2/18. The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) submitted a comment to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) in response to its request for comments to assist it in drafting its annual Special 301 report on countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property (IP) rights, or deny market access to IP based companies.

Eric Smith, head of the IIPA, stated in a release that "With the U.S. economy continuing to shed jobs, our government needs to redouble its efforts to stem massive global theft of U.S. copyrighted works in physical form and on the Internet. The annual Special 301 process is an important tool in reducing piracy losses and re-building U.S. employment in companies critical to our 21st century economy. The U.S. creative industries -- business software, entertainment software, film, television and home video entertainment, music, and book and journal publishing -- are important drivers of the U.S. economy, contributing substantially to domestic growth and employment, including over $126 billion annually in revenue from foreign trade."

February 18, 2010, was the extended deadline for all commenters (except foreign governments) to submit comments to the OUSR 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, and OUSTR notice of extension.

The IIPA recommends that both the People's Republic of China (PRC), Russia and Canada be maintained on the priority watch list, and that Mexico be elevated to this list.

The IIPA release states that "The Chinese enforcement system continues to fail to bring to bear the manpower and resources necessary to deal with widespread piracy, whether corporate end user piracy of software, the online theft of music, movies, books and journals, and entertainment software, or the piracy of books, CDS, DVDs and other ``hard goods.´´ Low fines and an inadequate number of criminal cases have failed to deter piracy. At the same time, continuing -- and in some cases more onerous -- limitations on the ability of U.S. companies to conduct lawful business and to provide access to legitimate content in China have contributed to an unfair environment in which only pirates, or companies who provide access to infringing materials, are permitted to operate. In some cases, market access limitations appear to be aimed at providing leverage to compel transfers of U.S. IP and technology to Chinese entities."

The IIPA stated that "Canada has taken no meaningful steps toward modernizing its copyright law to meet the global minimum standards of the WIPO Internet Treaties, which it signed more than a decade ago."

The IIPA represents the Association of American Publishers (AAP), Business Software Alliance (BSA), Entertainment Software Association (ESA), Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)."

The AAP stated in a release that "AAP remains deeply concerned by the lack of action against egregious infringement of online academic and professional journals by commercial entities in China, including a company called Kangjian Shixun. Well-known Chinese libraries continue to supply electronic copies of journals to this company for sale in competition with legitimate publishers."

The AAP added that "The industry also faces a rare but very damaging pirate-production-for-export problem in Thailand and is working with Thai authorities to address this problem."

Robert Holleyman, head of the BSA, stated in a release that "The theft of PC software around the world delivers a crushing blow to US companies and the US economy. Ultimately, the theft of US IP means the theft of US jobs. An astonishing 41 percent of all PC software in use is stolen -- theft that totals nearly $53 billion a year, $31 billion directly from US companies. We would never tolerate having four out of every 10 cars on the road be stolen, yet that is the very problem the software industry faces."

2/18. The Public Knowledge (PK) and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) submitted a comment [PDF] to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) to assist it in preparing its annual Special 301 report.

The PK argues, among other things, that "The USTR should not press countries to adopt laws and policies that ignore the balance present in the U.S. copyright system", and "the USTR should not sanction countries in the future for failure to accede to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement or to implement its standards".

The PK has argued frequently that the OUSTR and trade representatives of other nations are negotiating an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) without transparency. See for example, stories titled "Groups Complain About ACTA Closed Process" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,013, November 11, 2009, "Transparency: EFF and PK Complain About OUSTR's Secret ACTA" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,935, May 6, 2009, and "OUSTR Releases Summary of Proposed ACTA" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,925, April 13, 2009.

The PK argues in this comment for greater transparency in the Special 301 process. It states, for example, that "Special 301 Reports do not state clearly all the factors that go into the decision to place a country on a watch list or a priority watch list and provide foreign countries with little guidance on the issues that are of concern to U.S. policymakers".

The PK wants the OUSTR to provide a definition of "adequate protection of IP".

"For instance", the PK asks, "does a country's decision to provide an exception for ``private and personal uses´´ constitute inadequate enforcement in the USTR’s view? Similarly, does allowing circumvention of TPMs for lawful purposes cause the country to be placed on the priority watch list?".

