The Copyright Office needs to upgrade its services for digital interoperability and should add staff attorneys, said Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante at a House Judiciary IP Subcommittee Thursday hearing on oversight of the office (http://1.usa.gov/1AHlscs). “We can only build a sustainable system if we ensure the Office has sufficient resources and a modern IT infrastructure,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., in prepared testimony. The recording of copyright licenses or transfers is a “cumbersome and costly process that requires manual examination and data entry,” which hasn’t been changed “for decades,” said Pallante in prepared remarks (http://1.usa.gov/Zsf4KZ). “How to bring [the office’s documents] online has been a major focus.” Pallante said $28 million of the office’s $45 million budget comes from registration fees. House Judiciary IP Subcommittee member John Conyers, D-Mich., lamented that Congress has cut the office’s budget by 7.2 percent since 2010, even though the office has been asked to take on additional responsibilities. House Judiciary IP Subcommittee Vice Chairman Tom Marino, R-Pa., suggested the office be made an independent agency under the authority of the president, rather than under the Library of Congress.
The public Internet needs to evolve to have more capacity, quality and security to support an estimated more than 50 billion connected devices generating half of all traffic by 2030, said a report sponsored by Liberty Global (http://bit.ly/1Dm19Wj) released Thursday. IP interconnection agreements are seeing “a significant increase” and there’s “growing imbalance” of IP traffic from streaming video, the report said. Disputes concern less than 1 percent of all interconnection agreements, and the market seems well positioned for growth, investment and innovation, the report said. By 2020, most Internet use will still involve “the current ‘best effort’ public internet,” the report said. “But the public internet also needs to evolve further."
The House Judiciary IP Subcommittee plans a hearing on oversight of the Copyright Office Thursday at 2 p.m. in Rayburn 2141 (http://1.usa.gov/1AHlscs). The subcommittee will “examine the practices and organization of the Copyright Office to ensure it is equipped to keep pace with the digital age and has what it needs to serve the American people in the 21st century,” said a joint statement Wednesday from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and subcommittee Chairman Howard Coble, R-N.C. Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante is to testify at the hearing, it said.
The Senate Judiciary Committee said it plans a hearing on sports blackouts Tuesday at 10 a.m. in 226 Dirksen. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., will preside, the committee said. The hearing is on the sports blackout legislation called Furthering Access and Networks for Sports Act (S-1721), which Blumenthal introduced last November with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who’s not a Judiciary member. The FCC will vote on the sports blackout rule at the end of the month (CD Sept 11 p2).
The FCC is not relying on secret meetings to make decide on proposed industry acquisitions, Chairman Tom Wheeler told Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., in a letter Wednesday. Heller asked Wheeler about the ex parte exemptions and what those really mean in light of two major deals the agency is considering: Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV. “I fully endorse the core principles you describe,” Wheeler told Heller, referring to Heller’s statement in a letter that any major orders crafted in part on secret information can be undermined due to process concerns. Wheeler cited the court cases that give the agency “flexibility” in how it reviews such transactions. The FCC, “in accord with the Administrative Procedure Act and applicable precedent, uses only information that is placed on the record when it renders a decision on whether to allow a transaction to proceed, with or without conditions,” Wheeler said. While the agency can’t rely on information given in secret, those meetings “could be used, however, to help the Commission formulate appropriate questions to applicants or other parties,” questions that can be placed on the record, he said.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., wants FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to leave Washington to hear other U.S. voices speak about net neutrality. Markey said during a Wednesday news conference at the Capitol the FCC should “reach beyond the D.C. Beltway, and tour the country to hear from consumers and stakeholders about the importance of a free and open Internet,” according to a text of his prepared remarks. “It’s time for the Chairman to hold net neutrality roundtables throughout the nation.” He appeared with Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and several industry representatives, speaking on net neutrality and the need for Title II reclassification.
House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo., plans to outline why congressional oversight of the FCC is essential, in his opening statement to a 1 p.m. hearing Wednesday. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is testifying, and Graves will speak of how small businesses drives the U.S. economy. Graves’ goal is that the U.S. develops the right regulatory goals, he will say at the hearing, pointing to the need to ensure a free and open Internet and build out broadband networks to unserved and rural areas as well as get the right spectrum to big and small companies.
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., wants to ensure TV blackouts don’t happen next year. He’s glad Time Warner Cable worked out a deal to telecast the Los Angeles Dodgers on KDOC-TV Anaheim, California, but is concerned about the broader issues, he said in a statement Monday. “We must act now to assure that the Dodgers are not blacked out for the 2015 season,” Sherman said (http://1.usa.gov/1shbcmZ). “I will continue to discuss this matter with [FCC Chairman] Tom Wheeler ... in the hopes that the FCC will use its authority to push all the parties into binding arbitration so that a panel of three neutral arbitrators can determine the price -- and let Dodgers fans see the 2015 season."
"Several concerns” worry FCC Inspector General David Hunt, he plans to tell the House Communications Subcommittee Wednesday. “The FCC has refused to allow the IG to hire criminal investigators despite the authority granted to the IG in the IG Act of 1978, as amended,” Hunt said in his pre-filed written testimony (http://1.usa.gov/1s5qnpa). “Criminal investigators are a very much needed resource at this Office, to increase its ability to conduct criminal investigations without consuming the resources of DOJ and the FBI. Further, FCC management retains a right to approve all OIG hires, a requirement which appears to contravene the IG Act and impugn the independence of the OIG.” Hunt will also criticize the FCC Enforcement Bureau’s recently formed USF strike force, referring to concerns “that efforts might be duplicative and resources wasted.” FCC Managing Director Jon Wilkins plans to testify on the agency’s attempts to overhaul its internal processes and other work, despite funding concerns. “Flat funding since 2009, despite the growth in our operational costs, has challenged the FCC’s ability to maintain current service levels,” Wilkins said in his written testimony (http://1.usa.gov/1ydmCAA). “In addition, sequestration created a gap in our budget that not only challenged the FCC’s ability to commit funds to basic programmatic needs, but also introduced budget uncertainties that made it difficult to pursue opportunities to invest in improved efficiency.” The hearing is at 10:15 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
Sens. Al Franken, D-Minn., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., will join several companies at the Capitol Wednesday to push for Title II reclassification of broadband. A news conference will include representatives from Etsy, Imgur, Kickstarter, Meetup and Vimeo, said a Markey media advisory Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/1qcLqyl). The news conference “on net neutrality and the need to protect the openness of the Internet for future generations” will be at 12:30 p.m. in S-120 of the Capitol, it said.