucher stated that "the best information about corruption in government or misdeeds in a private organization will come from someone on the inside who feels a responsibility to bring the information to light. But that person has a lot to lose if his or her identity becomes known. In many cases, the person responsible for the corruption or the misdeeds can punish the source through dismissal or more subtle forms of punitive action if the source’s identity becomes known. And so it is only by assuring anonymity to the source that a reporter can gain access to the information in order to bring it to public scrutiny.

See also, Rep. Pence's statement.

Bill Summary. Section 2 of the bill provides that "a Federal entity may not compel a covered person to provide testimony or produce any document related to information possessed by such covered person as part of engaging in journalism, unless a court determines by a preponderance of the evidence, after providing notice and an opportunity to be heard to such covered person".

The bill provides that for a federal entity to compel a covered person "to provide testimony or produce any document related to information possessed by such covered person" it must first obtain a court authorization. The court must make certain determinations, by a preponderance of the evidence, after providing notice and an opportunity to be heard.

First, the court must determine "that the party seeking to compel production of such testimony or document has exhausted all reasonable alternative sources".

Second, the court must determine, "in a criminal investigation or prosecution" that "there are reasonable grounds to believe that a crime has occurred" and that "the testimony or document sought is essential to the investigation or prosecution or to the defense against the prosecution". If the request does not pertain to a criminal proceeding, then the court must determine that "the testimony or document sought is essential to the successful completion of the matter".

Third, the court must determine that "nondisclosure of the information would be contrary to the public interest, taking into account both the public interest in compelling disclosure and the public interest in gathering news and maintaining the free flow of information".

The bill further provides that "in the case that the testimony or document sought could reveal the identity of a source of information" the court must determine that disclosure is either necessary "to prevent imminent and actual harm to national security with the objective to prevent such harm", "to prevent imminent death or significant bodily harm with the objective to prevent such death or harm", or "to identify a person who has disclosed ... a trade secret of significant value in violation of a State or Federal law ... individually identifiable health information ... nonpublic personal information ... or ... of any consumer".

Section 3 provides that the same level of protection applies to a "communications service provider". Moreover, in such requests, the covered person must be given prior notice, and opportunity to be heard.

The bill provides that "With respect to testimony or any document consisting of any record, information, or other communication that relates to a business transaction between a communications service provider and a covered person, section 2 shall apply to such testimony or document if sought from the communications service provider in the same manner that such section applies to any testimony or document sought from a covered person.

The bill defines "covered person" as "a person engaged in journalism and includes a supervisor, employer, parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of such covered person."

Then, the bill defines the term "journalism" as "the gathering, preparing, collecting, photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting, or publishing of news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public."

The term "document" is defined as "writings, recordings, and photographs" as defined by the Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE).

Rule 1001, FRE, provides that "``Writings´´ and ``recordings´´ consist of letters, words, or numbers, or their equivalent, set down by handwriting, typewriting, printing, photostating, photographing, magnetic impulse, mechanical or electronic recording, or other form of data compilation."

The FRE also provide that "``Photographs´´ include still photographs, X-ray films, video tapes, and motion pictures."

The bill does not expressly preempt any related state laws. However, it does not state that it is not intended to preempt any state laws.

See also, Rep. Boucher's section by section summary [12 pages in PDF].

Bloggers. The bills' broad definition of journalism would appear to cover anyone engaged in just one information function. The definition uses the word "or" rather than "and". Moreover, there is no incorporation or commercial purpose requirement.

Thus, the bill, on its face, would cover some bloggers, web publishers, and others who publish on an amateur basis.

Sen. Dodd said that this bill extends protection to "citizen-journalists". Rep. Boucher's summary states that the bill "would apply to web logs (``blogs´´) that engage in journalism." (Parentheses in original.)

However, whether the Department of Justice (DOJ) and federal judges would recognized that the protections of the bill extend to bloggers and citizen journalists would likely prove to be another matter.

Also, the bill's "trade secret" exception would diminish bloggers' ability to obtain information to report on corporations' product information, or forthcoming product offerings.

Data Aggregators. Whether the bill would protect aggregators of data, which data is not published, is not clear.

Some data aggregators likely would not meet the "matters of public interest" requirement. Some data aggregators likely would not meet the "journalism" requirement.

However, some would meet these requirements. Some data aggregators collect, at great expense, and under promises of confidentiality, data which is then used to generate summary data which is then published or disseminated.

