LAS VEGAS -- Not all TV stations are worth the same. At least not when it comes to what the FCC will offer to pay them to participate in a reverse auction to prepare to offer their frequencies to the highest bidder, said the commission official leading such planning. Stations that would free up more spectrum by participating may be paid more, said the official, Gary Epstein. The Incentive Auction Task Force chief was answering a question from the audience at an NAB panel by Executive Director Preston Padden of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition, which opposes such value scoring.

Other telecom, software and Internet companies also urged the FTC and Justice to do an in-depth investigation of PAEs and take further action to mitigate harmful effects of litigation abuse. The companies also urged the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to institute proposed reforms to real-party-in-interest (RPI) information collection and disclosure and improve patent examination standards, with several also urging Congress to pass the Saving High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes (SHIELD) Act or similar legislation that institutes a “loser pays” rule, which would require a PAE to pay the legal costs of a company it sues if the PAE loses.

FTC and Justice should urge the courts “to prevent subsequent acquirers of RAND-encumbered patents from extracting the hold-up value of those patents,” Verizon and USTelecom said, referring to reasonable and nondiscriminatory license obligations. The agencies should also urge the courts to take actions that would “reduce the costs of patent litigation in order to foster the public good of private challenges to questionable patents,” Verizon and USTelecom said (http://1.usa.gov/YdWXpk).

The FTC and Department of Justice Antitrust Division should “seriously examine” patent privateering -- “the outsourcing of patent enforcement by operating companies ... to [patent assertion entities (PAEs)], and the competitive implications of such activities,” Google said Friday in a filing it submitted jointly with BlackBerry, EarthLink and Red Hat. The FTC and Justice continued collecting public comments following a workshop they held in December to get industry input on the effects of PAEs and how the agencies could minimize the harms PAEs could cause (CD Dec 11 p11). The filing deadline was Friday. Patent privateering “poses numerous perils to competition, consumers and innovation,” Google said. It “detrimentally alters enforcement incentives,” the company said, noting that PAEs are immune to possible countersuits because they do not offer products or services, shifting what is normally a patent peace into “asymmetric patent aggression.” Patent privateering can also “threaten royalty stacking and result in exploitation,” Google said. Privateering also encourages operating companies to enter into “contractual commitments secured from their PAE surrogates to raise rivals’ costs and thereby harm competition and stifle innovation,” Google said. Patent privateering may also “transgress the antitrust laws,” since patent acquisitions are subject to the Sherman Act and Section 7 of the Clayton Act, Google said. “Schemes by which operating companies outsource patents to PAE proxies to raise rivals’ costs may be subject to invalidation under Sherman Act Section 1 and Section 2,” the company said. “And, depending on the circumstances, employing PAE enforcement agents to evade FRAND commitments (including no royalty stacking pledges) may violate precedent under Section 5 of the FTC Act as well as the Sherman Act,” the coalition said, referring to fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing. The Google-led coalition recommended the FTC and Justice conduct an inquiry into the relationship between operating companies and PAEs. An inquiry “would enable the Commission and the public to deepen their understanding of how operating companies’ arrangements with PAEs affect innovation, competition and consumers,” Google said. “The fruits of [the inquiry] also would provide a foundation for the antitrust agencies to assess whether solutions to the competitive concerns patent outsourcing arrangements pose lie in antitrust enforcement, in changes in the patent laws (where the antitrust enforcement agencies might play an important advocacy role), or elsewhere” (http://bit.ly/10kVRqi).

