3/28. Joaquín Almunia, the European Commission's (EC) lead antitrust official, gave a speech in Copenhagen, Denmark, on March 8, 2012, titled "Competition policy for innovation and growth: Keeping markets open and efficient". He will give a speech in Washington DC on March 30 titled "Competition Policy for the Post Crisis Era". US antitrust regulators Sharis Pozen and Edith Ramirez will also speak at the same event.

He stated in his March 8 speech that antitrust agencies should not ease off on enforcement during economic downturns. "I hear some voices recommending that we should go a bit softer on companies in these lean years. But I have a completely different opinion."

Almunia (at right) reasoned that "Anti-competitive behaviour imposes a hidden cost on consumers and on the companies that play by the rules and neither can afford this extra cost during a downturn. We must strengthen our vigilance because when a company breaks competition law it undermines the efforts of regulators to build more efficient markets; it saps the energy of our economy and ultimately slows our progress towards the recovery."

However, he once again devoted much of his speech to information technology, interoperability, and standard essential patents (SEPs). He addressed this subject in a speech of February 10, 2012. See, story titled "EC's Almunia Addresses Patents and Communications Standards" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,335, February 13, 2012.

He will give a speech in Washington DC at 2:30 PM on Friday, September 30, 2012, at an event in the Great Hall in the Department of Justice's (DOJ) main building.

The other speakers at this event will be acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the DOJ's Antitrust Division Sharis Pozen (at left), FTC Commissioner Edith Ramirez, and John Shenefield (Morgan Lewis).

The DOJ is also grappling with the application of competition law to ICT and SEPs. See, stories titled "DOJ Closes Investigations of Transactions Involving Communications Patents" and "EC Approves Google Acquisition of Motorola Mobility" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,335, February 13, 2012.

Almunia stated on March 8 that "When markets are competitive, companies naturally want to improve processes and diversify their goods and services from their competitors. And undoubtedly, markets are most conducive to innovation when they are open and accessible to all. In industries -- such as IT -- where barriers can be erected using patents and technical standards, competition policy limits the establishment of closed gardens and fosters interoperability across products and services."

He discussed the EC's investigation of MathWorks. The EC announced in a release on March 1, 2012, that the EC "opened a formal investigation to assess whether The MathWorks Inc., a U.S.-based software company, has distorted competition in the market for the design of commercial control systems by preventing competitors from achieving interoperability with its products".

Almunia said that MathWorks' "software products are widely used for designing and simulating control systems that are deployed in many innovative industries such as in cruise control or anti-lock braking systems (ABS) for cars."

"Allegedly, the company is refusing to provide competitors with end-user licences. This means that competitors cannot lawfully reverse-engineer MathWorks' software in order to achieve interoperability with its widely used products." He continued that "As in the Microsoft case, the issue of software interoperability is central to this fresh investigation. In Microsoft the Commission found that a dominant company limits innovation to the detriment of consumers if it does not provide interoperability information for its products."

"If the investigation shows that MathWorks did refuse to licence, this might -- depending on the other circumstances of the case -- amount to an abuse of a dominant position."

He then stated that "Issues of access and interoperability are closely linked to the use -- and abuse -- of patents and intellectual property rights. I have been following with interest the patent wars among mobile-device firms."

He said that "both competition authorities and courts should intervene to ensure that standard-essential patents are not used to block competition".

He also discussed the EC's investigation of the Korean company Samsung -- another European assertion of authority to regulate technology companies located outside of Europe, and which do most of their business outside of Europe.

The EC stated in a release on January 31, 2012, that it has "opened a formal investigation to assess whether Samsung Electronics has abusively, and in contravention of a commitment it gave to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), used certain of its standard essential patent rights to distort competition in European mobile device markets, in breach of EU antitrust rules".

Almunia stated that the Samsung investigation concerns whether Samsung "may have misused the standard-essential patents that it holds and failed to honour its commitment to licence them at terms that are fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory."

