House Subcommittee to Mark Up Resolution
Disapproving FCC's BIAS Rules |
3/1. On February 16, 2011, Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR)
and others introduced
HJRes 37, a resolution disapproving of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC)
rules that regulate broadband internet access service (BIAS) providers.
HJRes 37 resolves "That Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the Federal
Communications Commission relating to the matter of preserving the open Internet and broadband
industry practices (Report and Order FCC 10-201, adopted by the Commission on December 21, 2010),
and such rule shall have no force or effect." (Parentheses in original.)
See, FCC's
Report and Order (R&O) [194 pages in PDF] adopted on December 21, 2010, and released
on December 23, 2010. This R&O is FCC 10-201 in GN Docket No. 09-191 and WC Docket No.
07-52. See also, stories in
TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No.
2,186, December 22, 2010, and
TLJ
Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,188, December 24, 2010.
Rep. Walden is the Chairman of the House
Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications and Technology (SCT). On Monday,
February 28, 2011, the HCC announced that the SCT would meet to mark up HJRes 37 on
Wednesday, March 2. See,
notice.
On Tuesday, March 1, Rep. Henry Waxman
(D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the HCC, and Rep. Anna
Eshoo (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the SCT, sent a
letter to Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), the
Chairman of the full Committee, and Rep. Walden seeking delay. They argued
that a hearing should be held before any mark up.
They wrote that there are many companies and groups that favor the FCC's rules,
and they should be heard before the SCT acts.
The two Democrats also wrote that "We are not aware of any time constraints or
deadlines that require us to act tomorrow. The FCC's rules will not go into effect for
some time, giving us plenty of opportunity to hear views that have been excluded from
the process."
Almost all of the 37 cosponsors are Republicans.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), a member of
the HCC and Vice Chair of the SCT, spoke at an event on Capitol Hill on March 1
hosted by the Tech Freedom. She stated that "there
is bipartisan opposition" to the FCC's rules.
The mark up is scheduled for 9:30 AM in Room 2123 of the Rayburn Building.
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Senate Continues Consideration of Patent
Reform Bill |
3/1. The Senate continued its consideration of S 23
[LOC |
WW], the
"Patent Reform Act of 2011", or "America Invents Act", on Tuesday, March
1, 2011. The Senate approved a managers'
amendment [PDF] that makes numerous changes to the bill.
This amendment, offered by Sen. Patrick Leahy
(D-VT), Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), and
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), changes the name of the bill
to the "America Invents Act", and addresses fee diversion, reduction of fees
for small entity patents, business method patents, and other matters.
Sen. Kyl stated in the Senate that "The big fight, once again, is over first
to file, with battle lines drawn that run extremely deep. Senator Diane
Feinstein (D-CA) is expected to file an Amendment stripping the first to file
provisions, which could be supported by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
(D-NV)." See, Congressional Record, March 1, 2011, at Page S1042.
Sen. Leahy said that "I will be offering a managers' amendment along with
Senator Grassley that incorporates additional improvements being made at the suggestion
of Senator Coburn, Senator Coons, Senator Bennet and our House counterparts, Chairman
Smith and Mr. Conyers of the House Judiciary Committee. When we adopt this managers’
amendment, I believe we will have moved very close to a consensus bill that the Senate
can and should pass to help create good jobs, encourage innovation and strengthen our
recovering economy." See, Sen. Leahy's
transcript. See also, Congressional Record, March 1, 2011, at Page S1036.
The Senate approved this amendment by a vote of 97-2. See,
Roll Call No. 27.
The Coalition for Patent Fairness, a
group that represents Adobe, Apple, Cisco, Dell, Google, Intel, Intuit, Micron,
Oracle, RIM, SAP, Symantec, and Verizon, stated in a release on March 1 that it
supports the just adopted amendment. It wrote, "Thanks to the manager's
amendment, the bill is moving in a promising direction".
However, it added that "The high tech community still supports additional
changes." For example, "We will be supporting the Risch amendment to strike the
inter parties provisions. Inter partes reexams should not be made more
burdensome with controversial changes, and these provisions should be removed
unless we have real consensus."
