4/2. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a notice in the Federal Register that announces, describes, and sets the comment deadline for, its proposed practice change "that would effectively provide a 12-month extension to the 12-month provisional application period (creating a net 24-month period)." (Parentheses in original.)

The notice states that "This change would be implemented through the missing parts practice in nonprovisional applications. Currently the missing parts practice permits an applicant on payment of a surcharge to pay the up-front filing fees and submit an executed oath or declaration after the filing of a nonprovisional application within a two-month time period set by the USPTO that is extendable on payment of extension of time fees for an additional five months."

Under the USPTO's proposal, "applicants would be permitted to file a nonprovisional application with at least one claim within the 12-month statutory period after the provisional application was filed, pay the basic filing fee, and submit an executed oath or declaration. In addition, the nonprovisional application would need to be in condition for publication and applicant would not be able to file a nonpublication request."

Also, "Applicants would be given a 12-month period to decide whether the nonprovisional application should be completed by paying the required surcharge and the search, examination and any excess claim fees due within that 12-month period."

David Kappos, head of the USPTO, stated in a release that "One of the things I kept hearing at the many roundtables we’ve held with inventors all across the country was that additional time flexibility during the provisional period would greatly benefit them"

Kappos (at right) continued that "The existing 12-month provisional period may provide too little time for inventors to test the marketplace. Giving applicants a 12-month period to reply to a missing parts notice would effectively give applicants more time to evaluate the value and market potential of their inventions. It not only helps applicants decide whether to incur the additional costs involved in pursuing a patent, but also, makes the patent office more efficient in enabling the delivery of new products and services to market."

The deadline to submit comments is June 1, 2010. See, Federal Register, April 2, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 63, at Pages 16750-16752.

4/3. Department of the Treasury (DOT) announced that it will delay of publication of its semiannual Report to the Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies.

Timothy Geithner (at left) stated in a release that "I have decided to delay publication of the report to Congress on the international economic and exchange rate policies of our major trading partners due on April 15. There are a series of very important high-level meetings over the next three months that will be critical to bringing about policies that will help create a stronger, more sustainable, and more balanced global economy."

He continued that "Those meetings include a G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Washington later this month, the Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) with China in May, and the G-20 Finance Ministers and Leaders meetings in June. I believe these meetings are the best avenue for advancing U.S. interests at this time."

In addition, the White House news office released a short release regarding President Obama's conversation with People's Republic of China (PRC) President Hu on April 1, 2010. It states that President Obama "emphasized the importance of the United States and China along with other major economies implementing the G20 commitments designed to produce balanced and sustainable growth."

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee (SFC), responded in a release that "I'm disappointed that Secretary Geithner is delaying publication of the Department's exchange rate report. Everyone knows China is manipulating the value of its currency to gain an unfair advantage in international trade. If we want the Chinese to take us seriously, we need to be willing to say so in public. The past few years have proven that denying the problem doesn't solve anything."

Grassley (at right) said that the DOT "should cite China as a currency manipulator. I renew my call for the Administration to prepare a WTO case against China under Article XV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade."

Geithner also explained that "Countries with large external surpluses and floating exchange rates, such as Germany and Japan, face the challenge of encouraging more robust growth of domestic demand. Surplus economies with inflexible exchange rates should contribute to high and sustained global growth and rebalancing by combining policy efforts to strengthen domestic demand with greater exchange rate flexibility."

"This is especially true in China", said Geithner. "China's strong fiscal and monetary response to the crisis enabled it to achieve economic growth of nearly 9 percent in 2009, contributing to global recovery. Now, however, China's continued maintenance of a currency peg has required increasingly large volumes of currency intervention. Additionally, China's inflexible exchange rate has made it difficult for other emerging market economies to let their currencies appreciate. A move by China to a more market-oriented exchange rate will make an essential contribution to global rebalancing."

He concluded, "Our objective is to use the opportunity presented by the G-20 and S&ED meetings with China to make material progress in the coming months."

4/5. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) set comment deadlines for its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in its proceeding titled "In the Matter of Jurisdictional Separations and Referral to the Federal-State Joint Board". The FCC adopted this item on March 26, 2010, and released the text [22 pages in PDF] on March 29, 2010. This NPRM is FCC 10-47 in CC Docket No. 80-286. Jurisdictional separations is the process by which incumbent local exchange carriers (ILEC) apportion regulated costs between the intrastate and interstate jurisdictions. There is an order in effect, which the FCC keeps extending, that freezes category relationships and jurisdictional cost allocation factors, pending some hypothetical future comprehensive reform. This NPRM proposes to once again extend the freeze, which is currently set to expire on June 30, 2010, until June 30, 2011. Initial comments are due by April 19, 2010. Reply comments are due by April 26, 2010. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 5, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 64, at Pages 17109-17111.

