The FTC has a good shot at getting an en banc rehearing by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said several experts. A three-judge panel in August threw out the commission's case against AT&T Mobility for inadequately informing customers of its data-throttling program (see 161014003 and 1608290032). Experts, some of whom filed amicus briefs backing the FTC, said the 9th Circuit has a track record of providing such rehearings, though they said it's murkier how the full court would decide.

An FCC draft order on increasing the required amount of video description, set for commissioners' Nov. 17 meeting, likely won't get unanimous support from the members and strongly resembles the NPRM from which it sprang, industry and agency officials told us Wednesday. The draft would raise the amount of video description required for networks -- an adjustment authorized by Congress in the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) -- and the number of networks covered by the requirement, which industry groups and Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly said oversteps FCC authority (see 1603310058). The draft item also includes a “no backsliding” rule that industry opponents have called outside FCC authority.

The FTC has a good shot at getting an en banc rehearing by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said several experts. A three-judge panel in August threw out the commission's case against AT&T Mobility for inadequately informing customers of its data-throttling program (see 161014003 and 1608290032). Experts, some of whom filed amicus briefs backing the FTC, said the 9th Circuit has a track record of providing such rehearings, though they said it's murkier how the full court would decide.

The entwined issues of zero rating and of programming access and discrimination likely will be a key focus of regulatory review of AT&T's proposed takeover of Time Warner, experts tell us. Meanwhile, the $108.7 billion deal comes amid DOJ allegations that DirecTV -- now part of AT&T -- was the ringleader of an information-sharing collective of multichannel video programming distributors trying to negotiate with the SportsNet LA regional sports network.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation raised concerns Tuesday about the Copyright Office’s final rule establishing a new online system for designating and searching for agents to receive copyright infringement claim notifications under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The CO said Monday it had completed development of the online designation system and planned to deploy it in December (see 1610310050). The final rule for the designation system could expose website owners “to massive risk of copyright liability simply for neglecting to submit an online form on time,” EFF Activist Elliot Harmon said in a blog post: “The rule could eliminate the safe harbor status that thousands of websites receive” under DMCA Section 512. To receive Section 512’s safe harbor protections, websites must designate agents to receive infringement claim notices. The final rule for the online designation system requires all website owners to re-register their agents by the end of 2017 and to renew their registration every three years, the CO said in a notice in Tuesday’s Federal Register. “When website owners inevitably forget to renew, copyright holders will be able to take advantage of that mistake to hold them liable for their users’ infringing activities,” Harmon said. “It will be trivial for abusive copyright holders to use the Copyright Office’s own system to compile lists of sites at risk.” The rule change will disproportionately affect small companies and nonprofits, “the same groups that are most poorly poised to fight copyright infringement suits,” Harmon said. He said the section "already imposes a long list of conditions on service providers, and we’ve seen many well-meaning service providers lose their status over technicalities. Requiring providers to commit to updating their registrations indefinitely is a step too far.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation raised concerns Tuesday about the Copyright Office’s final rule establishing a new online system for designating and searching for agents to receive copyright infringement claim notifications under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The CO said Monday it had completed development of the online designation system and planned to deploy it in December (see 1610310050). The final rule for the designation system could expose website owners “to massive risk of copyright liability simply for neglecting to submit an online form on time,” EFF Activist Elliot Harmon said in a blog post: “The rule could eliminate the safe harbor status that thousands of websites receive” under DMCA Section 512. To receive Section 512’s safe harbor protections, websites must designate agents to receive infringement claim notices. The final rule for the online designation system requires all website owners to re-register their agents by the end of 2017 and to renew their registration every three years, the CO said in a notice in Tuesday’s Federal Register. “When website owners inevitably forget to renew, copyright holders will be able to take advantage of that mistake to hold them liable for their users’ infringing activities,” Harmon said. “It will be trivial for abusive copyright holders to use the Copyright Office’s own system to compile lists of sites at risk.” The rule change will disproportionately affect small companies and nonprofits, “the same groups that are most poorly poised to fight copyright infringement suits,” Harmon said. He said the section "already imposes a long list of conditions on service providers, and we’ve seen many well-meaning service providers lose their status over technicalities. Requiring providers to commit to updating their registrations indefinitely is a step too far.”

Applicants for Bureau of Industry and Security export licenses should say whether ultimate consignees will take title to items after shipment, to help maximize effects of reduced processing burdens attributed to export control reform, BIS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Export Administration Matthew Borman said Nov. 1 at the Update 2016 Conference on Export Controls and Policy. BIS processed more than 35,000 license applications in 2015, and the State Department processed 45,000, combining for a total “significantly lower” than before export control reform started in 2010, Borman said. The numbers reflect the “dramatic” movement of items from the U.S. Munitions List (USML) to the Commerce Control List (CCL), as well as license exceptions available for CCL “500 Series” and “600 Series” items, he said.

The Copyright Office said it finished developing an online system for designating and searching for agents to received copyright infringement claim notifications under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This “modernizes the designation process and ensures a more usable and accurate public directory,” the CO said in a Monday news release. “The system has also been designed to encourage service providers to keep their information up to date.” The office sought comment in May on a rulemaking that would reduce the agent designation fees from $105 per designation to $6 ahead of the designation system's deployment (see 1605250055). Stakeholders raised concerns about the NPRM's requirement that they renew designations every three years (see 1606240028 and 1606270079). The CO said it will publish a final rule in Tuesday's Federal Register for the designation system, which is to officially deploy Dec. 1. Stakeholders “can begin to acquaint themselves with the new system” via video tutorials, the office said. Online service providers that have previously designated agents with the CO will have until the end of 2017 to submit a new designation electronically via the online system, the office said.

The Copyright Office said it finished developing an online system for designating and searching for agents to received copyright infringement claim notifications under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This “modernizes the designation process and ensures a more usable and accurate public directory,” the CO said in a Monday news release. “The system has also been designed to encourage service providers to keep their information up to date.” The office sought comment in May on a rulemaking that would reduce the agent designation fees from $105 per designation to $6 ahead of the designation system's deployment (see 1605250055). Stakeholders raised concerns about the NPRM's requirement that they renew designations every three years (see 1606240028 and 1606270079). The CO said it will publish a final rule in Tuesday's Federal Register for the designation system, which is to officially deploy Dec. 1. Stakeholders “can begin to acquaint themselves with the new system” via video tutorials, the office said. Online service providers that have previously designated agents with the CO will have until the end of 2017 to submit a new designation electronically via the online system, the office said.

The Copyright Office said it finished developing an online system for designating and searching for agents to received copyright infringement claim notifications under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This “modernizes the designation process and ensures a more usable and accurate public directory,” the CO said in a Monday news release. “The system has also been designed to encourage service providers to keep their information up to date.” The office sought comment in May on a rulemaking that would reduce the agent designation fees from $105 per designation to $6 ahead of the designation system's deployment (see 1605250055). Stakeholders raised concerns about the NPRM's requirement that they renew designations every three years (see 1606240028 and 1606270079). The CO said it will publish a final rule in Tuesday's Federal Register for the designation system, which is to officially deploy Dec. 1. Stakeholders “can begin to acquaint themselves with the new system” via video tutorials, the office said. Online service providers that have previously designated agents with the CO will have until the end of 2017 to submit a new designation electronically via the online system, the office said.