This is a reminder that Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) third-party testing and certification will be required for the following children’s products that are manufactured after November 16, 2010, to ensure their compliance with the applicable flammability regulations under the Flammable Fabrics Act:
The International Trade Commission announces that a section 337 patent-based complaint has been filed regarding certain mobile devices and related software.
A GOP wave claimed longtime telecom heavyweight Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., and other Democrats in rural states, as Republicans seized control of the House Tuesday. The Republicans also won seats in the Senate, but the Democrats maintained power there. The GOP gain is seen as bad news for net neutrality supporters, while the loss of House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Boucher is a setback for rural telcos who supported his efforts to overhaul the Universal Service Fund.
Most of the U.S. Supreme Court justices raised enough tough questions for both sides in Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) during oral argument Tuesday that it was hard to gauge how most of them will decide in the case, representatives from both sides of the court battle said. But both sides offered an upbeat take on what transpired in the courtroom, saying their attorneys effectively made their cases.
The FCC is looking to Capitol Hill for action on retransmission consent rules, perhaps by new legislation, instead of acting now on the issue, officials at and outside the commission said Monday. Almost 15 days into their retrans dispute, Cablevision and News Corp. over the weekend ended a blackout, restoring Fox TV stations as well as several cable channels to the cable operator’s subscribers. Fox and Dish Network averted a separate retrans blackout Friday, signing a long-term deal. With those negotiations wrapped up for now, the commission doesn’t seem poised to take regulatory action on the issue, FCC and other officials said.
The International Trade Commission announces that a section 337 patent-based complaint has been filed regarding certain liquid crystal display devices, including monitors, televisions, and modules and components thereof.
The Division of Ratepayer Advocates (DRA), an independent consumer advocacy unit of California’s Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), asked the commission to extend price controls on basic residential telephone service which are set to expire Jan. 1. DRA said its request was based on findings in its report The Failure of Consumer Protection, which analyzed effects of the PUC’s 2006 decision to remove price caps on phone services such as Caller ID. In the report, the Division said, it found a shortage of competition in the state’s telecom market, although the commission had justified removing price caps on landline services by pointing to competition from wireless and other emerging technologies. The market hasn’t become competitive, said DRA Acting Director Joe Como. “Lifting the price caps on ancillary services has served only to raise rates for consumers,” he said. “The same will happen to basic rates on January 1 unless the CPUC acts now to protect consumers who depend on affordable phone service. DRA proposes that the price controls currently in effect remain in place until the CPUC sets rules that will result in reasonable and affordable rates.” The state Senate’s Office of Oversight and Outcome recently criticized the PUC as having failed to protect consumers.
The District Court for the Central District of California has granted the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA’s) motion to reinstate the injunction on the Port of Los Angeles' (POLA’s) Clean Truck Program (CTP) employee driver mandate, pending ATA’s appeal of the Court’s Final Judgment to the Ninth Circuit.
FCC staff “studied carefully the Commission’s past practices in reviewing proposed transactions” to ensure that review of the Comcast-NBC Universal deal is “thorough, fair, and conducted in an expeditious manner,” Chairman Julius Genachowski said in letters released Tuesday. In a letter Sept. 29 to House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., Genachowski said the commission will consider issues raised by Boucher, “including the potential benefits of a combined Comcast-NBC Universal to the American public.” Genachowski wrote Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., that same day that the FCC won’t act too quickly. “We have stopped our clock on the review twice to allow the applicants to prepare and submit additional documentation that is critical to a comprehensive evaluation of the transaction and to ensure that interested parties would have adequate time to review and comment on the supplemental materials."
The International Trade Commission announces that a section 337 patent-based complaint has been filed regarding certain data storage products and components thereof.