8/13. The United States (US) submitted a request [8 pages in PDF] for the establishment of a Dispute Settlement Panel (DSP) to the World Trade Organization (WTO) that alleges that the People's Republic of China (PRC) has violated its obligations under the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in connection with its failure to protect copyrights and trademarks in books, music, videos and movies.

This is another step in an ongoing process. On April 10, 2007, the OUSTR submitted two related requests for consultations with the WTO on this subject. See, story titled "US to Complain to WTO Regarding PR China's Failure to Protect IPR" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,562, April 9, 2007. See also, the WTO's web page for DS362 and web page for DS363.

The US's April 10 request for consultations (DS362) identified four areas: (1) thresholds for criminal procedures and penalties, (2) disposal of goods confiscated by customs authorities that infringe intellectual property rights, (3) denial of copyright and related rights protection and enforcement to works that have not been authorized for publication or distribution within the PRC, and (4) unavailability of criminal procedures and penalties for a person who engages in either unauthorized reproduction or unauthorized distribution of copyrighted works.

Consultations were held on June 7-8, 2007. The PRC addressed the US's concerns on the fourth item. Hence, the just filed DSP request references three items.

The OUSTR described the three issues in a release. "First, the request challenges quantitative thresholds in China's criminal law that must be met in order to start criminal prosecutions or obtain criminal convictions for copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting. Wholesalers and distributors are able to operate below these high thresholds without fear of criminal liability, so these thresholds effectively permit piracy and counterfeiting on a commercial scale."

"Second, the panel request addresses the rules for disposal of IPR-infringing goods seized by Chinese customs authorities.  Those rules appear to permit goods to be released into commerce following the removal of fake labels or other infringing features, when WTO rules dictate that these goods normally should be kept out of the marketplace altogether."

Third, the OUSTR release states that "the panel request addresses the apparent denial of copyright protection for works poised to enter the market but awaiting Chinese censorship approval.  It appears that Chinese copyright law provides the copyright holder with no right to complain about copyright infringement (including illegal/infringing copies and unauthorized translations) before censorship approval is granted.  Immediate availability of copyright protection is critical to protect new products from pirates, who -- unlike legitimate producers -- do not wait for the Chinese content review process to be completed." (Parentheses in original.)

In addition, Sean Spicer, Assistant USTR for Public and Media Affairs, explained the disposition of the fourth item in the April filing in an e-mail to TLJ.

He wrote that "We have been concerned for a long time that copyright infringers could not be prosecuted under a key provision of Chinese criminal law unless they both ``reproduced´´ and ``distributed´´ infringing items. In other words, we were concerned that Chinese copyright law included a loophole that would let manufacturers off the hook (if they didn't distribute), and would let distributors off the hook (if they didn’t make the fake copies). In April, a few days before we filed our consultation request at the WTO, China issued a new judicial interpretation that we later confirmed addressed this issue. China clarified that infringing ``reproduction´´ and infringing ``distribution´´ can be prosecuted separately." (Parentheses in original.)

Spicer added that "We included this issue in our consultation request and discussed it with China during the consultations. Based both on the judicial interpretation that China issued in April and on the discussion we had with the Chinese delegation during consultations, it appears that China has resolved this issue.  We will, however, continue to monitor this aspect of China’s criminal law carefully."

Spicer also stated in the OUSTR release that "The United States and China have tried, through formal consultations over the last three months, to resolve differences arising from U.S. concerns about inadequate protection of intellectual property rights in China. That dialogue has not generated solutions to the issues we have raised, so we are asking the WTO to form a panel to settle this dispute".

He also argued that "It is in the best interest of all nations, including China, to protect intellectual property rights. Over the past several years China has taken tangible steps to improve IPR protection and enforcement. However, we still see important gaps that need to be addressed. We will pursue this legal dispute in the WTO and will continue to work with China bilaterally on other important IPR issues."

8/7. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted, but did not release, a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) that pertains to the roaming obligations of Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) providers. The order portion of this item provides that CMRS carriers have roaming obligations as to Title II services. The NPRM portion of this item seeks further comments on extending roaming obligations to broadband data services.

This item is FCC 07-143 in the FCC's proceedings titled "Reexamination of Roaming Obligations of Commercial Mobile Radio Service Providers" and numbered WT Docket No. 05-265. The FCC issued a short release [PDF] that describes this item, and each of the five Commissioners released a statement.

The FCC's release states that the order requires "CMRS carriers to provide roaming services to other carriers upon reasonable request and on a just, reasonable, and non-discriminatory basis under Sections 201 and 202 of the Communications Act. When a reasonable request is made by a technologically compatible CMRS carrier, a host CMRS carrier must provide automatic roaming to the requesting carrier outside of the requesting carrier’s home market."

