The International Intellectual Property Alliance was one of several industry groups that indicated Thursday it would submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative pushing for China, India and Russia to remain on the office's mid-tier Special 301 priority watch list for copyright and other IP rights violations. USTR was to collect comments through midnight Thursday on its annual Special 301 review on the global status of IP rights enforcement. China, India and Russia have long occupied USTR's priority watch list, which included eight other countries when USTR released its 2016 report (see 1604270049).
Jimm Phillips
Jimm Phillips, Associate Editor, covers telecommunications policymaking in Congress for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications News in 2012 after stints at the Washington Post and the American Independent News Network. Phillips is a Maryland native who graduated from American University. You can follow him on Twitter: @JLPhillipsDC
The House Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection Subcommittee will maintain a “soft touch” approach during the 115th Congress in handling of IoT and other emerging technologies, Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, told reporters Tuesday evening. House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., named Latta in early January to head the subcommittee, which was previously called the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee (see 1701060063). Latta demurred from delving deeply into his approach on a bevy of potential FTC policy issues over which his subcommittee has jurisdiction.
FCC reversal of several cybersecurity-related proceedings and proposals further feeds expectations of an agencywide shift on cybersecurity policy under new Chairman Ajit Pai, industry executives and lawyers said in interviews. The Public Safety Bureau rescinded two cybersecurity items Friday amid a spate of Pai-directed actions (see 1702060062) -- a white paper on communications sector cybersecurity regulation issued two days before now-former Chairman Tom Wheeler's resignation and a notice of inquiry on cybersecurity for 5G devices. The FCC also removed from circulation a controversial cybersecurity policy statement adopting the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council’s (CSRIC) 2015 report on recommendations for communications sector cybersecurity risk management (see 1702030070).
Music licensing stakeholders from all copyright camps agreed on one thing in recent conversations with us: It’s likely they will continue to disagree during the 115th Congress on an appropriate compromise that would yield legislation to revamp major portions of U.S. music licensing law. Some pointed to the early reintroduction (see 1701250034) of the NAB-backed Local Radio Freedom Act (House Concurrent Resolution 13/Senate Concurrent Resolution 6) as a sign that no side appears willing to yield on controversial music licensing policy issues.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., vowed Wednesday that the committee’s agenda for the 115th Congress will include a renewed push for passage of the Email Privacy Act (HR-387) as the preferred vehicle for updating the three-decade-old Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). The committee will continue its work on bills aimed at revamping copyright and patent litigation laws, Goodlatte said during a Federalist Society event. Goodlatte also noted plans for eliminating the Chevron precedent, which gives deference to agency interpretations of statutes, and eliminating disparities in the rules that DOJ and the FTC use for reviewing mergers.
The White House canceled plans Tuesday for President Donald Trump to sign an executive order that would trigger a promised pan-federal government review of agencies’ cybersecurity practices. Trump had promised ahead of his inauguration last month that his administration would issue a “major report on hacking defense” within 90 days of his taking office (see 1701110051). The White House didn’t comment.
Comments to the House Judiciary Committee and the Library of Congress on Copyright Office-related issues are widely expected to present a continuation of existing divisions between content-side, the tech sector and others on copyright policy matters, stakeholders said in interviews. Comments were due after our deadline Tuesday on a legislative proposal by House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and committee ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., on the Copyright Office’s operational and IT issues. They included giving the office more autonomy from the Library of Congress (see 1612080061 and 1612220048). The LOC is collecting feedback through a SurveyMonkey online poll to get input on qualifications for the next register of copyrights. The survey drew content-side stakeholders’ criticism amid perceptions it could lead to a bigger conflict with the House and Senate Judiciary committees over the register’s role (see 1612160053).
The demise of the Copyright Alert System doesn’t spell the end of voluntary cooperation between internet service providers and content rightsholders to combat online piracy -- just to one iteration of it, copyright stakeholders said in interviews. CAS operator Center for Copyright Information said Friday that the system's backers chose not to extend the pact that created the voluntary effort in 2013. CAS, which aimed to curb online piracy through penalties after more than six ISP-delivered warnings, remained troubled despite some backers highlighting it as recently as last year as a positive example of voluntary collaboration fostered under Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 512 (see 1604010057 and 1605040064).
Qualcomm is likely to still face multiple tough legal challenges to the company’s licensing of its patents for baseband processors used in cellphones and other products, even if a new forthcoming Republican majority FTC chooses to reverse course on its antitrust complaint, said industry and public interest lawyers in interviews. The FTC claimed in a complaint filed this month that Qualcomm “engaged in exclusionary conduct that taxes its competitors' baseband processor sales, reduces competitors' ability and incentive to innovate, and raises prices paid by consumers for cell phones and tablets” (see 1701170065). Apple filed a lawsuit last Monday seeking $1 billion in damages on claims Qualcomm overcharged the smartphone manufacturer “billions of dollars” for patent licenses (see 1701230067).
The FCC Public Safety Bureau’s white paper on communications sector cybersecurity regulation is highly unlikely to influence the commission’s cybersecurity policies under new Chairman Ajit Pai, said industry lawyers and lobbyists in interviews. The white paper, which the FCC issued two days before former Chairman Tom Wheeler resigned, said the commission can’t rely on organic market incentives alone to reduce cyber risk. The federal government needs to assert “appropriate” regulatory oversight over ISPs’ cybersecurity practices in the absence of clear market incentives to drive improvements, said now-former Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson in the white paper (see 1701180082). The agency issued various other actions in the final days of Wheeler's tenure (see 1701240020).