Source: http://www.techlawjournal.com/alert/2013/03/21.asp
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 15:05:30+00:00

Document:
TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,538, March 21, 2013.
Thursday, March 21, 2013, Alert No. 2,538.
3/20. The U.S. District Court (SDNY) granted summary judgment of infringement to the Associated Press in AP v. Meltwater.
This is a victory for businesses that engage in actual news reporting -- those that hire reporters and editors, and write and publish their own stories. Also, to the extent that this opinion does not remove financial incentives to conduct actual news reporting, it will not tend to reduce news reporting. An opinion to the contrary -- allowing news story free riding as fair use -- would have reduced financial incentives to conduct actual reporting, reduced the quantity and quality of news available to the public, and thereby reduced consumer welfare. However, the District Court decided on the basis of the language of the statute, and applicable precedent.
The AP filed its complaint on February 14, 2012 alleging copyright infringement (17 U.S.C. § 106) and hot news misappropriation by Meltwater, which asserted fair use (17 U.S.C. § 107), equitable estoppel, laches and copyright abuse.
The District Court found infringement, and rejected all of Meltwater's affirmative defenses in a 91 page opinion.
The AP hires at great expense an army of reporters who engage in the labor intensive and time consuming process of collecting, researching, writing, and editing news stories. It licenses its works for fees. Meltwater does not license from AP. Rather it copies excerpts from AP's works, and sells its product to its own subscribers.
The key issue was whether Meltwater's free riding is protected fair use. Meltwater attempted to portray itself to the District Court as a search engine that provided a transformative use. The District Court rejected the fair use defense.
Meltwater stated in a release on March 21 that it "believes the ruling misapplies the fair use doctrine and is at odds with a variety of prior decisions that have paved the way for today’s Internet. Meltwater is especially troubled by the implications of this decision for other search engines and services that have long relied on the fair use principles for which Meltwater is fighting."
Jorn Lyseggen, CEO of Meltwater, stated in this release that "we look forward to having this decision reviewed by the Court of Appeals, which we are confident will see the case a different way."
This case is Associated Press v. Meltwater U.S. Holdings, Inc., et al., U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, D.C. 2:12-cv-1087-DLC-FM.
The AP is represented by the law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine. Meltwater is represented by the law firm of Wilson Sonsini.
The Senate will meet at 9:30 AM. It will resume consideration of SConRes 8, a budget resolution.
8:30 AM - 3:15 PM. The Free State Foundation (FSF) will host an event titled "Fifth Annual Telecom Policy Conference". The keynote speakers will be Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ajit Pai (FCC Commissioner). Robert McDowell (FCC Commissioner), Gary Epstein (Chair of the FCC's Incentive Auction Task Force), and William Lake (Chief of the FCC's Media Bureau) will be panelists. The other speakers will be Rebecca Arbogast (Comcast), Jeffrey Campbell (Cisco Systems), Michelle Connolly (Duke University), Steve Davis (CenturyLink), Stacy Fuller (Directv), Donna Gregg (Columbus School of Law), Rick Kaplan (NAB), Steve Largent (CTIA), Blair Levin (Aspen Institute), Daniel Lyons (Boston College Law School), Michael Powell (NCTA), Robert Quinn (AT&T), Gigi Sohn (Public Knowledge), Deborah Tate, Tom Tauke (Verizon), Steven Teplitz (Time Warner Cable), Richard Whitt (Google's Motorola Mobility), and Richard Wiley (Wiley Rein). Location: National Press Club, 13th Floor, 529 14th St., NW.
9:00 AM. The House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) Subcommittee on on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats will hold a hearing titled "Cyber Attacks: An Unprecedented Threat to U.S. National Security". The witnesses will be Chris Painter (Department of State), Michael Mazz (American Enterprise Institute), Martin Libicki (RAND Corporation), Richard Bejtlich (Mandiant Corporation) and Greg Autry (Coalition for a Prosperous America). See, notice. See also, story titled "Mandiant Releases Report on Cyber Espionage by People's Liberation Army" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,532, March 7, 2013. Location: Room 2172, Rayburn Building.
9:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing titled "Health Information Technologies: Administration Perspectives on Innovation and Regulation". The witnesses will be Farzad Mostashari (Department of Health and Human Services) and Christy Foreman (Food and Drug Administration). See, notice. Location: Room 2322, Rayburn Building.
9:00 AM. The House Intelligence Committee will hold a closed hearing titled "Ongoing Intelligence Activities". See, notice. Location: Room HVC-304, Capitol Visitor Center.
10:00 AM. The House Small Business Committee (HSBC) will hold a hearing titled "Protecting Small Businesses Against Emerging and Complex Cyber-Attacks". The witnesses will be William Weber (Cbeyond, testifying on behalf of the COMPTEL), Justin Freeman (Rackspace, testifying on behalf of the Application Developers Alliance), and Phyllis Schneck (McAfee). See, notice. Location: Room 2360, Rayburn Building.
10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda again includes consideration of the nominations of Jane Kelly (USCA/8thCir) and Kenneth Gonzales (USDC/DNMex). See, notice. Webcast. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.
