2/18. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division announced in a release that it is "closing of its investigation into the proposed Internet search and paid search advertising agreement between Microsoft Corporation and Yahoo! Inc.".

It explained that "After a thorough review of the evidence, the division has determined that the proposed transaction is not likely to substantially lessen competition in the United States, and therefore is not likely to harm the users of Internet search, paid search advertisers, Internet publishers, or distributors of search and paid search advertising technology. In addition, the proposed agreement likely will enable more rapid improvements in the performance of Microsoft's search and paid search advertising technology than would occur if Microsoft and Yahoo! were to remain separate."

Also on February 18, 2010, the European Commission (EC) announced in a release that it "has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of the internet search and search advertising businesses of Yahoo! Inc. by Microsoft. The Commission concluded that the concentration would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it."

The EC also noted that "In the EEA, Microsoft's and Yahoo's activities in internet search and online search advertising are very limited with combined market shares generally below 10%. Google, by contrast, generally enjoys market shares above 90%."

The EC summarized the key terms of the agreement: "Microsoft will acquire a 10-year exclusive license to Yahoo's search technologies. Microsoft will also hire Yahoo internet search and search advertising staff. Microsoft will become the exclusive internet search and search advertising provider used by Yahoo. In exchange, Microsoft will retain 12% of the search revenues generated on Yahoo’s and its partners' websites during the first five years of the agreement, paying 88% to Yahoo as a traffic acquisition cost."

Microsoft and Yahoo stated in a joint release that they "have received clearance for their search agreement, without restrictions, from both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission, and will now turn their attention to beginning the process of implementing the deal".

Microsoft and Yahoo announced their agreement on July 29, 2009. See, story titled "Microsoft and Yahoo Enter Into Search Agreement" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,975, July 31, 2009.

2/16. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a complaint [16 pages in PDF] with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Google alleging unfair and deceptive trade practices in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act, which is codified at 15 U.S.C. § 45, in connection with its operation of the social network service Google Buzz.

Google announced its offering of Buzz on February 9, 2010. It stated in a release that "Google Buzz is a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting. It's built right into Gmail, so you don't have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch -- it just works. If you think about it, there's always been a big social network underlying Gmail. Buzz brings this network to the surface by automatically setting you up to follow the people you email and chat with the most."

The EPIC alleges that Google is converting "the private, personal information of Gmail subscribers into public information for the company's social network service Google Buzz. This change in business practices and service terms violated user privacy expectations, diminished user privacy, contradicted Google’s own privacy policy, and may have also violated federal wiretap laws. In some instances, there were clear harms to service subscribers."

The EPIC requests that the FTC investigate Google Buzz, and then "provide Gmail users with opt-in consent to the Google Buzz service, require Google to give Gmail users meaningful control over personal information, require Google to provide notice to and request consent from Gmail users before making material changes to their privacy policy in the future".

2/18. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint [18 pages in PDF] in the U.S. District Court (NDIll) against Ticketmaster and TicketsNow alleging violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act, which is codified at 15 U.S.C. § 45, in connection with their provision of primary ticketing services and a ticket resale marketplace, respectively.

The multi-count complaint alleges deceptive bait and switch tactics in the sale of event tickets online.

The parties simultaneously filed a Stipulated Final Judgment [27 pages in PDF] which provides for consumer refunds for the difference between the prices paid at TicketsNow and listed at Ticketmaster.

The FTC explained in a release that "Under the FTC settlement, eligible consumers who have not previously received a refund will get back the extra money they paid to buy the higher-priced tickets from TicketsNow. For example, if a consumer paid $400 for two tickets from TicketsNow, and those same two tickets would have cost $200 from Ticketmaster, the customer would get a $200 refund."

This case is Federal Trade Commission v. Ticketmaster L.L.C., Ticketmaster Entertainment L.L.C., TicketsNow.com, Inc., and TNOW Entertainment, Inc., U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, D.C. No. 1:10-cv-01093.

The FTC also sent a warning letter [PDF] to other ticket resale companies regarding its action against Ticketmaster and TicketsNow, and misleading statements in the resale of tickets.

2/18. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted, but did not release, an Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that expands the FCC's e-rate tax and subsidy program to cover non-educational uses.

The FCC issued only a short release, and the five Commissioners made brief statements. The release states that the FCC will now allow "members of the general public to use the schools' Internet access during non-operating hours".

The FCC's release states that the order portion of the just adopted item "is effective from adoption of the order through funding year 2010 (which ends June 30, 2011)." (Parentheses in original.) Then, the NPRM portion of this item "seeks comment on revising the Commission's rules to make today's change permanent".

