Source: http://techlawjournal.com/home/newsbriefs/2006/05e.asp
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 08:46:43+00:00

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TLJ News: May 21-25, 2006.
5/25. The House Judiciary Committee (HJC) amended and approved HR 4777, the "Internet Gambling Prohibition Act". This is the HJC bill sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and others. See also, story titled "House Crime Subcommittee Approves Internet Gambling Prohibition Act" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,364, May 5, 2006. The HJC approved an amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by Rep. Goodlatte, as amended by an amendment offered by Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT). The HJC rejected two amendments offered by Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), and one offered by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA). Rep. Wexler, who represents the state of Florida, sought language that carves out an exception for betting on dog racing, a lawful business in Florida.
5/25. The Cato Institute published a book titled "Identity Crisis: How Identification Is Overused and Misunderstood". The author is Jim Harper, Cato's Director of Information Policy Studies. The book is available from Cato's Online Bookstore ($22.95 in hardcover and $13.95 in paperback) and from Amazon ($10.74 in paperback).
5/25. Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee (SFC), commented on the 3% excise tax on certain phone services. He stated in a release [PDF] that "The telephone excise tax is a prime example of the need to overhaul our telecom laws, and particularly those tax provisions that have been rendered obsolete by the advancement of technology ... Ensuring American competitiveness in the coming decades demands a comprehensive look at U.S. telecommunications law. I’ll be looking for fiscally responsible ways to eliminate antiquated statutes and create new, forward-looking policy that enhances America’s global competitiveness." The tax is codified at 26 U.S.C. § 4251. See also, story titled "IRS Announces It Will Cease Its Illegal Collection of Excise Taxes on Phone Service" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1379, May 26, 2006.
5/25. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released its Draft Special Publication 800-85B [149 pages in PDF] titled "PIV Data Model Test Guidelines". PIV is an acronym for Personal Identity Verification. The deadline to submit comments is June 22, 2006, at 5:00 PM.
5/24. The U.S. Court of Appeals (9thCir) issued its opinion [21 pages in PDF] in Debra Laws v. Sony Music Entertainment, a case regarding preemption by the federal Copyright Act of state law claims. Debra Laws, a professional recording artist, sued Sony for invasion of privacy for the misappropriation of her name and voice, and misappropriation of her name and voice for a commercial purpose under California Civil Code § 3344. The Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the District Court that Laws' claims are preempted by the Copyright Act.
Section 301(a), on its face, gives rise to considerable uncertainty. For example, this section uses undefined and unexplained terms. What is an "equivalent"? What does it mean to "come within the subject matter of copyright"? Both are issues in the present case. The statute leaves other questions unanswered, and the exceptions create further confusion. Moreover, the courts have added to the body of law on this subject, without substantially increasing the clarity. The opinion in the present case provides an outcome for the parties, but adds little to others' understanding of copyright preemption. In particular, it may be difficult to reconcile the holding in this case on the subject matter issue with the holdings in other court opinions.
The Court of Appeals first held that the subject matter of Laws's state law claims is within the subject matter of the Copyright Act. That is, Sony copied ten seconds from the sound recording "Very Special", which is copying from a copyrighted medium. The Court of Appeals wrote that the result might have been different if Sony only had a license to the song, and not the sound recording featuring Laws's voice, citing the Bette Midler case. In that case the defendant had license to use the song, and then used someone who could imitate Midler's voice to sing the Midler song. See, Midler in Waits v. Frito-Lay, Inc., 978 F.2d 1093 (9th Cir. 1992).
The Court of Appeals explained that in the Downing case, the defendant placed the photographs within a larger work, and identified the plaintiffs. But, Sony did both of these in the present case. In Downing the Court reasoned that this amounted to using a person's name, and suggesting endorsement, while in the present case the Court reasoned that this amounted to "attribution".
5/24. 10:00 AM. The House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) amended and approved HR 4127, the "Data Accountability and Trust Act". The HFSC approved by voice vote an amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL). Rep. Darlene Hooley (D-OR) offered, but withdrew, an amendment.
5/24. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property (CIIP) approved HR 5440, the "Federal Courts Jurisdiction Clarification Act". The is a non-technology related bill. There is a different bill, with a similar title, HR 2955, the "Intellectual Property Jurisdiction Clarification Act of 2005". The HJC approved the bill on March 2, and reported the bill on April 4 (see, Report No. 109-407). See, story titled "House Judiciary Committee Approves Amendment Regarding Jurisdiction of Federal Circuit" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,325, March 8, 2006. However, this bill has not gone to the House floor. TLJ spoke with Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), and staff, who stated that there is nothing delaying this bill, and that it should come up soon on the House floor on the suspension calendar. HR 2955 is a response to the Supreme Court's opinion in Holmes Group, Inc. v. Vornado Air Circulation Systems, Inc., 535 U.S. 826 (2002). See, story titled "Supreme Court Rules on Appellate Jurisdiction of Federal Circuit" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 443, June 4, 2002. In the Holmes case the Supreme Court held that the Federal Circuit's appellate jurisdiction cannot be based solely upon a patent counterclaim. Critics of the Holmes opinion have argued that this reduces federal control over IP cases, reduces uniformity of patent law, and encourages forum shopping. See, story titled "CIIP Subcommittee to Mark Up Intellectual Property Jurisdiction Clarification Act" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,162, June 27, 2005.
5/24. Barbara Kelly was named Vice President and Executive Director of Development at the Progress and Freedom Foundation (PFF). She was previously Director of Development of the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). See, PFF release.
