Article 1, Clause 5, of the Constitution, the so-called "Export Clause," provides that "No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State". This clause was an issue recently in case upon which the Court of International Trade ruled, Nufarm America's Inc. v .U.S.
Cyren Call considers itself in a long term audition to run a proposed public safety broadband trust but expects competition, Cyren Call founder Morgan O'Brien said in an interview for C-SPAN’s series “The Communicators” that was set to air over the weekend. O'Brien conceded that time is running short, with the 700 MHz auction expected to start as early as this summer. Meanwhile, Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) made good on a promise to introduce legislation that would set aside 30 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum for a public-safety broadband network.
Cyren Call considers itself in a long term audition to run a proposed public safety broadband trust but expects competition, Cyren Call founder Morgan O'Brien said in an interview for C-SPAN’s series “The Communicators” that was set to air over the weekend. O'Brien conceded that time is running short, with the 700 MHz auction expected to start as early as this summer. Meanwhile, Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) made good on a promise to introduce legislation that would set aside 30 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum for a public-safety broadband network.
The International Trade Administration has issued a notice initiating Section 129 proceedingsin order to implement a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel report finding that the ITA's use of "zeroing" in average-to-average comparison antidumping (AD) investigations in 12 European Community AD investigations is inconsistent with U.S. obligations under the WTO Agreements.
Recent Copyright Office anticircumvention rulings would be codified -- and expanded -- under a bill introduced Tues. by Reps. Boucher (D-Va.) and Doolittle (R-Cal.). The Freedom & Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship (FAIR USE) Act (HR-1201) offers “natural extensions” to 6 areas approved by the Copyright Office for lawful circumvention of digital rights management (WID Nov 24 p4), the sponsors’ offices said in a release. But the duo assured content owners their concerns were heard, in that an irksome provision in earlier such bills is gone. Tech groups cheered the bill, while the content industries varied from gentle to biting criticisms of the provisions.
In International Custom Products, Inc. ("ICP") v .U.S., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the holding of the Court of International Trade, as the CAFC found a lack of jurisdiction, remanding the case with instructions for dismissal.
AT&T asked the FCC to reject the National Exchange Carrier Assn.’s average schedule formulas for July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2008, saying the “immensely costly ’transition payment’ plan” proposed would benefit rural carriers but harm others. AT&T said the agency should ignore NTCA and OPASTCO’s support, since the plan would only help “their respective constituencies.” The rural trade groups’ comments “simply parrot NECA’s purported justification for the transition plan and fall equally short of providing any valid basis for the Commission to adopt those proposed modifications,” AT&T said. But NECA said in replies the rural telcos are pointing to a problem the Commission must address. “Comments filed by NTCA and OPASTCO show… that the proposed transition is necessary to assure average schedule companies are not harmed by sudden reductions in interstate access settlements that may occur if the new formulas are implemented on a flash-cut basis,” NECA said: “The Commission itself has recognized the importance of introducing average schedule formula reductions gradually by approving, and in some cases mandating, similar settlement transitions in the past.”
The RIAA tiptoed a fine line, telling an Okla. federal judge he was wrong to rule that the trade group must pay an innocent defendant’s attorney fees in Capitol v. Foster (WID Feb 8 p3). The group has filed a motion for reconsideration in the case, demanding Judge Lee West reexamine his reasoning. RIAA used defendant Debbie Foster’s subscriber agreement with Cox Communications to claim she’s liable for any file-sharing, an explicit rejection of West’s ruling that simply holding an Internet account doesn’t establish liability. It requested West change the date from which Foster can claim attorney fees, trying to limit its own liability.
Qualcomm and Broadcom withdrew several key patent complaints among many the wireless-chip makers have filed against one another in recent years, the companies said late last week. The compromise means dismissal of 2 federal court cases in San Diego, one set to go to trial next week. Other cases between the companies aren’t affected. Meanwhile, Qualcomm said that earlier this month a federal judge in Tex. dismissed an antitrust suit against it and other major companies by small vendor Golden Bridge Technology.
Alcatel-Lucent’s patent victory over Microsoft is only the first in a string of cases the company filed when it was just Lucent over patents that the original Bell Labs had developed. This year will see 3 more cases involving Microsoft, Dell and Gateway over various digital audio-visual technologies. A jury in the U.S. Dist. Court, San Diego gave Alcatel-Lucent a $1.52 billion award against Microsoft (WID Feb 23 p1). Alcatel-Lucent wouldn’t comment on the outcome’s effect on future suits. Microsoft denied the decision would have any effect.