Source: http://www.techlawjournal.com/home/newsbriefs/2012/10a.asp
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 12:39:30+00:00

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TLJ News: October 1-5, 2012.
10/5. On October 3, 2012 Deutsche Telekom and MetroPCS Communications announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to combine T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS. See, story titled "T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS to Merge" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,457, October 3, 2012.
10/5. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Enforcement Bureau issued two citations to individuals who offered for sale online cell phone jamming devices.
The FCC stated that they violated FCC rules promulgated pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 302a. Subsection 302a(b) provides that "No person shall manufacture, import, sell, offer for sale, or ship devices or home electronic equipment and systems, or use devices, which fail to comply with regulations promulgated pursuant to this section." Subsection 302a(a) provides in part that the FCC may promulgate regulation "governing the interference potential of devices which in their operation are capable of emitting radio frequency energy by radiation, conduction, or other means in sufficient degree to cause harmful interference to radio communications".
And, 47 U.S.C. § 503(b) provides that the FCC may impose a "forfeiture penalty" for violation of these rules.
One citation [11 pages in PDF] is directed to an individual named Richard Naparty, who listed a cell phone jammer on the Craigslist web site. The second citation [9 pages in PDF]] is directed to James Christopher Garcia, who also listed a cell phone jammer via Craigslist. The FCC did not cite Craigslist.
These citations impose no fines or other penalties. Moreover, since Naparty and Garcia are not FCC licensees, the FCC has limited leverage over them. However, the citations state that the FCC "may impose monetary forfeitures of up to $16,000 for each such violation or, in the case of a continuing violation, the Commission may impose monetary forfeitures of up to $16,000 for each day of such continuing violation".
Both citations state that "Jamming devices, such as cell phone jammers and GPS blockers, pose serious risks to critical public safety communications and can prevent individuals from making 9-1-1 and other emergency calls. Jammers can also interfere with law enforcement communications. You should take immediate steps to come into compliance and to avoid any recurrence of this misconduct. For example, any operation of a signal jammer must cease immediately, and you are strongly encouraged to voluntarily relinquish any jamming device(s) remaining in your possession. You also may not advertise jamming devices for sale to any consumer in the United States through Craigslist or through any other means."
These citations are DA 12-1591 and DA 12-1592.
10/5. The Department of Labor's (DOL) Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released employment data for the U.S. for the month of September 2012.
The BLS stated in a release that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the US in September was 7.8%. This is a decrease from the 8.1% rate in August, and 8.3% in July. The unemployment rate had held steady in the range of 8.1% to 8.3% for the first eight months of this year.
Table B-1 attached to the BLS report 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 sectors. Nevertheless, the data set out in the table below contains ICT related categories, taken from BLS Table B-1.
While the overall employment rate dropped, ICT related sectors did not fare well in September. Employment in all four of the ICT related manufacturing sectors dropped in September. Overall employment in ICT related services sectors also dropped. However, in the category of professional services, employment in the subcategory of "Computer systems design & related services" rose in September. Also, employment in this sector is up significantly from a year ago.
While overall unemployment dropped, much of the employment gains came in government or quasi-government categories. The BLS reported that "total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 114,000". But, 43,500 of this gain came in "health care", 13,600 came in "state government education", and 6,800 came in "Federal, except Post Office". Also, there were large gains in some low end categories. For example, the BLS reported a gain of 15,700 jobs in "food services and drinking places".
Source: BLS, October 5, 2012 employment report, Table B-1.
Also, while the BLS reported that unemployment dropped from 8.1% to 7.8%, and total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 114,000, an examination of the data suggests even greater improvement in September.
The government collects data from two sources -- households (that is, its survey of individuals) and establishments (reports from businesses that employ people). The unemployment rate (7.8%) is based on household data. The total nonfarm payroll employment gain (114,000) is based on establishment data.
The household data also reveals not only that the unemployment rate dropped, but that it did so with a large number of persons entering the workforce, and a resulting increase in the labor force participation rate. See, BLS Table A. The participation rate is still lower than it was recent years. But, at least it is up from August.
Moreover, while the establishment data provides the 114,000 figure, the household survey data shows an increase in the total number of persons employed from 142,101,000 in August to 142,974,000 in September. This is a gain of 873,000.
Rep. Allen West (R-FL) wrote in a Facebook comment that "Chicago style politics is at work here. Somehow by manipulation of data we are all of a sudden below 8 percent unemployment, a month from the Presidential election. This is Orwellian to say the least".
