The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice inviting comments from interested parties on the International Trade Commission's (ITC's) proposed remedy, and other possible actions, with respect to the market disruption caused by imports of certain ductile iron waterworks fittings from China.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice on the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement's (SFTA's) 2004 Tariff Preference Level (TPL) for imports from Singapore of cotton or MMF apparel goods, or apparel goods subject to cotton or MMF restraints, the foregoing that are both cut (or knit-to-shape) and sewn or otherwise assembled in Singapore from fabric or yarn produced or obtained outside the territory of Singapore or of the U.S. ("3rd Country").
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has published a final rule which amends the Customs Regulations effective January 5, 2004 regarding the advance electronic presentation of information pertaining to cargo (sea, air, rail, or truck) prior to its being brought into, or sent from, the U.S. (See final rule for compliance dates for each transportation mode.)
Two former Clinton Administration officials were credited last month with saving a rural broadband loan program, but due to a shortage of funds among the effort’s beneficiaries, their lobbying efforts were performed free of charge. Former NTIA Dir. Greg Rohde and former Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Dir. Christopher McLean in 2003 grossed more than $200,000 from companies involved in rural broadband issues, Rohde revealed last week in lobbying disclosure filings with the Secy. of the Senate. However, he told us that the lobbying he did in the Senate to save the RUS broadband program was done pro bono, as the lead entity in the effort, the Wireless Communications Assn. International (WCAI), couldn’t afford to pay them, a difficulty confirmed by WCAI Pres. Andrew Kreig.
Verizon won a major turnaround Fri. in its suit against the RIAA as the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., agreed the ISP needn’t comply with subpoenas to identify suspected peer-to- peer file sharers. Chief Judge Douglas Ginsburg wrote the 3- 0 opinion. It overturned the U.S. Dist. Court, D.C., which had ruled Sec. 512(h) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) required ISPs to comply with subpoenas from copyright owners, even if the ISPs weren’t storing infringing content on their servers. Ginsberg granted Verizon’s request to stay the Dist. Court ruling. The other judges were John Roberts and Ann Williams.
Verizon won a major reversal Fri. in its suit against the RIAA, as the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., agreed with the ISP that it needn’t comply with subpoenas on information on suspected peer-to-peer file sharers.
The Mont. Supreme Court ruled that utilities and other businesses don’t enjoy a blanket right to privacy under the state constitution. The court rejected NorthWestern Energy’s contention that material it filed at state PSC’s behest was automatically entitled to privacy protection. The court said the state constitution’s framers never intended to give privacy rights to “nonhuman entities.” Although involving an energy utility, the court’s ruling also applies to telecom companies and other entities regulated by the PSC. The court said utilities can keep sensitive information secret by seeking specific confidentiality protection, but they have no blanket right to have filings shielded. The case arose when several Mont. newspapers requested details of certain of power purchase contracts. The PSC in 2001 denied access, citing privacy. The court ruled that the PSC can’t presume utilities have a right to confidentiality. The presumption is that utilities’ filings are open unless the utility can show a particular filing involved trade secrets or property rights that required protection, the court said.
State regulators remain tangled with vexing procedural questions that must be settled before they can come to grips with the market impairment analysis cases required by the FCC’s Triennial Review Order (TRO), officials said. In actions in the last week, states were considering whether they had enough evidence to conduct cases, deciding on splitting cases into phases and ruling on discovery issues.
In its ongoing pursuit of blank CD patent infringement before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), Philips said it will ask the ITC to review and reverse a Nov. 5 decision by an administrative law judge that challenged the company’s right to sue as agent for a patent-pool of CD-R developers. Last year, Philips filed patent infringement charges with the ITC against 17 blank CD vendors from Hong Kong and Taiwan that it alleged were not licensed by the Philips/Sony/Taiyo Yuden patent pool, and which had not been paying royalties to the group. Philips called the judge’s ruling “erroneous” and said “there are valid and persuasive legal arguments” to reverse it. “Numerous patent license programs of the type in this ITC case, in which one or more companies offer a license under a collection of patents that are complimentary and necessarily used in the manufacture of a product, have been previously reviewed and approved by the Anti-Trust Division of the U.S. Justice Department as being pro-competitive,” Philips said. The ITC is scheduled to resolve the case in Feb.
Among the issues with which federal spectrum users are grappling as part of an interagency task force is whether there should be some form of Executive Branch oversight when differences arise on thorny policy issues, acting NTIA Dir. Michael Gallagher said Wed. President Bush in June created a task force to recommend how to stimulate more efficient spectrum use by federal customers. The next step the Bush directive set, which involves private sector input, will begin shortly and use the FCC’s Spectrum Policy Task Force report as a starting point, Gallagher told us.