2/25. Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), testified before the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) on February 24, 2010, and before the Senate Banking Committee (SBC) on February 25, 2010. He presented the FRB's report [58 pages PDF] titled "Monetary Policy Report to the Congress". On February 26, 2010, the Department of Commerce (DOC) released its latest GDP data [13 pages in PDF]. The economy, and investment in IT equipment and software, are growing.

The FRB report states that "After declining for a year and a half, economic activity in the United States turned up in the second half of 2009".

It also states that "investment in equipment and software posted a sizable gain in the second half of last year, likely reflecting improved conditions in capital markets and brighter sales prospects."

The DOC's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its latest gross domestic product (GDP) data on Friday, February 26, 2010. The BEA stated in its release that "Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009".

This is up from the 4th quarter advance estimate of 5.7% issued last month. The BEA also reported that real GDP grew at an annual rate of 2.2% in the 3rd quarter.

The BEA's Table 1, titled "Real Gross Domestic Product and Related Measures: Percent Change From Preceding Period", shows that for the category of gross private domestic investment in "Equipment and Software", the annual growth rate in the 4th quarter of 2009 was 18.2%. (This table does not break down data for subcategories such as information technology equipment or software.) Also, total exports grew at the rate of 22.4%.

The BEA's Table 3, titled "Gross Domestic Product and Related Measures: Level and Change From Preceding Period", shows that gross domestic private investment in software in the 4th quarter of 2009 was up 5.1% from the 3rd quarter, but still slightly lower than the 4th quarter of 2008. The BEA did not publish data for its category of investment in "computers and peripheral equipment" for 2009.

However, for the entire category of investment in "information processing equipment and software", the 4th quarter total was up 6.1% from the previous quarter.

The FRB report also states that "The unemployment rate rose further during the second half, reaching 10 percent by the end of the year -- its highest level since the early 1980s -- before dropping back in January. Although job losses have slowed, hiring remains weak, and the median duration of unemployment has lengthened significantly."

2/26. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), and Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) issued a joint statement regarding statements made by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) on February 25, 2010, regarding the status of patent reform legislation.

They stated that "We appreciate the Senate's most recent efforts to craft its compromise on patent reform legislation, but those efforts have thus far proceeded without adequate input from House members."

They continued that "Now that we know the substance of the Senate's draft compromise, House members are in the process of reviewing the proposal in order to arrive at a bill a majority of both chambers can support. We look forward to negotiations with the Senate in the hope of achieving such a bill."

Sen. Leahy, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC), stated at the SJC's executive business meeting on February 25, 2010, that "we can report that we have reached a tentative agreement in principle". See, story titled "Senators Announce Progress on Patent Reform Legislation" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,051, February 25, 2010.

Rep. Conyers is the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (HJC). Rep. Smith is the ranking Republican. Rep. Berman is a leader of the efforts in the House to reform patent law. Reps. Conyers, Smith and Berman are all sponsors of HR 1260 [LOC | WW] the "Patent Reform Act of 2009".

2/24. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) announced in a release that it has completed its out of cycle Special 301 review of Saudi Arabia and determined to remove it from its Watch List.

Ron Kirk (at right), head of the OUSTR, stated in this release that "Saudi Arabia has made significant progress in improving protection for intellectual property rights during the past year".

He added that "Over the last several years, Saudi Arabia has stepped up its enforcement actions, strengthened its legal framework, and demonstrated a commitment to fostering innovation and creativity. This is a credit to the hard work done by Saudi Arabia as well as to our close bilateral cooperation."

Special 301 pertains to identifying those countries that deny adequate and effective protection for intellectual property rights or deny fair and equitable market access for businesses that 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.

2/23. Keshawn Deron Wilson pled guilty in U.S. District Court (MDFl) to two counts of unauthorized recording of motion pictures in a motion picture exhibition facility, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2319B, a criminal prohibition enacted in 2005.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) stated in a release that "Wilson was arrested on Sept. 13, 2008, by Ocean Township, N.J., police officers, while he was in the process of recording Picturehouse Entertainment's then newly-released motion picture ``The Women´´ at the Middlebrook Galleria 10 Clearview Cinemas in Ocean, N.J. At the time he was arrested, officers seized a high definition video camera with a 30 gigabyte hard drive from Wilson. A subsequent search of the camera's hard drive revealed a copy of the then newly-released movie ``The Women´´ and a copy of Universal Studios' then newly-released movie ``Burn After Reading,´´ which Wilson admitted he recorded the previous day at the same theater."