The authors of this comment are Harold Feld, Gwen Hinze, Rashmi Rangnath, and Michael Weinberg.

2/19. A grand jury of the U.S. District Court (SDFl) returned an indictment in October of 2009 that charges seven individuals with criminal conspiracy in connection with their exporting Sony Playstation2 (PS2) consoles to Paraguay.

The District Court unsealed the indictment on February 19, 2010, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a release announcing the indictment and the arrest of several defendants.

The indictment states that there is a mall in Ciudad de Este, Paraguay, named Galeria Page, and that this mall is on the Department of the Treasury's (DOT) Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) list. Hence, the indictment alleges any transaction with any entity within the Galeria Page is prohibited.

OFAC's entire SDGT list [PDF], as of February 10, 2010, lists Galeria Page, at page 150.

The DOT's OFAC issued a release on December 6, 2006, that explains that the DOT "designated nine individuals and two entities that have provided financial and logistical support to the Hizballah terrorist organization. The designees are located in the Tri-Border Area (TBA) of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay and have provided financial and other services for Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) Assad Ahmad Barakat, who was previously designated in June 2004 for his support to Hizballah leadership."

That release continues that "Galeria Page, a shopping center in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, serves as a source of fundraising for Hizballah in the TBA and is locally considered the central headquarters for Hizballah members in the TBA. Galeria Page is managed and owned by TBA Hizballah members, including members of the Barakat network. Local Hizballah members operate businesses within Galeria Page and funds generated from these businesses support Hizballah. Muhammad Yusif Abdallah, a manager of Galeria Page, paid a regular quota to Hizballah based on profits he received from Galeria Page. Shops in the building have also been involved in illicit activity, including the sale of counterfeit U.S. dollars."

The indictment also states that defendants created false shipping documents in connection with the export of thousands of PS2s, and a smaller number of Sony digital cameras. The indictment further alleges that the exports were without authorization from the DOT.

The indictment alleges violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, 18 U.S.C. § 554, and 50 U.S.C. § 1705. Section 371 is conspiracy. Section 1705 provides for penalties.

Section 554 was added to the criminal code by the 109th Congress in 2006 by Section 311 of HR 3199, the "USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005". This was a bill to extend expiring provisions of Title II of HR 3162 (107th Congress), and to make other changes to law. President Bush signed HR 3199 into law on March 9, 2006. It is now Public Law No. 109-177.

Section 554 provides, in part, that "Whoever fraudulently or knowingly exports or sends from the United States, or attempts to export or send from the United States, any merchandise, article, or object contrary to any law or regulation of the United States, or receives, conceals, buys, sells, or in any manner facilitates the transportation, concealment, or sale of such merchandise, article or object, prior to exportation, knowing the same to be intended for exportation contrary to any law or regulation of the United States, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both."

The indictment also seeks a money judgment in the amount of $911,560.20, plus forfeiture of other property traceable to the alleged violations, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 981.

The indictment does not name as defendants any of the persons, or the Galeria Page, named in the December 6, 2006 OFAC designation.

The DOJ release states that the investigation began in 2007, and has involved the DOJ, its FBI, the Department of Commerce (DOC), as well as the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Immigrations and Customes Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).

The release does not allege that the Sony PS2s or digital cameras were put to any military or terrorist use. Nor does it allege that these consumer electronics products were resold in Paraguay for the purpose of raising funds for a terrorist entity.

Sony stated in a release on January 16, 2010 that the PS2 "has sold more than 140 million sell-in units worldwide since it launched in 2000, making it the most popular system in gaming industry history". (Footnote omitted.) Sony launched the Playstation3 in 2006.

This case is U.S.A. v. Samer Mehdi, Khaled T. Safadi, Cedar Distributors, Inc., Ulises Talavera, Transamerica Express of Miami, Emilio Jacinto Gonzalez-Neira, and Jumbo Cargo, Inc., U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, D.C. No. 09-20852 CR.