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) stated in a release that "Today's jobs report marks the lowest unemployment rate in four years, but we have more work to do. Because of President Obama's leadership on the economy, we avoided another depression and now have registered 31 straight months of private sector job growth."
10/5. Rick Kaplan will go to work for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) as EVP, Strategic Planning, starting on October 22.
He worked at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2009 until recently, where he held numerous positions, including Chief of Staff to FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, Chief Counsel to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, and Chief of the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB).
The NAB stated in a release that he "will lead NAB's efforts related to spectrum and innovation policy".
He has also worked for the law firm of Sidley Austin and in the House of Representative's Office of the General Counsel. See also, FCC release of May 30, 2012.
10/4. Google and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) announced that they have settled the copyright infringement action filed by five AAP members in 2005.
They did not release any documents that comprise their agreement, or describe its terms with particularity. They issued a short vaguely worded release.
This release states that the agreement "will provide access to publishers’ in-copyright books and journals digitized by Google for its Google Library Project".
This release adds that "The settlement acknowledges the rights and interests of copyright-holders. US publishers can choose to make available or choose to remove their books and journals digitized by Google for its Library Project. Those deciding not to remove their works will have the option to receive a digital copy for their use. Apart from the settlement, US publishers can continue to make individual agreements with Google for use of their other digitally-scanned works."
This release discloses nothing regarding damages for prior infringement, or compensation for future use.
Nor does it disclose anything about future book scanning by, or on behalf of, Google.
Nor does it use the term "orphan works".
Google, the AAP and Authors Guild had attempted to impose a broad class action settlement agreement that was legislative in scope upon book publishing and digitization. However, the Department of Justice (DOJ) criticized it, and the U.S. District Court (SDNY) rejected it.
The just announced agreement only settles the dispute between the five companies and Google. It does not require court approval.
Other related copyright infringement litigation against Google continues.
Paul Aiken, Executive Director of the Authors Guild, stated in a release that this settlement does not affect the certified class action Authors Guild v. Google, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, D.C. Nos. 05-CV-8136.
He added that "Google continues to profit from its use of millions of copyright-protected books without regard to authors’ rights, and our class-action lawsuit on behalf of U.S. authors continues."
See also, American Society of Media Photographers v. Google, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, D.C. No. 10-CV-2977, another class action.
Background on Google Books Litigation. The Author's Guild filed a class action complaint against Google in the U.S. District Court (SDNY) on September 20, 2005. See, story titled "Author's Guild Sues Google for Copyright Infringement" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,218, September 21, 2005.
Various large book publishers filed a complaint (which action has just been settled) against Google in the same District Court on October 19, 2005. See, story titled "Major Book Publishers Sue Google for Digitizing Copyrighted Books" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,237, October 20, 2005. Both complaints alleged copyright infringement in connection with Google scanning and distributing books.
The District Court rejected the proposed settlement. See, stories titled "District Court Rejects Google Books Class Action Settlement" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,206, March 22, 2011, and "Orphan Works and the Court's Rejection of the Google Book Deal" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,207, March 23, 2011.
10/4. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski gave a long speech [12 pages in PDF] in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in which he addressed wireless technologies, making more spectrum available for commercial services, more efficient use of spectrum, and unlicensed use of spectrum.
It was a political speech, spinning history to give credit to President Obama, and to Genachowski's and former Chairman Reed Hundt's efforts. It was also a self-congratulatory rebuttal to comments that his FCC has not actually auctioned any spectrum for mobile broadband, and has been pushing for too much unlicensed use of spectrum.
Genachowski (at left) has given numerous spectrum crunch speeches. His FCC staff wrote a lengthy plan, released in 2010. And, President Obama has signed an order, and declared a spectrum goal. Nevertheless, the FCC has not auctioned any spectrum for mobile broadband use under the leadership of Genachowski.
He used this speech to offer his take on the recent history of spectrum allocation.
He said that when he returned to the FCC in 2009 "the spectrum pipeline we inherited was largely dry. The year before, the FCC auctioned off a significant amount of spectrum in the 700 MHz band. That, by the way, was the direct result of policy decisions made in the late 1990s under Chairman Reed Hundt."