For example, there is the confidential collection of commercial transaction data for the purpose of producing price indices. If government entities were to seize all or part of the raw data, then the contributors might no longer provide data to the aggregator. It is not clear whether the bill would protect the raw data in such electronic databases.

Legislative Process. The original cosponsors of the House bill are Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC), Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), and Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR). Rep. Walden is a broadcaster. Rep. Yarmouth is former news publisher, and television commentator.

It was referred to the House Judiciary Committee (HJC).

The original cosponsors of the Senate bill are Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA).

It was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC).

These bills are revised versions of bills introduced in the 109th Congress. See, S 2831 (109th), the "Free Flow of Information Act of 2006", and HR 3323 (109th), the "Free Flow of Information Act of 2005".

5/8. Lisa Zaina (at right) joined the CTIA Wireless Association as Assistant VP for State Regulatory Affairs, effective June 4, 2007. She was previously Executive Director of the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance (ITTA). Before that, she was CEO of the Universal Service Administration Company (USAC). Before that, she was a legal advisor for wireline competition issues to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein. Before that, she was VP for Industry and Regulatory Affairs and Corporate Secretary of Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel) in Edinburg, Virginia. Before that, she worked for Wallman Strategic Consulting. Before that, she worked at the FCC, as Senior Counsel and Deputy Bureau Chief of the Common Carrier Bureau. She has also worked for the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO), and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). See, CTIA release.

5/8. Margaret Peterlin was named Deputy Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property. She was previously Counsel for Legal Policy and National Security Advisor for former House Speaker Denny Hastert (R-IL). Before that, she was General Counsel for former House Majority Leader Richard Armey (R-TX). See, USPTO release.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. The House may consider HR 1684, the "Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008", subject to a rule. See, House Majority Leader Hoyer's weekly calendar [PDF].

The Senate will meet at 9:30 AM for morning business. It will then resume consideration of of S 1082, the Food and Drug Administration authorization bill.

9:30 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, the House Ways and Means Committee's (HWMC) Subcommittee on Trade, and the House Financial Services Committee's (HFSC) Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology will hold a joint hearing titled "Currency Manipulation and Its Effects on U.S. Business and Workers". See, HWMC notice and HFSC notice. Location: Room 1100, Longworth Building.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Verve v. Hypercom, a patent infringement case involving electronic payments systems technology. Verve alleged infringement of U.S. Patent No. 4,562,341. Hypercom prevailed below. This case is App. Ct. No. 2006-1469, an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, D.C. No. 05-CV-0365-PHX-FJM. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in AllVoice Computing v. Nuance Communications, a patent infringement case involving speech recognition technology, in which the District Court granted judgment of invalidity. This case is App. Ct. No. 2006-1440, an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Location: Courtroom 203, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in All Computers v. Intel, a patent infringement case involving microprocessor technology, in which the District Court granted summary judgment for Intel. This case is App. Ct. No. 2007-1016, an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Location: Courtroom 203, 717 Madison Place, NW.

2:00 - 4:00 PM. The Copyright Office (CO) and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will hold a "public roundtable discussion concerning the work at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) on a proposed Treaty on the Protection of the Rights of Broadcasting Organizations". The CO and USPTO add that "The deadline for receipt of requests to observe or participate in the roundtable is 5:00 p.m. on Friday, May 4, 2007." See, notice in the Federal Register, April 12, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 70, at Pages 18493-18494. See also, WIPO's March 8, 2007, paper [MS Word] titled "Draft Non-paper on the WIPO Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations", which includes draft treaty language. Location: Mumford Room, 6th floor, Madison Building, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave., SE.

2:00 PM. The House Rules Committee will meet to adopt a rule for consideration of HR 2082, the intelligence authorization bill. Location: Room H-313, Capitol Building.

The House will meet at 9:00 AM and recess immediately for the Former Members' Association annual meeting. It will meet again at 10:00 AM for legislative business. The House may consider HR 1684, the "Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008", subject to a rule, and HR 2082, the intelligence authorization bill, subject to a rule. See, House Majority Leader Hoyer's weekly calendar [PDF].

8:00 AM - 5:30 PM. The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) will host a conference titled "The New New Internet: IPv6 conference". See, notice. For more information, contact Trey Hodgkins at thodgkins at itaa dot org. Location: Hyatt Regency, Arlington, VA.