He continued that "Similar issues arise in the recent complaints of Apple and Microsoft against Motorola." See, story titled "Microsoft Complains to EC Regarding Google's Abuse of Standard Essential Patents" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,344, February 22, 2012.

Google announced its plans to acquire Motorola Mobility in August of 2011. See, story titled "Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,290, August 15, 2011. The DOJ approved the transaction in February.

Almunia stated in his March 8 speech that "standardised technology is the basis for the IT industry to function. Different devices can exchange information and work with each other only thanks to commonly agreed standards. To build a smartphone one needs thousands of standard-essential patents. The holders of these patents have considerable market power and can effectively hold-up the entire industry with the threat of banning competitors' products from the market through injunctions for patent infringements."

"By threatening to use injunctions, these companies can also make demands that their commercial partners would not accept under normal circumstances. For example, fearing exclusion from the market, companies might be forced to share valuable patented inventions with a competitor or pay excessive royalties which are then passed on to consumers."

He continued that "this may distort competition and reduce the incentives of companies to invest in competing technologies. For instance, one of the potential competition issues we investigated in the Google/Motorola merger was whether, post-merger, the threat of injunctions could be used by Google to extract patent cross-licences from competitors on terms they would otherwise not have agreed to. We came to the conclusion that the market situation was not significantly changed by the transaction so the merger was cleared.

He also warned that "this merger clearance does not bless all actions by Motorola in the past or all future action by Google with regard to the use of these standard essential patents."

He concluded with the statement that "I am determined to use antitrust enforcement whenever necessary to prevent any anti-competitive conduct by holders of standard essential patents in the future."

3/15. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) that announces that the Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC) filed a notification of a change in its membership, pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, which pertains to limiting antitrust liability of standard setting consortia. See, FR, Vol. 77, No. 51, Thursday, March 15, at Page 15394.

3/15. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) that announces that the DVD Copy Control Association (DVDCCA) filed a notification of a change in its membership, pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, which pertains to limiting antitrust liability of standard setting consortia. See, Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 51, Thursday, March 15, at Page 15395.

3/15. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) that announces that the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) filed a notification of a change in its membership, pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, which pertains to limiting antitrust liability of standard setting consortia. See, FR, Vol. 77, No. 51, Thursday, March 15, at Pages 15395-6.

3/8. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) that announces that the Accellera Systems filed a notification of a change in its membership, pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, which pertains to limiting antitrust liability of standard setting consortia. See, FR, Vol. 77, No. 46, Thursday, March 8, at Pages 14045-14046.

3/2. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) that announces that the IMS Global Learning Consortium filed a notification of a change in its membership, pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, which pertains to limiting antitrust liability of standard setting consortia. See, FR, Vol. 77, No. 42, Friday, March 2, at Page 12881.

2/16. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) that announces that the PXI Systems Alliance filed a notification of a change in its membership, pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, which pertains to limiting antitrust liability of standard setting consortia. See, FR, Vol. 77, No. 32, Thursday, February 16, 2012, at Pages 9265-9266.

2/16. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) ntitrust Division published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) that announces that the ODVA filed a notification of a change in its membership, pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, which pertains to limiting antitrust liability of standard setting consortia. See, FR, Vol. 77, No. 32, Thursday, February 16, 2012, at Page 9266.

2/16. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) that announces that the Interchangeable Virtual Instruments Foundation filed a notification of a change in its membership, pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, which pertains to limiting antitrust liability of standard setting consortia. See, FR, Vol. 77, No. 32, Thursday, February 16, 2012, at Page 9266.

3/28. The Copyright Office (CO) published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) that announces, describes, and sets the comment deadline for, its latest proposed increases in fees.

The CO proposes to raise the registration fee for filing an online claim from $35 to $65, and raise the fee for filing a claim using a paper application from $65 to $100. This notice states that the CO now "receives approximately 87% of new copyright claims electronically through its online filing system". This notice also states that the CO proposes a new fee of $45 for single authors filing an online claim for a single work that is not a work made for hire.

