8/16. A dispute settlement panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO) released its report [490 pages in PDF] holding that the European Union violated its WTO obligations by imposing tariffs on certain flat panel display devices, set top boxes, and multifunction printers imported from the U.S., Japan, and Taiwan.

Ron Kirk, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), stated in a release that "This is an important victory for U.S. technology manufacturers and workers, as well as the millions of consumers who use these products every day at work and at home, and a prime example of how USTR and the Obama Administration are enforcing trade agreements that are vital to U.S. interests".

Kirk (at right) added that "This ruling affirms the principle that changes in technology are not an excuse to apply new duties to products covered by the Information Technology Agreement. Technological innovation drives economic growth and improves living standards for working families and consumers in all countries. The high-tech sector is a vital part of our economy and has played a leading role in many states' economic growth."

The USTR filed its complaint with the WTO on May 28, 2008, alleging that the EU's tariffs on tech products violate the 1996 Information Technology Agreement (ITA) [18 pages in PDF]. See, story titled "US and Japan File Complaints with WTO Regarding EU Duties on Tech Products" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,776, June 4, 2008.

The EU argued that since the technology had advanced, these tech products were no longer covered by the ITA.

The WTO panel held that the products are all covered and that the tariffs violate the ITA. It requested the EU to bring its tariffs into compliance.

8/13. President Obama signed and released a notice titled "Continuation of Emergency Regarding Export Control Regulations". President Obama, and before him, President Bush, routinely issue an emergency notice every year at about this time that maintains in effect the export regulations of the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).

There was once a statute titled the "Export Administration Act". It expired in 2001. Some members of the House and Senate worked on enacting replacement legislation in 2001 and 2002. However, no replacement bill was enacted, and there has been little legislative activity since on this subject.

Meanwhile, the BIS, which was formerly named the Bureau of Export Administration (BXA), continues to revise and enforce implementing regulations. These regulations pertain to, among other things, exports and "deemed exports" of dual use items, such as computers, software, and encryption products. These regulations also regulate employment in some situations.

The just released notice states that "Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice, stating that the emergency caused by the lapse of the Export Administration Act of 1979, as amended, is to continue in effect for 1 year beyond August 17, 2010."

See also, notice in the Federal Register, August 16, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 157, at Pages 50679-50681.

8/16. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [pages in PDF] titled "Critical Infrastructure Protection: Key Private and Public Cyber Expectations Need to Be Consistently Addressed".

The report finds that "Private sector stakeholders reported that they expect their federal partners to provide usable, timely, and actionable cyber threat information and alerts; access to sensitive or classified information; a secure mechanism for sharing information; security clearances; and a single centralized government cybersecurity organization to coordinate government efforts."

However, the report also finds that the private sector stakeholders state that "federal partners are not consistently meeting these expectations. For example, less than one-third of private sector respondents reported that they were receiving actionable cyber threat information and alerts to a great or moderate extent."

The report also finds that government officials expect private sector stakeholders to share more confidential and proprietary information, but that these private sector entities are reluctant to do so.

It elaborates that "while the government coordinating councils reported receiving timely and actionable cyber threat and alert information from the private sector, there are limits to the depth and specificity of the information provided, according to federal officials. One issue is that private sector stakeholders do not want to share their sensitive, proprietary information with the federal government. In addition, information security companies could lose a competitive advantage by sharing information with the government which, in turn, could share it with those companies' competitors."

The report concludes that "Without improvements in meeting private and public sector expectations, the partnerships will remain less than optimal, and there is a risk that owners of critical infrastructure will not have the appropriate information and mechanisms to thwart sophisticated cyber attacks that could have catastrophic effects on our nation’s cyber-reliant critical infrastructure."

8/13. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released the text [64 pages in PDF] of a notice to be published in the Federal Register that announces, describes, recites, and sets the comment deadline for, proposed changes to its Hart Scott Rodino Rules and the form that the FTC and Department of Justice (DOJ) require companies to file under the Hart Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act. The premerger notification and waiting period provisions of the HSR Act are Section 7A of the Clayton Act, and are codified at 15 U.S.C. § 18a. Comments are due by October 18, 2010. As of the August 18, 2010, issue of the Federal Register, this notice had not yet been published.