He said that "This highlights an important fact about freeing up spectrum for broadband. It takes several years to bring new spectrum to consumers through traditional reallocation and auctioning of spectrum. But while FCC auctions in the 2000s were in many respects a big success, the FCC didn't in those years replenish the spectrum pipeline. When I returned to the agency in 2009, we had our work cut out for us. And we've been working."
He discussed the FCC's March 2010 staff report titled "National Broadband Plan". And, he said that while the FCC has not actually auctioned any spectrum, "we are on track" to do so.
He said that "We are on track to auction 75 MHz of licensed Advanced Wireless Service spectrum -- essential for 4G cellular service -- by 2015. This includes an auction of shared rights to the 1755-1780 MHz band, which could be paired with the 2155-2180 MHz band already in inventory to extend the valuable AWS band by 50 MHz. We expect the first of these auctions -- of the AWS-2 H-block -- will happen in 2013, and the revenue generated will serve as a down-payment on funding a nationwide Public Safety Network and to reduce the deficit."
Second, he said, there is "removing regulatory barriers to flexible spectrum use. Later this year, we will finish removing outdated rules and restrictions on 70 MHz of spectrum. This includes 40 megahertz of mobile satellite spectrum that I expect the Commission will repurpose for land-based mobile use, and 30 megahertz in the long-troubled Wireless Communications Service band that is now poised to be used for LTE service. We're also working with stakeholders to enable use of the portions of the mobile satellite spectrum in the L- and BIG LEO bands for terrestrial service, and this would add to our megahertz total."
Third, there are the forthcoming incentive auctions provided for by the Congress in February in HR 3630 [LOC | WW]. Genachowski said that this will enable the repurposing of broadcast television spectrum in the 600 MHz band for mobile broadband.
He added that incentive auctions were in the FCC's 2010 report, and that "Last Friday we launched a proceeding to implement this idea, and expect to hold the world’s first incentive auction in 2014." See, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, and story titled "FCC Adopts NPRM on Incentive Auctions" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,455, October 1, 2012.
Fourth, he said that there is "dynamic sharing". He asserted that "In 2010 we created a new spectrum sharing paradigm by allowing unlicensed devices to access valuable unused spectrum in between broadcast TV channels -- known as white spaces".
Actually, the FCC created this paradigm in 2008, and Genachowski claims credit for the work of others. On October 15, 2008, the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) released a report [146 pages in PDF] titled "Evaluation of the Performance of Prototype TV-Band White Space Devices Phase II". See, story titled "FCC Releases White Space Report" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,844, October 16, 2008.
Then, on November 4, 2008, the FCC adopted white space rules in its Second Report and Order and Memorandum Opinion and Order [130 pages in PDF]. See, story titled "FCC Adopts White Space Order" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,852, November 4, 2008.
Then, he concluded, "So with 75 MHz from traditional auctions, 70 MHz from removing regulatory barriers, 100 MHz from dynamic sharing, and significant spectrum from incentive auctions, reallocations of government spectrum, and white spaces, we are on track to exceed the 300 MHz target by 2015."
Genachowski also said that the FCC is "promoting competition, reducing barriers to broadband build-out and driving broadband investment". For example, it is "implementing a ``shot clock´´ for wireless tower siting, modernizing rules related to pole attachments, and reforming our rules for wireless backhaul." It is also "removing barriers to collocating antennas, and streamlining access to rights of ways."
He said the to accommodate ever more users, there must be both "technology and business innovations that dramatically increase spectrum efficiency", and "legislation to drive reallocation of inefficiently used government spectrum".
He advocated "spectrum sharing". He said that "From the perspective of military and other government spectrum users, sharing can help narrow the growing gap between government and commercial communications equipment, a gap characterized by a widening disparity in both functionality and price."
Finally, he defended his advocacy of unlicensed spectrum use, including for WiFi.
"Some disagree with this approach. Earlier this year, there was an effort in Congress to prohibit the FCC from designating any TV band spectrum repurposed through the incentive auction for unlicensed use. And just last week, one of my colleagues at the Commission suggested that the FCC significantly limit unlicensed opportunities in the spectrum freed up by incentive auctions".
He argued that "expanded unlicensed use" is both "forward-thinking and forward-acting".
"Launching a war on the kinds of ideas that gave us Wi-Fi would be a self-inflicted wound to U.S. innovation and economic leadership."
10/4. The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) filed a petition for writ of certiorari [164 pages in PDF] with the Supreme Court in FTC v. Watson Pharmaceuticals, a case regarding patent litigation reverse payment settlement agreements.