All five Commissioners voted in favor of this item. See also, Genachowski statement, Copps statement, McDowell statement, and Clyburn statement. Baker did not release a written statement, but praised the item at the meeting.

Lack of Statutory Authority. The FCC's release states that its "rules require schools to certify that they will use E-rate funded services solely for ``educational purposes,´´ ..."

There is a reason for this limitation. The underlying statute limits the use of e-rate subsidized services to "educational purposes". See, 47 U.S.C. § 254(h)(1)(B). Thus, the FCC is exceeding its statutory authority in issuing this order. But then, since the inception of the e-rate over a decade ago, the FCC has played fast and loose with this legislative mandate.

The statute provides that e-rate subsidies can only be used for "services to elementary schools, secondary schools, and libraries for educational purposes". The statute adds the the FCC set subsidy must be "necessary to ensure affordable access to and use of such services by such entities".

FCC Makes Stevens Rule Nationwide. There is, however, a precedent for this action. Back in 2001, when Ted Stevens (at right) was a Senator from Alaska, and a senior member of the Senate Commerce Committee (SCC), the FCC adopted an order that permitted schools and libraries in "rural remote communities" in the state of Alaska that receive e-rate subsidies to allow their facilities to be used by the general public to receive telecommunications and internet services.

The Stevens rule was premised on the fact that it would affect only a small number of remote spots in Alaska, and have little impact on e-rate spending.

The FCC's latest action, in effect, applies the Stevens rule nationwide.

The FCC adopted that order [PDF] on November 29, 2001, and released it on December 3, 2001. It is FCC 01-350 in Docket No. 96-45, the FCC's eternal universal service proceeding. See also, notice in the Federal Register, December 28, 2001, Vol. 66, No. 249, at Pages 67112 - 67114.

See also, story titled "FCC Allows E-Rate Funds to Support Non Educational Uses" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 336, December 31, 2001.

Also, while the statute, which was enacted in 1996, does not authorize this use, it should be noted that during debate in 1998 over how to implement the statute, the then Chief of Staff of the FCC, John Nakahata, argued that the e-rate should be implemented to allow general public access.

Nakahata argued that schools and libraries should serve as "community access points". See, story titled "FCC and CATO Debate Universal Service to the Internet and the Schools & Libraries Corp.", Tech Law Journal, May 13, 1998. Nakahata is now a partner at the law firm of Wiltshire & Grannis.

2008 NPRM. The just released order follows a NPRM issued by the FCC in 2008.

The just adopted item is FCC 10-33 in CC Docket No. 02-6. The FCC adopted an NPRM in this docket on July 25, 2008, and released the text [26 pages in PDF] on July 31, 2008. That NPRM is FCC 08-173. See also, notice in the Federal Register, August 19, 2008, Vol. 73, No. 161, at Pages 48352-48359.

That NPRM asked for comment on whether the FCC should expand the e-rate program to cover such things as "filtering software, a broader classification of basic telephone service, dark fiber, text messaging, firewall service, anti-virus/anti-spam software, scheduling services, telephone broadcast messaging, and certain wireless Internet access applications".

The FCC did not propose in its 2008 NPRM expanding the e-rate to allow use by the "general public". Perhaps that is a reason why the FCC issued an order that covers only one funding year, and issued a new NPRM. (Alternatively, the interim nature of this order may be due to a recognition of the lack of statutory authority.) The FCC staff who presented this item left the FCC Commission Meeting Room without holding the usual news conference to answer such questions.

Likely Impact on Demand for E-Rate Subsidies. The FCC's order opens up school systems to a vast number of additional users with potentially huge time and bandwidth demands. Moreover, public schools are ultimately directed by schools boards whose members are elected by this new group of users. Many of these users will expect that school computer systems be modified to satisfy their demands.

The FCC wrote in its release that schools receiving e-rate subsidies will still not be "permitted to request more services than are necessary for ``educational purposes´´".

Commissioner Robert McDowell wrote in his statement that "the change in our rules should not inadvertently put an increased demand on the E-Rate program. It should not provide a backdoor way for schools to request more funds than necessary to support their student populations".

Some school districts in areas where there is no broadband provider may determine to provide broadband wireless access to their systems, and thereby offer an FCC funded form of municipal broadband. The FCC's release says nothing about this. Perhaps it should be recalled that one of the reasons for adopting the Stevens rule in 2001 was to allow residents in rural areas where there was no ISP to avail themselves of e-rate funded satellite connections.

The e-rate program is already plagued with waste, fraud and abuse. Criminal prosecutions have been frequent. The FCC may find it incapable of stopping schools from seeking further or increased subsidies to modify their systems, and increase their bandwidth, to provide service to the general public.

