U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has again revised its Trade Update for Hurricane Katrina. Among other things, CBP's new Trade Update provides new contact information for certain CBP offices and employees and also contains new information concerning entry summary filing.
ISP and telco resistance to policing infringements on copyright hurts the digital music market, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said Thurs. In its Digital Music Report 2006, IFPI said the recording industry wants more efforts to force service providers to ensure copyright is respected, IFPI said. Despite the lack of cooperation, 2005 was the year in which legitimate digital music finally took off, the group said.
ISP and telco resistance to policing infringements on copyright hurts the digital music market, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said Thurs. In its Digital Music Report 2006, IFPI said the recording industry wants more efforts to force service providers to ensure copyright is respected, IFPI said. Despite the lack of cooperation, 2005 was the year in which legitimate digital music finally took off, the group said.
The creator of the defunct i2hub file-sharing network is in trouble with students who are in trouble with the RIAA for sharing copyrighted music on the network, designed to exploit a juiced Internet2 network linking universities. U. of Mass.-Amherst student Wayne Chang, now on academic leave, set up the network and touted it on campus and online. Last spring, hundreds of UMass students who used the network were slammed with content industry lawsuits (WID April 12 p1). Months later, after a cease-and-desist order, Chang shut down i2hub (WID Nov 23 p9).
The Mo. Supreme Court upheld a PSC refusal to let rural incumbent telcos apply intrastate access charges to wireless-originated calls terminating in the same major trading area (MTA), reversing a 2004 appellate court ruling against the PSC. The state’s highest court in Case SC86529 said the FCC in its orders implementing reciprocal compensation provisions of the 1996 Telecom Act made a clear finding that wireless calls completed within an MTA are local and calls completed outside the MTA are long distance. The court said lack of a local interconnection pact between a wireless and a landline carrier is irrelevant, given the clear distinction the FCC draws between intraMTA calls and other calls. In another matter, the Mo. PSC refused to reconsider a Dec. denial of a motion by the Office of Public Counsel to reject tariffs filed by the state’s 5 largest interexchange carriers that impose or increase intrastate access recovery charges as separate line items on bills. The PSC said the OPC petition (Case TT-2002-129) restated arguments rejected in the tariff review.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) and the International Trade Commission (ITC) have issued various notices, each initiating automatic five-year Sunset Reviews on the above-listed antidumping (AD) duty orders.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued an ABI administrative message announcing that it experienced a problem with the periodic monthly statement process which resulted in: (a) 798 final January 2006 periodic monthly statements being erroneously sent to the trade early in the morning of December 21, 2005, and (b) the periodic daily statement debit authorization (PN) transaction erroneously rejecting debit authorizations for periodic daily statements that belong to a January 2006 periodic monthly statement. In this message, CBP provides answers to numerous questions regarding this situation, including what caused the problem, etc. (See ITT's Online Archives or 12/23/05 news, 05122325, for previous BP summary on this issue.)(Adm: 05-1456, dated 12/22/05, available at http://www.brokerpower.com/cgi-bin/adminsearch/admmsg.view.pl?article=2005/2005-1456.ADM.)
The Wall Street Journal reports that Washington wants to start a dialogue with Beijing to avert a damaging trade war over China's cheap steel exports. The article states that China is the world's biggest producer and consumer of steel, and is likely to make a record 350 million tons of steel this year, despite government efforts to curb overcapacity and oversupply. The article adds that China has been exporting its surplus, forcing down prices in Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. (WSJ, 12/23/05, www.wsj.com )
Tex. Attorney Gen. Greg Abbott (R) upped the ante in a suit against Sony BMG, adding allegations of harm to buyers of CDs ranging from Frank Sinatra to Switchfoot music. In Nov., Abbott sued the N.Y.-based firm under a new state spyware law, becoming the first state official to pursue Sony in court for embedding spyware in products. The original Sony rootkit brouhaha (WID Nov 23 p4), involving First4Internet XCP technology, prompted lawsuits, consumer alerts and an industry-wide wake-up call.
Tex. Attorney Gen. Greg Abbott upped the ante in a suit against Sony BMG, adding allegations of harm to buyers of CDs ranging from Frank Sinatra to Switchfoot. In Nov., Abbott (R) sued the N.Y.-based firm under a new state spyware law -- the first state official to pursue Sony in court for embedding spyware in products. The original Sony rootkit brouhaha (CED Nov 23 p8), involving First4Internet XCP technology, prompted lawsuits, consumer alerts and an industry-wide wake-up call.