5/24. The U.S. District Court (EDMich) unsealed indictments returned by a grand jury of the District Court that charge Douglas A. Benit and Mary Ann Elam Benit with federal program fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, and other crimes, in connection with their alleged defrauding of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) e-rate subsidy program of almost $7.3 Million. Also charged were companies under control of the Benits. See, DOJ release. The program is plagued with waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. This is one of many criminal actions associated with the e-rate program.
5/23. The U.S. Court of Appeals (11thCir) issued its opinion [44 pages in PDF] in CBS v. Echostar, a case regarding the compulsory statutory license for direct satellite broadcasters, and the retransmission of copyrighted distant network programming to households already able to receive network over the air broadcasts via rooftop antennas. This opinion affirms in part, and reverses in part, the judgment of the District Court. This case is CBS Broadcasting, Inc., et al. v. Echostar Communications Corp., et al., U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, App. Ct. No. 03-13671, an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, D.C. No. 98-02651-CV-WPD. David Rehr, P/CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) stated in a release that "NAB is pleased with the unanimous 11th Circuit Court decision. This opinion affirms the importance of localism in television, and vindicates an eight year effort by TV broadcasters to stop EchoStar's blatant and massive abuse of copyright law."
5/23. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released its Draft Special Publication 800-96 [169 pages in PDF] titled "PIV Card / Reader Interoperability Guidelines". The deadline to submit comments is June 13, 2006, at 5:00 PM.
5/22. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) released its annual report [21 pages in PDF] that estimates software piracy rates among nations. The report estimates that the global piracy rate did not change between 2004 and 2005. While there are declines in the PR China, Russia and the Ukraine, piracy rates went up in most of the nations of Central and South America. See also, BSA release.
The report provides piracy rates for 97 nations, including the U.S. (21%), Germany (27%), United Kingdom (27%), Japan (28%), Canada (33%), South Korea (46%), France (47%), Italy (53%), India (72%), Russia (83%), Ukraine (85%), PR China (86%), and Indonesia (87%).
Piracy is lowest in the nations of northern Europe (excluding France), as well as in the U.S., Canada (33%), Australia (31%), New Zealand (23%), and Japan. Rates are higher in Mediterranean and Eastern European nations. Piracy rates are higher still in Latin American, African, Middle Eastern nations, with a few exceptions: South Africa (36%), UAE (34%), and Israel (32%). Piracy rates in Russia and other nations that were once a part of the Soviet Union are 83% or higher, with the exception of the Baltic states, which have piracy rates ranging from 54% to 57%. There is considerable variation among the Asian Pacific nations.
The BSA report also lists estimates for piracy rates in the two previous years, 2003 and 2004. It also estimates the loss, measured in dollars, from piracy.
PR China's piracy rate has declined from 92% to 86% in two years. However, since the Chinese economy is growing so rapidly, the estimated losses show a slight increase over two years. The report states that "Visitors to the country can readily find pirated software for consumers, but within the government and business sectors piracy is decreasing. Earlier this year the government mandated that PC manufacturers supplying China ship only PCs with legitimately licensed operating systems, a move which could decrease piracy further."
The Ukraine's piracy rate has declined from 91% to 86%. Russia's has decreased from 87% to 83%.
Piracy rates, and estimated loses, have grown in Latin American nations. Notably, piracy in Venezuela has grown from 72% to 82% in two years, while piracy in Argentina has grown from 71% to 77%.
The BSA study was conducted by IDC. It attempted to measure piracy among "all software that runs on personal computers, including desktops, laptops and ultraportables. The categories include operating systems, systems software such as databases and security packages, and applications software such as office automation packages, finance and tax packages, PC computer games and industry-specific applications."
The report also explains how it estimates piracy rates. It is based upon a comparison of computer shipments to software sales.
5/22. The U.S. Court of Appeals (9thCir) issued its opinion [PDF] in Quicken Loans v. Wood, a case regarding whether the state of California's efforts to regulate Quicken Loans' mortgage lending practices under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act is preempted by various federal statutes.
The Act prohibits the charging of interest in excess of one day prior to recordation of a deed of trust. However, Quicken sometimes takes more than a day between the disbursement of loan funds to the borrower and recordation of the deed of trust, as interpreted by the Commissioner of the California Department of Corporations. During this time Quicken assesses interest on the disbursed loans.
The U.S. District Court (EDCal) held that California law is preempted by the federal Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act (DIDMCA), which is codified at 12 U.S.C. § 1735f-7a, but denied Quicken's request for a permanent injunction. It also held that California law is not preempted by the federal Alternative Mortgage Transaction Parity Act, which is codified at 12 U.S.C. §§ 3801-06.
The Court of Appeals vacated the judgment for Quicken on the DIDMCA claim, and held that California's per diem statutes are not expressly preempted, do not directly conflict with, and do not impede Congress’ purposes in enacting the Parity Act. The per diem statutes therefore are not preempted by the Parity Act.
This case is Quicken Loans, Inc. v. William Wood, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, App. Ct. Nos. 04-16244 and 04-16312, appeals from the U.S. District Court Eastern District of California, D.C. No. CV-03-00256-GEB, Judge Garland Burrell presiding. Judge Alfred Goodwin wrote the opinion of the Court of Appeals, in which Judges Stephen Reinhardt and Michael Hawkins joined.
5/22. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced the formation of a Deemed Export Advisory Committee (DEAC). The BIS also seeks private sector members for the DEAC. See, notice in the Federal Register, May 22, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 98, at Pages 29301-29303.
5/22. The Supreme Court denied certiorari in John Jorgensen v. Sony Music, et al., Sup. Ct. No. 05-10333, a copyright case. See, Order List [10 pages in PDF], at page 5, and Supreme Court docket.
5/22. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced in its web site that it lost a laptop computer containing personal data of "26.5 million veterans and some spouses", including names, birthdays, and social security numbers.
Go to News from May 16-20, 2006.

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