The FTC and Department of Justice Antitrust Division should “seriously examine” patent privateering -- “the outsourcing of patent enforcement by operating companies ... to [patent assertion entities (PAEs)], and the competitive implications of such activities,” Google said Friday in a filing it submitted jointly with BlackBerry, EarthLink and Red Hat. The FTC and Justice continued collecting public comments following a workshop they held in December to get industry input on the effects of PAEs and how the agencies could minimize the harms PAEs could cause (WID Dec 11 p4). The filing deadline was Friday. Patent privateering “poses numerous perils to competition, consumers and innovation,” Google said. It “detrimentally alters enforcement incentives,” the company said, noting that PAEs are immune to possible countersuits because they do not offer products or services, shifting what is normally a patent peace into “asymmetric patent aggression.” Patent privateering can also “threaten royalty stacking and result in exploitation,” Google said. Privateering also encourages operating companies to enter into “contractual commitments secured from their PAE surrogates to raise rivals’ costs and thereby harm competition and stifle innovation,” Google said. Patent privateering may also “transgress the antitrust laws,” since patent acquisitions are subject to the Sherman Act and Section 7 of the Clayton Act, Google said. “Schemes by which operating companies outsource patents to PAE proxies to raise rivals’ costs may be subject to invalidation under Sherman Act Section 1 and Section 2,” the company said. “And, depending on the circumstances, employing PAE enforcement agents to evade FRAND commitments (including no royalty stacking pledges) may violate precedent under Section 5 of the FTC Act as well as the Sherman Act,” the coalition said, referring to fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing. The Google-led coalition recommended the FTC and Justice conduct an inquiry into the relationship between operating companies and PAEs. An inquiry “would enable the Commission and the public to deepen their understanding of how operating companies’ arrangements with PAEs affect innovation, competition and consumers,” Google said. “The fruits of [the inquiry] also would provide a foundation for the antitrust agencies to assess whether solutions to the competitive concerns patent outsourcing arrangements pose lie in antitrust enforcement, in changes in the patent laws (where the antitrust enforcement agencies might play an important advocacy role), or elsewhere” (http://bit.ly/10kVRqi).

The Justice Department said it will seek to enter its proposed settlement with Penguin in the government’s e-book pricing antitrust case before April 19. In a filing with the U.S. District Court, New York, Friday, Justice lawyers reiterated the government’s case for why the court should adopt the proposed settlement despite alleged shortcomings identified by three parties who filed public comments on the settlement.

The Justice Department said it will seek to enter its proposed settlement with Penguin in the government’s e-book pricing antitrust case before April 19. In a filing with the U.S. District Court, New York, Friday, Justice lawyers reiterated the government’s case for why the court should adopt the proposed settlement despite alleged shortcomings identified by three parties who filed public comments on the settlement.

Public interest groups put differences aside and collaborated on a joint letter on the attributes that they said a new FCC chairman and new member of the FCC should have. The letter reminds President Barack Obama that as a senator and as a presidential candidate in 2008, he raised concerns about media consolidation. Last week, Public Knowledge in particular declined to sign on to a letter raising questions about Tom Wheeler, who’s considered the leading contender to be the next chairman (CD March 28 p1), without mentioning him by name. Some public interest groups officials have even signaled to the White House support for Wheeler, the former president of CTIA and NCTA (CD March 26 p1). Last week’s letter had 15 signatories while more than 40 signed the latest letter (http://bit.ly/16zqc6Q).

Neither a System of Records Notice (SORN) nor a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on exempting certain information collected through the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) from the Privacy Act is a burden on the public, CBP said in a FAQ publication on the Act (here).

As interim chair of the FCC, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn would likely take on a number of issues, starting with her big issue of late, prison calling, FCC and industry officials said last week. Another big issue for Clyburn has been 700 MHz interoperability, but how much she would be able to do on that with a 2-1 commission is unclear. A former top FCC official said Clyburn’s staff should already be looking around for a few issues on which she can make her mark as the first woman to head the agency.

Industry commenters largely acknowledged that Telecommunication Systems (TCS) identified a real problem in its petition last August -- companies providing E-911 and next-generation 911 call routing and location information and carriers face predatory lawsuits by patent assertion entities (PAEs). But commenters disagreed whether the FCC can grant the relief sought by TCS. Qualcomm said not denying the petition would have “devastating public policy consequences.”