The OSG states that the question presented is "Whether reverse-payment agreements are per se lawful unless the underlying patent litigation was a sham or the patent was obtained by fraud ..., or instead are presumptively anticompetitive and unlawful ..."
The U.S. Court of Appeals (11thCir) held the former in its opinion [39 pages in PDF] issued on April 25, 2012. The OSG and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) urge the Supreme Court to hold the latter.
At issue is the legality of settlements of patent litigation, brought by patent holders against allegedly infringing generic drug makers, in which the patent holder pays for delay of entry into the market by the generic drug maker.
The FTC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court (NDGa) alleging that this practice is an unfair restraint on trade and a violation of federal antitrust law. The FTC lost in the District Court, and the Court of Appeals.
This case is FTC v. Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., et al., Supreme Court, a petition for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, App. Ct. No. 10-12729.
10/4. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) published a notice in the Federal Register that requests comments regarding the creation of the interoperable public safety broadband network by the First Responder Network Authority, or FirstNet, as required by the spectrum bill enacted in February.
Comments are due by 5:00 PM on November 1, 2012. See, FR, Vol. 77, No. 193, October 4, 2012, at Pages 60680-6068. The NTIA also published a draft of this notice of inquiry (NOI) in its web site on October 1.
The Congress enacted HR 3630 [LOC | WW], the "Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act" in February. This bill, among other things, gives the FCC authority to conduct incentive auctions. It provides for use of some of the auction proceeds to build a public safety network. It also provided for the creation of the FirstNet at the NTIA.
See also, stories titled "House and Senate Negotiators Reach Agreement on Spectrum Legislation", "Summary of Spectrum Bill", and "Reaction to Spectrum Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,339, February 17, 2012, story titled "House and Senate Pass Spectrum Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,340, February 18, 2012, and story titled "Obama Signs Spectrum Bill into Law" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,345, February 23, 2012.
This notice asks for comments regarding "network design and business plan considerations".
It asks for comments regarding the network architecture presentation made at the FirstNet Board of Directors' meeting on September 25, 2012, as well as other options. See, September 25 presentation slides [23 pages in PDF] titled "First Responders Network Authority Presentation to the Board FirstNet Nationwide Network (FNN) Proposal".
The NTIA notice asks for comments on "how it can deploy a reliable, ubiquitous, redundant, and interoperable broadband network for public safety users."
The FirstNet also adopted a resolution [14 pages in PDF] containing the FirstNet's bylaws, and other resolutions, at its September 25 meeting.
10/4. The Council of the European Union adopted the European Commission's (EC) Directive on Orphan Works [15 pages in PDF]. EC Internal Market and Services Commissioner Michel Barnier stated in a release that "It will enable easy online access for all citizens to our cultural heritage." On the other hand, this Directive will reduce creators' ability to enforce their copyrights. It will particularly harm individuals and small businesses and creators of visual works, and decrease incentives to create.
10/4. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published, and offered for sale, a report titled "OECD Internet Economy: Outlook 2012". The OECD released online for free a release and preview. James Waterworth of the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) stated in a release that "This report underlines the key role of the Internet in job creation and restoring growth both via the value ICT firms create and the indirect effects on the rest of the economy The ICT sector, especially Internet services with 31% average annual revenue growth between 2000-2011, grew tremendously at a time when most other sectors were seeing flat growth and declines. This underscores the need to promote Internet openness and balanced approaches to intellectual property policy so that the tech sector can continue to thrive and help lead the economic recovery."
10/3. Deutsche Telekom and MetroPCS Communications announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to combine T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS.
The transaction requires approvals from numerous regulatory agencies, including the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
10/3. Attorney General Eric Holder, Deputy Attorney General James Cole, and U.S. Attorney for Maryland Rod Rosenstein spoke at an event at Towson University, in Maryland, at which they announced the award of $2.4 Million in grants to 13 state and local jurisdictions to assist with the enforcement of criminal laws related to intellectual property theft.
$2.4 Million is not much. Moreover, it is spread across numerous agencies. Nevertheless, AG Holder (at right) stated in his speech that these grants "will help to achieve our common goals: to advance prosecutions -- as well as prevention and education activities -- related to IP theft."
He continued that "These resources will be used to fund new police department positions specifically tasked with investigating IP crime; to create Spanish-speaking radio messages about the dangers of IP theft; to purchase cutting-edge surveillance, evidence collection, and storage equipment; to develop and implement more law enforcement and prosecutor training programs; and to improve coordination, information sharing, and data collection."