1:00 - 2:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast and teleconferenced presentation titled "Social Media and Local Governments". The speaker will be Julie Tappendorf (Ancel Glink). Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice.
2:30 PM. The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Bureau of Economics will host a presentation titled "Switching Costs and Equilibrium Prices". See, paper [PDF] with the same title. The speaker will be the author Luis Cabral (New York University business school). This is an economics paper that does not discuss wireless or other services. However, it is pertinent to policy debates regarding wireless services. For more information, contact Christopher Metcalf at cmetcalf at ftc dot gov or Tammy John at tjohn at ftc dot gov. Location: FTC, 601 New Jersey Ave., NW.
12:00 NOON - 1:00 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a teleconferenced panel discussion titled "Associates under the New HSR Rules". The speakers will be Jeffrey Ayer (WilmerHale), Kathryn Walsh (FTC Premerger Notification Office), John Ingrassia (Proskauer), and Nadia Murad (Kirkland & Ellis). Free. No CLE credits. See, notice.
2:00 - 3:00 PM. The Brookings Institute will host an event titled "What Lies Ahead for Japan and the United States". Kenichiro Sasae (Ambassador of Japan to the United States) will speak and answer questions. Free. Open to the public. See, notice. Location: Brookings, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW.
The House will not meet the week of March 25 through March 29, or the week of April 1 through April 5. The House will return on Tuesday, April 9. See, House calendar for 113th Congress, 1st Session.
12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Intellectual Property Committee and Video Programming and Distribution Committee will host a brown bag lunch regarding the FCC’s encoding rules for cable and satellite providers. The speakers will be Stephanie Roy (Steptoe & Johnson), Robert Schwartz (Constantine & Cannon), and Paul Glist (Davis Wright & Tremaine). Location: Wiley Rein, 1776 K St., NW.
Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [34 pages in PDF] regarding rates for telecommunications services in prisons. The FCC adopted this NPRM on December 24, 2012, and released the text on December 28. It is FCC 12-167 in WC Docket No. 12-375. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 14, January 22, 2013, at Pages 4369-4376.
10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Apple v. Samsung, App. Ct. No. 2012-1600, an appeal from the U.S. District Court (NDCal) in a patent infringement case involving technology for smart phones and tablets. The District Court case is 11-CV-1846-LHK, Judge Lucy Koh presiding. See also, stories titled "Trial Jury Returns Verdict In Apple v. Samsung" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,437, August 25, 2012, and "Apple Files Patent Infringement Complaint Against Samsung" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,222, April 18, 2011. Location: Courtroom 201.
12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast and teleconferenced panel discussion titled "The iPad for Lawyers: Incorporating Tablet Computing Into Your Practice". Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice.
4:30 - 6:00 PM. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host an event titled "Arbitration and the Constitution". The speakers will be Lee Otis, Peter Rutledge (University of Georgia School of Law), Paul Bland (Public Justice), James Chen (Brandeis School of Law), and Michael Greve (George Mason University School of Law). See, notice. Location: AEI, 1150 17th St., NW.
6:00 - 8:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host an event titled "Why Every Lawyer Should Understand The Basic Concepts Of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) -- 2013". Prices vary. CLE credits. Registrations and cancellations are due by 12:00 NOON on March 26. See, notice. Location: Bingham McCutchen, 2020 K St., NW.
Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) regarding implementing allocation decisions from the World Radiocommunication Conference held in Geneva in 2007 (WRC-07) regarding spectrum between 108 MHz and 20.2 GHz, and changing service rules for this spectrum. The FCC adopted this NPRM on November 15, 2012, and released the text on November 19. It is FCC 12-140 in ET Docket No. 12-338. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 248, December 27, 2012, at Pages 76250-76287.
2:30 PM. The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Bureau of Economics will host a presentation titled "Monopoly Differential Pricing and Welfare". See, paper [30 pages in PDF] with the same title by Yongmin Chen (University of Colorado at Boulder) and Marius Schwartz. The speaker will be Chen. Differential pricing is employed, for example, when producers of intellectual property based products such as books sell at different prices in different countries or to different classes of consumers. It is the practice that the Supreme Court undermined in its March 19, 2013 opinion [74 pages in PDF] in John Wiley & Sons v. Supap Kirtsaeng. See, story titled "Supreme Court Holds First Sale Doctrine Applies Regardless of Location" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,536, March 19, 2013. Also, geographically based differential pricing in telecommunications is barred by regulation. For more information, contact Christopher Metcalf at cmetcalf at ftc dot gov or Tammy John at tjohn at ftc dot gov. Location: Room 8089, 1800 M St., NW.
5:30 - 7:30 PM. Deborah Cohn, Commissioner for Trademarks at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and Gerard Rogers, Chief Administrative Trademark Judge of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, will speak at an event titled "The Trademark Office Speaks". The USPTO states that this is a DC Bar Association event. The DC Bar bars reporters from this event. No webcast. Prices vary. No CLE credits. See, notice. Location: Hotel Monaco, 700 F. St., NW.

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