9/14. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (HJC) released the draft [22 pages in PDF] of a bill titled "STEM Jobs Act of 2012".

Also on September 14, House Republican leaders announced that the agenda for the week of September 17 includes consideration of this bill on Thursday, September 20, or Friday, September 21, under suspension of the rules. See, Rep. Cantor's schedule.

This bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act regarding issuance of visas. Section 3 of the bill would eliminate the diversity lottery green card program. Section 2 of the bill would replace it with a new visa category, capped at 55,000 per year,  for aliens with advanced STEM degrees.

These new visas would go to aliens who "hold a doctorate degree in a field of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics from a United States doctoral institution of higher education" and "agree to work for a total of not less than 5 years in the aggregate for the petitioning employer or in the United States in a field of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics upon being lawfully admitted for permanent residence".

The bill also requires that all of the doctoral courses be taken "while physically present in the United States". The bill provides that the degree fields covered would be "computer and information sciences and support services, engineering, mathematics and statistics, and physical sciences". The bill also imposes limitations on what qualifies as a Ph.D. granting institution.

The bill also provides that if less than 55,000 visas are granted to aliens with STEM Ph.D.s, the remaining visas may be granted to aliens with STEM masters degrees.

Rep. Smith announced in a release that "Many of the world's top students come to the U.S. to obtain advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects. We could boost economic growth and spur job creation by allowing American employers to more easily hire some of the best and brightest foreign graduates of U.S. universities. These students have the ability to start a company that creates jobs or come up with an invention that could jump-start a whole new industry."

He continued that "In a global economy, we cannot afford to educate these foreign graduates in the U.S. and then send them back home to work for our competitors. For America to be to the world’s economic leader, we must have access to the world's best talent. The proposed legislation will generate jobs and economic growth by allowing U.S. businesses to retain outstanding foreign graduates of U.S. universities with advanced degrees in STEM fields. This will help us create jobs, increase our competitiveness, and spur our innovation."

President Obama has spoken in support of the concept that underlies this bill. For example, he stated in a speech on February 7, 2011 that "Others come here from abroad to study in our colleges and universities. But as soon as they obtain advanced degrees, we send them back home to compete against us. It makes no sense." See also, story titled "President Obama Addresses Innovation" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,196, February 7, 2011.

9/14. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and other House Democrats introduced HR 6412 [LOC | WW | PDF], another STEM visa bill, titled "Attracting the Best and Brightest Act of 2012" or "ABBA".

This bill, like Rep. Lamar Smith's (R-TX) draft [22 pages in PDF] bill, would create a new visa category for aliens with Ph.D.s and Masters in STEM fields. Both bills would provide for a similar number of visas each year: Rep. Smith 55,000, and Rep. Lofgren 50,000.

However, the two bills differ regarding the existing 55,000 visas per year diversity lottery program. Rep. Smith's bill would eliminate it. Rep. Lofgren's would not.

Rep. Lofgren also stated in a release that her bill "Requires that the offered wage to the STEM graduate meets or exceeds the actual wage paid to U.S. workers with similar levels of experience. The Republican proposal does not include this provision and does not adequately ensure that American workers are protected."

Rep. Smith's bill is scheduled to be considered by the full House on Thursday, September 20, or Friday, September 21, under suspension of the rules. This means that no amendments will be in order. Hence, Rep. Lofgren cannot offer her bill as a substitute amendment. However, items on the suspension calendar require a two thirds majority for passage.

9/15. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR), which is negotiating the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) on behalf of the U.S., released a sterile statement regarding the latest round of negotiations that took place in Leesburg, Virginia on September 6-15.

The OUSTR wrote that "Over the 10-day negotiating round, negotiators from the United States and the other eight TPP countries -- Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam -- advanced their efforts to reach agreement on the texts of the 29 chapters of the agreement."

In addition, Mexico and Canada will soon join the TPPA negotiations.

The OUSTR added that "The teams were pleased with progress made on a wide range of chapters, including market access, customs, rules of origin, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary standards, cross border services, telecommunications, government procurement, and others. TPP member delegations also continued to move forward in constructing the tariff and other specific market-opening commitments that each country is making on industrial goods, agriculture, textiles, services and investment, and government procurement. Along with this progress, the nine countries also reported a continued focus on other important issues from intellectual property rights to labor and environment and other topics that address core issues faced by manufacturers, service providers, farmers, ranchers, and workers in the 21st century."

