3/12. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division announced in a release that it has closed its investigation of the merger of T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS.

It announced that "the combination of T-Mobile and MetroPCS is unlikely to harm consumers or substantially lessen competition".

In 2011, the DOJ sued to block the acquisition of T-Mobile USA by AT&T. See, story titled "DOJ Files Complaint to Block AT&T Acquisition of T-Mobile USA" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,298, August 31, 2011. Several month later, the two companies abandoned that proposed transaction. See, story titled "AT&T and T-Mobile Abandon Merger Effort" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,320, December 20, 2011.

The DOJ stated that it considered whether the proposed combination "might tend to lessen competition substantially in any particular local area, for instance by combining the two carriers with the best local coverage.  MetroPCS has a network based on high frequency spectrum (i.e. advanced wireless services (AWS) and personal communications services (PCS) spectrum) that is less able to cover rural areas or penetrate buildings. It does not provide a particularly unique and competitively significant differentiated offering in the regions in which it operates. Each of the markets served by MetroPCS is also served by all four national carriers.  Accordingly, the transaction is not likely to lessen competition substantially at local levels." (Parentheses in original.)

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also conducted its own redundant antitrust merger review. See, related story in this issue titled "FCC Approves Merger of T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS".

3/11. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) and International Bureau (IB) released a redacted copy [51 pages in PDF] of its Memorandum Opinion and Order (MOO) that approves the combination of T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS.

The FCC concluded this merger review, nominally a license transfer proceeding, without a Commission vote, and without requiring divestitures in any markets. This MOO concludes that while this merger may present competitive harms in some markets where there would be increased concentration, these are outweighed by other benefits.

While the Commission held no vote, four Commissioners released statements. See, Genachowski statement, Clyburn statement, Rosenworcel statement, and Pai statement.

The two companies announced this transaction in October of 2012. See, story titled "T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS to Merge" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,457, October 3, 2012.

The MOO states that "we anticipate that the proposed transaction likely would result in certain transaction-specific public interest benefits. In particular, we anticipate that the proposed transaction could facilitate the deployment of LTE and accelerate the provision of mobile broadband in markets where the Applicants overlap."

The two largest wireless service providers in the US, measured by number of subscribers, are Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Sprint, T-Mobile and MetroPCS are 3rd, 4th and 5th. The combined T-Mobile and MetroPCS, or Newco, will be 4th.

The MOO also states that "we find it unlikely that Newco would have the ability to unilaterally raise price or otherwise harm competition at the national level. In addition, we find it unlikely that the transaction would result in coordinated effects at the national level."

It continues that "Both T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS have a history of being disruptive influences or ``mavericks,´´ and moreover, Newco would have an economic incentive to continue to play this role. As the smallest of the nationwide service providers, it would benefit less from coordination than its significant rivals (the three other nationwide service providers) and it can expand output relatively inexpensively. (Footnotes omitted. Parentheses in original.)

John Legere, P/CEO of T-Mobile, stated in a release that "The FCC’s approval marks another significant milestone in bringing our two companies together, and we appreciate the Commission’s timely approval. We look forward to completing the transaction and delivering the significant customer and stockholder benefits that this combination will make possible ... Our combined company will have the products, spectrum, scale and resources to shake up this industry and deliver an entirely new wireless experience."

Cathy Sloan of the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) stated in a release that "This is an encouraging and a sensible step toward more competition in the wireless broadband marketplace. Independent and disruptive mobile phone companies need to aggregate spectrum and become stronger in order to innovate and compete against the two dominant carriers. This transaction reflects real progress in that regard."

John Bergmayer of the Public Knowledge (PK) stated in a release that "To counter the power of AT&T and Verizon, the market needs more strong, national competitors, and this action will allow T-Mobile to improve its network and strengthen its position."

Stephanie Chen of the Greenlining Institute stated in a release that this transaction "could harm communities of color and low-income communities".

This MOO is DA 13-384 in WT Docket No. 12-301.