The FCC's release also states that the FCC "decided to maintain its existing manual roaming requirement, which requires CMRS providers to permit customers of other carriers to roam manually on their networks, for example by supplying a credit card number, provided that the roamers’ handsets are technically capable of accessing the roamed-on network."

The FCC's release also states that carriers' roaming obligations extend to "real-time, two-way switched voice or data services that are interconnected with the public switched network and utilize an in-network switching facility that enables the provider to reuse frequencies and accomplish seamless hand-offs of subscriber calls". It adds that carriers' roaming obligations also extend to push to talk and text messaging services.

The order portion of this item does not impose automatic roaming obligations on carriers' broadband data services, which the FCC has classified as information services, rather than as Title II services. However, the NPRM portion of this item requests public comments on this topic.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wrote in his statement [PDF] that some companies "have also suggested that part of their business model for the 700 MHz band includes wholesaling capacity to provide broadband roaming to other carriers as a kind of anchor service. I am concerned that extending the roaming obligation to broadband data services at this time could undermine the wholesale model that some have advocated."

In contrast, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps again criticized the FCC's classification dichotomy of Title I information services and Title II common carrier services in his statement [PDF].

On March 22, 2007, the FCC adopted a Declaratory Ruling (DR) that declares that wireless broadband internet access service is an information service. This DR is FCC 07-30 in WT Docket No. 07-53. See also, story titled "FCC Declares Wireless Broadband Is An Information Service" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,556, March 26, 2007.

Copps (at right) then wrote that "Roaming consumers will be able to send text messages to their friends' mobile phones -- because we conclude today that text messaging is ``typically offered´´ in conjunction with voice service. But these very same consumers have no guarantee that they can send emails to their friends -- even though many consumers (including virtually all of us in this room) routinely use mobile devices to send and receive email." (Parentheses in original.)

He added that "Roaming consumers will be able to make voice calls to PSTN numbers in the ordinary fashion. But it is not clear that they can rely on a VoIP application they may have downloaded to call PSTN numbers; and they have no guarantee whatsoever of being able to use a peer-to-peer VoIP product that dials IP addresses rather than PSTN numbers."

Finally, he wrote that "Consumers who access the Internet by using their mobile device as a dial-up modem will be able to do so while roaming.1 But consumers have no guarantee of being able to access the faster speeds offered by non-dial-up forms of wireless Internet access. And they have no guarantee of being able to use the many applications on their devices that rely on Internet access, such as browsers, mapping programs, interactive games, and so forth."

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein wrote in his statement [PDF] that he too favors extending roaming requirements to broadband data services.

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell wrote in his statement [PDF] that "Although it is possible that unrestricted data roaming obligations may benefit consumers by providing a wider availability for the data features they increasingly rely upon, it is equally important that the Commission not inhibit innovation and investment by distorting incentives to differentiate products."

The FCC has not yet released the text of this item. Nor has it yet set comment deadlines for the NPRM portion of this item.

8/15. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) International Trade Administration's (ITA) Office of Technology and Electronic Commerce (OTEC) announced that it will host a closed meeting on September 18, 2007, to discuss identity management in electronic commerce.

See, notice in the Federal Register, August 15, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 157, at Page 45731. The DOC did not disclose the time or location of this event. The deadline to submit requests to participate in or attend the meeting is August 20, 2007.

The OETC web site states that "A number of high-profile incidents involving security breaches and identity theft have created the need for government and the private sector to discuss their respective roles in privacy and security issues."

The OTEC's notice in the Federal Register states that the meeting will address five topics: "(1) The need for improvements in existing identity management practices; (2) the impact of identity management on business competitiveness and the ability of businesses to use electronic commerce to enhance international trade; (3) industry best practices in identity management and challenges associated with promulgating these best practices; (4) the trade-related implications of identity management; and (5) ways to create an identity management landscape that balances the needs of consumers, industry, and government and enables the growth of e-commerce."

This notice also states this meeting will consist of "twenty experts in the field of identity management to hold this discussion", and "up to thirty additional individuals to participate as part of the audience".

This notice also states that "This roundtable will be closed to the press."

The House will not meet due to the August District Work Period. See, House 2007 calendar. The House will next meet at 2:00 PM on September 4, 2007.

The Senate will not meet due to the August District Work Period. The Senate will next meet at 1:00 PM on September 4. See, Senate 2007 calendar.

9:00 - 11:45 AM. Day two of a two day meeting of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee (ASCAC). See, notice in the Federal Register, July 6, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 129, at Pages 37000-37001. Location: American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2000 Florida Ave., NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to the FCC notice requests comments that refresh the record on issues raised by the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding interstate special access services provided by price cap local exchange carriers. The FCC released this notice on July 9, 2007. It is FCC 07-12 in WC Docket No. 05-25 and RM-10593. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 25, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 142, at Pages 40814-40816.