The OUSTR does not release to the public drafts of proposed TPPA language that it submits or receives from others. It does maintain a TPPA web page with little information. However, from time to time others publish documents online purported to be drafts of free trade agreement provisions, including TPPA IP provisions.

The OUSTR also stated that "The Leesburg negotiating round was structured by the United States to continue to provide stakeholders who accepted the invitation to be on-site during the talks with input and information regarding the round. On September 9, more than 250 stakeholders representing 93 groups from civil society, business, labor and regional development organizations spoke one-on-one or in small groups with TPP negotiators in a Direct Stakeholder Engagement Forum; 60 presenters also accepted the opportunity to give brief presentations on their views on key negotiating issues. That same day, U.S. Chief Negotiator and Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Barbara Weisel and fellow chief negotiators briefed stakeholders and took questions on the substance and process of the TPP talks."

The next round of TPPA negotiations will take place in Auckland, New Zealand on December 3-12, 2012.

Some U.S. based groups, such as the Public Knowledge (PK), do not share the OUSTR's enthusiasm for the TPPA's provisions regarding intellectual property. The PK's Jodie Griffin wrote a short essay on September 14, titled "Failing to Understand the Needs of the 21st Century: The TPP and the Notice-and-Takedown System".

9/13. Rep. Peter Defazio (D-OR) spoke in the House about Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations held in Leesburg, Virginia on September 6-15, 2012. See, Congressional Record, September 13, 2012, at Page H5926.

Rep. DeFazio is a 13th term labor union Democrat who rarely gets involved in technology related issues. He condemned the TPPA on protectionist grounds.

The TPPA would address a wide range of intellectual property (IP) issues. For this reason it is supported by many patent and copyright based businesses and groups in the U.S. On the other hand, these IP related provisions are of concern to some tech sector companies and groups such as the Public Knowledge (PK), Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). However, Rep. DeFazio said nothing about IP in his speech.

He said, "About 27 miles away from here, secret negotiations are ongoing. A number of us have asked to be allowed to observe the negotiations because it will have a dramatic impact on the future of the United States of America and our economy, but no Member of Congress has been allowed into these negotiations. This is over something called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It's essentially NAFTA for the whole Pacific Rim."

He alleged that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) "has cost the U.S. hundreds of thousands of jobs in many industries".

He said that while "it's being negotiated among a small number of relatively small countries" ... "later on, other countries, like Japan and China, can plug in".

He also asserted that "if Japan is allowed to join, and the U.S. is trying to get Japan to join, we'll lose 90,000 automotive jobs immediately. This is yet another example of failed trade policy of the United States of America."

A review of Federal Election Commission (FEC) records discloses that labor unions are the leading source of contributions to Rep. DeFazio's election campaigns, followed by transportation sector companies. He is a senior member of the House Transportation Committee.

These contribution records show almost no support from information and communications technology (ICT) companies and groups in recent election cycles. Although, an eBay committee gave him $1,000 in 2011. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), whose members hope to benefit from the TPPA, gave him $1,000 ten years ago. The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) gave him $1,000 in 2010.

See also, the Center for Responsive Politics' Open Secrets web site's analysis of contributions to Rep. DeFazio.

In 2008, in the 110th Congress, Rep. DeFazio introduced HR 5788 [LOC | WW], a bill to ban the use of cell phones on scheduled airline flights. Back in 1996, he voted against the Telecommunications Act.

On August 1 of this year he introduced, with Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), HR 6245 [LOC | WW], the "Saving High-tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes", or "SHIELD Act". See, story titled "SHIELD Act Would Allow Court to Award Costs and Attorneys Fees to Prevailing Parties in IT Patent Cases" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,420, August 4, 2012.

9/14. Thomas Perez, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Civil Rights Division (CRD) gave a speech in San Francisco in which he discussed bullying of children, including online bullying via "Facebook pages and Twitter feeds".

However, while he made many declarations of concern and priority, he cited no actions taken by the CRD, and threatened no future actions against service providers, or anyone else, under federal civil rights laws.

Any such action would be unsupported by the relevant statutes, because there is no anti-bullying provision in the civil rights statutes enforced by the CRD, and because interactive computer services, such as Facebook and Twitter, have immunity under 47 U.S.C. § 230 from liability for the statements their users.

Nevertheless, it should be recalled that the CRD has taken action against small online service providers, notwithstanding Section 230. See for example, story titled "DOJ Settles Case Against Interactive Computer Service" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 808, December 31, 2003. However, companies as large as Facebook and Twitter would have the legal resources to contest any such an enforcement action.

