On May 12, 2011, Senate Judiciary Committee leaders Leahy (D), Grassley (R), and Hatch (R)¹ introduced S. 968, the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property (PROTECT IP) Act of 2011, a bipartisan effort to strengthen protections against the illegal online sale of counterfeit goods.

The trade has submitted comments in response to the Food and Drug Administration’s request for input on its implementation of the import provisions of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The comments focus on the FSMA’s requirements for a Foreign Supplier Verification Program, a Voluntary Qualified Importer Program, the certification of certain high-risk imported food, third-party auditors and accreditation, and the two FSMA definitions of “importer.” In general, FDA was urged to set broad goals over prescriptive requirements, recognize risk, and clearly define requirements and terms.

FCC staffers and administrative law judges would face deadlines to act on program carriage complaints made by independent cable programmers against multichannel video programming distributors, under a draft order, agency and industry officials said. They said the order that began circulating earlier this month (CD May 3 p8) would give the Media Bureau 60 days to decide whether a complaint made a prima facie showing, or case at first sight. The clock would start ticking after the end of the pleading cycle on the complaint, which lets only the parties to the case comment, agency and industry officials said. Other deadlines would be triggered once the bureau determined an initial case was made.

Approving the AT&T/T-Mobile deal would be a “historic mistake,” Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., told FCC commissioners at a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Friday on commission process reform. Other subcommittee members touched only lightly on AT&T’s plan to buy T-Mobile. Many debated more generally whether FCC conditions on transactions should be specific to the given deal.

The State Department has issued a final rule, effective August 15, 2011, to amend Parts 124 and 126 of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to exempt from approval requirements, under certain conditions, intra-company, intra-government, and intra-organization transfers of defense articles to dual country or third-country national employees.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., wants public safety legislation passed this June, well ahead of the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Rockefeller said in a telephone conference with reporters Thursday. The Senate Commerce Committee chairman expressed optimism that he'd soon have a bipartisan bill with Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. Hutchison “wants this to happen,” he said. “It’s going to be our bill.” No bill is easy to pass now, and with Congress recessing in August there’s not much time left to act, Rockefeller said. But he thinks it will happen if supporters can get more lawmakers talking about the bill, he said. Unfortunately the spectrum issue is not a “sexy topic” for all legislators, said former Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials President Dick Mirgon, also on the call. But it’s a “very sexy topic” for public safety, Rockefeller said. Rockefeller said his bill is “fully paid for” and “won’t cost the taxpayer a dime.” Citing FCC and White House estimates, Rockefeller said it would cost $11 billion to $13 billion to build the public safety network, and voluntary incentive auctions would raise $28 billion. That leaves some money left over to keep the public safety network up to date, and about $9 billion to $10 billion for budget deficit reduction, Rockefeller said. The deficit reduction piece should make the bill attractive for Republicans, particularly in the House where the GOP has the majority, he said. Rockefeller said he has had positive talks with NAB President Gordon Smith. Smith “relaxes when he hears the word ‘voluntary'” in conjunction with incentive auctions, Rockefeller said. “Nobody has to turn back the spectrum but it is in the public interest for them to do so.” The spectrum bill will specifically require that rural areas must be covered, Rockefeller said: “Am I a little bit sensitive about that, coming from West Virginia? Yes I am.”

The Federal Maritime Commission has announced the formation of an internal agency Container Freight Index and Derivatives Working Group. The group will work on issues arising from the use of container freight rate indices in service contracts and index-based derivative transactions.

States could not impose new discriminatory taxes on multichannel video programming distribution services under HR-1804 introduced Tuesday by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. The proposed law wouldn’t cover taxes related to “the acquisition of a property right or other item or service of value that is paid directly or indirectly to any State or local taxing authority,” the bill said. The law wouldn’t apply retroactively to taxes imposed before Jan. 1, 2011. The bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee, where Sensenbrenner is a senior member. Ranking Member John Conyers, D-Mich., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, cosponsored the measure. DirecTV and Dish Network supported the bill in a joint statement Wednesday. “This bipartisan legislation will protect consumers and promote competition by preventing the imposition of discriminatory taxes on satellite television and other innovative competitors to cable television,” the companies said. More than 20 states have proposed taxes, and the cable industry has lobbied for raising taxes on satellite households,” Dish and DirecTV said. “Big Cable has made it clear that it is willing to harm consumers -- even their own -- to gain an edge over their competition; this legislation will stop them from doing so.” Dish and DirecTV’s “effort to call out ‘victim’ in this case is nothing more than cover for an effort to maintain a distinct advantage over their competitors that they enjoy under federal law, and to prevent states from rationalizing their tax systems to achieve parity, including downward tax parity,” an NCTA spokesman said. Non-satellite video providers pay “significantly more in taxes” than DBS, because satellite benefits from a “loophole” in the 1996 Telecom Act preempting any local taxation on DBS, the NCTA spokesman said. He said the Sensenbrenner bill is an attempt to mandate DBS’s “competitive advantage.”

The International Trade Commission announces that a section 337 patent-based complaint has been filed regarding certain wireless communication devices and systems, components thereof, and products containing same.

Opposition to AT&T’s buy of T-Mobile is continuing to build and the lines will be seen more clearly Wednesday during a hearing by the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, merger opponents said Tuesday during a media briefing. With three weeks to go before initial comments are due at the FCC, opponents launched a website, www.mergerthreat.com.