The deadline to submit comments is May 14, 2012. See, FR, Vol. 77, No. 60, Wednesday, March 28, 2012, at Pages 18742-18748.

See also, stories titled "Copyright Office Raises Fees" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,383, June 2, 2006, and "Copyright Office Proposes to Raise Registration Fees" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,843, October 15, 2008.

The CO is raising fees steeply, and often. With these latest proposed fee increases, the price of a single paper filing will have risen from $30 to $100 in six years.

This eight page notice does not address the extent to which the CO's fees prevent authors from obtaining the protections afforded by registration, disincent authorship and creation of works, and/or encourage copyright infringement.

3/28. The Copyright Office (CO) published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) that announces, describes, recites, and sets the effective date for, its rules changes eliminating the Form CO application for copyright registration.

The CO notice states that "The removal of Form CO leaves applicants a choice of filing an application for registration electronically or by using the appropriate printed application form relating to the subject matter of the application. The amendment also removes the references to CON 1 and CON 2 continuation sheets, which were never developed or made available to the public; the regulations instead now refer only to the continuation sheets currently available for applicants filing paper applications and makes other housekeeping amendments relating to applications for copyright registration."

The effective date is July 1, 2012. See, FR, Vol. 77, No. 60, Wednesday, March 28, 2012, at Pages 18705-18707.

The CO published a notice in the FR proposing to eliminate Form CO last year. See, FR, Vol. 76, No. 190, Friday, September 30, 2011.

3/28. The Public Knowledge (PK) announced that its Board of Directors appointed former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps to this Board. See, PK release.

Copps (at right) stated in this release that the "PK has been an effective champion of the public interest across the whole wide gamut of telecommunications and media issues, and I have especially admired its work toward building a news and information infrastructure that informs citizens and deepens the civic dialogue upon which our self-government depends."

The other members of the Board are Kathleen Wallman, Kevin Werbach (University of Pennsylvania business school), Leah Belsky, Susan Crawford, Maura Corbett (Glen Echo Group), Brewster Kahle (Internet Archive), Andrew McLaughlin (Tumblr), Michael Petricone (Consumer Electronics Association), and Gigi Sohn (PK President).

The PK is a Washington DC based interest group that focuses on copyright issues and government regulation of media, communications and the internet.

3/28. The Senate confirmed Miranda Du to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court (DNev) by a vote of 59-39. All of the no votes were cast by Republicans. See, Roll Call No. 61.

3/28. The Senate confirmed Susie Morgan to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court (EDLa) by a vote of 96-1. See, Roll Call No. 62.

3/28. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) notice in the Federal Register (FR) that requests comments regarding types and depth of testing that the NTIA intends to conduct in Phase II/III of the Spectrum Sharing Innovation Test Bed pilot program to assess whether devices employing Dynamic Spectrum Access techniques can share the frequency spectrum with land mobile radio systems. The deadline to submit comments is April 27, 2012. See, FR, Vol. 77, No. 60, Wednesday, March 28, 2012, at Page 18793.

3/28. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a report [219 pages in PDF] titled "2010 International Telecommunications Data". See also, FCC release.

3/28. The Copyright Office (CO) published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) that contains its final list of stations listed in affidavits sent to the CO in which the owner or licensee of the station attests that the station qualifies as a specialty station in accordance with the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) definition of specialty station. The CO will use this list "to verify the specialty station status of those stations identified as such by cable systems on their semi-annual statements of account". See, FR, Vol. 77, No. 60, Wednesday, March 28, 2012 at Pages 18869-18871.

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The House will meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business. It will complete its consideration of HConRes 112, a budget resolution. It will also consider HR 4281 [LOC | WW], the "Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012". See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for the day.