There is precedent for application of Section 230 in civil rights cases. See, story titled "4th Circuit Affirms That Section 230 Immunity Extends to Federal Civil Rights Action" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 863, March 25, 2004, Court of Appeals opinion and District Court opinion. Similarly, the 7th applied Section 230 in another housing civil rights case. See also, story titled "7th Circuit Applies Section 230 Immunity in Craigslist Case" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,731, March 17, 2008.

In contrast, see story titled "9th Circuit Holds Roommates.com May be Liable for Speech of Users" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,581, May 15, 2007, and story titled "En Banc 9th Circuit Panel Rejects Section 230 Immunity in Roommates.com Case" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,741, April 2, 2008.

Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna wrote in a short piece on September 13 that "Preventing cyberbullying is complicated because text, email and social media conversations between our children and others are a closed loop. An increased dependence on mobile phones has also made it difficult for young people to avoid a cyber bully. Adults are actively blocked from finding out what's being said."

9/14. The Copyright Office (CO) published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) that extends the deadline to submit comments in response to its Notice of Inquiry (NOI) regarding creating a small copyright claims process.

The old deadline was September 26. See, notice in the FR, Vol. 77, No. 164, August 23, 2012, at Pages 51068-51071. The new deadline is October 19, 2012. See, FR, Vol. 77, No. 179, September 14, 2012, at Pages 56874-56875

See also, stories titled "Copyright Office Seeks Comments on Creating a Process for Adjudicating Small Copyright Claims", "Orphan Works Legislation and Adjudicating Small Copyright Claims", and "Summary of First Round of Comments on Creating a Process for Adjudicating Small Copyright Claims" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,445, September 11, 2012.

The CO wrote that "Due to the number and complexity of the issues raised in that Notice, it appears that some stakeholders may need additional time to respond." The CO did not disclose who requested an extension.

9/14. Jonathan Adelstein was named head of the PCIA (aka Wireless Infrastructure Association). He was previously head of the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Services. Before that, he was a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner. See, PCIA release.

9/13. President Obama nominated Mark Doms to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs. See, White House news office release and release. He is Chief Economist at the Department of Commerce (DOC). Before that, he was a Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

9/14. Rachel Brandenburg, of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division, gave a speech [21 pages in PDF] in Florence, Italy, titled "Recent Developments in Merger Control: Views from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division". She discussed the DOJ's rejection of the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile.

9/14. Joseph Wayland, acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division, gave a speech [14 pages in PDF] in Florence, Italy, titled "International Cooperation at the Antitrust Division".

9/14. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [50 pages in PDF] titled "Electronic Government Act: Agencies Have Implemented Most Provisions, but Key Areas of Attention Remain". The Electronic Government Act of 2002 (HR 2458, Public Law No. 107-347) states that its purpose is to "enhance the management and promotion of electronic Government services and processes by establishing a Federal Chief Information Officer within the Office of Management and Budget, and by establishing a broad framework of measures that require using Internet-based information technology to enhance citizen access to Government information and services".

9/14. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [45 pages in PDF] titled "Recovery Act: Broadband Programs Are Ongoing, and Agencies' Efforts Would Benefit from Improved Data Quality". This report pertains to HR 1 [LOC | WW], the huge spending bill passed by the Congress in February of 2009, which provided $7.2 Billion to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and Rural Utilities Service (RUS) for the purpose of promoting broadband.

9/13. Microsoft's Peter Cullen wrote a short piece titled "Working Toward a Privacy Framework for the Big Data Era".

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The House will not meet. See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for the week.

The Senate will meet at 2:00 PM.

Deadline to submit post hearing briefs and statements to the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) regarding the probable economic effect of providing duty free treatment for imports under the U.S.-Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 155, August 10, 2012, at Pages 47880-47882.

The House will meet at 12:00 NOON in pro forma session. See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for the week.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a panel discussion titled "Assange's Asylum in Correa's Ecuador: Last Refuge for Scoundrels?" The speakers will be Roger Noriega (AEI), Gustavo Palacio (Ecuador Democracy International), and Mark Weisbrot (Center for Economic and Policy Research). See, notice. This event will not be webcast live, but the AEI will publish video one day after the event. Location: AEI, top floor, 1150 17th St., NW.

