Sound recordings protected only by state copyright law nonetheless fall under federal jurisdiction when it comes to immunity provisions protecting Internet services, New York’s highest civil trial court ruled Tuesday. The New York Supreme Court decision came in a two-year dispute between Universal Music Group and on-demand streaming service Grooveshark. UMG said Grooveshark infringed its copyrights for recordings made prior to 1972, after which recordings fall under the federal Copyright Act. It’s the second loss for a record label on the applicability of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s safe-harbor provisions to pre-1972 tracks, with EMI losing on the point in U.S. District Court in New York last year in the MP3tunes suit (WID Aug 24 p1).

Sound recordings protected only by state copyright law nonetheless fall under federal jurisdiction when it comes to immunity provisions protecting Internet services, New York’s highest civil trial court ruled Tuesday. The New York Supreme Court decision came in a two-year dispute between Universal Music Group and on-demand streaming service Grooveshark. UMG said Grooveshark infringed its copyrights for recordings made prior to 1972, after which recordings fall under the federal Copyright Act. It’s the second loss for a record label on the applicability of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s safe-harbor provisions to pre-1972 tracks, with EMI losing on the point in U.S. District Court in New York last year in the MP3tunes suit (CED Aug 24 p6).

Verizon Wireless’s proposed agreement with SpectrumCo and Cox to buy the cable operators’ AWS licenses, while entering into new business arrangements, marks a key development in “the sad history of the failure of competition in local service under the 1996 [Telecom] Act,” the Consumer Federation of America said in a new paper, which it submitted to the FCC. “The local market has been reduced to two dominant wireline broadband service providers, one of whom [Verizon] also dominates local wireless service,” CFA said (http://xrl.us/bngaox). “Against the background of this very highly concentrated market, Verizon and the cable companies have proposed to declare a competitive cease fire between the two broadband wireline networks. Verizon will not extend it high capacity broadband network, rather it will market cable’s network. Cable will not enter the wireless market or use smaller wireless carriers to build a bundle of wireless and wireline service, it will use Verizon’s wireless service. Both parties give up the single best product they had to compete, taking a commission on the sale of the competitor’s product.” Thirty-two members of the House, all Democrats, sent the FCC and the Department of Justice a letter raising similar concerns about the effect of the Verizon/SpectrumCo agreements on telecom/cable competition. The agreements “appear to turn the promise of the” Telecom Act “on its head,” the letter said. The letter (http://xrl.us/bngaq3) was circulated by the Communications Workers of America. “Today’s letter makes it clear that there is strong opposition to the cross-marketing agreements in the Verizon/Big Cable deal in its current form,” said Debbie Goldman, CWA telecom policy director. “As it stands, the proposal represents a serious threat to consumers, particularly those in urban centers already facing a widening digital divide. Elected officials are right to be concerned, and we urge the FCC to take their concerns into account as they consider this deal.” Verizon Wireless “is confident that we have made a persuasive case that purchasing and bringing unused spectrum into the marketplace to meet the communications needs of millions of consumers is strongly in the public interest,” a spokesman said in response.

Broadcasters worry about a repeat of problems with an ownership form when the FCC starts a system for all TV stations to upload to fcc.gov documents on paper in public files at main studios, their lawyers told us Thursday. They said the absence of a system to accept documents listing how much campaign ads sell for to politicians around the time of elections, quarterly lists of informational and educational programs, and other paperwork -- less than a month before online public files must start being created -- is causing some angst. The Media Bureau seems to be rushing to complete work on the forthcoming system, which could lead to another instance of glitches with a new paperwork collection system, as occurred for Form 323 biennial ownership reports, broadcast lawyers said.

EU lawmakers Wednesday blocked the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in what the author of the lead committee report called the “biggest ever defeat” of a European Commission legislative proposal. The EC could present Parliament with revised language later, but it’s more likely the treaty is dead, said David Martin, of the U.K. and Socialists and Democrats.

EU lawmakers Wednesday blocked the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in what the author of the lead committee report called the “biggest ever defeat” of a European Commission legislative proposal. The EC could present Parliament with revised language later, but it’s more likely that the treaty is dead, said David Martin, of the U.K. and Socialists and Democrats. The 478-39 vote was the first time the body exercised its power under the new EU Treaty to reject an international trade agreement, Parliament said. The move shows that digital rights, as a political issue, is now center-stage for European policymakers, European Digital Rights Advocacy Coordinator Joe McNamee said in a newsletter. The intellectual property (IP) community, however, was furious.

EU lawmakers Wednesday blocked the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in what the author of the lead committee report called the “biggest ever defeat” of a European Commission legislative proposal. The EC could present Parliament with revised language later, but it’s more likely that the treaty is dead, said David Martin, of the U.K. and Socialists and Democrats. The 478-39 vote was the first time the body exercised its power under the new EU Treaty to reject an international trade agreement, Parliament said. The move shows that digital rights, as a political issue, is now center-stage for European policymakers, European Digital Rights Advocacy Coordinator Joe McNamee said in a newsletter. The intellectual property (IP) community, however, was furious.

Special access reform and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s initial push for a vote on an order rejecting AT&T and Windstream pricing flexibility petitions are expected to be key areas for questions July 10 when commissioners are scheduled to appear before the House Communications Subcommittee for an oversight hearing. Other likely topics include USF/intercarrier compensation reform, progress on a voluntary incentive auction of broadcast spectrum and other spectrum issues, the Verizon Wireless/cable AWS deals and privacy regulations, said government and industry officials.

A coalition of groups and companies led by Free Press said a set of principles that they put out Monday for an “free and open Internet” is nonpartisan and isn’t aimed specifically at the public or private sector. The coalition was responding to criticism from free-market groups including TechFreedom, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the International Center for Law & Economics that the principles blur “the distinction between political and civil society while endorsing certain business models over others.” Both the Free Press and TechFreedom groups came out with their own “Declarations of Internet Freedom” principles.

A coalition of groups and companies led by Free Press said a set of principles that they put out Monday for an “free and open Internet” is nonpartisan and isn’t aimed specifically at the public or private sector. The coalition was responding to criticism from free-market groups including TechFreedom, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the International Center for Law & Economics that the principles blur “the distinction between political and civil society while endorsing certain business models over others.” Both the Free Press and TechFreedom groups came out with their own “Declarations of Internet Freedom” principles.