Just providing Internet access doesn't infringe copyright, and a U.S. District judge in Alexandria, Virginia, "effectively guided the jury" to do exactly what the Supreme Court has cautioned against in other copyright infringement cases -- to find contributory infringement based solely on not taking active steps to avert infringement by a third party, CTA and Computer & Communications Industry Association said in a joint amicus curiae brief (in Pacer) filed Monday with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The brief was filed in Cox Communications' appeal of the lower court's ruling in favor of BMG Rights Management in its torrent piracy lawsuit against the cable ISP (see 1608190030). CTA/CCIA said Judge Liam O'Grady "compound[ed] this error" when he instructed the jury that it could find willful blindness from a general awareness of possible infringement instead of following Supreme Court precedent that requires deliberate actions. The lower court also held that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act wasn't a defense yet let the jury base its verdict on facts related to whether Cox had satisfied its safe harbor immunity from damages under the DMCA, CTA/CCIA said. "The jury was essentially invited to draw inferences of liability" from Cox not shutting off alleged copyright infringers rather than from whether the cable operator's workers took any volitional acts to encourage copyright infringement, the trade groups said. They called the ruling "contrary to sound public policy," arguing it undermined congressional intent in Section 512 of the DMCA, which covers liability limitations. CTA/CCIA called for the judgment against Cox to be reversed and for the case to remanded for entry of judgment in favor of the cable ISP or a new trial. Counsel for BMG didn't comment.
The World Trade Organization recently posted the following notices:
If the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denies the FTC's request for an en banc rehearing in its consumer protection fight with AT&T Mobility, Congress may act to provide the commission with the necessary authority, experts said in interviews last week. That's gotten more complicated with the election of Donald Trump, whose views about privacy, consumer protection and telecom aren't really known (see 1611090016). Some have predicted Trump-appointed commissioners would roll back FCC ISP privacy rules (see 1611090034).
If the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denies the FTC's request for an en banc rehearing in its consumer protection fight with AT&T Mobility, Congress may act to provide the commission with the necessary authority, experts said in interviews last week. That's gotten more complicated with the election of Donald Trump, whose views about privacy, consumer protection and telecom aren't really known (see 1611090016). Some have predicted Trump-appointed commissioners would roll back FCC ISP privacy rules (see 1611090034).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 31 - Nov. 6:
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Oct. 31 - Nov. 4 in case they were missed.
The FTC has a good shot at getting an en banc rehearing by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said several experts. A three-judge panel in August threw out the commission's case against AT&T Mobility for inadequately informing customers of its data-throttling program (see 161014003 and 1608290032). Experts, some of whom filed amicus briefs backing the FTC, said the 9th Circuit has a track record of providing such rehearings, though they said it's murkier how the full court would decide.
The FTC has a good shot at getting an en banc rehearing by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said several experts. A three-judge panel in August threw out the commission's case against AT&T Mobility for inadequately informing customers of its data-throttling program (see 161014003 and 1608290032). Experts, some of whom filed amicus briefs backing the FTC, said the 9th Circuit has a track record of providing such rehearings, though they said it's murkier how the full court would decide.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 24-30:
The Environmental Protection Agency is set to issue a final rule overhauling its regulations on international shipments of hazardous waste, it said (here).The final rule, which will be published “in the coming weeks,” will apply the same set of regulations, including notice and consent procedures, to all import and export shipments, whether from members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Canada or Mexico, or non-OECD members, according to a pre-publication copy (here). Other changes include electronic submission of all required documents, and provide for electronic validation of consent in the Automated Export System.