2/18. Irma Azrelyant and Joshua Finkle pled guilty in U.S. District Court (DNJ) to conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with their defrauding the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Video Relay Service (VRS) program of more than $7 Million. Other criminal charges against more alleged defrauders of the FCC VRS program are pending. See, Department of Justice (DOJ) release.

2/11. A grand jury of the U.S. District Court (SDNY) returned an indictment that charges Sergey Aleynikov, a former Goldman Sachs computer programmer, with one count of theft of trade secrets, one count of transportation of stolen property in foreign commerce, and one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer system, in connection with his theft of proprietary computer code concerning a high-frequency trading platform from his former employer just before moving to new employment with Teza Technologies. See, Department of Justice (DOJ) release.

2/17. The U.S. District Court (SDFl) unsealed an indictment that charges Willoughby Farr with mail fraud and wire fraud in connection with his alleged operation of a telecommunications cramming scheme. The Department of Justice (DOJ) stated in a release that "Farr used three West Palm Beach companies -- Nationwide Connections Inc., Access One Communications Inc. and Connect One Communications Inc. --  to defraud consumers. Through these companies, Farr allegedly arranged for local telephone companies to falsely bill consumers for collect calls. Because the charges typically appeared on the last page of consumers' telephone bills, many paid the charges." The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has already obtained a civil judgment against Farr in the amount of $34,547,140. See, 2006 complaint [PDF] and 2008 stipulated final judgment [PDF].

2/19. Philip Weiser, Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division, gave a speech in New York City titled "Toward An International Dialogue on the Institutional Side of Antitrust".

2/18. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced in a release that the changes to its count system, announced last September, have taken effect. See, September 30, 2009, release, and story titled "USPTO to Change Its Patent Count System" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,995, October 2, 2009. The USPTO added that "In order to gauge the impact and effectiveness of these changes, the USPTO has launched an online ``Feedback Channel´´ (www.uspto.gov/blog/feedback) which will give the public an opportunity to provide input on the new count system directly to agency officials."

Tech Law Journal publishes a free access web site and a subscription e-mail alert. The basic rate for a subscription to the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert is $250 per year for a single recipient. There are discounts for subscribers with multiple recipients.

Free one month trial subscriptions are available. Also, free subscriptions are available for journalists, federal elected officials, and employees of the Congress, courts, and executive branch. The TLJ web site is free access. However, copies of the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert are not published in the web site until two months after writing.

For information about subscriptions, see subscription information page.

Tech Law Journal now accepts credit card payments. See, TLJ credit card payments page.

TLJ is published by David Carney
Contact: 202-364-8882.
carney at techlawjournal dot com
P.O. Box 4851, Washington DC, 20008.

Privacy Policy
Notices & Disclaimers
Copyright 1998-2010 David Carney. All rights reserved.

The House will meet at 2:00 PM for legislative business. It will consider several non-technology related items under suspension of the rules. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 PM. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of February 22.

The Senate will meet at 2:00 PM. It will resume consideration of HR 2847 [LOC | WW], an appropriations bill affecting numerous federal agencies.

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.

The House will meet at 10:30 AM for morning hour, and at 12:00 NOON for legislative business. It will consider several non-technology related items under suspension of the rules. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of February 22.

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 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.

10:00 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing titled "Improving Energy Efficiency Through Technology and Communications Innovation". The witnesses will be Aneesh Chopra (Executive Office of the President), Dan Heese (CEO of Sprint Nextel), Adrian Tuck (CEO of Tendril Networks), Kathrin Winkler (EMC2), and Lorie Wigle (Intel). 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.

12:30 - 2:00 PM. The Property Rights Alliance (PRA) will release its 2010 International Property Rights Index. The speakers will include Rep. Bob Bishop (R-UT), Jonathan Zuck (Association for Competitive Technology), Karol Boudreaux (Enterprise Africa), Victoria Strokova (PRA), and Kelsey Zohourek (PRA). Lunch will be served. See also, story titled "Property Rights Alliance Argues that IPR Protection is Linked to Higher GDP Per Capita" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,904, February 25, 2009. Location: National Press Club, 13th floor, 529 14th St., NW.