This may result in increased demands for e-rate subsidies. This in turn would increase pressure on the FCC and the Congress to increase the annual subsidy level above the current $2.25 Billion per year. And, if the level is increased, this would lead to higher taxes on communications services.

Internet Porn and the E-Rate. Both the Congress and the federal courts spent a considerable amount of time grappling with issues related to the blocking of access to pornography on the internet on e-rate funded computer systems. That history is long, complex, heated and tempestuous.

The issue was settled by 2003. However, the FCC's latest action could rekindle some of the old flames.

In short, after much debate, the 106th Congress enacted the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), ultimately as Title VI of a large omnibus spending bill, HR 4577. President Clinton signed the bill into law on December 21, 2000. It is now Public Law No. 106-554.

The CIPA requires schools and libraries receiving e-rate subsidies under 47 U.S.C. § 254, and libraries receiving grants under the Library Services and Technology Act (20 U.S.C. § 9101 et seq.), as a condition for receiving subsidies or grants, to use filtering technologies on computers with internet access that are used by children, and to filter images that constitute obscenity or child pornography.

There were immediate legal challenges to the CIPA, as it applied to libraries, but not to schools. Initially, a three judge panel of the U.S. District Court (EDPa) held the statute unconstitutional as a violation of the First Amendment. It held that filtering software is a content based restriction on access to a public forum, and is therefore subject to the strict scrutiny test. That is, it must be necessary to achieve a compelling governmental interest, and be narrowly tailored to further that interest. See, May 31, 2002, opinion in American Library Association v. U.S., 201 F. Supp. 2d 401, and story titled "District Court Holds Part of Children's Internet Protection Act Unconstitutional" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 442, June 3, 2002.

Then, the Supreme Court reversed, upholding the Constitutionality of the CIPA, as it applies to libraries. Nevertheless, no single opinion was joined by a majority of the Court. See, June 23, 2003, opinion in U.S. v. American Library Association, 593 U.S. 194, and story titled "Supreme Court Upholds Children's Internet Protection Act" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 686, June 24, 2003.

Whatever the FCC includes in it rules, and however schools handle filtering during after school hours, disputes may arise. When the Congress enacted the CIPA, it was understood that schools were only for educational purposes. The FCC is now changing that. School computer systems designed for filtered use by children will now be used by adults demanding unfiltered access. Moreover, the Supreme Court's opinion only addressed libraries. The Constitutionality of the CIPA as it applies to schools would therefore be a question of first impression.

It is possible that adults seeking unfiltered access on computer systems at schools that run porn filtering software will complain, and/or file lawsuits alleging violation of their First Amendment rights. Conversely, parents in school districts that provide unfiltered access may complain about their schools being used for porn access, perhaps in the presence of students doing homework.

People also tend to take these sorts of complaints to their Congressional offices. Perhaps Congressional staffers will give them Julius Genachowski's direct phone number.

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The House will not meet the week of February 15-19, 2010. See, 2010 House calendar.

The Senate will not meet the week of February 15-19, 2010. See, 2010 Senate calendar.

8:30 AM. Day two of a two day partially closed meeting to the Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Emerging Technology and Research Advisory Committee (ETRAC). This meeting will focus on deemed exports. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 5, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 24, at Page 5952. Location: Room 3884, Department of Commerce Hoover Building, 14th Street between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, NW.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Department of Agriculture's (DOA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) will host a meeting titled "Round II BTOP and BIP Application Process". The speakers will include Ken Kuchno (Director of the RUS Broadband Division) and John Morabito (Communications Program Specialist, NTIA). Location: Wiley Rein, 1776 K St., NW.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit comments to the Executive Office of the President's (EOP) Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) regarding the "modernized electric grid", and especially "issues related to Smart Grid implementation options, including the ways in which each option would support open innovation in home energy services". See, notice in the Federal Register, February 9, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 26, at Pages 6414-6416.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Video Programming & Distribution Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "Video Distribution -- The View from Wall Street". The speakers will be Craig Moffett (Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.) and Rebecca Arbogast (Stifel Nicolaus). Location: Davis Wright Tremaine, Suite 200, 1919 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Inquiry (NOI) [31 pages in PDF] regarding empowering "parents to help their children take advantage of the opportunities offered by evolving electronic media technologies while at the same time protecting children from the risks inherent in use of these technologies". This NOI is FCC 09-94 in MB Docket No. 09-194. The FCC adopted this NOI on October 22, 2009, and released it on October 23, 2009. See, notice in the Federal Register, November 24, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 225, at Pages 61308-61316.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding what data fields are necessary in order to complete simple wireline to wireline and intermodal ports within the one business day porting interval mandated by the FCC. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 1, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 20, at Pages 5013-5015. This proceeding is WC Docket No. 07-244.

