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.
Ion and another broadcaster are planning an additional single-frequency network (SFN) for N.Y.C. and will demonstrate the technology at the upcoming NAB show. Also known as a distributed transmission system (DTS), an SFN uses a series of synchronized lower-power broadcast transmitters to replace or supplement a full-power tower. N.Y. broadcasters have been looking into building such a system since Sept. 11, when they lost their World Trade Center- housed facilities. The Metropolitan TV Alliance (MTVA) is proceeding with a govt.-financed SFN test in N.Y. (CD March 23 p5). Ion is working in parallel with Richland Towers, Rohde & Schwarz and an unnamed 2nd broadcaster to test a smaller system in downtown Manhattan, said Ion Pres.- Engineering David Glenn. “We decided we wanted to do on our own,” Glenn said: “It’s easier. We can move quicker if you don’t do it through committee.”
Broadcom and Qualcomm dropped several patent lawsuits against one another. The deal heads off jury trials in all 5 Qualcomm suits against Broadcom -- including high-profile claims of infringement and trade secret misappropriation in U.S. Dist. Court, San Diego -- and counterclaims by Broadcom. The settled suits involved 6 Broadcom patents and 4 Qualcomm holds. Meanwhile, Nokia sued in the Netherlands and Germany, seeking declarations that many Qualcomm patents no longer apply in the EU.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an ABI administrative message announcing that the interface between CBP's Automated Commercial System (ACS) and the FDA's Operational and Administrative System for Import Support (OASIS) was going to be down between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. on Monday, March 19, 2007, for scheduled maintenance. FDA states that during this downtime ACS, OASIS, and the Prior Notice System Interface (PNSI) will all be operational, but the interface downtime would prevent submitters who filed via ABI from receiving prior notice (PN) confirmation and would prevent CBP from auto-checking the PN confirmation for ABI filers.