9:00 AM. The House Financial Services Committee's (HFSC) Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing: titled "Suspicious Activity and Currency Transaction Reports: Balancing Law Enforcement Utility and Regulatory Requirements". The witnesses will be Charles Frahm (Deputy Assistant Director, FBI Counterrorism Division), William Baity (Deputy Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network), Steve Bartlett (Financial Services Roundtable), Megan Davis Hodge (Director, Anti-Money Laundering, RBC Centura Bank), Carolyn Mroz (P/CEO of the Bay-Vanguard Savings Bank), and Scott McClain (Winne Banta Hetherington Basralian & Kahn). See, notice. Location: Room 2128, Rayburn Building.

9:30 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet will hold a hearing titled "Digital Future of the United States: Part V: The Future of Video". The witnesses will be Thomas Rogers (P/CEO of TiVo), Chad Hurley (CEO of YouTube), Benjamin Pyne (Disney and ESPN Networks), Gina Lombardi (MediaFLO USA), Phil Rosenthal (Writers Guild of America West and the Screen Actors Guild), Blake Krikorian (Ch/CEO of Sling Media), Mark Cuban (Co-Founder of HDNet). Press contact: Jodi Seth or Carrie Annand at 202-225-5735. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

9:30 AM. The House Judiciary Committee (HJC) will hold a hearing titled "Oversight Hearing on the Department of Justice". See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) may hold a hearing titled "Judicial Nominations". This hearing pertains to the nominations of Leslie Southwick (to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit), Janet Neff (U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan), and Liam O’Grady (U.S.D.C., Eastern District of Virginia). See, notice. Press contact: Tracy Schmaler (Leahy) at Tracy_Schmaler at judiciary dot senate dot gov or 202-224-2154. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Homeland Security Committee's (HHSC) Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment will hold a hearing titled "Fixing the Homeland Security Information Network: Finding the Way Forward For Better Information Sharing". See, notice. This hearing will not be webcast by the HHSC. For more information, contact Dena Graziano or Adam Comis at 202-225-9978. Location: Room 311, Canon Building.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Furnace Brook v. Overstock.com, a patent infringement case, in which the District Court granted summary judgment of non-infringement of U.S. Patent No. 5,721,832, titled "Method and apparatus for an interactive computerized catalog system", to Overstock. This case is App. Ct. No. 2007-1064, an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Location: Courtroom 203, 717 Madison Place, NW.

2:00 - 4:00 PM. The Department of State's (DOS) International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) will hold the second of a series of three meeting to prepare advice for the next meetings of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Working Parties on the Information Economy (WPIE) and Communications and Infrastructure Services Policy (CISP). See, notice in the Federal Register, April 5, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 65, at Page 16868. Location: Room 2533a, Harry Truman Building, 2201 C St., NW.

? 2:00 PM. The Department of State's (DOS) International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) will hold the second of a series of three teleconferences to prepare advice for the next meeting of the International Telecommunication Union's Study Group 9 (Integrated broadband cable networks and television and sound transmission). See, notice in the Federal Register, April 5, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 65, at Page 16868.

2:30 PM. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (SHSGAC) will hold a hearing titled "Violent Islamist Extremism: Government Efforts to Defeat It". Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT), the Chairman of the SHSGAC, has advocated disrupting terrorist web sites. See, story titled "Sen. Lieberman Advocates Disrupting Terrorist Web Sites" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,575, May 4, 2007. See, notice. Location: Room 342, Dirksen Building.

3:00 PM. The Senate Banking Committee (SBC) will hold a hearing on numerous nominees, including Mario Mancuso (to Under Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration). Location: Room 538, Dirksen Building.

6:00 - 8:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Enforcement Committee will host a continuing legal education (CLE) seminar titled "What to do When the FCC Comes a' Calling: A Practitioner's Guide to FCC Enforcement". The price to attend ranges from $50 to $125. See, registration form [PDF]. Location: Arnold & Porter, 10th floor, 555 12th Street, NW.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. The House may consider HR 1684, the "Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008", subject to a rule, and HR 2082, the intelligence authorization bill, subject to a rule. See, House Majority Leader Hoyer's weekly calendar [PDF].

The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) will host a seminar titled "Overview of Final Section 409A Rules". See, notice.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [53 pages in PDF] in its proceeding titled "In the Matter of Assessment and Collection of Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year 2007". This NPRM is FCC 07-55 in MD Docket No. 07-81.

11:00 - 11:30 AM. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will host an event titled "Intellectual Property Enforcement: An Update from the Administration". The speaker will be Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary of Commerce. For more information, please contact Katie Wilson at 202-463-5500 or email ncfevents at uschamber dot com. See, notice and registration page. Location: U.S. Chamber, 1615 H St.,  NW.