12:00 NOON - 1:00 PM. The American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law will host a teleconferenced panel discussion titled "July-August 2012 Antitrust Update". The speakers will be Dorothy Raymond and Francis Fryscak, Jackie Grise, Howard Morse, and Marc Schildkraut (all of Cooley). No CLE credits. Free. See, notice.

12:00 - 1:15 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a teleconferenced panel discussion titled "Locked Down: Keeping Confidential Information Confidential". CLE credits. Prices vary. See, notice.

1:30 - 5:00 PM. Melbourne IT will host a panel discussion titled "Trademarks and New gTLDs: Minimizing the Need for Defensive Registrations and the Second Level of New Generic Top Level Domains". The speakers will be Andrew Abrams (Google), James Bikoff (Silverberg Goldman & Bikoff), Steve DelBianco (NetChoice), Dan Jaffe (Association of National Advertisers), Jon Nevett (Donuts), Russell Pangborn (Microsoft), Craig Schwartz (fTLD Registry Services), and Brian Winterfeldt (Steptoe & Johnston). See, notice. Location: Capitol Hilton, 1001 16th St., NW.

The House will meet at 12:00 NOON for morning hour, and at 2:00 PM for legislative business. The House will consider numerous non-technology related items under suspension of the rules. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 PM. See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for the week.

12:00 MIDNIGHT - 1:30 AM ET. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host an on site and teleconferenced panel discussion titled "Migration and People Movement: Front-line Insights on Business Practices for India, China and the US". No CLE credits. Prices vary. See, notice. On site location: K&L Gates, Suite 3708, 1601 Nanjing Road West, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.

9:00 AM - 3:00 PM. The Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's (NCOHIT) HIT Standards Committee will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 163, August 22, 2012, at Page 50690. Location: Washington Marriott, 1221 22nd St., NW.

CANCELLED. 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will hold one in a series of meetings regarding consumer data privacy in the context of mobile applications. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 149, Thursday, August 2, 2012, Pages 46067-46068. Location: Auditorium, DOC, Hoover Building, 14th Street and Constitution Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing on the nominations of Katherine Failla (USDC/SDNY), Pamela Ki Mai Chen (USDC/EDNY), Troy Nunley (USDC/EDCal), Sheri Chappell (USDC/MDFl), Mark Barnett (U.S. Court of International Trade). See, notice. President Obama nominated Failla, Nunley and Chappell on June 25. See, White House news office release and release. He nominated Barnett on July 12. See, White House news office release and release. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Department of State's (DOS) International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) will meet to discuss preparations for the World Conference on International Telecommunication (WCIT-12) to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on December 3-14, 2012, and the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA-12), to be held in Dubai on November 20-29, 2012. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 170, August 31, 2012, at Page 53249. Location: DOS, 10th floor, 1120 20th St., NW.

11:00 AM. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (HOGRC) will hold a hearing titled "Trade Adjustment Assistance for U.S. Firms: Evaluating Program Effectiveness and Recommendations". See, notice. Location: Room 2247, Rayburn Building.

12:00 NOON. The World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Tracking Protection Working Group will meet by teleconference. The call in number is 1-617-761-6200. The passcode is TRACK (87225).

12:00 NOON - 1:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold an event titled "Inside the Wireline Competition Bureau". The speaker will be Julie Veach, Chief of the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau. The FCBA states that this is an FCBA event. Location: Kelley Drye & Warren, Suite 400, 3050 K St., NW.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a telecast panel discussion titled "Private Antitrust Actions: EU and UK Initiatives and their Global Implications". The speakers will be Eddy De Smijter (Deputy Head of Unit A1 Private Enforcement Unit at the European Commission's Directorate General for Competition), Angela Nardella (Private Enforcement Unit at the EC's DGC), Tiffany Rider (Skadden), Ingrid Vandenborre (Skadden), and Gary MacDonald (Skadden). Free. No CLE credits. See, notice.

12:00 NOON. Deadline to submit requests to testify at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's (OUSTR) October 3 hearing regarding preparation of its annual report to the Congress on the People's Republic of China's (PRC) compliance with its World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 161, August 20, 2012, at Pages 50206-50207. See also, story titled "OUSTR to Receive Comments and Hold Hearing on PRC Compliance with WTO Obligations" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,431, August 17, 2012.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. Andrew Weisman, General Counsel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), will speak. The DC Bar Association asserts that this is a DC Bar event. See, notice. Reporters are barred. The price to attend ranges from $10 to $20. Lunch will not be served. Location: Wilmer Hale, 1875 Pennsylvania Ave.,  NW.