The plea agreement provides for forfeiture of one JVC camcorder, two tripods, one laptop computer, 104 CDs and DVDs, and "computer equipment and peripherals" seized by the FBI. The statute provides a maximum sentence of three years per count.

The Congress enacted S 167 (109th Congress), the "Family Entertainment and Copyright Act" (FECA) in 2005 to address camcorder copying in movie theaters. It is now Public Law No. 109-9. It added Section 2319B, regarding "Unauthorized recording of Motion pictures in a Motion picture exhibition facility", to the Criminal Code.

For legislative history, see story titled "Senate Approves Copyright Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,069, February 3, 2005, and story titled "House Approves Copyright Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,119, April 20, 2005. President Bush signed the bill into law on April 27, 2005. It is now Public Law No. 109-9.

It provides that "Any person who, without the authorization of the copyright owner, knowingly uses or attempts to use an audiovisual recording device to transmit or make a copy of a motion picture or other audiovisual work protected under title 17, or any part thereof, from a performance of such work in a motion picture exhibition facility, shall ... be imprisoned for not more than 3 years."

It adds that "The possession by a person of an audiovisual recording device in a motion picture exhibition facility may be considered as evidence in any proceeding to determine whether that person committed an offense under this subsection, but shall not, by itself, be sufficient to support a conviction of that person for such offense."

TLJ spoke with Mike Robinson, SVP for Content Protection and Chief of Operations, at the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). He said that the camcorder provision in the FECA "has been every effective". He added that "similar state statutes" have also been enacted.

Robinson said that there are now about 10 to 12 arrests per year of professionals using camcorders in theaters, "and it is getting fewer all the time".

He also said that these cases are not kids with cell phones recording a few minutes, but rather "true hard core professionals who are in it for the money". He continued that their camcorder copies are used to make illegal DVD copies, that copies also eventually end up on the internet, and that this causes great damage to the movie industry.

He also noted that he believes that Wilson had been responsible for more activity before his arrest.

2/26. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a notice in the Federal Register that announces that it has denied export privileges to Afshin Rezaei for ten years. The notice states that Rezaei exported laptop computers to Iran without having obtained the required authorization from the Department of the Treasury". See, Federal Register, February 26, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 38, at Pages 8917-8918.

2/25. Robert Cimino pled guilty in U.S. District Court (EDVa) to selling infringing copies of business, engineering and graphic design software programs, including Adobe, Autodesk, Intuit and Quark programs. The Department of Justice stated in a release that he burned these infringing copies of copyrighted programs onto CDs and DVDs. He advertised on the internet, typically received payment via PayPal, and then mailed the copies to his customers.

2/25. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) held an executive business meeting. It held over consideration of the nomination of Dawn Johnsen to be Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). The SJC also held over consideration of Lucy Koh to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. See, story titled "Obama Picks Lucy Koh to Replace Ron Whyte on District Court" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,038, January 25, 2010. The SJC also held over Gloria Navarro (USDC/DNev), Audrey Fleissig (USDC/EDMO), Jon Deguilio (USDC/NDInd), Tanya Pratt (USDC/SDInd), and Jane Stinson (USDC/SDInd). All of these nominees are on the agenda for the next meeting, on Thursday, March 4, 2010. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) stated that he expects the SJC to vote on Johnsen on March 4.

2/25. Gary Locke (at right), Secretary of Commerce, gave a speech in Washington DC in which he discussed "regional innovation clusters". He said that "when you get businesses, government, academia and non-profits situated in one place pulling towards similar goals ... good things happen". He said that "Silicon Valley, the Route 128 corridor in Boston and Research Park in North Carolina" are examples. He said little about how to create these clusters. Although, he said that encouraging these clusters must be "a national priority". He added that President Obama's FY 2011 budget proposal contains $75 Million for the Department of Commerce's (DOC) Economic Development Administration (EDA) to "implement a federal clusters strategy". He also said that the "federal government can shine a spotlight on the importance of clusters".