3/8. The Department of Labor's (DOL) Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released employment data for the U.S. for the month of February 2013. The BLS stated in a release that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the US in February was 7.7%. This is a decrease from January, when it was 7.9%.

A drop in the unemployment rate is good. However, the underlying data also reflect a negative trend. On the bright side, 170,000 more people were employed in February. This contributed to the decline in the unemployment rate. On the other hand, fewer people were in the workforce. The size of the civilian labor force dropped by 130,000 in February. This too contributed to the decline in the unemployment rate. It also caused the participation rate to drop from 63.6% to 63.5%.

There is a several year long trend of decreasing demand for labor that is not accurately represented by the unemployment rate. See, story titled "Commentary: Unemployment Rate, Participation Rate, and Tech Policy" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,505, January 8, 2012.

The BLS data shows that employment in legal services and most technology related categories was flat in February. However, employment in the movie and record category jumped upwards, and the long term growth trend in computer systems design continued.

The BLS reported that total employment in "Motion picture and sound recording industries" grew by 20,800 in February. This is an increase of 5.5% in just one month. It also represents over 12% of the total growth in employment in February. This may represent a statistical anomaly created by a change in BLS methods . Also, most of this reported growth came from revising downwards the data for recent months.

Nevertheless, the BLS reports that movie and record industry employment grew in February for the month, and for the year. There may be an implication for copyright policy. Assertions that unauthorized copying of movies and music is harming employment in those industries is unsupported by BLS data.

The BLS also reported total employment in the category of "Computer systems design and related services" increased in February by 5,800. It is up 80,600 from February of 2012.

BLS Table A-1, which is based on household surveys, shows that the seasonally adjusted total labor force shrunk from 155,654,000 to 155,524,000, a decrease of 130,000. This same table shows that total employment grew from 143,322,000 to 143,492,000, an increase of 170,000 persons with jobs. The BLS reported that total unemployment decreased from 12,332,000 to 12,032,000, a decrease of 300,000 unemployed people.

The unemployment rates in January and February, with less rounding, were 7.9227% and 7.7364%.

BLS Table B-1, which is based upon business surveys, reveals employment trends in various industry sectors, including information and communications technology (ICT) sectors. The BLS's categories do not facilitate precise analysis of trends in ICT. Nevertheless, the data set out in the table below contains ICT related categories. (This table also includes legal services because most of the subscribers to TLJ are lawyers.)

The table below contains ICT related excerpts from the BLS table titled "Table B-1. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector and selected industry detail". This is the seasonally adjusted data.

Janet Yellen, Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) gave a speech in Washington DC on February 11, 2013 in which she stated that since the last recession there has been "weak recovery in employment" and that "technological change" poses challenges for workers.

Yellen (at right) said that "A factor contributing to the high level of long-term unemployment in the current recovery is the relatively large proportion of workers who have permanently lost their previous jobs, as opposed to being laid off temporarily. This possibility and the unprecedented level and persistence of long-term unemployment in this recovery have prompted some to ask whether a significant share of unemployment since the recession is due to structural problems in labor markets and not simply a cyclical shortfall in aggregate demand."

She continued that "there might have been an increase in the degree of mismatch between the skills possessed by the unemployed and those demanded by employers." But, she said that she believes that it "has been largely cyclical and not structural".

"It will be a long road back to a healthy job market." She concluded that "Longer-term trends, such as globalization and technological change, will continue to pose challenges to workers in many industries."

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
3034 Newark St. NW, Washington DC, 20008.

Privacy Policy
Notices & Disclaimers
Copyright 1998-2013 David Carney. All rights reserved.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for morning hour, and at 12:00 NOON for legislative business. It will consider HR 890 [LOC | WW], the "Preserving Work Requirements for Welfare Programs Act of 2013". See, Rep. Cantor's schedule.

The Senate will meet at 9:30 AM. Sen. Reid's scheduled states that the Senate will consider to HR 933 [LOC | WW], the "Department of Defense, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013".