He also described the Department of Justice's (DOJ) operations. He said that "we now have 40 prosecutors and four computer forensics experts serving in the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section; 25 Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property -- or, ``CHIP´´ units --- in our U.S. Attorney’s offices; more than 260 specially-trained CHIP prosecutors; more than 50 FBI IP Special Agents; a robust international IP program; and strong partnerships with a broad range of IP rights holders."
Cole said in his speech that "Rather than take the time to develop their own ideas, all too often competitors try to steal proprietary designs, systems, processes, and formulas from American manufacturers who invest years of hard work and millions of dollars in the research and development necessary to create smarter cars, better computer technologies and more sophisticated military equipment. Ironically, new technology itself has made it easier than ever to steal our intellectual property. Just one thumb drive can capture years of work and millions of dollars in research, and enable instant transmission to a foreign competitor."
10/3. Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee (SCC), sent a letter to Jonathan Leibowitz, Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), urging the FTC to continue its participation in the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) development of a do not track (DNT) standard for web site operators.
The World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Tracking Protection Working Group (TPWG) is an internet standards body that is working on a standard regarding what DNT means, and what web sites are expected to do, or not expected to do, in response to a user's DNT expression. See, W3C's March 13, 2012 draft document titled "Tracking Preference Expression".
Last week nine Republican members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to Leibowitz condemning the FTC for participating in the W3C's deliberations regarding development of a DNT standard. See, related story in this issue titled "Representatives Condemn FTC Participation in W3C Development of DNT Standard".
Sen. Rockefeller (at right) wrote that "I ... urge you to continue your positive and constructive involvement" in the W3C TPWG's deliberations.
He elaborated that "It is entirely appropriate that the FTC is participating in the W3C process to provide technical expertise or otherwise facilitate the promulgation of voluntary standards on DNT".
He reasoned that "an important element of the FTC's mission is to be a public advocate for consumer protection", and that "it is not unusual for government agencies to play prominent roles in the development of voluntary standards"
He argued that "the FTC should continue to actively encourage all relevant stakeholders to develop voluntary standards to honor do-not-track requests"
He also wrote that the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) "pledged to honor DNT browser requests. However, the commitment itself is currently riddled with exceptions -- allowing for the collection and user of personal information for ``product development´´ and ``market research´´ -- that could render DNT compliance meaningless. And it is not clear if any or all member companies will honor the commitment at all. Furthermore, the current self-regulatory initiative is an ineffective regime in which third party ad networks honor consumer ``opt out´´ requests by abstaining from serving targeted behavioral advertisements, while continuing to collect personal information."
Sen. Rockefeller concluded that "If the advertising industry cannot be coaxed into living up to its commitment and adopting robust voluntary DNT standards, I believe it will only highlight the need for Congress to act ..."
10/3. The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) published a piece on the recent debate over development of a do not track (DNT) standard World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Tracking Protection Working Group (TPWG). This piece, written by the CDT's Leslie Harris and Justin Brookman, is titled "The Bizarre, Belated Assault on Do Not Track".
For more on this "assault", see, related story in this issue titled "Representatives Condemn FTC Participation in W3C Development of DNT Standard", and story titled "ITIF Asserts That Do Not Track is Madness" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,456, October 2, 2012.
They argued that "Rather than rush headlong into a privacy arms race, all stakeholders need to work together to develop a meaningful standard that allows valuable ad serving but stops the boundless collection of online web surfing behavior by a host of unknown companies. At the end of the day, privacy advocates will have to settle for something less than they would like in an ideal world. And advertisers must honor their commitment to comply with users' Do Not Track instructions."
10/3. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced in a release that it launched s Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program with the patent office of the Czech Republic on October 1, and that it will launch PPH programs with the patent offices of the Philippines and Portugal in January of 2013.
10/3. The Copyright Office (CO) again extended the deadline to submit reply comments in response to its notice in the Federal Register (FR) that announces, describes, recites and requests comments on its proposed rules regarding the verification of Statements of Account and royalty payments that are deposited with the CO by cable operators and satellite carriers. See, original notice in the FR, Vol. 77, No. 115, June 14, 2012, at Pages 35643-35652, first extension notice in the FR, Vol. 77, No. 176, September 11, 2012, at Page 55783, and second extension notice in the FR, Vol. 77, No. 192, October 3, 2012, at Pages 60333-60334. The new deadline is 5:00 PM on October 24, 2012.