10:00 AM. The Senate Finance Committee (SFC) will hold a hearing titled "Trade and Tax Issues Relating to Small Business Job Creation". See, notice. Location: Room 215, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing titled "Are Foreign Libel Lawsuits Chilling Americans' First Amendment Rights?" The witnesses will be Kurt Wimmer (Covington & Burling) and Bruce Brown (Baker Hostetler). See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

9:00 - 10:30 AM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled "Preserving the Open Internet: Is a Consensus Emerging?". The speakers will be Richard Bennett (ITIF), Link Hoewing (Verizon), Julius Knapp (FCC), Paul Misener (Amazon), Morgan Reed (Association for Competitive Technologies), and Rich Whitt (Google). See, notice. The ITIF will webcast this event. Location: ITIF, Suite 610A, 1101 K St., NW.

10:00 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing titled "Improving Energy Efficiency Through Technology and Communications Innovation". Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

12:00 - 1:30 PM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled "Counterterrorism 2.0: Using IT to Connect the Dots". The speakers will be Robert Atkinson (ITIF), Paul Rosenzweig (Red Branch Law and Consulting) and Kim Taipale. Lunch will be served. See, notice. This event is fee and open to the public. Location: ITIF, Suite 610A, 1101 K St., NW.

2:00 PM. The House Appropriations Committee's (HAC) Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and Related Agencies will hold a hearing on the FY 2011 budget for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The witness will be Patrick Gallagher (NIST Director). Location: Room H-310, Capitol Building.

2:30 PM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing titled "Cybersecurity: Next Steps to Protect Our Critical Infrastructure". See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

TIME CHANGE. 6:00 - 8:15 PM. The DC Bar Association will host an event titled "Protecting Content on the Internet". The speaker will be Jay Westermeier (Finnegan Henderson). The price to attend ranges from $89 to $129. Most DC Bar events are not open to the public. See, notice. This event qualifies for continuing legal education (CLE) credits. For more information, call 202-626-3488. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

TIME? The American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Science and Technology Law will host a program titled "Dangerous Curves Ahead: When Legal Ethics and Technology Collide". The ABA will webcast and teleconference this event. See, notice for registration and call in information.

EXTENDED TO FEBRUARY 26. 5:00 PM. Deadline for foreign governments to submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) to assist it in making determinations that identify countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on intellectual property protection. The OUSTR is required to make these Special 301 determinations by Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974, which is codified at 19 U.S.C. § 2242. See, notice in the Federal Register, January 15, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 10, at Pages 2578-2580. See, notice of extension.

8:30 AM - 5:15 PM. The Catholic University of America's (CUA) Columbus School of Law will host a one day conference titled "Implementing the National Broadband Plan: Perspectives from Government, Industry and Consumers". Prices vary. See, registration form. Location: Wiley Rein, 1776 K St., NW.

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM. The The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's HIT Standards Committee will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 3, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 22, at Pages 5595-5596. Location: Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert St., NW.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee (HJC) will hold a hearing titled "Recent Inspector General Reports Concerning the FBI". See, notice. See also, January 20, 2010 redacted report [PDF], and story titled "Another DOJ Inspector General Report Finds FBI Misconduct in Obtaining Phone Records" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,037, January 20, 2010. And see, March 13, 2008, report [PDF] titled "A Review of the FBI’s Use of National Security Letters: Assessment of Corrective Actions and Examination of NSL Usage in 2006", and story titled "DOJ Inspector General Releases Second Report on FBI Misuse of National Security Letters" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,730, March 12, 2008, and March 9, 2007, report [PDF] titled "A Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Use of National Security Letters", and story titled "DOJ IG Releases Reports on Use of NSLs and Section 215 Authority" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,551, March 13, 2007. The HJC will webcast this event. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection and Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet will hold a joint hearing titled "The Collection And Use Of Location Information For Commercial Purposes". See, notice. Location: Room 2322, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee (SHSGAC) will hold a hearing titled "Department of Homeland Security's Budget Submission for Fiscal Year 2011". The witness will be Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security. Location: Room 342, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) will host a news conference to discuss "the global challenges to Internet freedom". The CDT will also teleconference this event. The call in number is 1-800-377-8846; the participant code is 92 87 41 58#. Location: CDT, 11th floor, 1634 I St., NW.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Annual Seminar Committee will host a brown bag lunch for planning purposes. Location: Wilkinson Barker Knauer, Suite 700, 2300 N St., NW.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a closed lunch. The speaker will be Marybeth Peters, Register of Copyright. The price to attend ranges from $55 to $65. Most DC Bar events are not open to the public. Reporters are barred from this event. See, notice. For more information, call 202-626-3463. Location: City Club of Washington at Franklin Square, 1300 I St., NW.

