Source: http://techlawjournal.com/home/newsbriefs/2005/11a.asp
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 08:25:48+00:00

Document:
TLJ News: November 1-5, 2005.
11/4. On November 3, 2005, the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) approved, by unanimous consent, the nomination of Wan Kim to be the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. On November 4, 2005, the full Senate confirmed him.
11/4. The Senate confirmed Katherine Baicker to be a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisors.
11/4. The Senate confirmed Matthew Slaughter to be a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisors.
11/4. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced its selection of four slates of nominees for four ICANN bodies: the Board of Directors, the Council of the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO), the Council of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) and the Interim At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC). See, ICANN release.
11/3. Anthony Wayne, Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs at the Department of State, gave a speech in Washington DC titled "Multilateral Cooperation Case Study: IP and the Global Agenda". He discussed plans for further cooperation between the US and Europe on intellectual property law protection.
Wayne (at right) said that cooperation "is truly the only way we can reverse the tide of intellectual property theft that is threatening our economic security and competitiveness".
He said "we hope to share information regarding IP training programs and, to the extent possible, coordinate U.S. and EU IP training opportunities in priority sources of IP infringement -- like China and Russia."
He said that the two plan "to invite the U.S. and EU citizens who own intellectual property themselves to become a more integral part of our cooperative IP enforcement and education efforts."
He said that "we plan to increase cooperation between U.S. and EU Member States’ customs authorities to identify and implement the best possible practices to detect IP infringement and increase seizures of IP infringing goods."
He said that "we want to get our customs authorities trading information on how to better manage risks and use the most effective techniques to meet this global challenge, and we want to tighten up our enforcement coordination on the ground so we can stop pirates and counterfeiters at our borders."
And, he said that "we will make sure the operational work we launch together is successful by ensuring we collect needed statistical data in a way we can both understand."
11/3. The House amended and approved HR 4128, the "Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2005", by a vote of 376-38. See, Roll Call No. 568. 36 of the 38 votes against the bill were cast by Democrats. The bill was introduced by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and others in response to the March 23, 2005 opinion [58 pages in PDF] of the Supreme Court in Kelo v. New London. Rep. Sensenbrenner stated during House debate that this bill would "restore the property rights of all Americans by establishing a penalty for states and localities that abuse their eminent domain power by denying states or localities that commit such abuse all federal economic development funds for a period of two years. Under this legislation, there is a clear connection between the federal funds that would be denied and the abuse Congress is intending to prevent - if states or localities abuse their eminent domain power by using ``economic development´´ as a rationale for a taking, they shall not receive federal ``economic development´´ funds that could contribute to similarly abusive land grabs."
11/3. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) approved, by unanimous consent, the nomination of Steven Bradbury to be the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel.
11/3. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) approved, by unanimous consent, the nomination of Thomas Barnett to be the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division.
11/3. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) reported, by unanimous consent, S 1699, the "Stop Counterfeiting in Manufactured Goods Act", and S 1095, the "Protecting American Goods and Services Act of 2005". It held over HR 683, the "Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2005".
11/3. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) held an executive business meeting. It held over two bills pertaining to personal data and privacy, S 1789, the "Personal Data Privacy and Security Act of 2005", and S 751, the "Notification of Risk to Personal Data Act".
11/1. The U.S. Court of Appeals (8thCir) issued its opinion [15 pages in PDF] in Qwest v. Minnesota PUC, a case regarding interconnection agreements between an ILEC and CLECs.
The Minnesota Department of Commerce filed an administrative complaint with the Minnesota Public Utility Commission (MPUC) against Qwest Communications, an incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC), alleging that it had entered into secret interconnection agreements with some competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs). It further alleged that Qwest did not submit these to the MPUC, and that this discriminated against non-party CLECs.
The Communications Act, at 47 U.S.C. § 252, mandates that interconnection agreements must be submitted to state PUCs for approval. § 252(a) provides, in part, that "Upon receiving a request for interconnection, services, or network elements pursuant to section 251 of this title, an incumbent local exchange carrier may negotiate and enter into a binding agreement with the requesting telecommunications carrier or carriers ... The agreement ... shall be submitted to the State commission ..."
§ 252(e) provides that "Any interconnection agreement adopted by negotiation or arbitration shall be submitted for approval to the State commission. A State commission to which an agreement is submitted shall approve or reject the agreement, with written findings as to any deficiencies."
§ 252(i) then provides that "A local exchange carrier shall make available any interconnection, service, or network element provided under an agreement approved under this section to which it is a party to any other requesting telecommunications carrier upon the same terms and conditions as those provided in the agreement."
The MPUC held that Qwest knowingly and intentionally violated §§ 251 and 252 of the Communications Act by failing to file twelve agreements, fined Qwest $25.95 Million, and ordered Qwest to pay restitution, pursuant to Minnesota state law, to the non-party CLECs.