12:30 - 1:30 PM. The American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law will host a panel discussion by webcast titled "Section 1 of the Sherman Act: Counseling and Litigation Update". The speakers will be Svetlana Gans (Kilpatrick Stockton), Jennifer Carmassi (Latham & Watkins), Katherine Britton, and Jeffery Cross (Freeborn & Peters). This event is free, but registration is required. See, notice.

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? 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.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. The schedule for the week includes consideration of HR 2701 [LOC | WW], the "Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010". See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of February 22.

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 on the nominations of Josephine Tucker (to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California), Brian Jackson (USDC/MDLa),
Elizabeth Foote (USDC/WDLa), and Marc Treadwell (USDC/MDGa). 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 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. For more information, call 202-626-3488. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

Day one of a two day event hosted by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) titled "Homeland Security Conference". Howard Schmidt (nominee for Cyber Security Coordinator) may speak at 9:30 - 10:00 AM. There will be a panel at 10:00 AM titled "Cyber Security". The speakers may include Greg Shaffer (Assistant Secretary, DHS Office of Cyber Security and Communications), Bruce McConnell (DHS), Van Hitch (Department of Justice CIO), and/or Dave Wennergren (Department of Defense Deputy CIO). There will be a panel at 11:15 AM titled "Emerging Social Media & Transparency Gap". See, conference web site. Location: Ronald Reagan International Trade Center.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of February 22.

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.

9:00 - 10:30 AM. The American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of International Law will host a panel discussion by teleconference titled "Around the World in 90 Minutes: New Developments in Merger Review". The price ranges from $10 to $20. Registration is required. See, notice.

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. The House Appropriations Committee's (HAC) Subcommittee on Homeland Security will hold a hearing on the FY 2011 budget for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The witness will be Janet Napolitano (Secretary of Homeland Security). The HAC will webcast this event. Location: Room 2359, 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.

1:30 - 2:30 PM. The American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Intellectual Property Law will host a panel discussion by teleconference titled "What Companies Need to Know NOW About Social Networking, Privacy Protection, and the Latest Legal & Regulatory Developments". The speakers will by Andra Dallas (Children's Advertising Review Unit) and Liisa Thomas (Winston Strawn). Prices vary. Registration is required. See, notice.

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.

Day two of a two day event hosted by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) titled "Homeland Security Conference". At 2:15 PM, there will be a panel titled "Information/Intelligence Sharing -- Balancing Privacy". See, conference web site. Location: Ronald Reagan International Trade Center.

The House will meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of February 22.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The Technology Policy Institute (TPI) will host a panel discussion titled "Increasing Spectrum For Broadband: What Are The Options?". The speakers will be Kathleen Ham (T-Mobile), Matthew Hussey (office of Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)), Evan Kwerel (FCC), John Leibovitz (FCC), Kevin Werbach (University of Pennsylvania business school), Lawrence White (NYU business school), and Thomas Lenard (TPI). This event is free and open to the public. Lunch will be served. Registration is requested. See, notice. Location: Room B-338, Rayburn Building.

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.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Dow Jones & Company v. Ablaise Ltd., App. Ct. No. 2009-1524, an appeal from the U.S. District Court (DC) in a patent infringement case regarding web page personalization. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Golden Hour Data Systems, Inc. v. emsCharts, Inc., App. Ct. No. 2009-1306, an appeal from the U.S. District Court (EDTex) in a patent infringement case. Location: Courtroom 402, 717 Madison Place, NW.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding self-regulatory guidelines submitted by i-safe under the safe harbor provision of the Children's Online Privacy Protection rule. See, i-safe's application [22 pages in PDF], proposed guideline requirements [30 pages in PDF], and chart [10 pages in PDF] comparing sections of the rule to the proposed guidelines. See also, FTC release and notice [6 pages in PDF]. See, story titled "FTC Seeks Comments on Proposed COPPA Safe Harbor" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,033, January 6, 2010.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (2ndFNPRM) regarding the Emergency Alert System (EAS) The FCC adopted this item on January 12, 2010, and released the text [23 pages in PDF] on January 14. It is FCC 10-11 in EB Docket No. 04-296. See, notice in the Federal Register, January 29, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 19, at Pages 4760-4768.