State regulators praised the Senate for its attention to rural call completion problems. A bipartisan group of 36 senators, in a recent letter called for the FCC to act, a move prominent state regulators hailed Thursday. “The FCC should, through its enforcement actions, ensure that each telecommunications provider, including the least-cost routing companies who may work for them, are complying with its rules and providing their essential services,” said Philip Jones, president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, in a statement (http://xrl.us/bn46qm). “As the Senators note, ’these problems have continued for far too long.'” He applauded their letter and warned of the problem’s implications for “safety, security, and consumer welfare.” Telecom Committee Chair John Burke said in a statement that he looked forward to working with the senators, spoke of his association’s concern about the issue and said the “letter sends an important message to the Federal Communications Commission and telephone providers in rural areas.”
Intelsat requested special temporary authority licenses for its earth stations in Hagerstown, Md., and Riverside, Calif. The company wants a 60-day STA to use the Hagerstown C-band earth station “prior to grant of permanent operating authority,” it said in its application to the International Bureau (http://xrl.us/bn463c). The antenna will communicate in the frequency bands 3700-4200 MHz and 5925-6425 MHz with the SES-4 satellite located at 22 degrees west, it said. Intelsat also requested a 30-day extension of an existing STA to use the Riverside C-band earth station “to provide launch and early orbit phase services for the Star One C3 satellite,” it said in a separate application (http://xrl.us/bn463k).
Tech groups cheered Senate passage Thursday of permanent normal trade relations with the Russian Federation through a House-approved bill (HR-6156) that also addresses Internet filtering, blocking, corruption and human rights. The U.S. Trade Representative will report yearly on “Russian discrimination against U.S. digital trade,” the Computer and Communications Industry Association said Thursday. Online censorship is “both a human rights issue and a trade barrier issue,” CCIA President Ed Black said: The USTR provision is a “good first step toward building in better provisions to discourage” censorship in trade relations. Russia is one of the largest importers of information and communications technology and an important market for U.S. companies, said Kevin Richards, TechAmerica senior vice president-federal government affairs: “The U.S. technology industry can realize the full benefits of Russia’s WTO membership, ensuring a level playing field in the ninth largest economy in the world."
The Department of Justice’s antitrust division has achieved “many important successes” in its enforcement efforts in recent months, said Rachel Brandenburger, the division’s special international adviser, in a speech Thursday at a Brussels conference held by the American Chamber of Commerce. She cited its antitrust suit against Apple and two major U.S. and European publishers -- Macmillan and Penguin Group -- over e-book sales. Three other publishers -- Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster -- reached a settlement with Justice in August to remove themselves from the lawsuit, agreeing to pay $69 million to states and end their so-called agency agreements with retailers that allowed them to set the retail price of the e-books. The division’s investigation in preparation for the lawsuit is one recent example of “valuable and effective” cooperation between antitrust enforcement agencies, Brandenburger said, according to a prepared version of her speech. “Throughout the investigation, we worked collaboratively with the European Commission. ... While we have long cooperated with other competition agencies in merger and cartel enforcement matters, e-books demonstrates that case cooperation can be effective across the entire range of competition enforcement, given the right tools and the right attitude” (http://xrl.us/bn46fj). The division has also actively discussed important competition and intellectual property policy issues in recent months, Brandenburger said, noting that in July then-Acting Assistant Attorney General Joseph Wayland testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on policy options the U.S. International Trade Commission could use with respect to possible exclusion orders in cases involving standard essential patents. The antitrust division and the FTC will hold a joint workshop next week in Washington on how patent assertion entities’ activities affect innovation and competition, Brandenburger said.
Stakeholders have access to negotiators during the 15th round of Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations that’s taking place in Auckland, New Zealand, said the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). Stakeholders criticized the negotiations’ organizers for providing less access to negotiators than previous rounds (CD Dec 6 p11). “The arrangements in place are consistent with the approach that has been taken at previous rounds,” an MFAT spokeswoman said by email Wednesday night. Stakeholders “have not, during recent rounds had access to the specific negotiating areas other than during host-organised stakeholder events,” she said. Because of the physical layout of the convention center where negotiations are taking place, “there is a physical distinction between the negotiating venue and connected and adjacent hotels,” she said. Stakeholders have been provided contact information for negotiators and have access to a part of the building from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. this week to meet negotiators, the spokeswoman said. Friday’s stakeholder day will allow the more than 280 registered stakeholders to interact with negotiators and 75 stakeholders to present “on a wide variety of topics,” she said. “Stakeholders will also have a briefing from Chief Negotiators, and the chance to ask questions of Chief Negotiators on issues of importance to them in the negotiations."