Fee Diversion. Sen. Leahy said that "I appreciate the efforts of the
Senator from Oklahoma to end patent fee diversion. This is a reform that
Senator Hatch and I have long supported. I appreciated his working with me and
withholding this amendment during Committee consideration. We are incorporating
his amendment in the managers’ amendment."
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) explained that
"Unfortunately, over the last 10, 15 years, $800 million of those fees have not
been left at the Patent Office. They have been taken and used somewhere else. So
when you pay a fee for a patent, that money isn't going to pay for the
examination of the patent. Right now, we find ourselves with 718,000 patents
waiting for first action. If I file a patent today, what we will see is that 26
months from now my patent will have first action -- the first reading by an
examiner."
Sen. Coburn (at right)
added that "If we want to create jobs and stay on top of the world in terms of
innovation, we cannot allow that process to continue. So what the amendment does
is say we are not going to take the money people use to pay for a patent
application and spend it somewhere else; we are actually going to spend it on
patent applications. That is what it was set up for."
The amendment would create a revolving fund at the Department of the
Treasury. Both patent and trademark fees that are paid to the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
would be directly allocated back to the USPTO.
Sen. Grassley, Sen. Sheldon
Whitehouse (D-RI) and others also argued at length for ending fee diversion
at the USPTO. Sen. Charles Schumer
(D-NY) said that the Congress should end fee diversion, not only at the USPTO,
but at the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC).
Business Method Patents. The amendment also adds a new Section 18 to
the bill that pertains to business method patents. This new section would
require the USPTO to establish "a transitional post-grant review proceeding for
review of the validity of covered business-method patents."
It further provides that "A person may not file a petition for a transitional
proceeding with respect to a covered business-method patent unless the person or
his real party in interest has been sued for infringement of the patent or has
been charged with infringement under that patent." It also addresses the
circumstances in which the District Court shall grant a stay of civil litigation.
This transitional program would sunset after four years.
The amendment defines "covered business-method patent" as "a patent that
claims a method or corresponding apparatus for performing data processing
operations utilized in the practice, administration, or management of a
financial product or service, except that the term shall not include patents for
technological inventions."
Sen. Leahy stated that "We also incorporate in the managers' amendment an
amendment from Senator Schumer that concerns business method patents. We provide
a process for their reexamination by the Patent and Trademark Office. This
should also help improve patent quality."
Sen. Schumer stated that his amendment addresses "the scourge of business
method patents currently plaguing the financial sector. Business method patents
are anathema to the protection the patent system provides because they apply not
to novel products or services but to abstract and common concepts of how to do
business."
Sen.
Schumer (at right) continued that "Often, business method patents are issued for
practices that have been in widespread use in the financial industry for years,
such as check imaging or one-click checkout. Because of the nature of the
financial services industry, those practices aren't identifiable by the PTO as
prior art and bad patents are issued. The holders of business method patents
then attempt to extract settlements from the banks by suing them in
plaintiff-friendly courts and tying them up in years of extremely costly
litigation."
He said that the amendment "will allow companies that are the target of one
of these frivolous business method patent lawsuits to go back to the PTO and
demonstrate, with the appropriate prior art, that the patent shouldn't have been
issued in the first place. That way bad patents can be knocked out in an
efficient administrative proceeding, avoiding costly litigation."
And, he said that "One of the most critical elements of this amendment has to
do with the stay of litigation while review of the patent is pending at the PTO.
The amendment includes a four-factor test for the granting of a stay that places
a very heavy thumb on the scale in favor of the stay."
Enforcement Abroad. This bill reforms U.S. patent law. It does not
pertain to enforcement of patents by other countries, or efforts by the
Office
of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) and other entities to obtain greater
protection of patents abroad.
However, Senators discussed enforcement. For example, Sen. Coburn said that "It
is amazing how much of our intellectual property is being stolen by China today. I wish to
relate a conversation I had with their Secretary of Commerce -- their equivalent
to ours -- in China 3 years ago. I asked him about intellectual property rights.
He was bold in his statement to say: We are not going to honor them. We are a
developing nation and you would not have honored them either -- even though they
are a signatory to the World Trade Organization."