TIME CHANGE. 10:00 AM. 11:30 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations will hold a hearing titled "Investigating and Prosecuting 21st Century Cyber Threats". The witnesses will be Jenny Durkan (DOJ), John Boles (FBI), Robert Holleyman (Business Software Alliance), and Orin Kerr (George Washington University Law School). See, notice. Location: Room 2237, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice will hold a hearing titled "Examination of Litigation Abuses". The witnesses will be Elizabeth Milito (National Federation of Independent Business), Theodore Frank (Center for Class Action Fairness), Joanne Doroshow ( Center for Justice and Democracy), and John Beisner (Skadden Arps). See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The House Ways and Means Committee's (HWMC) Subcommittee on Trade will hold a hearing titled "U.S. India Trade Relations". The witnesses will be Dean Garfield (Information Technology Industry Council), Roy Waldron (Chief Intellectual Property Counsel of Pfizer), Dan Twining (German Marshall Fund of the United States), Arvind Subramanian (Peterson Institute for International Economics), and Allen Johnson. The HWMC notice states that the hearing will address several topics, including "India’s National Manufacturing Policy and other forced localization policies including the Preferential Market Access (PMA) on information technology products ... protection of intellectual property rights ... issuance of compulsory licenses, patent revocations, and other policies on pharmaceuticals ... Information Technology Agreement expansion". Location: Room 1100, Longworth Building.

10:00 AM. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (HOGRC) will hold a hearing titled "Addressing Transparency in the Federal Bureaucracy: Moving Toward A More Open Government". The witnesses will be Angela Canterbury (Project on Government Oversight), Jim Harper (Cato Institute), Daniel Schuman (Sunlight Foundation), and Celia Wexler (Union of Concerned Scientists). See, notice. Location: Room 2154, Rayburn Building.

12:00 NOON - 1:15 PM. The American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law will host a teleconferenced panel discussion titled "The Fundamentals of Hot Topics in Antitrust-IP". The speakers will be Paul Novak (Milberg), Erica Mintzer (DOJ/ATR Senior Counsel for Competition and Technology), Brinkley Tappan (Crowell & Moring), Geoffrey Manne (International Center for Law & Economics), Seth Silber (Wilson Sonsini). Free. No CLE credits. See, notice.

1:00 - 2:00 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host teleconferenced panel discussion titled "Cybersecurity and the Solo, Small Firm Lawyer". See, notice. Free. No CLE credits.

1:30 PM. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host an event titled "The US-Japan alliance in action: Threats to thwart, opportunities to seize". The speakers will be Michael Auslin (AEI), Jim Zumwalt (Department of State), Yusuke Anami (Tohoku University Graduate School), Bruce Klingner (Heritage Foundation), Tetsuo Kotani (Japan Institute of International Affairs) and Yoshiji Nogami (Japan Institute of International Affairs). See, notice. Location: AEI, 12th floor, 1150 17th St., NW.

2:00 PM. The House Foreign Affairs Committee's (HFAC) Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific will hold a hearing titled "The Rebalance to Asia: Why South Asia Matters: Part II". The witnesses will be Walter Lohman (Heritage Foundation), Vikram Nehru (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), Sadanand Dhume (American Enterprise Institute), and Sanjay Puri (Alliance for U.S. India Business). See, notice. Location: Room 2172, Rayburn Building.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for morning hour, and at 12:00 NOON for legislative business. See, Rep. Cantor's schedule.

9:00 - 10:30 AM. The US Telecom will host an on site and webcast panel discussion titled "Implementing the Cybersecurity Executive Order: A Communications Industry Perspective". The speakers will be Rudy Brioche (Comcast), Chris Boyer (AT&T), Kathryn Condello (CenturyLink), Kate Dean (US Internet Service Provider Association), and Robert Mayer (US Telecom). Free. Open to the public. Breakfast will be served from 8:30 AM. See, notice. Location: US Telecom, Suite 400, 607 14th St., NW.

9:00 AM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) will meet. See, notice. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, Room TW-C305, 445 12th St., SW.