Qwest filed a complaint in U.S. District Court (DMinn) against the MPUC. The District Court upheld the fine. But, the District Court held that the MPUC lacks the authority under Minnesota law to order Qwest to comply with restitution for CLECs that were not parties to unfiled interconnection agreements. Both Qwest and the MPUC appealed.
The Court of Appeals affirmed on all issues before it.
This case is Qwest Corporation v. Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, et al., U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, App. Ct. Nos. 04-3368, 04-3408, and 04-3510, appeals from U.S. District Court of the District of Minnesota. Judge Lay wrote the opinion of the Court of Appeals, in which Judges Riley and Fagg joined.
11/1. The U.S. Court of Appeals (4thCir) issued its opinion [14 pages in PDF] in NCSC v. Cisco, a dispute between Cisco and one of its former distributors. Cisco prevailed in the District Court, and on appeal.
Cisco Systems makes networking equipment. Network Computing Services Corporation (NCSC) entered into a contract with Cisco to become a reseller of Cisco equipment in the state of South Carolina. NCSC also provides consulting services. Cisco authorized other resellers in South Carolina. Cisco also required NCSC it to agree not to be listed as an official distributor of any of Cisco’s competitors.
NCSC filed a complaint in U.S. District Court (DSC) against Cisco alleging violation of the Sherman Act, breach of an oral contract, violation of the South Carolina unfair trade practices statute, and common law fraud. NCSC alleged that Cisco took advantage of sales leads that NCS supplied to it, and then told several potential customers to do business with other Cisco distributors instead of NCSC.
NCSC dropped the Sherman Act and breach of contract claims. The District Court granted summary judgment to Cisco on the unfair trade practices claim, and the common law fraud claim. NCSC appealed.
The Court of Appeals affirmed. The Court of Appeals, applying the law of South Carolina, wrote that the unfair trade practices claim fails because there was no evidence that Cisco's conduct caused harm to any member of the South Carolina public.
This case is Network Computing Services Corporation v. Cisco Systems, Inc., et al., U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, App. Ct. Nos. 04-2166 and 04-2213, appeals from the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Columbia, Judge Joseph Anderson presiding, D.C. No. CA-01-281-3. This is a per curiam opinion by Judges Widener, Niemeyer and Michael.
The Court of Appeals also wrote that this is an "unpublished" opinion, and that "Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c)."
11/1. Rep. Mike Oxley (R-OH) (at right) announced that he will retire from the Congress at the end of his current term. He is currently the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC). See, release.
Rep. Oxley (at right) was first elected Chairman at the beginning of the 107th Congress, in early 2001. House Republican rules term limit Chairmen after six years. Hence, he would have relinquished the Chairmanship at the end of the current Congress.
Some of the other members who might be considered for the HFSC Chairmanship include Rep. Richard Baker (R-LA), Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-OH), and Rep. Michael Castle (R-DE).
In recent years, Rep. Baker has sponsored and promoted legislation, which did not become law, that would have required public companies to expense only those stock options granted to the CEO and the next four highest paid officers. It also provides an exemption for small businesses. As for the top five employees, the bill required companies to follow the FASB standards, but with a zero volatility assumption. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) mandated expensing of all stock options. However, many technology companies, technology workers, and the groups that represent them, opposed the FASB mandate, and sought a legislative remedy.
The House approved Rep. Baker's bill, HR 3574 (108th Congress), the "Stock Options Accounting Reform Act", on July 20, 2004. See also, story titled "House Passes Stock Option Accounting Reform Act" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 942, July 21, 2004. The Senate did not approve the bill.
Alternatively, if the Democrats obtain a majority in the House in the 2006 elections, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) would likely become the next HFSC Chairman.
11/1. President Bush formally nominated Ben Bernanke to be a member and Chairman of the Board Of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. See, White House release. President Bush announced this nomination last week. See, story titled "Bush Picks Bernanke to Replace Greenspan" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,239, October 25, 2005.
11/1. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced on November 1 that it "will consider one additional item" at its meeting of November 3. The FCC announced in a release [PDF] that it will also consider a First Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding its Emergency Alert System rules. This proceeding is EB Docket No. 04-296.
On October 21, the FCC issued an agenda that listed this item for its October 28 meeting. The FCC rescheduled this meeting several times, eventually holding it on October 31.
Also on October 31 the FCC issued a notice stating that this Emergency Alert System item was taken off the agenda for the October 31 meeting. Now, the FCC has put it on the agenda for its November 3 meeting.
5 U.S.C. § 552b requires that agencies give notice "at least one week before the meeting, of the time, place, and subject matter of the meeting".
On October 27, the FCC released the original agenda [PDF] for its November 3 meeting. This agenda lists three items, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding Section 621 and new video entrants, a Report and Order regarding DTV tuners, and Clarification Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the use of distributed transmission system (DTS) technologies by digital television stations.
Go to News from October 26-31, 2005.

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