2:00 PM. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's (HOGRC) Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives will hold a hearing titled "The 2010 Census Communications Contract: The Media Plan in Hard to Count Areas". See, notice. Location: Room 2154, Rayburn Building.

2:00 PM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing titled "Nominations". See, notice. The SJC will webcast this event. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

6:00 - 8:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a presentation titled "Protecting Content on the Internet". The speaker will be John Westermeier (Finnegan Henderson). The price to attend ranges from $89 to $129. Most DC Bar events are not open to the public. See, notice. For more information, call 202-626-3488. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW

9:00 AM. The Senate Banking Committee (SBC) will hold a hearing titled "The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress". The sole witness will be Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board (FRB). See, notice. Location: Room 342, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda once again lists consideration of the nomination of Dawn Johnsen to be Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). The SJC rarely follows its published agendas. The SJC will webcast this event. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee (HJC) will hold a hearing titled "Competition in the Media and Entertainment Distribution Market". See, notice. The HJC will webcast this event. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM - 3:00 PM. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's HIT Policy Committee's Adoption/Certification Workgroup will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 9, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 26, at Pages 6398-6399. Location: Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert St., NW.

12:00 NOON - 1:00 PM. The Heritage Foundation will host an event titled "Telecosm Revisited: Why the Government Should Not Set Rules of the Road for the Internet". The speakers will be George Gilder, author of the book titled "Telecosm", and James Gattuso (Heritage). See, notice. Location: Heritage, 214 Massachusetts Ave., NE.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Engineering and Technical Practice Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "Spectrum Policy and Capital Formation For New Wireless Technologies". The speakers will include Bryan Tramont (Wilkinson Barker Knauer) and Toni Bush (Skadden Arps). For more information, contact Tami Smith at 202-736-8257 or tesmith at sidley dot com. Location: Sidley Austin, 1501 K St., NW.

RESCHEDULED FROM FEBRUARY 11. 2:00 PM. the House Homeland Security Committee (HHSC) will hold a hearing titled "The President’s FY 2011 Budget Request for the Department of Homeland Security". The witness will be Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security. Location: Room 311, Cannon Building.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) regarding "other matters" discussed at its January 20, 2010, public roundtable. The USPTO is considering revising its rules of practice before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) in ex parte patent appeals. Comments on the notice of proposed rulemaking are due by February 12, 2010. However, comments on "other matters discussed at the roundtable" are due by February 25, 2010. See also, story titled "USPTO Seeks Comments on Rules of Practice before the BPAI in Ex Parte Appeals" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,026, December 22, 2009.

6:00 - 8:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers Committee will host an event titled "Happy Hour". For more information, contact Cathy Hilke at chilke at wileyrein dot com or Micah Caldwell at mcaldwell at fh-law dot com. Location: James Hoban's Irish Restaurant & Bar, 1 Dupont Circle, NW.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit certain applications to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for planning and construction grants for public telecommunications facilities under the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PFFP) for FY 2010. This deadline applies to applications for new FM stations filed during the February 2010 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) FM Window. See, notice in the Federal Register, December 2, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 230, at Pages 63120-63122.

EXTENDED FROM FEBRUARY 23. 5:00 PM. Extended deadline for foreign governments to submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) to assist it in making determinations that identify countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on intellectual property protection. The OUSTR is required to make these Special 301 determinations by Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974, which is codified at 19 U.S.C. § 2242. See, notice in the Federal Register, January 15, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 10, at Pages 2578-2580. See, notice of extension.

EXTENDED FROM FEBRUARY 12. 5:00 PM. Extended deadline to submit comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) regarding its proposal to revise its rules of practice before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) in ex parte patent appeals. See, notice in the Federal Register, December 22, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 244, at Pages 67987-68004. See also, story titled "USPTO Seeks Comments on Rules of Practice before the BPAI in Ex Parte Appeals" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,026, December 22, 2009. And see, notice of extension in the Federal Register, February 1, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 20, at Pages 5012-5013.

Deadline to submit comments to the Copyright Royalty Judges (CRJ) regarding the motion of Phase I claimants for partial distribution in connection with the 2004 through 2007 satellite royalty funds. See, notice in the Federal Register, January 27, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 17, at Pages 4423-4424.