Sen. Coburn continued that "It is important we understand whom we are dealing
with -- people who will cheat and steal intellectual property from America.
Fixing the patent apparatus will help us get there, but it is just as important
to have tough laws on our books that create sanctions on nations that do not
honor intellectual property."
Other Patent Related Provisions. Sen. Leahy also added that "We incorporate
suggestions from the House about the removal of certain
damages and venue provisions that are no longer necessary in light of recent
court decisions, such as the so-called gatekeeper provision."
Federal Spending. This patent reform bill is also operating as a vehicle for
Senate Republicans, Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) and
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), to
pursue legislation to limit federal spending and address the federal debt.
Sen. Leahy stated that "What we should not do is delay or sacrifice the job
creating potential of this bill to a side debate about the debt limit or whether
to amend the Constitution of the United States. The bipartisan America Invents
Act is too important to be turned into a mere vehicle to launch speeches and
debates about pet causes. This is not the bill to have debates about whether if
the U.S. were to reach its debt ceiling the Government should favor paying
creditors like the Chinese before meeting its other obligations to the American
people. That theoretical debate has nothing to do with the patent reform in
this bill."
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About Tech Law
Journal |
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 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 1998-2011 David Carney. All rights reserved.
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In This
Issue |
This issue contains the following items:
• House Subcommittee to Mark Up Resolution Disapproving FCC's BIAS Rules
• Senate Continues Consideration of Patent Reform Bill
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Washington Tech
Calendar
New items are highlighted in
red. |
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Wednesday, March 2 |
The House will meet at 10:00 AM for morning hour,
and at 12:00 NOON for legislative business. See, Rep. Cantor's
schedule for week of
February 28.
The Senate will meet at 10:00 AM. It may
resume consideration of S 23
[LOC |
WW],
the "Patent Reform Act" or "America Invents Act".
8:30 AM - 4:45 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 discussion of a
"National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace" and other topics. See,
notice in the Federal Register,
February 11, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 29, at Page 7818. Location: Homewood Suites by Washington,
1475 Massachusetts Ave., NW.
9:00 AM - 1:30 PM. The Institute for
Policy Innovation (IPI) will host its third annual event titled "Communications
Summit". The keynote speakers will be
Meredith Baker (FCC Commissioner), former
Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), Rep. Marsha Blackburn
(R-TN), and Andrew Keen. There will be three panels. The first is titled "Network
Innovation and Internet Regulation: Friends or Enemies?". Its speakers are
Richard Bennett
(Information
Technology and Innovation Foundation), Larry Downes,
Randy May (Free State Foundation), and
Carolyn Brandon
(Georgetown University business school). The second panel is titled "Communications
Sector as a Force for Economic Growth". Its speakers are John Horrigan
(TechNet),
Jeffrey Eisenach
(Navigant Economics), and Michael Mandel
(Progressive Policy Institute). The third panel is
titled "Our Spot in the World -- A Global Perspective of Wireless &
Innovation". Its speakers are
Philip Verveer (U.S. Coordinator
for International Communications and Information Policy, Department of State),
David Gross (Wiley
Rein), and Christopher Boam (Verizon). See,
notice. Location: Reserve Officers Association Building, 5th Floor, One
Constitution Ave., NE.
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, February 16, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 32, at Page 9001. Location: DOC, Room 6087B,
Hoover Building, 14th Street between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, NW.
9:00 AM. The Joint Center
for Political and Economic Studies will host a panel discussion titled "National
Broadband Plan and the Underserved -- One Year Later". See,
notice. Location:
National Press Club, 13th floor, 529 14th St., NW.
9:30 AM. The
House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will meet to
mark up HJRes 37, a resolution disapproving the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) rules
regulating broadband internet access service (BIAS) providers. See,
notice. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn
Building.
10:00 AM. The House
Appropriations Committee's (HAC) Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science will hold
a hearing on the FY 2012 budget for the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO). The witness will be David Kappos. Location: Room
H-309, Capitol Building.