It’s inappropriate for a court to issue an injunction barring the sale of products incorporating standardized, patented technology when the patent holder has previously committed to license the product on “fair and reasonable terms,” the FTC said Tuesday in an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (http://xrl.us/bn46a9). The brief was in response to Motorola’s patent infringement claims against Apple over technology in iPhones and iPads that Motorola claims is covered by its standard essential patents (SEPs). The FTC said Judge Richard Posner of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was correct in dismissing Motorola’s request for an injunction against the sale of iPhones and iPads in the U.S. Owners of SEPs can use injunction threats to get favorable terms in licensing agreements, including high royalty payments, which they would not have been able to get when the standard was set, the FTC said. Such threats can cause competition distortion, also known as “patent hold-up,” the commission said. The FTC voted 4-1 to approve the brief before filing, with Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen voting no, the commission said Wednesday when it released the brief (http://xrl.us/bn42r7).
Sirius XM likely will pass through an expected increase of performance royalty fees to customers by raising monthly subscriber bills a total of $1 monthly over the next five years, said Pivotal Research Group analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak. With the decision from the Copyright Royalty Board that will determine what Sirius will pay SoundExchange expected by Dec. 14 (CD Dec 4 p9) OR (CED Dec 4 p9) OR (WID Dec 4 p6), Wlodarczak said he expects Sirius’ royalty fees to increase from 8 percent of subscription revenue to 10 percent next year and 13 percent in five years. Below certain levels, “these higher fees are manageable and need to be taken in the context of Sirius’ still significant overall market and operating margin expansion opportunity,” Wlodarczak wrote investors Wednesday.
The Open Mobile Video Coalition published a document laying out use cases for non real-time broadcasts using the mobile DTV standard. The document (http://xrl.us/bn4y5x) describes how the mobile DTV standard can be used for clip-casting, VOD, creating a Web “microsite” with pre-defined content, delivering out-of-home digital signage and content, and apps and firmware upgrades. The document also described commercial applications such as power grid management and traffic control systems, as well as mobile emergency alert systems. “This is a natural evolution of the Mobile TV standard,” said Sterling Davis, chair of OMVC’s technical advisory group.
The House unanimously approved a resolution Wednesday aimed at preserving the multi-stakeholder model for the Internet. Senate Concurrent Resolution 50 is nearly identical to a House proposal authored by outgoing Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif. (House Concurrent Resolution 127), which attempts to preserve “the multi-stakeholder governance model under which the Internet has thrived.” Bono Mack’s spokesman said the language in the two resolutions differs slightly but both have “the same effect.” House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., separately said U.S. lawmakers should continue to oppose any attempt by the U.N. to regulate the Internet, at an event hosted Wednesday by the Villanova School of Business. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Walden said. “The Internet has thrived under government’s hands-off policy, and I will fight attempts to roll back that policy, either abroad or at home. I'm sorry to say these international efforts are unlikely to end with the WCIT.”
The FCC Media Bureau released a redacted copy (http://xrl.us/bn4y44) of its decision on Project Concord and Comcast’s appeals of an arbitration over how much and at what cost Project Concord can license NBCUniversal content. The case was the first arbitration brought under the FCC’s so-called “Threshold Condition” to approving the Comcast-NBCUniversal transaction that gave some online video distributors some rights to access Comcast-controlled programming. The bureau had ruled against Comcast in part, saying NBCU’s first-year films weren’t excluded from the conditions, but also declined to grant Project Concord attorneys’ fees that resulted from the dispute (CD Nov 15 p9). Additionally, the bureau reversed the arbitrator’s decision that certain standard contracts had prevented it from licensing some programming to Project Concord.