4/2. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) released a report [11 pages in PDF] titled "Report on Informal Consumer Inquiries and Complaints: 3rd Quarter Calendar Year 2009".

4/2. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) released a report [11 pages in PDF] titled "Report on Informal Consumer Inquiries and Complaints: 2nd Quarter Calendar Year 2009".

4/2. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) Disability Rights Office (DRO) issued a short release [PDF], but not a report, regarding informal consumer disability related complaints received during the second quarter of the calendar year 2009, and a second release [PDF] on the same subject for the 3rd quarter of 2009.

4/5. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a notice in the Federal Register that announces, describes, recites, and sets the effective date (May 5, 2010) for, it rule changes regarding its issuance of electronic documents. The BIS requires that export license applications, reexport license applications, License Exception AGR notifications, encryption review requests, and classification requests be submitted electronically via its Simplified Network Application Processing Redesign system (SNAP-R), except in instances where the BIS authorizes a paper submission. Currently, the BIS issues license related documents electronically via its SNAP-R and on paper. The just published rules changes eliminate the paper versions of most export and reexport licenses, notices of denial of license applications, notices of return of a license application without action, notices of results of classification requests, License Exception AGR notification results, and encryption review request results. These rule changes also address certain recordkeeping requirements associated with the elimination of paper documents. See, Federal Register, April 5, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 64, at Pages 17052-17055.

4/5. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a notice in the Federal Register regarding amending its rules promulgated pursuant to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). See, Federal Register, April 5, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 64, at Pages 17089-17093. The FTC previously published this notice on March 24, 2010, in its web site. See, FTC release and notice [18 pages in PDF].

4/2. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an opinion piece by Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) titled "Now Is the Time to Prepare for Cyberwar". This piece advocates a bill sponsored by the two Senators: S 773 [LOC | WW], the "Cybersecurity Act of 2009". See also, stories titled "Senate Commerce Committee Amends Cybersecurity Act" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,064, March 25, 2010, and "Senate Commerce Committee to Mark Up Revised Cyber Security Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,060, March 20, 2010.

4/2. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) submitted a report [18 pages in PDF] to the Congress titled "Annual Report 2010: Fair Debt Collection Practices Act".

4/2. The Library of Congress's (LOC) Copyright Royalty Judges published a notice in the Federal Register announcing receipt of SoundExchange's notices of intent to audit the 2009 statements of account submitted by Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio. See, Federal Register, April 2, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 63, at Pages 16852-16853.

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The House will not meet the week of April 5-9, 2010. See, 2010 House calendar.

The Senate will not meet the week of April 5-9, 2010. See, 2010 Senate calendar.

8:30 AM - 4:30 PM. The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) will host a one day conference titled "Saas/GOV 2010: Government Embraces Cloud Computing". See, conference web site. Location: Westin Washington, 1400 M St., NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Ring Plus v Cingular Wireless, App. Ct. No. 2009-1537, an appeal from the U.S. District Court (EDTex) in a patent infringement case regarding ring back tones. Location: Courtroom 402, 717 Madison Place, NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in FujiFilm Corporation v. Benun, App. Ct. No. 2009-1487, an appeal from the U.S. District Court (DNJ) in a patent infringement case involving the issue of international exhaustion. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

12:30 - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host an event titled "General Counsels Series: Ivan Fong, General Counsel, U.S. Department of Homeland Security". The speaker will be Ivan Fong. The price to attend ranges from $0 to $20. Most DC Bar events are not open to the public. This event does not qualify for continuing legal education (CLE) credits. See, notice. For more information, call 202-626-3463. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

2:00 PM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Micron Technology v. Rambus, App. Ct. No. 2009-1263, and Hynix Semiconductor v. Rambus, App. Ct. No. 2009-1299. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

4:00 PM. The George Mason University law school will host a lecture by Robert Corn-Revere (Davis Wright Tremaine) titled "The First Amendment and the End of History: Does Media Convergence Mean the End of Regulation or is it Just the Beginning?". See, notice. Location: GMU law school, Room 120, 3301 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA.