The Senate will meet at 9:30 AM. It will consider S 2230 [LOC | WW], a tax bill.

8:30 AM - 5:00 PM. Day four of a five day event hosted by the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) National Cyber Security Division (NCSD), Department of Defense (DOD), and National Institute of Standards Technology (NIST) titled "16th Semi-Annual Software Assurance (SwA) Forum". On Thursday, March 29, there will be a Static Analysis Tool Exposition (SATE) workshop. Free. Registration required. See, notice and agenda. Location: Mitre Corporation, Building MITRE-1, 7525 Colshire Drive, McLean, VA.

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Day four of a four day event hosted by the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) titled "9-1-1 Goes to Washington". This day is set aside for "Hill Visits". See, notice and agenda. Location: L’Enfant Plaza Hotel, 480 L’Enfant Plaza, SW.

9:30 AM - 2:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) North American Numbering Council (NANC) will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 42, Friday, March 2, 2012, at Pages 12839-12840. Location: Room 5-C162, FCC, 445 12th St., SW.

9:30 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda again includes consideration of the nominations of Richard Taranto to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir), Robin Rosenbaum to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court (SDFl), and Gershwin Drain to be a Judge for the USDC/EDMich. The agenda also includes, for the first time, the nominations of William Kayatta, to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals (1stCir), John Fowlkes (USDC/WDTenn), Kevin McNulty (USDC/DNJ), Michael Shipp (USDC/DNJ), and Stephanie Rose (USDC/SDIowa). The SJC will webcast this event. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade will hold a hearing tilted "Balancing Privacy and Innovation: Does the President's Proposal Tip the Scale?". See, notice. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

TIME CHANGE. 10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. 9:30 - 11:30 AM. The House Science Committee's (HSC) Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight will hold a hearing titled "Federally Funded Research: Examining Public Access and Scholarly Publication Interests". See, notice. Location: Room 2318, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM - 5:00 PM. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) Technology Advisory Committee will meet. The agenda includes "automated and high frequency trading, final recommendations of the subcommittee on data standardization, and market structure and technology issues relating to credit limit checks". Written comments are due by March 28. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 52, Friday, March 16, 2012, at Page 15737. Location: CFTC, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st St., NW.

1:00 PM. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) will hold a hearing to assist it in preparing its 2011 Annual GSP Product Review. The hearing will cover only the petitions for new products and CNL waivers that have been previously submitted and accepted for review in the 2011 GSP Annual Review. Post hearing comments are due by 5:00 PM on April 16, 2012. See, original notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 34, Tuesday, February 21, 2012, at Pages 10034-10036. See also, notice of change of date in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 52, Friday, March 16, 2012, at Page 15841. Location: OUSTR, 600 17th St., NW.

2:30 PM. The Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC) will hold a closed hearing. See, notice. Location: Room 219, Hart Building.

Rep. Cantor's schedule states that "no votes are expected in the House".

Supreme Court conference day. See, calendar. Closed.

8:30 AM - 5:00 PM. Day five of a five day event hosted by the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) National Cyber Security Division (NCSD), Department of Defense (DOD), and National Institute of Standards Technology (NIST) titled "16th Semi-Annual Software Assurance (SwA) Forum". Free. Registration required. See, notice and agenda. Location: Mitre Corporation, Building MITRE-1, 7525 Colshire Drive, McLean, VA.

10:30 AM - 3:30 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Emergency Access Advisory Committee (EAAC) will meet. The seven EAAC subcommittees will present reports and consider activities for 2012. The seven subcommittees cover (1) Text-to-911 Solutions, (2) Interoperability Testing, (3) PSAP Sign Language and other Communications Assistance, (4) Detailed Report Sections from 2011, (5) Gaps in NENA i3 compared to EAAC Recommendations, (6) TTY Transition/Roadmap, and (7) Timeline Alignment For Phasing into NG911 PSAPs. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 60, Wednesday, March 28, 2012, Pages 18814-18815. Location: FCC, 445 12th St., SW.

