China and Russia again led the USTR Priority Watch List of weak intellectual property (IP) rights regimes in a Special 301 report released Mon. Argentina, Chile, Egypt, India, Israel, Lebanon, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Venezuela also made the list. The report identified Russia’s AllofMP3.com and China’s Baidu as “notorious virtual markets” for illicit trade in copyrighted works. Efforts to shut down AllofMP3.com -- “the world’s largest server-based pirate music website” -- have failed, but Russian authorities are investigating the operation, the report said. And Baidu is the “largest of an estimated 7 or more China-based ‘MP3 search engines’ offering deep links to song files for downloads or streaming,” the report said.
Patent owners must turn to Congress or foreign govts. for damages on software infringed overseas, the Supreme Court ruled Mon. in Microsoft v. AT&T. The decision in the case involving an AT&T patent on voice-compression technology used in Microsoft Windows products such as NetMeeting means software makers like Microsoft don’t have to pay damages for overseas patent infringements involving their software, only for domestic infringements.
DoJ asked XM and Sirius for more on their proposed merger in a 2nd information request, the companies said in filings to the SEC. DoJ and FCC likely will query competitors, vendors, advertisers and customers, too, sources said. Meanwhile, NAB again released data to back a demand that regulators reject the merger as anticompetitive.
DoJ asked XM and Sirius for more on their proposed merger in a 2nd information request, the companies said in filings to the SEC. DoJ and FCC likely will query competitors, vendors, advertisers and customers, too, sources said. Meanwhile, NAB again released data to back a demand that regulators reject the merger as anticompetitive.
Amid unity on Internet fraud and cross-jurisdictional enforcement authority, FTC commissioners disagreed on a more pressing priority for Congress: identity theft protections. Asked by the Senate Commerce Committee’s Acting Chmn. Pryor (D-Ark.) whether legislation should include free credit freezes -- an issue that some blamed for inaction by the last Congress (WID Nov 20 p1) -- Republicans and Democrats gave different answers. But they spoke with one voice on the need to repeal the “common carrier exemption” that blocks FTC action on some telecom matters.
Questions abounded Mon. on patent infringement suits by Toshiba against 17 companies, alleging they made or imported unlicensed DVD players for the U.S. At issue was the timing -- filed Fri., announced Mon. -- given that the brands and products in question long have been handled by major U.S. retailers and supplied by middlemen dealing with Chinese and other OEMs well-known to lack DVD licenses.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) and the International Trade Commission (ITC) have each issued a notice initiating automatic five-year Sunset Reviews on the above-listed antidumping (AD) duty orders.
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has issued a notice finalizing the procedures it will follow in implementing the Commercial Availability provision of the U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)1.
The Ky. PSC waived the March 31 deadline for CLECs and IXCs to file their annual financial reports while it considers a petition from CLEC trade group CompSouth for repeal of the reporting requirement (Case 2006-00434). If the PSC does decide to retain the reports, CLECs and IXCs will have 90 days from the date of the final order to file them. CompSouth last month petitioned to eliminate the reports, saying the PSC has already ended its oversight of CLEC facility construction and of their issuance of equity and debt securities. CompSouth said material in the annual report is readily available to the PSC and the public elsewhere. Comments are due April 30 and requests for hearings must be filed by May 18.
It’s been a bad week for RIAA in litigation and university acquiescence to its presuit settlement strategy. The trade group dropped a lawsuit against a Cal. man after getting an assertive countersuit threat from his lawyer. It lost a motion for an in-person deposition of a minor. And it received an indirect rebuff from a major university regarding its presuit settlement campaign.