4:45 - 6:15 PM. The New America Foundation (NAF) will host an event titled "Wine Reception" and "New Media and American Politics". The speakers will be Steve Clemons (NAF) and Josh Marshall, who publishes a web site titled "TPM". See, notice. Location: NAF, 1899 L St., NW.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding expanding the FCC's e-rate tax and subsidy program to cover non-educational uses. This NPRM is FCC 10-33 in CC Docket No. 02-6. The FCC adopted it on February 18, 2010, and released the text [26 pages in PDF] on February 19, 2010. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 5, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 43, at Page 10199-10203, and story titled "FCC Expands E-Rate Program to Cover Non-Educational Services" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,047, February 18, 2010.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in MTS v. Hysitron, App. Ct. No. 2009-1541. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

12:00 NOON - 3:00 PM. The Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's (ONCHIT) HIT Policy Committee's Strategic Plan Workgroup will meet by webcast and teleconference. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 17, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 51, at Pages 12752-12753.

12:00 NOON. The Cato Institute will host a panel discussion on the book [Amazon] titled "The Beijing Consensus: How China's Authoritarian Model Will Dominate the Twenty-First Century". The speakers will be Stefan Halper (author), Bonnie Glaser (Center for Strategic and International Studies), Ted Carpenter (Cato), and Doug Bandow (Cato). See, notice. Lunch will be served after the program. The Cato will webcast this event. Location: Cato, 1000 Massachusetts Ave., NW.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will host an event titled "Focusing the FCC on Future of Media in a Changing Technological Landscape: Meet Steven Waldman". The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) states that this is an FCBA event. Location: NAB, 1771 N St., NW.

1:00 - 2:00 PM. The law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski will host a web seminar titled "MySpace Is Everyone's Space: What In-House Counsel Need to Know About the Employment and IP Challenges of Social Networking Sites".

2:00 - 3:30 PM. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division will host a seminar presented by Patrick DeGraba (Federal Trade Commission) titled "Naked Exclusion by a Dominant Supplier: Exclusive Contracting and Loyalty Discounts". See also, paper of the same title. For more information, contact Patrick Greenlee at 202-307-3745 or atr dot eag at usdoj dot gov. Location: DOJ, Liberty Square Building, 450 5th St., NW.

2:00 PM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Cornell University v. Hewlett-Packard, App. Ct. No. 2009-1335, an appeal from the U.S. District Court (NDNY) in a patent infringement case. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host an event titled "Increasing Opportunities for Minority Entrepreneurs in Media and Telecommunications". This event qualifies for continuing legal education credits. See, notice. Location: Arnold & Porter, 555 12th St., NW.

8:00 AM - 4:30 PM. The Department of Transportation's (DOT) Intelligent Transportation Systems Program Advisory Committee (ITSPAC) will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 22, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 54, at Pages 13643-13644. Location: Oklahoma Conference Room, DOT West Building, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day one of a three day meeting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB). The agenda includes "Cloud Computing Implementations", "Health IT", "OpenID", "Pending Cyber Security Legislation", "key escrow", "SCAP", "Cyber Coordinator Discussion", "National Protection and Programs Directorate Discussion", and "Security Issues in Broadband Plan". SCAP is Security Content Automation Protocol. See, NIST's SCAP web site. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 19, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 53, Pages 13258-13259. Location: Washington Marriott Wardman Park Conference Center, 2660 Woodley Road, NW.

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA) Advisory Committee on the Electronic Records Archives (ACERA). See, notice in the Federal Register, March 16, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 50, at Pages 12573-12574. Location: 700 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold a workshop regarding legal and technical issues associated with the development and deployment of an agency wide Consolidated Licensing System (CLS). See, Public Notice. Location: FCC, FCC’s Commission Meeting Room (Room TW-C305), 445 12th St., SW.

12:00 NOON - 2:30 PM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold an event titled "An Overview of the Federal Communications Commission National Broadband Plan". The speakers will be the FCC's David Furth (Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau), Brian David (OSP), Eugene Huang (OSP), Joy Ragsdale (PSHSB), Thomas Koutsky (OSP), and Robert Curtis (OSP). The price to attend ranges from $0 to $40. Lunch will not be served. The DC Bar Association states that this is a DC Bar event. The DC Bar has a history of excluding reporters from its events. See, notice. Location: DC Bar, 1101 K St., NW.