RESCHEDULED FOR APRIL 13. 12:00 NOON - 1:00 PM. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Robert McDowell will speak. Free. Brown bag lunch. The FCBA states that this is an FCBA event of its Young Lawyers Committee. Location: FCC, 8th floor South Conference Room, 445 12th St., SW.

2:30 PM. Joaquín Almunia (European Commission) will give a speech titled "Competition Policy for the Post Crisis Era". The other speakers will be Sharis Pozen (acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division), Edith Ramirez (FTC Commissioner), and John Shenefield (Morgan Lewis). Location: Great Hall, DOJ, 950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

Possible date for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) to release its annual report titled "National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers".

Deadline to submit nominations for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation (NMTI) to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 9 Friday, January 13, 2012, at Pages 2047-2048. For more information about this program, see stories titled "Bush Awards National Medals of Technology and Science", "House Democrats Promote Their Innovation Agenda", and "Commentary: National Medal of Technology Program" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,312, February 17, 2006.

The House will not meet on the week of Monday, April 2, through Friday, April 6, or on the week of Monday, April 9, through Friday, April 13.

The Senate will not meet on the week of Monday, April 2, through Friday, April 6, or on the week of Monday, April 9, through Friday, April 13.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in 1st Media v. Electronic Arts, App. Ct. No. 2011-1435. Panel B. Location: Courtroom 402.

12:00 NOON - 1:00 PM. The Internet Caucus will host an event titled "The White House's Proposal For A Framework for Protecting Privacy: Consumer Data Privacy in a Networked World". The speaker will be Daniel Weitzner (Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Internet Policy in the EOP's Office of Science and Technology Policy). Free. Register by contacting rsvp at netcaucus dot org or 202-407-8829. Lunch will be served. Location: Room HC-5, Capitol Building.

6:00 PM. Deadline to submit draft papers to the National Science Foundation (NSF) National Coordination Office (NCO) for Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) for its June 11, 2012, event titled "National Symposium on Moving Target Research". The purpose of this symposium is to examine whether there is scientific evidence to show that moving target techniques are a substantial improvement in the defense of cyber systems. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 45, Wednesday, March 7, 2012, at Page 13656.

Deadline to submit requests to testify at any of the Copyright Office's (CO) hearings regarding its triennial review of exemptions to the anticircumvention provisions of 17 U.S.C. § 1201. These hearing will be on May 11 in Washington DC, May 17 and 18 in Los Angeles, and May 31, June1, and June 4-6 in Washington DC. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 51, Thursday, March 15, 2012, at Pages 15327-15329. Location: CO, Copyright Hearing Room, LM-408, James Madison Building, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave., SE.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) [339 pages in PDF] regarding it Lifeline and Link Up universal service tax and subsidy programs. The FCC adopted this FNPRM on January 31, 2012 and released the text on February 6, 2012. It is FCC 12-11 in WC Docket Nos. 11-42, 03-109, and 12-23, and CC Docket No. 96-45. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 42, Friday, March 2, 2012, at Pages 12784-12791.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to NextG Networks of California, Inc.'s December 21, 2011, Petition for Declaratory Ruling (part 1 and part 2) regarding whether it is a "commercial mobile radio service" or "CMRS" within the meaning of the FCC's rules. See, FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau's (WTB) February 16, 2012 Public Notice (DA 12-202 in WT Docket No. 12-37). See also, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 39, Tuesday, February 28, 2012, at Pages 12055-12056. And see, NextG Networks web site.

Deadline to submit comments to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regarding the information collection burdens imposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in connection with implementation of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 42, Friday, March 2, 2012, at Pages 12837-12839.