2/25. Scott Hammond, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Enforcement in the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division, gave a speech in Miami, Florida, titled "The Evolution of Criminal Antitrust Enforcement Over the Last Two Decades", in which he discussed the DOJ's Corporate Leniency Program, sanctions on cartel participants, individual criminal liability, investigative tools, and cooperation among antitrust regulators.

2/24. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted a statement [71 pages in PDF] regarding convergence of the accounting standards contained in the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). See also, SEC release. The SEC also announced that it will hold a public seminar on March 23, 2010, on using eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) tags associated with GAAP. Use of XBRL makes data contained reports filed with the SEC interactive -- that is, capable of being searched and analyzed by software.

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The House will not meet. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of March 1.

The Senate will meet at 2:00 PM. It will begin consideration of HR 4213 [LOC | WW], the "Tax Extenders Act of 2009". Section 111 of this bill would amend 26 U.S.C. § 41, to extend for one year (through December 31, 2010), the research and development tax credit. The House passed this bill on December 9, 2009.

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.

The House will meet at 12:30 PM for morning hour, and at 2:00 PM for legislative business. It will consider numerous 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 March 1.

9:00 - 10:30 AM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled "Going Mobile: Technology and Policy Issues in the Mobile Internet". The speakers will be Robert Atkinson (ITIF), Richard Bennett (ITIF), Harold Feld (Public Knowledge), Morgan Reed (Association for Competitive Technology), and Barbara Esbin (Progress & Freedom Foundation). See, notice. This event is free and open to the public. The ITIF will webcast this event. Location: ITIF, Suite 610A, 1101 K St., NW.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee's (SJC) Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law will hold a hearing titled "Global Internet Freedom and the Rule of Law, Part II". The witnesses will be Michael Posner (Department of State), Daniel Weitzner (National Telecommunications and Information Administration), Nicole Wong (VP and Deputy General Counsel of Google), Louis Riley (VP and Assistant General Counsel of McAfee), Rebecca MacKinnon (Princeton University), and Omid Memarian (Iranian blogger). See, notice. The SJC will webcast this event. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in iLight Technologies, Inc. v. Fallon Luminous Corp., App. Ct. No. 2009-1342, an appeal from the U.S. District Court (MDTenn) in a patent infringement case involving LED lighting technology. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:30 - 11:30 AM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), American Library Association (ALA), and Social Science Research Council (SSRC) will hold an event to release an FCC commissioned SSRC report titled "Broadband Adoption in Low-Income Communities". The speakers will be John Horrigan (FCC), Mark Lloyd (FCC), Dharma Dailey (SSRC), Amelia Bryne (SSRC), and Emily Sheketoff (ALA). See, notice. Location: Room 2261, Rayburn Building.

RESCHEDULED FROM FEBRUARY 10. 11:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Advisory Committee for the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, January 14, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 9, at Page 2141. See also, FCC notice of postponement, FCC notice of rescheduling, and notice of rescheduling in the Federal Register, February 19, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 33, at Page 7480. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th St., SW.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law will host a panel discussion by teleconference titled "Basics of Copyright, Trade Secrets and Trademarks". The speakers will by Gary Weiss (Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe), Randi Singer, Weil, Gotshal, & Manges), Pierre Davis (McGraw-Hill Companies), Arman Oruc (Simpson Thacher & Bartlett), and Andrea D'Ambra (Drinker Biddle & Reath). The event is free, but registration is required. See, notice.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. It will consider non-technology related items. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of March 1.

10:00 AM. The Senate Finance Committee (SFC) will hold a hearing titled "The 2010 Trade Agenda". The witness will be Ron Kirk, head of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR). See, notice. Location: Room 215, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee (HJC) will hold a hearing titled "Domestic and International Trademark Implications of HAVANA CLUB and Section 211 of the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 1999". See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

2:00 PM. The House Homeland Security Committee (HHSC) will hold a hearing titled "The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate". The witness will be Tara O'Toole, the DHS's Under Secretary for Science and Technology. The HHSC will webcast this event. See, notice. Location: Room 311, Cannon Building.