Day one of a four day event hosted by the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Intellectual Property Law titled "Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference". See, notice. Location: Crystal Gateway Marriott, Arlington, VA.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding its report to Congress regarding the Open-Market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications Act (ORBIT Act). See, notice [PDF]. This proceeding is IB Docket No. 10-70.

8:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day two of a three day meeting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB). See, notice in the Federal Register, March 19, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 53, Pages 13258-13259. Location: Washington Marriott Wardman Park Conference Center, 2660 Woodley Road, NW.

9:00 AM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Materials Processing Equipment Technical Advisory Committee will hold a partially closed meeting. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 25, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 57, at Page 14426. Location: Room 3884, DOC, Hoover Building, 14th Street between Pennsylvania and Constitution Aves., NW.

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Day two of a two day meeting of the National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA) Advisory Committee on the Electronic Records Archives (ACERA). See, notice in the Federal Register, March 16, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 50, at Pages 12573-12574. Location: 700 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

9:30 - 11:30 AM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled "The US Should Pick Winners". The speakers will be Robert Atkinson (ITIF), James Fallows (The Atlantic), Robert Lawrence (Harvard University), Clyde Prestowitz (Economic Strategy Institute), and Claude Barfield (American Enterprise Institute). See, notice. This event is free and open to the public. The ITIF will webcast this event. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's (ONCHIT) HIT Policy Committee's Meaningful Use Workgroup will meet by webcast and teleconference. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 17, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 51, at Pages 12752-12753.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The National Economists Club will host a lunch. Mark DeWeaver (Quantrarian Capital Management) will give a speech titled "China's Exit Strategy for Monetary Policy". Location: Darlington House, 1610 20th St., NW.

2:30 PM. The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Bureau of Economics (BOE) will host a seminar presented by Timothy Brennan (University of Maryland, Baltimore County). 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.

Day two of a four day event hosted by the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Intellectual Property Law titled "Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference". See, notice. Location: Crystal Gateway Marriott, Arlington, VA.

Day one of a two day conference hosted by the DC Bar Association titled "2010 Judicial and Bar Conference". See, conference web site. The price to attend is $150. Location: Ronald Reagan Building, International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

8:00 AM - 12:30 PM. Day three of a three day meeting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB). See, notice in the Federal Register, March 19, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 53, Pages 13258-13259. Location: Washington Marriott Wardman Park Conference Center, 2660 Woodley Road, NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will consider on the briefs Tiger Team Tech v. Synesi Group, App. Ct. No. 2009-1508, an appeal from the U.S. District Court (DMinn) in case regarding formation of a patent licensing agreement. Location: Courtroom 201, 717 Madison Place, NW.

Day three of a four day event hosted by the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Intellectual Property Law titled "Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference". See, notice. Location: Crystal Gateway Marriott, Arlington, VA.

Day two of a two day conference hosted by the DC Bar Association titled "2010 Judicial and Bar Conference". See, conference web site. The price to attend is $150. At 2:30 PM there will be a two part seminar titled "Emerging E-Communications Issues: Before, During, and After Trial". Location: Ronald Reagan Building, International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft NIST IR-7669 [17 pages in PDF] titled "Open Vulnerability Assessment Language (OVAL) Validation Program Derived Test Requirements".

Day four of a four day event hosted by the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Intellectual Property Law titled "Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference". See, notice. Location: Crystal Gateway Marriott, Arlington, VA.

The Senate will return from its spring recess.

5:30 - 8:45 PM. The DC Bar Association will host an event titled "Covenants Not To Compete". The speakers will be Edward Isler (Isler Dare Ray) and Leslie Tabackman. The price to attend ranges from $89 to $129. Most DC Bar events are not open to the public. This event qualifies for continuing legal education (CLE) credits. See, notice. For more information, call 202-626-3488. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

Deadline to submit comments to the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division regarding the proposed settlement of the DOJ's Clayton Act action against Ticketmaster and Live Nation. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 10, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 27, at Pages 6709-6728. See also, story titled "DOJ Requires Ticketmaster Live Nation to License Ticket Software and Divest Ticketing Assets" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,038, January 25, 2010.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) International Bureau (IB) to assist it in developing recommendations to the Department of State for U.S. proposals and positions at the upcoming World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) and the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). See, notice. This proceeding is IB Docket No. 10-68.