TIME? The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold a mock auction for Auction 71, the broadband PCS spectrum auction to be held on May 16, 2007. See, DA 07-30 [69 pages in PDF].

8:30 AM - 3:00 PM. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host an event titled "The Role of Competition Analysis in Regulatory Decisions". See, notice. Location: AEI, 12th floor, 1150 17th St.,  NW.

8:30 AM - 3:00 PM. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Advanced Technology Program Advisory Committee will hold a partially closed meeting. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 13, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 71, at Page 18632. Location: NIST, Administration Building, Employees' Lounge, Gaithersburg, MD.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The House Science Committee's (HSC) Subcommittee on Research & Science Education will hold a hearing titled "Federal STEM Education Programs: Educators' Perspectives". The witnesses will be Linda Froschauer (National Science Teachers Association), Michael Lach (Chicago Public Schools), George Nelson (Western Washington University), Van Reiner (Maryland Science Center), and Iris Weiss (Horizon Research, Inc.). Location: Room 2318, Rayburn Building.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will begin Auction 71, the broadband PCS spectrum auction. See, DA 07-30 [69 pages in PDF].

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) may hold a hearing titled "Rogue Online Pharmacies: The Growing Problem of Internet Drug Trafficking". Press contact: Tracy Schmaler (Leahy) at Tracy_Schmaler at judiciary dot senate dot gov or 202-224-2154. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

12:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers Committee will host a brown bag lunch to elect Co-Chairs and plan. Send nominations and self-nominations to Natalie Roisman at nroisman at akingump dot com and Chris Fedeli chrisfedeli at dwt dot com by May 9. Location: Davis Wright Tremaine, 1919 Pennsylvania Ave., 2nd Floor.

3:15 - 5:00 PM. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a book forum on the book "Antitrust Consent Decrees in Theory and Practice" by Richard Epstein (University of Chicago law school). The book examines the 1982 consent decree that broke up the Bell system, the 1994 Microsoft consent decree, and the 2002 Microsoft final judgment. The speakers will be Epstein, Douglas Melamed (Wilmer Hale) and Michael Greve (AEI). See, notice. Location: AEI, 12th floor, 1150 17th St., NW.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Engineering and Technical Practice Committee will host a continuing legal education (CLE) seminar titled "Regulating for Innovation". See, registration form [PDF]. The price to attend ranges from $50-$125. The deadline to register is 5:00 PM on May 14. Location: Skadden Arps, 700 14th St., NW.

5/8. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [27 pages in PDF] titled "Information Technology: VA and DOD Are Making Progress in Sharing Medical Information, but Are Far from Comprehensive Electronic Medical Records". It finds that the Veteran's Administration (VA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) "have been pursuing ways to share data in their health information systems and create comprehensive electronic medical records since 1998". The report finds that the VA and DOD "have faced considerable challenges, leading to repeated changes in the focus of their initiatives and target dates".

5/8. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) announced in a release that the U.S. "intends to contribute $940,000 for trade-related technical assistance (TRTA) to the World Trade Organization (WTO). This latest contribution would bring total U.S. contributions to WTO TRTA for the Doha Development Agenda to almost $7 million since the launch of negotiations in November 2001".

5/8. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a notice in the Federal Register that requests applications for membership on the DHS's Homeland Security Information Network Advisory Council
(HSINAC). The deadline to submit applications is June 22, 2007. See, Federal Register, May 8, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 88, at Page 26138.

5/4. The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a notice in the Federal Register that announces, describes, recites, and sets the effective date (May 4, 2007) for, changes to the Export Administration Rules (EAR). See, Federal Register, May 4, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 86, at Pages 25194-25196.

5/4. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a notice in the Federal Register that requests applications for funding for "basic research in the field of nanoscale electronics focused on
developing the next logic switch beyond complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)". The deadline to submit applications is 5:00 PM on June 4, 2007. See, Federal Register, May 4, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 86, at Pages 25264-25267.

5/3. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing that it seeks public comments "to obtain the views of the public on international efforts to harmonize substantive requirements of patent laws, and any potential subsequent changes to United States law and practice." The USPTO seeks comments on various priority of invention issues, the prior art effective date of a published application or granted patent, the scope of prior art effect of published patent applications, the one year grace period, geographical restrictions that limit the definition of prior art, the public use or on sale bar, the experimental use exception to prior art, prior user rights, assignee filing of applications, and the 18 month publication of patent applications. See, Federal Register, May 3, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 85, at Pages 24566-24569. The deadline to submit comments is June 22, 2007.

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