Heads turned in late July when the FCC, in a rulemaking notice, asked whether CE retailers that take part in NTIA’s DTV coupon program should be required to show that they're properly educating the public and training employees on the DTV transition and whether their efforts should be enforced through spot inspections by FCC staff (CED July 31 p4).
AT&T urged the Copyright Office to consider each type of online video distribution in deciding whether the technologies are covered by compulsory licenses. The comments came in a reply filing on the Office’s compulsory license notice of inquiry (CD July 26 p9). AT&T said the office shouldn’t paint new video delivery systems with broad strokes in deciding whether operators fall under rules that give cable and satellite providers blanket permission to carry broadcast shows without getting approval from each copyright holder. Capitol Broadcasting piggybacked on AT&T’s arguments, claiming that Section 111 of the Copyright Act applies both to its proposed Web subscription video service and the Bell’s operational U-Verse IPTV product.
AT&T urged the Copyright Office to consider each type of online video distribution in deciding whether the technologies are covered by compulsory licenses. The comments came in a reply filing on the Office’s compulsory license notice of inquiry (WID July 26 p2). AT&T said the office shouldn’t paint new video delivery systems with broad strokes in deciding whether operators fall under rules that give cable and satellite providers blanket permission to carry broadcast shows without getting approval from each copyright holder. Capitol Broadcasting piggybacked on AT&T’s arguments, claiming that Section 111 of the Copyright Act applies both to its proposed Web subscription video service and the Bell’s operational U-Verse IPTV product.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a notice announcing that at the request of the U.S., the World Trade Organization has established a dispute settlement panel (DSP) to review U.S. claims concerning the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in China.
DALLAS -- Pole attachment rates are too high, unevenly applied to different parts of the communications industry and could put some providers at a disadvantage in offering broadband services, panelists complained at the CompTel convention Tuesday. Electric-utility companies that levy the charges because they own many of the poles are “passionate” about this issue “and we need to be, too,” said Time Warner Telecom Vice President Don Shepheard. Utilities are concerned but not for the same reasons, responded Jack Richards, a Washington attorney who represents electric utilities. Electric utilities are already subsidizing the companies that attach their lines to the poles, he said.
When the cost of a potential RIAA suit jumped from a few thousand dollars to a mortgage in last week’s RIAA victory over a Minnesota defendant (WID Oct 5 p2), P2P defense lawyers around the country took note. Members of the close- knit legal community don’t seem to be considering changes in their varied approaches to fighting RIAA infringement claims. But lawyers we spoke with said the $222,000 damage award in Duluth, Minn., federal court underlined that determination to stop the RIAA’s litigation machine can’t obscure attorneys’ duty to evaluate the strength of each client’s case.
The FCC is giving wireless and wireline carriers a break on installing backup power at critical facilities, but not as big as industry wanted. An FCC order, released Thursday, warns carriers not to enter agreements just to avoid having to install backup power (CD Oct 2 p1). The FCC adopted the requirement in its followup to Hurricane Katrina. Six groups had filed petitions for reconsideration challenging the backup power mandate.
Executives of the two largest cable operators visited FCC offices this week to discuss the commission’s two-way plug-and-play rulemaking with aides to Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein. Mark Coblitz, Comcast senior vice president of strategic planning, and Kevin Leddy, Time Warner Cable senior vice president of strategy and development, toured the Democratic commissioners’ offices with NCTA officials, ex parte filings show. The pair also talked up to reporters this week cable’s OpenCable Application Platform as a two-way solution and their proposal for an “all pay-TV” solution and discussed their concerns about CEA’s proposed Digital Cable Ready Plus proposal.
As copyright-dependent industries struggle to capture the attention of the White House and Congress concerning intellectual property (IP) theft, they were advised to look back to one of the rare united U.S. responses to an international tech matter. Industry panic over an international bureaucratic takeover of Internet governance sparked an amazing response at the World Summit for the Information Society a few years ago, former NTIA administrator Mike Gallagher told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Summit Wednesday.
Executives of the two largest cable operators visited FCC offices this week to discuss the commission’s two-way plug-and-play rulemaking with aides to Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein. Mark Coblitz, Comcast senior vice president of strategic planning, and Kevin Leddy, Time Warner Cable senior vice president of strategy and development, toured the Democratic commissioners’ offices with NCTA officials, ex parte filings show. The pair also talked up to reporters this week cable’s OpenCable Application Platform as a two-way solution and their proposal for an “all pay-TV” solution and discussed their concerns about CEA’s proposed Digital Cable Ready Plus proposal.