Source: http://www.techlawjournal.com/alert/2001/03/20.asp
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 14:50:28+00:00

Document:
Daily E-Mail Alert No. 147, March 20, 2001.
March 20, 2001, 8:00 AM ET, Alert No. 147.
3/19. Opponents of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) will file a complaint in the U.S. District Court (EDPa) challenging the constitutionality of the Act. The Act requires schools and libraries that receive e-rate subsidies to use filtering technology on Internet access computers used by children.
3/6. A WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center panel issued its decision in Ingram Micro Inc v. Noton Inc. The petitioner, Ingram Micro, a large wholesale provider of technology products and services, has registered the trademark "Ingram Micro". The respondent is a company that deals in domain names. It registered several misspellings of Ingram Micro -- ingramicro.com, ingrammirco.com, and ingrimmicro.com. The respondent did not answer the complaint. The panel found that the domain names are confusingly similar to Ingram Micro's trademark, that respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain names, and that it registered them in bad faith. The panel ordered the domains transferred to Ingram Micro.
3/4. A WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center panel issued its decision in AOL v. Miao-qua Wang. The petitioner, AOL, the online giant, has registered trademarks in aol.com. The respondent is an individual residing in Beijing who registered the domain aolbuys.com in August of 2000. He operates an online business. He asserted that aolbuys could mean "agent on line buys". Alternatively, he suggested that it could mean the Province of Anhui online. The one judge panel noted that Anhui is 800 kilometers from respondent's residence. The panel found that the aolbuys.com is confusingly similar to AOL's trademarks, that respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name, and that he registered it in bad faith. The panel ordered the domain transferred to AOL.
3/19. WTO Director General Mike Moore gave a speech in London on trade and poverty in less developed countries in which he again argued that "we need to launch a new WTO round this year." He also stated that "As well as the in-built agenda of agriculture and services, the new round must have implementation issues at its heart. And it should also encompass industrial tariffs, anti-dumping, and other issues that are important to developing countries."
3/19. The USTR published a notice in the Federal Register requesting comments regarding the Antidumping Act of 1916. Following complaints by Japan and the EC, WTO dispute settlement panels, and the WTO Appellate Body, found that this statute is inconsistent with U.S.'s obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 and the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of GATT 1994. Comments should be submitted by April 16, 2001. See, Federal Register, March 19, 2001, Vol. 66, No. 53, at Pages 15517 - 15518.
USCA: opinion in Arsberry v. Illinois re antitrust and phone competition, 3/19 (HTML, USCA).
USCA: opinion in Southwestern Bell v. El Paso re 11th Amendment, 3/19 (HTML, USCA).
FCC: order suspending ATT's deadline to comply with cable caps order, 3/16 (HTML, FCC).
Powell: statement re AT&T order, 3/16 (HTML, FCC).
Tristani: dissent and statement re AT&T order, 3/16 (HTML, FCC).
USPTO: notice re patent law harmonization, 3/19 (TXT, FedReg).
USTR: notice anti-dumping, 3/19 (TXT, FedReg).
SEC: NPRM re ESIGN, 3/19 (TXT, FedReg).
CFTC: NPRM re privacy, 3/19 (TXT, FedReg).
Moore: speech re new WTO round, 3/19 (HTML, WTO).
3/14. The ICANN published in its web site copies of resolutions adopted at its Melbourne meeting.
3/12. The Telecom. Industry Association (TIA) selected eleven new board members at its winter meeting: Howard Bubb (Intel), William Eversole (Texas Instruments), Fred McDuffee (Sumitomo Electric Lightwave), Ralph Hayon (Congruency), Chris Younger (Expanents), Stan Blau (PS Capital), Bob Panoff (RPM), A.R. Forcke (IBM), Fred Yentz (RadiSys), Sandy Lyons (Corning Cable Systems), and Dave Owen (Alcatel). See, release.
3/19. The U.S. Court of Appeals (7thCir) issued its opinion in Arsberry v. Illinois, a antitrust case regarding phone competition. Richard Posner wrote the opinion, in which Easterbrook and Evans joined. The plaintiffs, who are prison inmates and their families, filed a complaint in U.S. District Court (NDIll) against phone companies and the state agencies and officials alleging violation of the Sherman Act, the First Amendment, other Constitutional provisions, and Illinois state law. The suit challenges the practice by which each prison and jail grant one phone company the exclusive right to provide telephone service to the inmates in return for 50% of the revenues generated by the service. The district court dismissed the suit as beyond its jurisdiction by reason of the filed-rate and primary- jurisdiction doctrines. The appeals court modified and affirmed. It analyzed the two jurisdictional issues, and held that it was incorrect to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds. However, it affirmed on the merits. Posner wrote that "the plaintiffs' real argument has nothing to do with any horizontal conspiracy; it is rather that a monopolist, namely the State of Illinois (and its subdivisions), exercising as it does an iron control over access to the inmate market, has rented pieces of the market to different phone companies, in much the same way that an airport will charge a high fee to concessionaires eager to sell to the captive market represented by the airline passengers who perforce spend time in the airport. ... The concessionaires will pass on much of the fee to their customers, who will thus pay a higher than competitive price. States and other public agencies do not violate the antitrust laws by charging fees or taxes that exploit the monopoly of force that is the definition of government."