The notice states that the FTC "proposes substantive and ministerial revisions, deletions and additions to streamline the Form and make it easier to prepare while focusing the Form on those categories of information the Agencies consider necessary for their initial review."

It also states that the FTC "proposes amending certain Rules and parts of the Form and Instructions, as well as the addition of Items 4(d) and 7(d), in order to capture additional information that would significantly assist the Agencies in their initial review".

It also states that the FTC proposes changes "to §§801.1, 801.15, 801.30, 802.4, 802.21, 802.52, 803.2 and 803.5, primarily to address minor omissions from the Commission’s 2005 rulemaking involving unincorporated entities, and an amendment to §802.21 is proposed to remove the reference to the 2001 transition period."

8/18. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Bill Kovacic and former Commissioner Pamela Harbour will speak at a webcast event on September 2, 2010, titled "The Future of Section 5 Enforcement". This event pertains to the FTC's assertion that it can bring administrative antitrust actions in the nature of Section 1 and 2 Sherman Act cases, but instead under Section 5 of the FTC Act, which is codified at 15 U.S.C. § 45. See, story titled "FTC and Intel Settle Antitrust Claims" and stories titled "Reaction to the FTC Intel Settlement" and "Commentary on Antitrust Processes" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,018, August 4, 2010. See also, story titled "FTC Files Antitrust Charges Against Intel by Administrative Complaint Under FTC Act" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,024, December 17, 2009. See, event notice.

8/18. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a notice in the Federal Register that announces that the IMS Global Learning Consortium has disclosed, pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, changes to its membership. See, Federal Register, August 18, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 159, at Page 51114.

8/18. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a notice in the Federal Register that announces that the PXI Systems Alliance has disclosed, pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, changes to its membership. See, Federal Register, August 18, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 159, at Page 51115.

8/18. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it seeks nominations for membership on its Emergency Response Interoperability Center Public Safety Advisory Committee. Nominations are due by September 17, 2010. See, FCC Public Notice.

8/9. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the House Majority Leader, announced the promotion of Katie Grant to Communications Director, the hiring of Daniel Reilly as Press Secretary, the promotion of Maureen Beach to Deputy Press Secretary, and the hiring of Mariel Saez as Press Assistant.

8/17. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a notice in the Federal Register that announces and explains a change to the procedure for the review of appeal briefs filed in inter partes reexamination proceeding appeals. The USPTO stated that the "Chief Judge of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) or his designee ... will have the sole responsibility for determining whether appeal briefs filed in inter partes reexamination proceedings ... comply with the applicable regulations, and will complete the determination before the appeal brief is forwarded to the examiner for consideration. The examiner will no longer review appeal briefs for compliance with the applicable regulations." The USPTO added that this should reduce inter partes reexamination proceeding appeal pendency. This change is effective August 17, 2010. See, Federal Register, August 17, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 158, at Page 50750-50751.

8/16. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) set comment deadlines for its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Notice of Inquiry (NPRM) [43 pages in PDF] regarding terrestrial broadband services within spectrum allocated to mobile satellite services (MSS). Deadline to submit initial comments is September 15, 2010. The deadline to submit reply comments is September 30, 2010. This NOI is FCC 10-126 in ET Docket No. 10-142. The FCC adopted and released this NOI on July 15, 2010. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 16, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 157, Pages 49871-49879. See also, story titled "FCC Adopts NPRM and NOI Regarding Use of MSS Spectrum for Mobile Broadband" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,105, July 15, 2010.

8/13. The Department of State (DOS) published a notice in the Federal Register that announces that the charter of its International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) has been renewed for an additional two years. See, Federal Register, August 13, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 156, at Page 49547.

The Senate will not meet. It will next meet on September 13, 2010.

The House will not meet. It will next meet at 2:00 PM on September 14, 2010.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Inquiry (NOI) [25 pages in PDF] regarding its video relay service (VRS) rules. The FCC adopted this NOI on June 8, 2010, and released the text on June 28, 2010. This NOI is FCC 10-111 in CG Docket No. 10-51. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 19, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 137, at Pages 41863-41866.