EXTENDED FROM MARCH 26. 5:00 PM. Deadline to submit comments to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in response to its request for comments in its wide ranging private sector data privacy inquiry. The NTIA seeks comments regarding "substantive consumer data privacy issues that warrant the development of legally enforceable codes of conduct, as well as procedures to foster the development of these codes". See, original notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 43, Monday, March 5, 2012, at Pages 13098-13101, and extension notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 58, Monday, March 26, 2012, at Page 17460.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Personalized Media Communications v. Scientific Atlanta, App. Ct. No. 2011-1466. Panel D+. Location: Courtroom 402.

1:00 - 2:00 PM. The law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski will host a webcast panel discussion titled "The Latest on the ADA: A Review of the Final Regulations on Their One-Year Anniversary and Recent Noteworthy Court Decisions". The speakers will be Laurie Vasichek (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), Jennifer Mathis (Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law), Jeff Wray (F&J) and Barbara D'Aquila (F&J). CLE credits. See, notice and registration page.

3:00 - 5:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host an event titled "International Trade Law & Policy Debate". The topics to be covered include US PRC relations. The speakers will be Gary Horlick (solo practice) and Paul Rosenthal (Kelley Drye & Warren). The price to attend ranges from $5 to $15. No CLE credits. See, notice. For more information, call 202-626-3463. The DC Bar has a history of barring reporters from its events. Location: U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E St., SW.

9:00 AM - 4:30 PM. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's (OUSTR) Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Small and Minority Business (ITAC-11) will hold a partially closed meeting. The meeting will be open to the public from 9:00 - 10:30 AM. The committee will discuss the Small Business Administration (SBA) State Trade and Export Promotion Grants Process. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 47, Friday, March 9, 2012, at Page 14459. Location: Room 1412, Herbert C. Humphrey Building, 1401 Constitution Ave., NW.

10:00 AM - 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 will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 52, Friday, March 16, 2012, at Pages 15760-15761. Location: Washington Marriott, 1221 22nd St., NW.

12:30 - 2:00 PM. The American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) will host a webcast presentation titled "ITC Proceedings and Beyond". The speakers will be James Altman (Foster Murphy Altman & Nickel) and Bert Reiser (Latham & Watkins). CLE credits. CD, MP4 download, archived webcast, and other formats available. Prices vary. See, registration page.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding the consent agreement in its administrative proceeding titled "In the Matter of Western Digital Corporation", regarding Western Digital's proposed acquisition of Viviti Technologies Ltd., formerly known as Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Ltd. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 48, Monday, March 12, 2012, at Pages 14523-14525. See also, Complaint, Decision and Order, and FTC web page with hyperlinks to other documents. This proceeding is FTC Docket No. C-4350.

8:00 AM - 6:00 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advisory Committee for Mathematical and Physical Sciences. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 53, Monday, March 19, 2012, at Page 16076, and forthcoming correction notice. Location: NSF, Room 1235, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA.

9:00 AM - 5:15 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the Department of Commerce's (DOC) Science Advisory Board (SAB). See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 53, Monday, March 19, 2012, at Pages 15996-15997. Location: Washington Plaza Hotel, 10 Thomas Circle, NW.

9:00 AM - 6:00 PM. Day one of a two day meeting to the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advisory Committee for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, the scope of which includes computer science. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 57, Friday, March 23, 2012, at Page 17102. Location: Room 1235, NSF, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Picture Patents v. Aeropostale, App. Ct. No. 2011-1558. Panel J. Location: Courtroom 203.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGAB) regarding whether certain docketed FCC proceedings should be terminated as dormant. See, February 15, 2012, Public Notice (DA 12-220 in CG Docket No. 12-39), and notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 44, Tuesday, March 6, 2012, at Pages 13322-13323.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) regarding jurisdictional separations, the process by which incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) apportion regulated costs between the intrastate and interstate jurisdictions. The FCC once again proposes to extend the current freeze, through June 30, 2014. This item is FCC 12-27 in CC Docket No. 80-286. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 56, Thursday, March 22, 2012, at Pages 16900-16902.