Since Comcast's appeal of an August order denying its motion to compel arbitration is without merit, that also makes its motion to stay the underlying Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint while that appeal is underway without merit, plaintiff Malik Brown said in a memorandum (in Pacer) filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. "Comcast has no chance on appeal and yet its brief skirts the issue entirely," said Brown, who's suing the company for repeated debt collection calls when he was never a Comcast customer (see 1608220037). Pointing to the multifactor test for granting a stay set up in Supreme Court's 1987 Hilton v. Braunskill decision, Brown said Comcast doesn't make any showing about its likelihood to succeed in its appeal, and it doesn't present any serious legal question that would favor a stay. In its August motion (in Pacer) for a stay, Comcast said its appeal raises two substantial questions about the arbitrability of the claims -- whether an arbitration agreement in a cable service's terms and conditions is binding on a resident of an address who uses the service and whether Federal Arbitration Act Section 4 required a trial to determine whether Brown agreed to arbitrate his claims.

Since Comcast's appeal of an August order denying its motion to compel arbitration is without merit, that also makes its motion to stay the underlying Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint while that appeal is underway without merit, plaintiff Malik Brown said in a memorandum (in Pacer) filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. "Comcast has no chance on appeal and yet its brief skirts the issue entirely," said Brown, who's suing the company for repeated debt collection calls when he was never a Comcast customer (see 1608220037). Pointing to the multifactor test for granting a stay set up in Supreme Court's 1987 Hilton v. Braunskill decision, Brown said Comcast doesn't make any showing about its likelihood to succeed in its appeal, and it doesn't present any serious legal question that would favor a stay. In its August motion (in Pacer) for a stay, Comcast said its appeal raises two substantial questions about the arbitrability of the claims -- whether an arbitration agreement in a cable service's terms and conditions is binding on a resident of an address who uses the service and whether Federal Arbitration Act Section 4 required a trial to determine whether Brown agreed to arbitrate his claims.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman met with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert, R-Wash., on Sept. 27, to discuss moving the Trans-Pacific Partnership forward in Congress, the full committee announced (here). Brady in a statement said he wants to find a path forward for the deal in Congress, but lamented potential final outcomes if the Obama administration fails to address Congress members’ remaining concerns. “The White House must quickly address existing concerns of members who serve both on and off our committee,” Brady said. “Without these substantive changes, the House will not have the votes to approve TPP, and American workers will continue to lose customers to other countries. The clock is ticking, and the White House must act soon.”

NCTA President Michael Powell pushed back Tuesday against the trio of Capitol Hill Democrats who pressed the FCC to sign off at commissioners' Thursday meeting on Chairman Tom Wheeler's set-top box proposal. The Hill Democrats spoke during a news media call Tuesday alongside other backers of the draft order. One Senate Democrat already expects industry pushback following the order’s approval and warned of the need for strong FCC enforcement, but Powell questioned how the lawmakers know enough to endorse the draft order circulating. He backs a Further NPRM on the issue, as did scores of House Democrats last week (see 1609230058).

NCTA President Michael Powell pushed back Tuesday against the trio of Capitol Hill Democrats who pressed the FCC to sign off at commissioners' Thursday meeting on Chairman Tom Wheeler's set-top box proposal. The Hill Democrats spoke during a news media call Tuesday alongside other backers of the draft order. One Senate Democrat already expects industry pushback following the order’s approval and warned of the need for strong FCC enforcement, but Powell questioned how the lawmakers know enough to endorse the draft order circulating. He backs a Further NPRM on the issue, as did scores of House Democrats last week (see 1609230058).

Competitive advantages that African Growth and Opportunity Act countries derive from U.S.-initiated tariff benefits may fade as more countries trend toward free trade agreements, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said during the AGOA Forum Sept. 26 (here). Sourcing decisions may also increasingly lean toward other considerations, such as reputational risk and ease of doing business, he said. Despite the benefits of AGOA, Froman noted that “only a handful” of beneficiaries fully utilize AGOA apparel provisions.

CBP should develop a separate "Section 321 module" for brokers to allow for easier manifest release requests on low-value imports regulated by other agencies, the Express Association of America said in comments to CBP (here). The comments were in response to CBP's regulatory changes to the de minimis value threshold (see 1608250029), a provision of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (TFTEA) of 2015. Among other questions, CBP sought information on how it should approach the "release from manifest" process, commonly known as a Section 321 procedure, for goods under the new $800 de minimis level when the manifest doesn't include information required by other agencies. Unlike express couriers, customs brokers currently cannot electronically designate Section 321 clearances via manifest (see 1605160030).

One big question raised about Yahoo's revelation that a half-billion user accounts may have been compromised in a data breach dating back to 2014 (see 1609220046): Why did the company take so long to reveal the incident?

Multichannel video programming distributors, programmers, tech companies and civil rights groups continued to lobby the FCC over the agency's set-top proposal until the beginning of the sunshine period Thursday evening, according to ex parte notices posted in docket 16-42 that day and Friday. Groups on both sides repeated their opposition or support for the draft item set for commissioner's coming Thursday meeting, T-Mobile announced support for the FCC plan, and a coalition of civil rights groups asked the FCC to delay the vote. Amazon proposed an alternative to the commission’s licensing plan that was raised by FCC officials in discussions with content companies, according to an ex parte filing.

Multichannel video programming distributors, programmers, tech companies and civil rights groups continued to lobby the FCC over the agency's set-top proposal until the beginning of the sunshine period Thursday evening, according to ex parte notices posted in docket 16-42 that day and Friday. Groups on both sides repeated their opposition or support for the draft item set for commissioner's coming Thursday meeting, T-Mobile announced support for the FCC plan, and a coalition of civil rights groups asked the FCC to delay the vote. Amazon proposed an alternative to the commission’s licensing plan that was raised by FCC officials in discussions with content companies, according to an ex parte filing.