10:00 AM. The House
Financial Services Committee (HFSC) will hold a hearing titled "Monetary Policy
and the State of the Economy". The witness will be Ben Bernanke. See,
notice. Location: Room 2128, Rayburn Building.
10:00 AM - 1:00 PM. The House
Intelligence Committee (HIC) will hold a closed hearing titled "Ongoing Intelligence
Activities". See,
notice. Location?
10:00 AM. The Senate
Appropriations Committee (SAC) will hold a hearing on the
Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) budget request for FY 2012. Janet Napolitano
(Secretary of Homeland Security) will testify. See,
notice. Location:
Room 138, Dirksen Building.
10:00 AM. The Senate Commerce
Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing titled "The Future of American Manufacturing:
Maintaining America's Competitive Edge". The witnesses will include Gary Locke,
Secretary of Commerce. See,
notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM. The Office of the U.S. Trade
Representative (OUSTR) will hold a hearing regarding Special 301 designations. The
Trade Act of 1974, in what is commonly known as its Special 301 provisions, requires the
executive branch to identify countries that fail to protect the IPR and
market access of U.S. companies, and take certain actions
against those countries. See, OUSTR
calendar. Location: OUSTR, 1724 F St., NW.
12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) will hold a meeting titled "Meet the
Federal Communications Commission's Office of General Counsel". The
participants will be Austin Schlick (FCC General Counsel), Julie Veach (Deputy
General Counsel for Administrative Law), and Peter Karanjia (Deputy General
Counsel for Litigation). The FCBA states that this is an FCBA event. Location:
Jenner & Block, 1099 New York Ave., NW.
2:00 PM. The House Appropriations
Committee (SAC) will hold a hearing on the Department of
Homeland Security's (DHS) budget request for FY 2012. Janet Napolitano (Secretary of
Homeland Security) will testify. Location: Room 2359, Rayburn Building.
1:00 - 2:00 PM. The Center
for American Progress (CAP) will host an event titled "Harnessing Trade for Shared
Growth, American Competitiveness and Just Jobs". The speaker will be U.S. Trade
Representative Ron Kirk. See,
notice.
Location: CAP, 10th floor, 1333 H St., NW.
3:00 PM. The
Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing titled "Nominations".
The witnesses will be Goodwin Liu (nominated to be a Judge of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit), Kevin
Sharp (USDC/MDTenn), Roy Dalton (USDC/MDFl), Claire Cecchi (USDC/DNJ), and Esther Salas
(USDC/DNJ). See, notice.
The SJC will webcast this event. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.
FURTHER EXTENDED TO APRIL 13. Extended deadline to
submit reply comments to the Library of Congress's
(LOC) Copyright Office (CO) in response to its
Notice of Inquiry (NOI) regarding federal coverage of sound recordings fixed before February
15, 1972. See, notice in the
Federal Register, November 3, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 212, at Pages 67777-67781. This notice states
that the deadline to submit reply comments is December 3, 2010. The LOC web site corrects the
reply comment deadline: January 19, 2011. See also,
correction notice in the
Federal Register, November 18, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 222, at Pages 70704-70705. This proceeding
is LOC Docket No. 2010-4. See also, story titled "Library of Congress Issues NOI on
Extending Copyright Act to Pre 1972 Sound Recordings" in
TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No.
2,150, November 8, 2010. See also,
extension notice in the
Federal Register, December 1, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 230, at Pages 74749-74750.
See, further
extension notice in the Federal Register, February 24, 2011, Vol. 76, No.
37, at Pages 10405-10406.
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Thursday, March 3 |
The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. See,
Rep. Cantor's schedule for week of
February 28.
8:30 AM - 5:30 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, February 11, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 29, at Page 7818. Location:
Homewood Suites by Washington, 1475 Massachusetts Ave., NW.
10:00 AM. The
House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee
on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade will hold a hearing titled "Innovation in
Job Creation and Economic Growth". See,
notice. Location: Room 2322, Rayburn Building.
