The following are the trade-related bills that were introduced in the House or Senate during February 15 - March 4, 2008:

If Sprint Nextel must clear channels 1 to 120 before it gets compensatory spectrum from public safety, it could wreck the carrier’s 800 MHz network, Chris Wright, representing the carrier, told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Tuesday. The three-judge panel hearing the case peppered FCC and Sprint lawyers with mostly procedural questions, giving little indication how it might rule. Judges David Sentelle, Douglas Ginsburg and Janice Rogers Brown heard arguments.

The Supreme Court will decide if the FCC can fine broadcasters for airing a single curse word in a program (CD June 5 p1), the high court’s first test of the commission’s so-called fleeting indecency policy. The Monday decision to grant certiorari to FCC v. Fox surprised some broadcast lawyers. They'd expected the court to shirk the case, since the lower court’s ruling didn’t invoke constitutional matters.

The Bush Administration’s proposed cut in funding for NTIA on the eve of the DTV transition raises “serious questions” about the agency’s ability to do its job, House Commerce Committee John Dingell, D-Mich., said at a budget hearing Thursday. “I am particularly troubled that the administration has requested no additional funding to support consumer education for the converter box coupon program,” he said.

The Bush Administration’s proposed cut in funding for NTIA on the eve of the DTV transition raises “serious questions” about the agency’s ability to do its job, House Commerce Committee John Dingell, D-Mich., said at a budget hearing Thursday. “I am particularly troubled that the administration has requested no additional funding to support consumer education for the converter box coupon program,” he said.

During the February 13, 2008 meeting of the Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Related Homeland Security Functions (COAC)¹, CBP officials discussed, among other things, the status of extending eligibility in the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program to third party logistics providers (3PLs) and the addition of two new C-TPAT offices to handle Canada and Mexico issues.

The U.S. Trade Representative may have granted trade concessions in the World Trade Organization Internet gambling dispute without needed congressional approval, the Safe and Secure Gambling Initiative said Wednesday. The possibility of congressional intervention in the settlement arose in a “Dear Colleague” letter circulated by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D- Ore.), now seeking disclosure of concessions made to the EU. The concessions resulted from a U.S. decision to withdraw online gambling services from its General Agreement on Trade in Services commitments, giving trading partners the right to seek compensation.

A federal judge played down his decision in an earlier case, rejecting a move by Viacom to amend an infringement suit against YouTube. Viacom wanted to be allowed to seek punitive damages if it wins the case and chooses actual damages plus profits instead of statutory damages. YouTube argued that the Copyright Act allows only statutory damages. Judge Louis Stanton in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan agreed, citing Supreme Court precedent. He had to give short shrift to his own 2005 decision in Blanch v. Koons, which Viacom cited in support of its motion. In that case a photographer sued artist Jeff Koons for infringing her work. Stanton rejected Andrea Blanch’s statutory claims because the infringed photo wasn’t registered with the Copyright Office before Koons used it, and Blanch couldn’t show actual damages. But because both the district and appeals courts found Koons’ improper use of others’ works willful and repeated, “I gave Blanch the opportunity to argue, on the facts, that such an apparently anomalous result was not required by the law,” and let her amend her complaint to “prove malice and raise squarely the question whether punitive damages are available to her,” Stanton said. “If it ever was, that decision is no longer good law,” he said, citing district court decisions and the leading treatise on copyright law, which called the Blanch ruling a “rogue” ruling and “contrary to existing precedent.” Those authorities also criticized Stanton’s upholding of a jury award of punitive damages in a 2003 case, TVT v. Island Def Jam, resulting in a $132 million judgment for reneging on a recording deal, he said. Stanton used TVT as the basis for allowing Blanch’s amended complaint. He said Viacom has no shortage of legal remedies against YouTube -- statutory willfulness damages, based on timely registration of Viacom’s works and the expected identification of them during discovery.

A federal judge played down his decision in an earlier case, rejecting a move by Viacom to amend an infringement suit against YouTube. Viacom wanted to be allowed to seek punitive damages if it wins the case and chooses actual damages plus profits instead of statutory damages. YouTube argued that the Copyright Act allows only statutory damages. Judge Louis Stanton in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan agreed, citing Supreme Court precedent. He had to give short shrift to his own 2005 decision in Blanch v. Koons, which Viacom cited in support of its motion. In that case a photographer sued artist Jeff Koons for infringing her work. Stanton rejected Andrea Blanch’s statutory claims because the infringed photo wasn’t registered with the Copyright Office before Koons used it, and Blanch couldn’t show actual damages. But because both the district and appeals courts found Koons’ improper use of others’ works willful and repeated, “I gave Blanch the opportunity to argue, on the facts, that such an apparently anomalous result was not required by the law,” and let her amend her complaint to “prove malice and raise squarely the question whether punitive damages are available to her,” Stanton said. “If it ever was, that decision is no longer good law,” he said, citing district court decisions and the leading treatise on copyright law, which called the Blanch ruling a “rogue” ruling and “contrary to existing precedent.” Those authorities also criticized Stanton’s upholding of a jury award of punitive damages in a 2003 case, TVT v. Island Def Jam, resulting in a $132 million judgment for reneging on a recording deal, he said. Stanton used TVT as the basis for allowing Blanch’s amended complaint. He said Viacom has no shortage of legal remedies against YouTube -- statutory willfulness damages, based on timely registration of Viacom’s works and the expected identification of them during discovery.

As 700 MHz and advanced wireless services (AWS) spectrum comes online, the FCC must clamp down on electric utilities that often overcharge to attach antennas and other wireless facilities to power poles, CTIA, PCIA and carriers told the FCC in filings. Antennas are critical to offering wireless broadband to many Americans, wireless interests said. They asked the FCC to clarify that wireless carriers and tower operators should have to pay no more than the telecommunications rate for wireless attachments.