10/2. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA), and 43 other members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to the Ron Kirk, head of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR), regarding protectionist policies of India directed at information and communications technology (ICT) companies outside of India.
They asked the OUSTR to "take urgent action on the recent Preferential Market Access (PMA) Policy issued by the Government of India. The potential detrimental impact of this policy on U.S. high-tech exports to India warrant USTR's consideration of all available tools to ensure U.S. technology companies are able to compete fairly in this critical market."
Rep. McCaul and Rep. Matsui (at right) are the co-chairmen of the Congressional High Tech Caucus, a bipartisan group.
The letter elaborates that "the PMA is designed to boost domestic manufacturing of information and communications technology (ICT) hardware through discriminatory, local content requirements, and more specifically, is aimed at forcing foreign ICT companies to establish manufacturing in India. Furthermore, it seems clear this policy will be applied not only to public procurements but also to procurements by private-sector entities."
They quoted from guidelines issued by the Indian government in September: "It shall be mandatory for all organizations, public or private, procuring electronic products notified under this clause to provide preference to domestically manufactured electronic products in terms of this policy."
They concluded that the US should not allow "countries to violate fundamental international trade obligations", and urged the OUSTR to use "all tools at your disposal to remedy this situation".
However, they did not specifically request that the OUSTR file a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Also, on June 11, Rep. McCaul, Rep. Matsui, and 19 other Representatives sent a letter to Indian Ambassador Nirupama regarding the PMA Policy.
In April, a large number of ICT trade groups based in the US, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia and Europe sent a letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to "to express our serious concerns with new" PMA rules.
The ICT groups wrote that "If the PMA applies to private entities, this would represent an unprecedented interference in the procurements of commercial entities and would be inconsistent with India's WTO obligations. We urge the Government of India to rescind this PMA entirely and initiate a consultation process with the private sector and other stakeholders to more effectively address India’s security and economic concerns."
The PMA Policy will harm ICT companies outside of India. Hence, most of the major ICT groups from around the world have joined in criticizing it. However, this letter focuses on arguments regarding how the PMA Policy with harm the Indian ICT sector and the Indian economy. This letter states that the PMA Policy will "unnecessarily restrict competition at home which could also spark reciprocation by other countries".
The parties to the April letter, in alphabetical order, are as follows: AMCHAM India, Australian Services Roundtable, Australian Services Roundtable, Business Software Alliance, Business Europe, Canada-India Business Council, Canadian Services Coalition, Consumer Electronics Association, Communications and Information Network Association of Japan, Computing Technology Industry Association, Coalition of Service Industries, Digital Europe, European-American Business Council, Emergency Committee for American Trade, European Services Forum, Federation of Korean Information Industries, Global VSAT Forum, Hong Kong Coalition of Service Industries, Information Technology Association of Canada, Information Technology Industry Council, Korea Information Technology Service Industry Association, Korea Software Enterprise Association, Japan Business Machine and Information System Industries Association, Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association, Japan Information Technology Service Industry Association, Korean Software Industry Association, National Foreign Trade Council, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International, Semiconductor Industry Association, Software and Information Industry Association, Taipei Computer Association, TechAmerica, Telecommunications Industry Association, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, United States Council for International Business, and U.S.-India Business Council.
10/1. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) that announces and describes its pilot patent examination acceleration program for law school clinics.
Under this program "a law school clinic participating in the USPTO Law School Clinic Certification Pilot Program may file an application for a pro bono client of the law school clinic and that applicant's application may be advanced out of turn".
Each law school participating in the patent pilot program is allowed only two applications to be examined out of turn per semester. And, the entire program is limited to 64 per year.
Ordinarily, and subject to certain exceptions, patents are examined in the order in which they are filed. By taking law school clinic applications out of order, students will be more likely to obtain practical experience since "they will be more likely to receive substantive examination of applications within the school year that the application is filed".
See, FR, Vol. 77, No. 190, Monday, October 1, 2012, Pages 59911-59913.
10/1. Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), gave a speech in Indianapolis, Indiana in which he stated that "monetary policy is no panacea". He said that "many other steps could be taken to strengthen our economy over time, such as putting the federal budget on a sustainable path, reforming the tax code, improving our educational system, supporting technological innovation, and expanding international trade".
Go to News from September 26-30, 2012.

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