RESCHEDULED FROM SEPTEMBER 11. 2:15 PM. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda includes numerous items, including consideration of SConRes 50, a resolution "Expressing the sense of Congress regarding actions to preserve and advance the multistakeholder governance model under which the Internet has thrived". See, notice. Location: Room S-116, Capitol Building.

2:30 PM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing titled "Five Years of the America COMPETES Act: Progress, Challenges, and Next Steps". See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

6:00 - 8:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers Committee will host an event titled "Happy Hour". For more information, contact Justin Faulb at JFaulb at eckertseamans dot com or Brendan Carr at Brendan dot Carr at fcc dot gov. Location: District Chophouse, 509 7th St., NW.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for morning hour, and at 12:00 NOON for legislative business. The agenda includes consideration of HR __, the "STEM Jobs Act of 2012". See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for the week.

9:00 - 11:00 AM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled "Unveiling an Advanced Manufacturing & Traded Sector Competitiveness Strategy for the United States". The speakers will be Rob Atkinson (ITIF), Roger Kilmer (NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership), Theresa Kotanchek (Dow Chemical), and Martin Schmidt (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). See, notice. Location: Room 485, Russell Building, Capitol Hill.

9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in Cellco Partnership v. FCC, App. Ct. No. 11-1135. This is a petition for review of the FCC's data roaming order. See, FCC's Second Report and Order [79 pages in PDF], and story titled "FCC Adopts Data Roaming Rules" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,219, April 7, 2011. See also, FCC brief [136 pages in PDF], and story titled "FCC Files Brief with Court of Appeals in Challenge to Its Data Roaming Rules" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,329, January 16, 2012. Judges Tatel, Garland, and Griffith will preside. This is the third item on the Court's agenda. Location: Courtroom 11, 4th floor, Prettyman Courthouse, 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

9:30 AM - 2:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) North American Numbering Council (NANC) will meet. Location: FCC, 445 12th St., SW.

9:45 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Constitution Project and Georgetown University School of Law (GUSL) will host a panel discussion titled "Plugging National Security Leaks While Preserving Free Speech". The speakers will be Lucy Dalglish (University of Maryland), Dana Priest (Washington Post), Harvey Rishikof, Kenneth Wainstein (Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft), and Laura Donohue (GULS). See, notice. Location: GULS, Gewirz Student Center, 12th Floor, 120 F St., NW.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee (HJC) will hold a hearing titled "Regulation Nation: The Obama Administration's Regulatory Expansion vs. Jobs and Economic Recovery". See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda again includes consideration of HR 2471 [LOC | WW], a bill to amend 18 U.S.C. § 2710, S 3486 [LOC | WW], the "Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act", and S 3523 [LOC | WW], the "Innovative Design Protection Act of 2012". The agenda also includes consideration of the nomination of William Baer to be Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division. See, SJC notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Senate Banking Committee's (SBC) Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment will hold a hearing titled "Computerized Trading: What Should the Rules of the Road Be?". The witnesses will be David Lauer, Andrew Brooks (T. Rowe Price), Chris Concannon (Virtu Financial), and Larry Tabb (TABB Group). See, notice. Location: Room 538, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a panel discussion titled "US Trade Policy and the Presidential Election". The speakers will be Grant Aldonas (Center for Strategic and International Studies), Jared Bernstein (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities), and Claude Barfield (AEI). See, notice. Location: AEI, 1150 17th St., NW.

12:00 NOON - 1:15 PM. Ruth Milkman, Chief of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WCT) will speak, answer questions, and receive comments regarding wireless issues. The FCBA states that this is a brown bag lunch hosted by its Wireless Telecommunications Committee. Location: Arnold & Porter, Conference Room 213, 555 12th St., NW.

12:45 - 1:45 PM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled "The Sequestration and the Innovation Landscape". The speakers will be Rob Atkinson (ITIF), Edward Pesicka (Thermo Fisher) and Ronnie Andrews (Life Technologies). See, notice. Location: Russell Building, Capitol Hill.

2:00 PM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet will hold a hearing titled "International IP Enforcement: Opening Markets Abroad and Protecting Innovation". See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

2:00 - 4:00 PM. The House Science Committee's (HSC) Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight will hold a hearing titled "The Impact of International Technology Transfer on American Research and Development". The witnesses will be Rob Atkinson (Information Technology & Innovation Foundation), Dennis Shea (U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission), and Robert Holleyman (Business Software Alliance). See, notice. Location: Room 2318, Rayburn Building.

