A bill to curb misleading patent demand letters will move to the full House Commerce Committee despite Democratic opposition in a subcommittee markup Thursday. The House Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee voted 13-6 to approve the Targeting Rogue and Opaque Letters (TROL) Act (HR-4450), which is intended to stop “patent trolls” -- entities that request compensation for patent infringement without producing products -- from sending patent demand letters written in “bad faith.” Two Democrats joined with the Republicans voting in favor of the bill.

Aereo’s request that a federal court issue it a compulsory copyright license under 1976 Copyright Act Section 111 isn’t a clear path to survival for the streaming TV service, industry and public interest attorneys told us Thursday. The Supreme Court ruling that Aereo should be treated as a cable system when it retransmits content because it resembles one (CD June 26 p1) also means Aereo should be granted the same type of copyright licenses as cable systems, Aereo said in a joint status letter with broadcasters (http://bit.ly/1sDoJY3) to U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in New York. That also means an injunction that broadcasters are seeking against Aereo’s business shouldn’t be granted, Aereo said in Wednesday’s filing. If Aereo is a cable system, “the transmissions Plaintiffs have sought to enjoin do not infringe Plaintiffs’ rights,” Aereo said. The question of whether it should be granted a compulsory license is “inextricably intertwined” with the question of the injunction, said the company.

In a repeat of the dynamic before the FCC approved its last major orders in May, Chairman Tom Wheeler once again finds himself having to cut deals with the other two Democrats to win approval for an order on E-rate overhaul, scheduled for a vote Friday. Leading up to the commission’s May 15 votes on a net neutrality NPRM, spectrum aggregation rules and preliminary rules for the TV incentive auction, Wheeler also had to accommodate Democratic commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel after Republicans Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly were unable to work out any agreements with Wheeler.

CenturyLink opposed the FCC plan to analyze the telco’s petition for forbearance of dominant carrier and computer inquiry tariffing requirements on enterprise broadband services for market competitiveness using what the commission calls a “traditional market power framework” (http://bit.ly/1n88UTO). The proposed market analysis plan would analyze CenturyLink’s forbearance petition based on different geographic areas for different customer classes, like small and medium-sized businesses versus large enterprise customers (http://bit.ly/VYmZxY). CenturyLink had proposed that the FCC evaluate market competitiveness based on a nationwide geographic market. AT&T also opposed the FCC’s proposed plan. Comptel, Sprint and a group of CLECs of Cbeyond Communications, Integra Telecom, Level 3 and tw telecom supported the FCC plan. Comments were due Monday, while reply comments are due July 14, in docket 14-9.

Large tech companies have used a 2010 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision to essentially require a warrant before responding to law enforcement requests for content, said representatives from Google and Facebook at a Tuesday Cato Institute event. “We're not getting much pushback,” said Microsoft Attorney Nate Jones. But countless smaller companies “don’t necessarily have the resources or legal acumen” to know to use the decision -- United States v. Warshak -- in such a manner, said Google Senior Privacy Policy Counsel David Lieber. And overseas customers don’t understand the patchwork of standards created by court rulings and federal law, Jones said. Which means a congressional solution is still needed, they said.

No reply opposed by comment deadline a startup nonprofit’s request that the FCC issue a notice of inquiry on making a transition to HD voice as part of the IP transition, docket 13-5 shows (http://bit.ly/1w2bIXZ). Supporters of VoIP, which commenter and NARUC General Counsel Brad Ramsay told us hasn’t been definitively classified as a telecom or information service, continued backing the NOI request. States should have a role in any transition from circuit-switched phone service that could also include HD voice, said NTCA Senior Vice President-Policy Michael Romano.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, echoed by what would make up a majority of commissioners, said Wednesday that bringing down inmate phone rates is a “top priority.” He backed making the agency’s 2013 interim interstate rates permanent and dealing with “unreasonably high” intrastate rates, and said additional charges that are tacked on to phone charges “need to be addressed if not attacked.” Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, whom Wheeler called the “North Star” on the issue for the commission, told us she’s hopeful for action sometime this year. Whether the permanent cap would be the same as the interim ones, of 21 cents per minute for debit and prepaid calls and 25 cents a minute for collect calls (CD Aug 12 p1), has not been decided, an FCC spokesman said.

The language of a draft order that would require closed captions for Internet video clips remained in flux on the FCC’s eighth floor, said industry and agency officials in interviews Tuesday. The IP clips closed captioning item is set for a vote at the FCC monthly meeting Friday. Chairman Tom Wheeler’s office is still considering possible changes to the language of the item requested by the Republican commissioners’ offices, said an FCC official. The length of a “grace period” for companies to post time-sensitive clips, how those clips should be defined, and what aspects of the rule may be deferred to an further rulemaking are all under discussion, said an industry attorney and FCC officials.

A recent split among 11 Utah cities participating in the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency’s financially troubled municipal broadband network regarding whether to partner with Macquarie Capital to build out the network leaves UTOPIA with an unclear future, participants and municipal broadband advocates told us. Only six of the 11 active UTOPIA member cities voted in late June to continue working with Macquarie on a partnership: Brigham City, Layton, Midvale, Perry, Tremonton and West Valley City. The five cities that voted against the Macquarie proposal were Centerville, Lindon, Murray, Orem and Payson, UTOPIA said. Macquarie’s proposed 30-year partnership with UTOPIA has been controversial, drawing opposition earlier this year in the Utah State Senate before getting a reprieve from lawmakers (CD Feb 25 p7).

The length of time it takes the Food and Drug Administration to sign off on mobile devices through its 510(k) approval process can be a major impediment for expanding “mHealth” (mobile health), a key priority of the wireless industry, Zachary Rothstein, senior manager-regulatory affairs at Samsung Electronics America, told an FCBA discussion on broadband and healthcare Tuesday. A standing-room-only crowd packed a conference room at CTIA for the discussion.