10:00 AM. The Senate
Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda
includes consideration of S 193
[LOC |
WW], the
"USA PATRIOT Act Sunset Extension Act of 2011". It also includes
consideration of two judicial nominees: Caitlin Halligan, to be a Judge of the
U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir), Mae D'Agostino
(USDC/NDNY), Jimmie Reyna (USCA/FedCir), John Kronstadt (USDC/CDCal), Vincent
Briccetti (USDC/SDNY), Arenda Allen (USDC/EDVa), and Michael Urbanski (USDC/WDVa).
The SJC rarely follows its published agendas. The SJC will webcast this event. See,
notice. Location:
Room 226, Dirksen Building.
10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The
National
Industrial Security Program Policy Advisory Committee (NISPPAC) will
meet. See, notice
in the Federal Register, February 7, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 25, at Pages
6636-6637. Location: National Archives and Records Administration, Archivist's
Reception Room, Room 105, 700 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.
10:00 AM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold an event
titled "open meeting". The FCC will meet at 10:00 AM to adopt the three items
regarding tribal lands. The FCC will meet at 2:00 PM to adopt a NPRM on retransmission
consent, a NPRM on expanding the Lifeline and Linkup universal service subsidy
programs to include broadband, and two NPRMs on disability access. See, FCC
agenda [4 pages in PDF], and story titled "FCC Releases Agenda for March 3
Meeting" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,199, February 28, 2011. The FCC will webcast
this event. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th St., SW.
12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal
Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host a brown bag lunch titled
"What You Need To Know About Cross-Border Transactions at the FCC" and
"Discussion of the FCC Regulatory Processes for International Transfers of Control,
Assignments, and Other Transactions". The speakers will be David Krech (FCC's
International Bureau), Neil Chilson (Wilkinson Barker Knauer), Jeffrey Carlisle (LightSquared),
Kalpak Gude (Intelsat), Colleen King (Wiley Rein), Erin Emmott (TELUS Communications). For
more information, contact Mark Brennan (Hogan Lovells) at mark dot brennan at hoganlovells
dot com or Jennifer Ullman (J Group Planning & Consulting) at jennifer at
thejgroupplanning dot com. Location: Wiley Rein, 10th floor, 1750 K St., NW.
4:00 - 6:00 PM. The New America
Foundation (NAF) will host an event titled "Can Technology Save Foreign Aid?".
See, notice.
Location: NAF, Suite 400, 1899 L St., NW.
Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding its
CORES Registration System. The FCC adopted this NPRM on November 19, 2010, and released
the text on December 7, 2010. It is FCC 10-192 in MD Docket No. 10-234. See, Federal Register,
February 1, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 21, at Pages 5651-5677.
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Friday, March 4 |
The House will meet at 2:00 PM in pro forma session. See, Rep.
Cantor's schedule for week of
February 28.
Supreme Court conference day (discussion of argued
cases, and decision on cert petitions). Closed.
8:30 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). The agenda includes discussion of undergraduate
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. See,
notice in the
Federal Register, February 11, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 29, at Page 7818. Location:
Homewood Suites by Washington, 1475 Massachusetts Ave., NW.
12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The
Technology Policy Institute (TPI) will host a panel discussion titled "Online
Privacy after the DOC and FTC Reports". The speakers will be William Kovacic (FTC
Commissioner), Daniel Sepulveda (Sen. John Kerry's staff), Daniel Weitzner (NTIA), Catherine
Tucker (MIT business school), and Tom Lenard (TPI). See,
notice. Lunch will be
served. The event is free and open to the public. Location: Room B-340, Rayburn Building.
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Monday, March 7 |
1:30 - 5:30 PM. The Public
Knowledge (PK) will host a half day conference titled "Toward a Copyright
Office for the 21st Century". See,
notice.
• 1:30 PM. Opening by Gigi Sohn (PK).
• 1:35 PM. Keynote by Maria Pallante (acting Register of Copyright).
• 2:05 PM. Panel titled "Modernizing the Copyright Registration & Recordation
Systems". The speakers will be Tracey Armstrong (
Copyright Clearance Center), Leila Boujnane (TinEye), James Cavanaugh
(American Society of Media Photographers), Jule Sigall
(Microsoft), Pallante, and Michael Weinberg (PK).
• 3:30 PM. Keynote by Aneesh Chopra (EOP's Office of Science and Technology Policy).