9:30 AM. The House Intelligence Committee (HIC) will hold a business meeting. It may consider HR 624 [LOC | WW | PDF], the "Cyber Intelligence and Sharing Protection Act" or CISPA. See, story titled "Rep. Rogers and Rep. Ruppersberger Re-Introduce CISPA" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,525, February 19, 2013. See, notice. Open to the public. Location: Room HVC-304, Capitol Visitor Center.

10:00 AM. The House Intelligence Committee (HIC) will hold a closed hearing on undisclosed matters. See, notice. Location: Room HVC-304, Capitol Visitor Center.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda includes consideration of several gun bills, and the nominations of Jane Kelly (USCA/8thCir) and Kenneth Gonzales (USDC/DNMex). See, notice. Webcast. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Appropriations Committee's (HAC) Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies will hold a hearing on the Department of Justice (DOJ). The witness will be Michael Horowitz (DOJ Inspector General). See, notice. Location: Room H-309, Capitol Building.

10:00 AM. The House Appropriations Committee's (HAC) Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government will hold a hearing on the Supreme Court. The witnesses will be Associate Justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer. See, notice. Location: Room 2359, Rayburn Building.

10:30 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing titled "Oversight of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) and Emergency Communications". The witnesses will be Sam Ginn (Chairman of the First Responder Network Authority), Ray Lehr (Maryland Department of Information Technology), Chris McIntosh (Commonwealth of Virginia), James Barnett (Venable), Declan Ganley (Rivada Networks), Christopher McCabe (CTIA), Trey Forgety (National Emergency Number Association), Diane Kniowski (WOOD TV, WOTV and WXSP), and David Turetsky (Chief of the FCC's Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau). See, notice. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

RESCHEDULED FROM MARCH 7. 11:30 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet will hold a hearing titled "Abusive Patent Litigation: The Impact on American Innovation & Jobs, and Potential Solutions". The witnesses will be Mark Chandler (Cisco Systems), Janet Dhillon (J.C. Penney), John Boswell (SAS Institute), Graham Gerst (Global IP Law Group), Philip Johnson (Johnson & Johnson), and Dana Rao (Adobe Systems). See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

1:00 - 2:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast and teleconferenced panel discussion titled "IP Hazards of Crowdfunding". The speakers will be Mark Nowotarski, Gwilym Roberts, and Chrissie Scelsi. Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice.

1:00 - 5:00 PM. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will hold another in its series of meetings regarding mobile application transparency. See, notice. This event will also be teleconferenced. Location: American Institute of Architects, 1735 New York Ave., NW.

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

5:30 - 7:30 PM. The American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law and Young Lawyers Division will host an event titled "Antitrust Winter Happy Hour". See, notice. Location: Co Co. Sala, 929 F St., NW.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host an event titled "Mobile Payments: Turning Your Cellphone into Your Wallet". The speakers will be Jackie McCarthy (CTIA), Spencer White (ISIS), Jenelle Tortorella (LevelUp), Trey Hanbury (Hogan Lovells), Pattie Allouise (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston), Jules Polonetsky ( Future of Privacy Forum), Jason Oxman ( Electronic Transactions Association), and Cindy Jenkins (NACHA). CLE credits. Prices vary. See, notice. Location: Hogan Lovells, 555 13th St., NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Public Notices (PNs) regarding development of the forward looking cost model for Connect America Phase II. These PNs are DA 12-1561, DA 12-1687, DA 12-2011, DA 12-2029, and DA 13-70 in WC Docket Nos. 10-90 and 05-337. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 18, January 28, 2013, at Pages 5765-5767.

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

Supreme Court conference day. See, Supreme Court calendar.

8:50 AM - 12:30 PM. The Brookings Institute will host a panel discussion titled "Tax Policy and U.S. Manufacturing in a Global Economy". See, notice. Webcast. Free. Open to the public. Location: Brookings, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW.

1:00 - 2:00 PM. The American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law will host a teleconferenced panel discussion titled "Antitrust Compliance Programs and the AU Optronics Case". The speakers will be Heather Tewksbury (DOJ Antitrust Division), Joseph Murphy (Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics), Theodore Banks (Scharf Banks Marmor), and Eric Wilson (Godfrey & Kahn). Free. No CLE credits. See, notice.