2:00 PM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument en banc in Princo Corp. v. USITC, App. Ct. No. 2007-1386, a case regarding importation of compact discs. See, April 20, 2009, panel opinion [pages in PDF] of the Court of Appeals. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) will hold a hearing 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. Location: U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E St., SW.

11:00 AM - 6:00 PM. The Association of American Publishers (AAP) will hold an event titled "AAP General Annual Meeting". There will be a panel discussion titled "The Future of Copyright". The speakers will include Marybeth Peters (Register of Copyright), Mark Helprin (author of the book [Amazon] titled "Digital Barbarism: A Writer's Manifesto"), and Pamela Samuelson (UC Berkeley). There will also be a panel titled "Navigating Changes in Business Models in the Emerging Digital World". See, agenda. Location: Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, Columbia Room A & B, 400 New Jersey Ave., NW.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. It will consider non-technology related items. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of March 1.

9:00 AM - 2:00 PM. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 18, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 32, at Page 7234. Location: Department of Commerce, Room 4830, 1401 Constitution Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet will hold a hearing titled "'Hearing On “Oversight Of The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act: Broadband, Part 3". See, notice. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The House Appropriations Committee's (HAC) Subcommittee on Homeland Security will hold a hearing titled "DHS Intelligence Programs and the Effectiveness of State and local Fusion Centers". Location: Room 2358A, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The House Science Committee (HSC) will hold a hearing titled "Reform in K-12 STEM Education". The HSC will webcast this event. Location: Room 2318, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda again lists consideration of the nomination of Dawn Johnsen to be Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). The agenda also includes consideration of Lucy Koh to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. See, story titled "Obama Picks Lucy Koh to Replace Ron Whyte on District Court" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,038, January 25, 2010. The agenda also includes consideration of several other judicial nominees: Gloria Navarro (USDC/DNev), Audrey Fleissig (USDC/EDMO), Jon Deguilio (USDC/NDInd), Tanya Pratt (USDC/SDInd), and Jane Stinson (USDC/SDInd). The SJC rarely follows its published agendas. The SJC will webcast this event. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) will hold a hearing titled "Funding and Oversight for the Department of Commerce". The witnesses will include Gary Locke (Secretary of Commerce) and Todd Zinser (Inspector General). Location: Room 192, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Siemans AG v. Seagate Technology, App. Ct. No. 2009-1382, an appeal from the U.S. District Court (CDCal) in a patent infringement case involving technology for reading data on hard disk drives. Location: Courtroom 402, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Lincoln National Life Insurance Company v. Transamerica Life Insurance Company, App. Ct. No. 2009-1403, a patent infringement case regarding a computer based method for providing retirement benefits. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a panel discussion titled "Cloud Computing: A Truly New Service or Just a New Trendy Name?". The speakers will be Bruce Andrews (General Counsel, Senate Commerce Committee), Jeffery Goldthorp (FCC), Debra Diener (IRS), Lew Oleinick (Defense Logistics Agency), John Nagengast (AT&T), Stephen Schmidt (Amazon Web Services), and Carolyn Brandon (Georgetown University business school). The price to attend ranges from free to $30. Most DC Bar events are not open to the public. See, notice. For more information, call 202-626-3463. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 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 titled "FY2011 Budget for the Department of Commerce". The HAC will webcast this event. Location: Room 2359, Rayburn Building.

2:30 PM. The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Bureau of Economics (BOE) will host a seminar presented by Scott Hemphill (Columbia University law school) and Bhaven Sampat (Columbia). Hemphill has published papers on antitrust, drug patent settlements), and network neutrality. For more information, contact Loren Smith lsmith2 at ftc dot gov or Tammy John tjohn at ftc dot gov. Location: FTC, Conference Center, 601 New Jersey Ave., NW.

6:00 - 8:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) Wireline Committee will host an event titled "Special Access: Historical Perspective and Current Issues". The price to attend ranges from $95 to $150. This event qualifies for continuing legal education credits. Registrations and cancellations are due by 5:00 PM on March 2. Location: 6th floor, Sidley Austin, 1501 K St., NW.