• 4:00 PM. Panel titled "Making the Copyright Office a Model of Openness and
Transparency". The speakers will be Tom Lee (Sunlight Labs), Jamie Love (Knowledge
Ecology), Stephanie Moore (Minority Counsel, House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on
Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet), Pallante, and Sohn.
Location: Mandarin Oriental, 1330 Maryland Ave., SW.
Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its
Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [18 pages in PDF] regarding expanding the scope of the
permitted operations of the Travelers' Information Stations (TIS). The FCC adopted this item
on December 29, 2010, and released the text on December 30, 2010. It is FCC 10-203 in PS Docket
No. 09-19. See, notice
in the Federal Register, January 19, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 12, at Pages
3064-3069. See also, story titled "FCC Releases NPRM Regarding Government Low
Power AM" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,191, January 3, 2011.
Deadline to submit comments to the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) regarding proposed changes to its Prioritized
Examination Track (Track I) of the Enhanced Examination Timing Control Procedures. See,
notice in the
Federal Register, February 4, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 24, at Pages 6369-6376. See
also, notice
in the Federal Register, June 4, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 107, at Pages 31763-31768,
and story titled "USPTO Proposes Three Track Patent Examination System" in
TLJ Daily E-Mail
Alert No. 2,092, June 4, 2010.
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Tuesday, March 8 |
8:00 -10:00 AM. Broadband Census News LLC will host a panel discussion
titled "Patent Reform in the 112th Congress". The speakers will include
retired Judge Paul Michel. Breakfast will be served. This event is free and open to the
public. See, notice and registration
page. This event is also sponsored by the National Cable
& Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and the
Public Knowledge (PK). Location: Clyde's of
Gallery Place, 707 7th St., NW.
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM. The Executive Office of the President's (EOP) Office
of Science and Technology Policy's (OSTP)
President's Council of
Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) will hold a partially closed meeting. See,
notice in the
Federal Register, February 10, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 28, at Pages 7593-7594.
Location: Marriott Metro Center, Junior Ballroom, 775 12th St., NW.
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, February 2, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 22, at Page 5810.
Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room (Room TW-C305), 445 12th St., SW.
1:00 - 3:00 PM. The National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Science
Board (NSB) will meet by teleconference. See,
notice in the
Federal Register, March 1, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 40, at Page 11288.
2:30 PM. The Senate Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (SHSGAC) will
hold a hearing on the nomination of Heather Higginbottom to be Deputy
Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). See,
notice. Location: Room 342, Dirksen Building.
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Wednesday, March 9 |
8:30 AM. Day one of a two day partially closed meeting of the Department of
Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS)
Emerging Technology and Research Advisory
Committee. The Wednesday portion of the meeting is open to the public. It will be on
site and teleconferenced. See,
notice in the Federal Register, February 23, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 36, at Pages 10004-10005.
Location: DOC, Room 3884, Hoover Building, 14th Street between Pennsylvania
and Constitution Avenues, NW.
8:30 - 11:30 AM. The Information
Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host an event titled "The Obama
Administration's Innovation Policy". The speakers will be Aneesh Chopra, Austan
Goolsbee, Philip Weiser, and Robert Atkinson (ITIF). See,
notice.
Location: Hamilton Crowne Plaza, 1001 14th St., NW.
9:30 AM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) North American
Numbering Council (NANC) will meet. See,
notice in the
Federal Register, February 8, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 26, at Pages 6787-6788.
Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room.
10:00 AM. The Senate Finance
Committee will hold a hearing titled "The President’s 2011 Trade Agenda".
The witness will be U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk. See,
notice. Location: Room 215, Dirksen Building.
1:00 - 5:00 PM. The Department of Homeland
Security's (DHS) Data
Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee will meet. The agenda includes discussion of
implementation of privacy protections in DHS operations, cybersecurity efforts, USCIS
implementation of DHS privacy policy, and privacy protections for DHS use of social media.
See, notice in the Federal
Register, February 15, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 31, at Pages 8754-8755. Location: Carl Hayden Room,
8th floor, U.S. Government Printing Office, 732 North Capitol St., NW.
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