Deadline to submit comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in response to its notice in the Federal Register (FR) regarding software patents. See, FR, Vol. 78, No. 2, January 3, 2013, at Pages 292-295. See also, story titled "USPTO Announces Roundtables on Software Patents" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,503, January 3, 2013.

Deadline to submit comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in response to its notice in the Federal Register (FR) regarding potential practices that patent applicants can employ at the drafting stage of a patent application in order to facilitate examination and bring more certainty to the scope of issued patents. See, FR, Vol. 78, No. 10, January 15, 2013, at Pages 2960-2961. See also, story titled "USPTO Seeks Comments on Preparation of Patent Applications" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,512, January 20, 2013.

Deadline to submit applications to Google for its "Google Policy Fellowships". See, notice.

Effective date of Section 3 of HR 1249 [LOC | WW], the "Leahy-Smith America Invents Act", Public Law 112-29. This section is titled "First Inventor to File". Subsection 3(n) provides in part that "the amendments made by this section shall take effect upon the expiration of the 18-month period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act". President Obama signed this Act into law on September 16, 2011.

Deadline to submit comments to the Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regarding it proposed rule that would prohibit flight crew members from using a personal wireless communications device or laptop computer for personal use while at their duty station on the flight deck while the aircraft is being operated. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 10 January 15, 2013, at Pages 2912-2916.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau in response to its Public Notice (PN) requesting comments regarding the Remote Areas Fund. This PN is DA  13-69 in WC Docket No. 10-90. The FCC released it on January 17, 2013. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 26, February 7, 2013, at Pages 9020-9024.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Third Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making (3rdFNPRM) regarding 121.5 MHz emergency locator transmitters (ELTs). This item is FCC 13-2 in WT Docket No. 01-289. The FCC adopted this item on January 7, 2013, and released the text on January 8. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 20, January 30, 2013, at Pages 6276-6278.

8:00 - 10:00 AM. Broadband Census News LLC will host a panel discussion titled "Smart Cars the Consumer Experience and Broadband: In-Vehicle Telematics". The speakers will be Stephen Bayless (Intelligent Transportation Society of America), Catherine McCullough (DCI Group), Jeff Stewart (AT&T), and Russell Holly (Geek.com). Breakfast will be served. This event is open to the public. The price to attend is $47.12. See, notice and registration page. This event is also sponsored by Comcast, Google, and US Telecom. Location: Clyde's of Gallery Place, 707 7th St., NW.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations will hold a hearing titled "ECPA Part 1: Lawful Access to Stored Content". The witnesses will be __. See, notice. See also, story titled "Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Leahy Bill to Require Warrant for Accessing Cloud Stored E-Mail" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,479, November 30, 2012. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:30 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing titled "Health Information Technologies: Harnessing Wireless Innovation". The witnesses will be __. See, notice. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled "Internet Tax Policy for Beginners and Experts". The speakers will be Robert Atkinson (ITIF), Steve DelBianco (NetChoice), Brian Bieron (eBay), Maggi Lazarus, and Bartlett Cleland (Institute for Policy Innovation). Open to the public. Free. Lunch will served. See, notice. Location: Room 2325, Rayburn Building.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast panel discussion titled "MFNs and RPMs - The Antitrust Spotlight is on Price Relationship Agreements". The speakers will be David Parker (Frontier Economics), Fiona Morton (CRA), Nelson Jung (UK Office of Fair Trading), Thomas McGrath (Linklaters), Ingrid Vandenborre (Skadden Arps). Prices vary. No CLE credits. See, notice.

1:00 - 2:00 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a teleconferenced panel discussion titled "Privacy and Information Security Update". The speakers will be Benita Kahn (Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease), Harriet Pearson (Hogan Lovells), and Marcy Wilder (Hogan Lovells). Free. No CLE credits. See, notice.

6:00 PM. The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) will host an event titled "CCIA's 40th Anniversary Celebration". Prices vary. See, notice. Location: National Museum of Women in the Arts.