10:30 AM - 5:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will host a workshop titled "Serving the Public Interest in the Digital Era". The topics on the agenda include the public interest requirements for commercial media and telecommunications companies, local commercial broadcast TV and radio news and information, and "impact of media convergence and the emergence of the Internet, mobile technologies, and digital media on FCC media policy". See, notice. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room.

Deadline to submit to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) statements in support of or in opposition to the petition for rulemaking [22 pages in PDF] submitted by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) regarding direct access to the FCC's Network Outage Reporting System (NORS). See, notice in the Federal Register, February 9, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 26, at Pages 6339-6340. This proceeding is RM-11588 and ET Docket No. 04-35.

Rep. Hoyer's schedule for week of March 1 states that "no votes are expected in the House".

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in WNS Holdings, LLC v. United Parcel Service Service, Inc., App. Ct. No. 2009-1498, an appeal from the U.S. District Court (WDWisc). Location: Courtroom 203, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in ClearPlay, Inc. v. Nissim Corp., App. Ct. No. 2009-1471. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Fenner Investments Ltd. v. Microsoft Corp., App. Ct. No. 2009-1496, an appeal from the U.S. District Court (EDTex) in a patent infringement case involving joystick technology. Location: Courtroom 402, 717 Madison Place, NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [107 pages in PDF] that proposes to regulate the network management practices of broadband internet access service providers. The FCC titles this proceeding "In the Matter of Preserving the Open Internet Broadband Industry Practices". This NPRM is FCC 09-93 in GN Docket No. 09-191 and WC Docket No. 07-52. See, notice in the Federal Register, November 30, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 228, at Pages 62637-62662. See also, stories titled "FCC Adopts Internet Regulation NPRM", "Text of Proposed Internet Regulation Rules", "Statutory Authority and Ancillary Jurisdiction", "More Praise for the FCC's NPRM", "More Criticism of the FCC's NPRM", and "Sen. McCain Introduces Bill to Block FCC Regulation of Internet or IP-Enabled Services" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,008, October 23, 2009.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding its e-rate program, and the "Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act". See, notice in the Federal Register, January 19, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 11, at Pages 2836-2843, and story titled "FCC Adopts E-Rate NPRM" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,011, November 9, 2009. The FCC adopted this NPRM on November 4, 2009, and released the text on November 5, 2009. It is FCC 09-96 in CC Docket No. 02-6.

8:00 AM - 5:15 PM. Day one of a two day event hosted by the Department of Health and Human Services titled "Workshop on the HIPAA Privacy Rule's De-Identification Standard". See, notice in the Federal Register, February 24, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 36, at Pages 8363-8364. Location: Washington Marriott at Metro Center, 775 12th St., NW.

8:30 AM - 5:30 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering (CEOSE). See, notice in the Federal Register, February 5, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 24, at Page 6063. Location: NSF, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold a brown bag lunch titled "Meet the FCC's Technologists". The speakers will be Julius Knapp (Chief of the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology), Jon Peha (Chief Technologist in the FCC's Office of Strategic Planning), and Stagg Newman (Chief Technologist on the FCC's National Broadband Task Force). The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) states that this is an FCBA event. For more information, contact Tami Smith at tesmith at sidley dot com. Location: Sidley Austin, 1501 K St., NW.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a program titled "Fraud in Trademark Cases: Impact of the Federal Circuit's New Standard". The speakers will be Cheryl Black (Goodman Allen & Filetti), Michael Clayton (Morgan Lewis & Bockius), and Gerard Rogers (USPTO's Trademark Trial & Appeal Board). The price to attend ranges from $89 to $129. This event qualifies for continuing legal education (CLE) credits. 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.

1:15 - 6:15 PM. Day one of a two day event hosted by the DC Bar Association titled "2010 Judicial and Bar Conference: Survival Strategies for Modern Legal Times". See, conference web site. Location: Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

EXTENDED FROM FEBRUARY 8. Extended deadline to submit comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) regarding "methods that may be employed by applicants and the USPTO to enhance the quality of issued patents, to identify appropriate indicia of quality, and to establish metrics for the measurement of the indicia". See, notice of extension in the Federal Register, February 1, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 20, at Pages 5040-5041.