The Journal of Commerce Online reports that Senator Patty Murray, who devised Operational Safe Commerce (OSC), is stressing the importance of keeping OSC alive and using its results to form a national and international standard for supply chain and cargo container security. According to the article, OSC has managed to get federal funds in three straight budget cycles, but its survival as a separate program remains unclear once all the tests are complete and the final reports and recommendations are submitted later this year. (JoC Online, dated 09/03/04, www.joc.com.)
The Journal of Commerce Online reports that a decision by union longshoremen not to work on Labor Day could cause a labor shortage at the port of Los Angeles - Long Beach, throwing these ports into crisis mode due to record volumes of vessels in the port complex. The article notes that these ports have been struggling with port congestion due largely to delays in the intermodal rail network and a shortage of dockworkers. Port employers had asked the union to be available to work on Labor Day. (Joc Online, dated 09/01/04, www.joc.com )
A federal appeals court upheld a lower court decision holding P2P providers Grokster and Morpheus not liable for copyright infringement by their users. The court suggested content owners seek to alter copyright law “in profound ways with unknown ultimate consequences.” The dist. court ruling against MGM and other studios and record labels had already prompted several senators to fast-track legislation aimed at expressly holding P2P sites liable for “inducing” infringement. We're told content owners can ask for reconsideration of the 3-judge ruling, en banc deliberation by the entire 9th Circuit or review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
A federal appeals court upheld a lower court decision holding P2P providers Grokster and Morpheus not liable for copyright infringement by their users. The court suggested content owners seek to alter copyright law “in profound ways with unknown ultimate consequences.” The dist. court ruling against MGM and other studios and record labels had already prompted several senators to fast-track legislation aimed at expressly holding P2P sites liable for “inducing” infringement. We're told content owners can ask for reconsideration of the 3-judge ruling, en banc deliberation by the entire 9th Circuit or review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
American Shipper reports that to cover the extra risk associated with the deferred payment of customs duties under the new periodic payment system, surety companies are raising the premiums on performance bonds used by importers and their brokers to guarantee duties will be paid to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The article notes one surety's view that for a typical importer that imports on a fairly regular schedule, they are looking at five times the credit risk for the same series of transactions. (American Shipper, August 2004)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an ABI administrative message stating that FDA has removed the affirmation of compliance code 'FSE' (Prior Notice (PN) Shipper Registration Exemption) as an affirmation of compliance since it is not used in filing PN.
A federal appeals court said lawsuits challenging the amounts of billed federal universal service surcharges belong in the federal courts, not state. The 4th U.S. Appeals Court, Richmond, was ruling on a N.C. class-action lawsuit challenging the 53-cent monthly universal service surcharge BellSouth billed to its N.C. customers. The suit (Case 03- 1316) claimed BellSouth violated state fair-trade laws by failing to disclose how it calculated its universal service surcharge and was charging customers an amount well above what it actually had to contribute to the fund. A lower federal court ruled that the suit should be heard in the N.C. state courts. BellSouth appealed, and the 4th Circuit agreed the remand to the state court was incorrect because the universal service charge is imposed under federal law, so actions seeking to change the charge present a federal case. The court went on to dismiss the lawsuit against BellSouth, saying the plaintiffs want the court to determine a reasonable rate for the universal service charge, something barred by the filed-rate doctrine. That doctrine says courts can’t substitute for regulators and prescribe rates.
On July 22, both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed H.R. 4842, the "U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Implementation Act," clearing the measure for the President.
The Wis. PSC ordered SBC and Sage Telecom to file their entire negotiated commercial agreement by Aug. 6. The PSC said the amendments the carriers filed to current interconnection agreements referenced a negotiated Local Wholesale Complete (LWC) agreement. The PSC said it needed to see everything associated with the filed amendments to determine whether to approve them. The PSC rejected the SBC/Sage arguments that the LWC addressed matters outside state jurisdiction and contained sensitive trade secrets that would harm their interests if made public. The PSC opened a new docket (Case 05-TI-1054) to review the agreement once filed. Intervenors in that case must register by Aug. 6.
P2P leaders are complaining they weren’t invited to testify on a Senate bill that could hold P2P software providers liable for copyright infringement by the software’s users and, critics say, also could undermine the Sony Betamax fair-use decision. The Senate Judiciary Committee last Thurs. held a hearing on S- 2560, a bill by committee Chmn. Hatch (R-Utah) and ranking Democrat Leahy (Vt.); the P2P industry had pressed vocally for a hearing ever since the bill was introduced. Despite the lack of a P2P witness, only one of the 5 witnesses endorsed the bill as written.