6:00 - 9:15 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a panel discussion titled "Part 2: Software Patent Primer: Acquisition, Exploitation, Enforcement and Defense". The speakers will be Stephen Parker (Westerman, Hattori), Brian Rosenbloom (Figg Ernst), Martin Zoltick (Rothwell Figg). The price to attend ranges from $89 to $129. Reporters are barred from attending most DC Bar events. This event qualifies for CLE credits. See, notice. For more information, call 202-626-3488. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding revising its Part 17 rules regarding the construction, marking, and lighting of antenna structures. The FCC adopted this NPRM on April 12, 2010, and released the text [54 pages in PDF] on April 20, 2010. It is FCC 10-53 in WT Docket No. 10-88. Federal Register, May 21, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 98, at Pages 28517-28540.

Deadline to submit comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) regarding its proposed three track patent examination system. See, notice in the Federal Register, June 4, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 107, at Pages 31763-31768. See also, story titled "USPTO Proposes Three Track Patent Examination System" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,092, June 4, 2010.

Deadline to submit comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) regarding its "interim final rules" amending the Rules of Practice in Trademark Cases to implement the Trademark Technical and Conforming Amendment Act of 2010. President Obama signed this Act, S 2968 [LOC | WW], into law on March 17, 2010. It is Public Law 111-146. See, notice in the Federal Register, June 24, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 121, at Pages 35973-35977.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding license renewals, discontinuance of operations, geographic partitioning, and spectrum disaggregation for certain Wireless Radio Services. The FCC adopted this NPRM on May 20, 2010, and released the text [71 pages in PDF] on May 25, 2010. It is FCC 10-86 in WT Docket No. 10-112. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 7, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 129, at Pages 38959-38974.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. Day two of a two day conference titled "Homeland Security 2020: The Future of Defending the Homeland" hosted by the Heritage Foundation. Day two is titled "Science and Technology". See, notice. Location: Heritage, 214 Massachusetts Ave., NE.

9:30 - 10:30 AM. The National Press Club (NPC) will host a class titled "Web 2.0 Tools". The price to attend ranges from $20 to $30. For more information, contact Beth Shankle at 202-662-7509 or bshankle at press dot org. Location: NPC, 13th floor, 529 14th St. NW.

11:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The National Press Club (NPC) will host a class titled "Advanced Google Search". The price to attend ranges from $20 to $30. For more information, contact Beth Shankle at 202-662-7509 or bshankle at press dot org. Location: NPC, 13th floor, 529 14th St. NW.

8/24. 1:00 - 2:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast and teleconferenced event titled "The Judges’ Roundtable on E-Discovery and Ethics". Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice.

1:30 - 2:30 PM. The National Press Club (NPC) will host a class titled "Twittering Away". The price to attend ranges from $20 to $30. For more information, contact Beth Shankle at 202-662-7509 or bshankle at press dot org. Location: NPC, 13th floor, 529 14th St. NW.

3:00 - 4:00 PM. The National Press Club (NPC) will host a class titled "Reporting from Facebook". The price to attend ranges from $20 to $30. For more information, contact Beth Shankle at 202-662-7509 or bshankle at press dot org. Location: NPC, 13th floor, 529 14th St. NW.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and Further NPRM [36 pages in PDF] regarding "prescribing a point to point predictive model for determining the ability of individual locations to receive an over the air digital television broadcast signal at the intensity level needed for service through the use of an antenna" (NPRM), and "determining eligibility of satellite subscribers for receiving distant network signals from their satellite TV provider using on-location testing/measurements" (FNPRM). The NPRM is required by the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010 (STELA), which the Congress enacted in May. See, story titled "Obama Signs Satellite TV Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,089, May 28, 2010. The FCC adopted and released this item on July 28, 2010. It is FCC 10-133 in ET Docket Nos. 10-152 and 06-94. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 4, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 149, at Pages 46885-46894.

9:00 AM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Materials Processing Equipment Technical Advisory Committee (MPETAC) will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 6, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 151, at Page 47546. Location: DOC, Room 3884, 14th Street between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, NW.

1:00 - 2:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast and teleconferenced event titled "Implications of Bilski on Patenting Tax Strategies". The speakers will be Dennis Drapkin (Jones Day), Ellen Aprill (Loyola Law School), Barry Grossman (Foley & Lardner), and Matthew Young (AICPA). Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice.

1:00 - 2:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast and teleconferenced event titled "Using Technology in the Courtroom: Preparing for Your First Use of Technology". Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice.

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.