The U.S. should push the World Trade Organization to end trade-related intellectual property waiver conditions, experts told a House subcommittee this week, saying the waiver may help China acquire sensitive U.S. technologies and leapfrog American innovation in biopharma. Several experts during the hearing suggested the waivers could act as a loophole to U.S. export controls and allow Chinese companies to better compete with the U.S. in the biotechnology industry.

The Court of International Trade properly required Commerce to drop its reliance on an Enforce and Protect Act case to reject third-country sales in an antidumping duty review, antidumping duty respondent Z.A. Sea Foods (ZASF) said in a June 5 response brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Z.A. Sea Foods v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 2023-1469).

The FCC appears headed for approval Thursday of a draft NPRM on facilitating the launch of next-generation 911 with relatively few changes (see 2305180069), industry officials said. APCO asked for added language and NTCA raised small carrier concerns, but otherwise a docket on the NPRM has been quiet since the draft item was circulated two weeks ago. Comments were filed last week in docket 21-479.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is open to working with lawmakers on a bill that could block China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from investing in American land or agricultural companies, said Paul Rosen, the head of CFIUS. While Rosen didn’t explicitly endorse the Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security Act, suggesting that CFIUS would need more resources if its jurisdiction were broadened, he said the legislation raises valid concerns.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision of U.S. District Judge John Adams for Northern Ohio in Akron dismissing plaintiff Matthew Dickson’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint for failure to demonstrate an injury in fact, in a Thursday opinion (docket 22-3394). It remanded the case to the lower court for further proceedings, but declined Dickson’s request for reassignment to a different judge on remand.

Among the first broadcasting matters likely to be taken up by a full five-person FCC are the 2018 Quadrennial Review and the proposed Equal Employment Opportunity data collection, said broadcasters, public interest advocates and FCC officials in interviews this week. Both items have been long stalled at the agency and are considered nearly ready to be rolled out, industry and FCC officials told us. Such a 2018 quadrennial order likely wouldn’t include substantive rule changes, broadcast industry officials said. “I don’t have any great hopes of any massive deregulation,” said Gray Television Senior Vice President-Government Relations and Distribution Rob Folliard. The FCC didn't comment on the specifics of what Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has planned for broadcasting once she has an FCC majority, but an agency spokesperson said the Chairwoman "will continue to prioritize protecting consumers and preserving competition, localism and diversity.”

Old Dominion Freight Line moved a federal court to stay proceedings in a Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) suit, pending the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision on the petition for rehearing filed in Cothron v. White Castle System, said a Friday motion (docket 1:23-cv-02187) in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago. The Illinois Supreme Court’s decision on the petition has the potential to “significantly impact” the Old Dominion case, including the viability of certain named plaintiffs’ claims, the size of a putative class, the scope of potential discovery and the extent of any damages awarded, said the motion. Old Dominion requested a 21-day stay denying the motion to answer or otherwise plead to the second amended class action complaint. Plaintiff John Kararo alleged Old Dominion Freight Line’s Kronos time clock system required him and other employees to scan, upload and use their fingerprints to use its time clock and track hours worked (see 2304070049), said the April privacy complaint. The time clock system used, collected, stored and “otherwise obtained” Kararo’s unique biometric identifiers without prior consent, in violation of Illinois’ BIPA law, which codified that individuals have a right to privacy concerning their biometric identifiers and biometric information, said the complaint. On March 10, the defendant in Cothron v. White Castle System filed a petition for rehearing of that decision in Illinois Supreme Court, said the motion. That court’s Feb. 17 order “is not final, binding precedent,” it said. The Illinois top court’s mandate in Cothron is stayed pending disposition of the petition, but even if the court denies the petition, its mandate will not issue earlier than 35 days after the order, the motion said. The Illinois Supreme Court’s opinion in Cothron addresses the issue of when claims under Section 15(b) accrue and whether an alleged BIPA violation occurred every time plaintiffs and members of the putative class used the time clock system, or just the first time they did so, said the motion. If the Illinois Supreme Court “changes course” in Cothron, “per-scan” damages “would be off the table,” said the Old Dominion motion. “Depending on the outcome of the petition for rehearing in Cothron, Plaintiffs may not even be able to argue that Old Dominion could be held liable for statutory liquidated damages for each alleged use of the time clock at issue, whether to raise a demand in any potential settlement negotiations or at trial,” it said.

Cisco’s interpretation that Dexon “drafted a roadmap for evasion of unfavorable rulings” is an “incorrect reading” of the district court’s orders, said Dexon’s response (docket 23-40257) Friday to Cisco and CDW’s April petition for mandamus relief in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Texas legislators passed broadband funding and consumer privacy bills before adjourning Monday. Gov. Gregg Abbott (R) has until June 18 to consider many of the bills. "This was a big, important session for rural telecom,” said Texas Telephone Association (TTA) Executive Director Mark Seale in an interview Tuesday.

House Ways and Means Committee Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., and Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., introduced the Undertaking Negotiations on Investment and Trade for Economic Dynamism (United) Act, a bill that directs the administration to begin negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement within 180 days of passage.