T-Mobile misled its wireless “sub-dealers” when it announced that “hundreds of stores” would be opened after its 2020 Sprint buy, alleged five such sub-dealer plaintiffs in a class action Wednesday (docket 1:23-cv-1582) in U.S. District Court for Eastern New York in Brooklyn. T-Mobile instead embarked on a "concealed and undisclosed corporate strategy" to eliminate the sub-dealers nationally, alleged the plaintiffs.

Senators have enough bipartisan support to add the USDA secretary to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and expand CFIUS jurisdiction to cover a broader range of agriculture-related purchases, lawmakers said this week. Several said the committee isn’t doing enough to prevent Chinese government-affiliated companies from purchasing U.S. land and want to expand its reach, particularly after CFIUS determined last year that it didn’t have the jurisdiction to intervene in a Chinese purchase of land near a North Dakota Air Force base.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. should look to review a licensing agreement between Ford and a Chinese battery manufacturer, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in a recent letter. Rubio said the agreement would allow Ford to establish a Michigan factory that would license its technology from China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), which the senator said is the world's largest electric vehicle battery producer and has ties to the Chinese government.

Though CBP's issuance of withhold release orders and forced labor findings has slowed recently as the agency focuses on implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the agency will continue to use its traditional tools to combat forced labor, aided by recent increases in funding for forced labor enforcement, Jessica Rifkin, a customs lawyer with Benjamin England & Associates, said during a webinar Feb. 28.

DirecTV and the defendants it alleges are impersonating DirecTV telemarketers and making off with consumers’ money estimate that jury selection and a five-day trial in the case should begin by Feb. 20, they said in a joint preliminary report and proposed scheduling order Thursday (docket 6:22-cv-00423) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas in Tyler. The defendants deny all the allegations, said the report. The parties contemplate needing about eight months, through Oct. 20, to do discovery, it said. It’s “likely” DirecTV will need to do discovery with entities outside the U.S. “If discovery is stymied it could take longer to complete,” said the report. DirecTV landed authorization Feb. 15 from a magistrate judge to effect service of process of its fraud complaint on defendant Motasim Billah via Facebook and LinkedIn because he's believed to be living in Lahore, Pakistan, with an exact address unknown (see 2302160055). Based on the number of parties sued and third-parties involved, DirecTV requests that it be permitted 20 depositions during discovery, said the report. The parties “are open to mediation” before a magistrate judge “after limited discovery,” it said. They discussed a settlement, “but have not reached agreement on any material terms,” it said.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. will be especially active this year, BakerHostetler lawyers predicted in a webinar hosted by the law firm last week. Lawyer Scott Jansen said he believes “there's going to be actual CFIUS enforcement” despite the committee not issuing an enforcement penalty since 2019. “We believe that there is a great chance that there'll be serious penalties in 2023,” Jansen said, adding that he expects CFIUS to continue to prioritize China-related transactions.

The Commerce Department in Feb. 23 remand results reversed course "under respectful protest" on a 26.5% subsidy rate it calculated for land provision by Indian national authorities in its countervailing duty investigation on granular polytetrafluorethylene resin from India (Gujarat Fluorochemicals Ltd. v. U.S., CIT # 22-00120).

Whether over-the-top players should pay telcos for carrying their content has been a hot topic in Europe for some time (see 2210130001), and the European Commission waded into the fight Thursday. As part of a proposal to transform the EU connectivity landscape, it's consulting on the future of the electronic communications sector and its infrastructure. The inquiry brought expected cheers from mobile operators, jeers from the tech industry.

The White House's directive that all construction materials used in federal infrastructure projects, including fiber cable, be American made shouldn't cause big delays in or cost run-ups for fiber for broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) projects, we were told. It's less clear whether the directive could cause challenges in obtaining the electronics -- typically made overseas -- used to light the fiber.

The Texas Public Utility Commission proposed approving Windstream deregulation Thursday. Under the draft order in docket 54068, the PUC would grant the telco’s petition to deregulate its Sugar Land local exchange market. Parties may file corrections or exceptions by March 2.