Deadline to register for the August 21, 2007, meeting of the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board's (ATBCB) Telecommunications and Electronic and Information Technology Advisory Committee (TEITAC) meeting by teleconference regarding "revising and updating accessibility guidelines for telecommunications products and accessibility standards for electronic and information technology". See, notice in the Federal Register, August 3, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 149, at Pages 43211-43212.

2:00 - 3:00 PM. The President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) will hold a partially closed meeting by teleconference. At 2:00 - 2:25 PM the NSTAC will meet in open session to hear comments on NSTAC's International Task Force (ITF) Report. At 2:25 - 3:00 PM, the NSTAC will meet in closed session to discuss network security and the global communications environment. To request to participate, contact William Fuller at 703-235-5521 or william dot c dot fuller at dhs dot gov by 5:00 PM on Friday, August 10, 2007. See, notice in the Federal Register: July 31, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 146, at Page 41771.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (2ndFNPRM) [26 pages in PDF] in its proceeding titled "Carriage of Digital Television Broadcast Signals: Amendment to Part 76 of the Commission's Rules". The FCC adopted this item on April 25, 2007, and released it on May 4, 2007. This item is FCC 07-71 in CS Docket No. 98-120. See, notice in the Federal Register, June 6, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 108, at Pages 31244-31250.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding whether to license Vehicle-Mounted Earth Stations as an application of the Fixed-Satellite Service in the conventional and extended Ku-band frequencies. The FCC adopted this NPRM on May 9, 2007 and released the text on May 15, 2007. This item is FCC 07-86 in IB Docket No. 07-101. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 18, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 137, at Pages 39357-39370.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [PDF] regarding E911 location requirements. This item is FCC 07-108 in PS Docket No. 07-114, CC Docket No. 94-102, and WC Docket No. 05-196. The FCC adopted this item on May 31, 2007, and released on it on June 1, 2007. See, notice in the Federal Register, June 20, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 118, at Pages 33948-33955. See also, story titled "FCC Extends E911 Location Tracking Rules to Interconnected VOIP" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,589, May 31, 2007.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its request for comments regarding what constitutes a "near reservation" area for federal Lifeline and Link-Up support purposes. See, DA 07-1239 in CC Docket No. 96-45, and notice in the Federal Register, July 5, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 128, at Pages 36706-36708.

Effective date of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Second Memorandum Opinion and Order in its proceeding regarding public safety communications in the 800 MHz Band. The FCC adopted this item on May 24, 2007, and released the text on May 30, 2007. It is FCC 07-102 in WT Docket No. 02-55. See also, notice in the Federal Register, July 20, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 139, at Pages 39756-39761.

1:00 - 3:00 PM. The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board's (ATBCB) Telecommunications and Electronic and Information Technology Advisory Committee (TEITAC) will hold a meeting by teleconference regarding "revising and updating accessibility guidelines for telecommunications products and accessibility standards for electronic and information technology". The deadline to register is August 15, 2007. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 3, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 149, at Pages 43211-43212. Location: Suite 1000, 1331 F St., NW.

Deadline to submit applications for Public Safety Interoperable Communications (PSIC) grants. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 23, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 140, Pages 40120-40123, and story titled "Public Safety Interoperable Communications Grant Applications Due in 30 Days" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,612, July 19, 2007.

Deadline to register for the August 28, 2007, meeting of the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board's (ATBCB) Telecommunications and Electronic and Information Technology Advisory Committee (TEITAC) meeting by teleconference regarding "revising and updating accessibility guidelines for telecommunications products and accessibility standards for electronic and information technology". See, notice in the Federal Register, August 3, 2007, Vol. 72, No. 149, at Pages 43211-43212.

8/15. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced in a release that it has awarded a $119,968,468 contract to IBM to run the digital to analog converter box program associated with the DTV transition.

8/13. Discovery Communications announced that it will only license the Discovery Kids name and characters for use only in connection with healthy food and beverage products. Elected representatives, and government regulators praised the announcement. See, statement by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), statement [PDF] by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, statement by FCC Commissioner Deborah Tate, and statement [PDF] by FCC Commissioner Michael Copps.

8/10. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released the text [312 pages in PDF] of its Second Report and Order (2ndR&O) regarding the 700 MHz band. The FCC adopted this order on July 31, 2007. It is FCC 07-132 in WT Docket Nos. 06-150, 01-309, 03-264, 06-169, and 96-86, CC Docket No. 94-102, and PS Docket No. 06-229. See also, story titled "FCC Adopts 700 MHz Band Order" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,619, July 31, 2007.

8/7. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin gave a speech [2 pages in PDF] at the APCO International annual conference.

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