2:00 PM. The House Ways and Means Committee's (HWMC) Subcommittee on Trade will hold a hearing titled "Benefits of Expanding U.S. Services Trade Through an International Services Agreement". See, notice. Ongoing negotiations cover trade in computer, information technology, telecommunications, financial, legal, and other services. Location: Room 1100, Longworth Building.

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

5:30 - 7:30 PM. The 463 Communications will host a book event for Robert Atkinson (head of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation) and Stephen Ezell (ITIF) to talk about their just published book titled "Innovation Economics: The Race for Global Advantage". Location: 300 New Jersey Ave., NW.

The House will meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for the week.

TIME? The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) will hold a hearing regarding Mexico's participation in the negotiation of a Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. The OUSTR seeks comments on numerous issues, including "electronic commerce issues" and "trade-related intellectual property rights issues". The deadline to submit written requests to present oral testimony is September 4. The deadline to submit written comments is 12:00 NOON on September 4. See, notice in the Federal Register Vol. 77, No. 141, July 23, 2012, at Pages 43131-43133. Location: OUSTR, Rooms 1, and 2, 1724 F St., NW.

The House Commerce Committee (HCC) will hold a hearing titled "The LightSquared Network: An Investigation of the FCC's Role". See, notice. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

9:30 - 11:00 AM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled "Does the PCAST Report Move Spectrum Policy in the Right Direction?". The speakers will be Richard Bennett (ITIF), Michael Calabrese (New America Foundation), and Preston Marshall (University of Southern California). See, notice. Location: ITIF/ITIC, Suite 610A, 1101 K St., NW.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The Net Caucus will host an panel discussion titled "Internet TV: What Must Congress Do About It? Television Regulations Coming To Your Laptop Soon?" Free. Lunch will be served. Register by contacting rsvp at netcaucus dot org or 202-638-4370. Location: Room B-338, Rayburn Building.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Young Lawyers Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "Meet the FCBA President -- A Mentoring Event with Laura Phillips". The speaker will be Laura Phillips (Drinker Biddle). She will address career development, professional growth opportunities, mentoring, and other topics. For more information contact Justin Faulb at faulbjl at gmail dot com or Brendan Carr at BrendanTCarr at gmail dot com. Location: __.

1:00 - 2:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast and teleconferenced panel discussion titled "Patent Litigation: Strategies and Techniques". CLE credits. Prices vary. See, notice.

2:00 - 4:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Consumer Advisory Committee will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 174, September 7, 2012, Page 55214. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, TW-C305, 445 12th St., NW.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Media Bureau (MB) regarding TiVo's petition [15 pages in PDF] for waiver and clarification of the FCC's rules regarding set top boxes, codified at 47 C.F.R. § 76.640(b)(4)(iii). See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 173, September 6, 2012, at Pages 54910-54911.

The Supreme Court will hold its opening conference for the October Term 2012.

TIME? The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) will hold a hearing regarding Canada's participation in the negotiation of a Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. The OUSTR seeks comments on numerous issues, including "electronic commerce issues" and "trade-related intellectual property rights issues". The deadline to submit written requests to present oral testimony is September 4. The deadline to submit written comments is 12:00 NOON on September 4. See, notice in the Federal Register Vol. 77, No. 141, July 23, 2012, at Pages 43131-43133. Location: OUSTR, Rooms 1, and 2, 1724 F St., NW.

12:00 NOON. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast panel discussion titled "Making the Most of Your IPad/Tablet -- Tools and Tips for Bar Staff". The speaker will be Tom Mighell. Prices vary. No CLE credits. See, notice.

12:00 NOON. Deadline to submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) to assist it in preparing its annual report to the Congress on the People's Republic of China's (PRC) compliance with its World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 161, August 20, 2012, at Pages 50206-50207. See also, story titled "OUSTR to Receive Comments and Hold Hearing on PRC Compliance with WTO Obligations" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,431, August 17, 2012.

1:00 - 4:00 The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Technological Advisory Council will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 168, August 29, 2012, at Pages 52332-52333. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th St., SW.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled "Recommendations from the mHealth Task Force". The speakers will include Julius Genachowski (FCC Chairman), Robert Jarrin (Qualcomm), Julian Goldman (Partners Healthcare System), Douglas Trauner (TheCarrot.com), and Robert Atkinson (ITIF). See, notice. Location: ITIF/ITIC, Suite 610A, 1101 K St., NW.