3/19. The U.S. Court of Appeals (5thCir) issued its opinion in Southwestern Bell v. El Paso, an 11th Amendment case. Southwestern Bell, a telecommunications services provider, filed a complaint in U.S. District Court (WDTex) against the City of El Paso and El Paso Water Improvement District (EPWIP), alleging violation of the Telecom Act of 1996, the Texas Public Utilities Regulation Act, and other state law, for requiring that Southwestern Bell pay money and file detailed applications in order to lay phone lines that cross its rights of way (i.e., ditches). EPWIP moved to dismiss on 11th Amendment grounds. The District Court denied the motion, on the grounds that the EPWIP is not an arm of the state. The Appeals Court affirmed.
3/19. The USPTO published a notice in the Federal Register requesting comments on "the international effort to harmonize substantive requirements of patent laws, and the subsequent changes to United States law and practice." Comments on any topic may be submitted. However, the notice enumerates 17 topics, including the first to invent versus the first to file systems of priority, and what may be considered patentable subject matter in light of the State Street decision. Comments must be submitted no later than April 30, 2001. See, Federal Register, March 19, 2001, Vol. 66, No. 53, at Pages 15409 - 15411.
3/19. The Commodities Futures Trades Commission published a notice in the Federal Register requesting comments on proposed privacy rules pursuant to the Gramm Leach Bliley Act. Comments must be received by April 18, 2001. See, Federal Register, March 19, 2001, Vol. 66, No. 53, Pages 15549 - 15576. See also, CFTC release.
3/19. The SEC published a notice in the Federal Register requesting comments on proposed amendments to revise rules under the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 that permit registered investment companies and registered investment advisers to preserve required records using electronic storage media such as magnetic disks, tape, and other digital storage media, pursuant to the ESIGN Act. Comments must be received on or before April 19, 2001. See, Federal Register, March 19, 2001, Vol. 66, No. 53, at Pages 15369 - 15373.
3/19. Monday, March 19, was the deadline to file comments with the NTIA regarding its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding compensating incumbent federal agency users in the 1755-1850 MHz band that may be required to modify their systems as a result of spectrum reallocation for 3G wireless uses. See, comments filed by the Federal Aviation Administration and Mobex Communications. See also, TLJ story of Jan. 18.
3/16. The FCC issued an order suspending its May 19 deadline for AT&T to divest cable television assets to comply with its cable ownership caps. This deadline had been set by the FCC's June 6, 2000, order approving the merger of AT&T and MediaOne. This action is a consequence of the U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) March 2 opinion in Time Warner Entertainment v. FCC overturning the FCC's cable ownership caps on First Amendment grounds. FCC Chairman Michael Powell issued a statement in which he said that "Our action should not be read as eliminating the condition, but only as suspending the established benchmarks for compliance pending further consideration." See also, Ness statement, and Tristani dissent.
10:30 AM. The ACLU, the American Library Association, and others will hold a press conference to announce the filing of a complaint in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, challenging the constitutionality of the Children's Internet Protection Act. Location: ACLU, 125 Broad Street, 17th floor, New York City.
11:00 AM. The Cato Institute will host a panel discussion titled Should the Government Regulate Online Privacy. The panelists will be John Palafoutas (American Electronics Association), Mark Unacapher (Information Technology Association of America), and James Harper (PolicyCouncil.com and Privacilla.org). Lunch will follow. See, online registration page. Location: Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC.
1:00 PM. Sponsors and supporters of the Children's Internet Protection Act will hold a press conference regarding the filing of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Act. The scheduled participants include Rep. Ernest Istook (R-OK), Rep. Chip Pickering (R-MS), Jan LaRue (Family Research Council), Jay Sekulow (American Center for Law and Justice), Patrick Trueman (American Family Association), Wendy Wright (Concerned Women for America), Donna Hughes, Bruce Taylor (National Law Center for Children and Families), Robin Johnson (parent of a second grader exposed to pormography on his school computer), Laura Morgan (librarian). Location: Room 1334, Longworth Building.
2:30 PM. The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on the U.S. Jordan Free Trade Agreement. The witnesses will be Charlene Barshefsky (Clinton USTR), Samuel Berger (Clinton National Security Advisor), Michael Smith (former Deputy USTR), Timothy Deal (U.S. Council for Int. Business), Jagdish Bhagwati (Columbia Univ.), Thomas Donohue (U.S. Chamber of Commerce), Rodger Schlickeisen (Defenders of Wildlife), John Sweeney (AFL-CIO). Location: Room 215, Dirksen Building.

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