China has shut down 76 websites in a 4-month operation against online piracy, National Copyright Administration Deputy Dir. Yan Xiaohong said Wed., Reuters reported. Fourteen of the 172 cases investigated were prompted by requests from non-Chinese companies and groups, including the MPAA, which said a Beijing company was offering American movies like The Pacifier for unauthorized download, AFP reported. That company was filed about $11,100, Yan said. “What we've investigated may be a very small portion of the problem,” but China “will have better cooperation and exchanges with international organizations so as to enhance our capability to better fight Internet piracy,” Yan said. Both online and hard piracy are common in China because of high prices for authorized copies and govt. restrictions on cultural imports, with several Western movies not officially available. China is also weighing whether to sign 2 international treaties that take aim at online piracy, and has come under pressure to do so by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), which issued a report on U.S.-China trade relations this week. The report called intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement “one of China’s greatest shortcomings.” China “still plays a modest role relative to its economic and political heft” in international “trade- enhancing” institutions like the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and isn’t even part of WIPO’s Internet treaties, the report said. It has also participated only “on a limited basis” in the International Telecom Union. But the report said headway was being made from U.S. pressure, with China agreeing to increase IPR prosecutions and fight hard and online piracy of movies, audio products and software. USTR Rob Portman briefly addressed China and the Internet in a Tues. news conference on the report. He said U.S. comparative advantage over China “includes high technology, it includes some of these Internet services” and “knowledge- based exports,” and the U.S. is “disproportionately impacted” by piracy because of its world primacy in software exports and entertainment products. He declined to comment on Hill proposals to prevent U.S. companies from locating servers on Chinese soil, saying he hadn’t seen them yet.
In reply comments to the Copyright Office in its anticircumvention-exemption rulemaking, content associations sparred with fair-use groups over the market effect of commonly available software and hardware for ripping, burning and sharing movies, music and TV shows. They also argued over whether security issues of copy-protection technologies like the DRM on some Sony BMG CDs make necessary an exemption for security researchers. The Copyright Office is considering adding situations in which “access control technologies,” such as Content Scrambling System (CSS) on DVDs, can be legally bypassed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
In reply comments to the Copyright Office in its anticircumvention-exemption rulemaking, content associations sparred with fair-use groups over the market effect of commonly available software and hardware for ripping, burning and sharing movies, music and TV shows. They also argued over whether security issues of copy-protection technologies like the DRM on some Sony BMG CDs make necessary an exemption for security researchers. The Copyright Office is considering adding situations in which “access control technologies,” such as Content Scrambling System (CSS) on DVDs, can be legally bypassed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an administrative message announcing that port 2770, DHL (Los Angeles), has been removed from the list of approved remote location filing (RLF) ports. RLF filers may transmit entries to Port 2704 or 2720. (Adm: 06-0200, dated 02/08/06, available at http://www.brokerpower.com/cgi-bin/adminsearch/admmsg.view.pl?article=2006/2006-0200.ADM)
Pa. Attorney Gen. Tom Corbett said nearly $6,500 will be returned to more than 12 consumers bilked by a Northampton woman who offered Xbox consoles, DVD camcorders and other products on eBay and other auction sites. The AG’s Bureau of Consumer Protection went after Sharon Hunsicker over claims she accepted payment for merchandise but didn’t deliver as promised. The move keeps Hunsicker from trading on eBay and similar sites, and requires her to pay more than $7,400 in restitution and fines. Hunsicker must give refunds to buyers filing legitimate complaints before April 28, Corbett said. According to investigators, Hunsicker advertised on eBay and other sites through 2005. Consumers typically placed orders and paid by checks, which Hunsicker cashed without delivering the goods, dodging complaints from around the world with a flurry of excuses. “Shoppers should be very careful who they do business with online,” Corbett said: “Not everyone who posts an ad selling goods or services is legitimate. These unscrupulous sellers are sometimes impossible to track down given the global reach of the Internet.” Though barred from doing business on eBay during the investigation, Hunsicker continued to present herself publicly as an eBay seller, said Corbett, defining such fraud as “spoofing,” in which access to computers is gained by hijacking a trusted host’s IP address, then modifying headers so information appears to be coming from that host. In most cases, the host is unaware that the IP address is being used without authorization.
NTIA, which Congress assigned to administer the digital- to-analogue box voucher program -- a consumer program unprecedented for the agency -- will spend the first dollars targeted to the programs under the Bush Administration budget for fiscal year 2007, which was released Mon. But whether the NTIA is up to running a $100 million voucher program -- the amount allocated by the bill for administrative costs -- is but one of the concerns facing retailers at the front lines of a DTV converter box giveaway.
CBP has posted a summary of changes to the Automated Export System Trade Interface Requirements (AESTIR) on its Web site, indicating that Version 1.0 was changed or features were added or deleted on February 1, 2006 as follows:
The Washington File reports that the U.S. and South Korea will open negotiations on a comprehensive bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) to remove tariff and nontariff barriers and expand trade between the countries. The talks are expected to begin in or around May 2006 after a consultation period. (Washington File Pub 02/03/06, available at http://usinfo.state.gov/usinfo/Archive/2006/Feb/02-508129.html)
On February 1, 2006, the House of Representatives passed the Senate-amended conference version of S. 1932, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.
The Washington File reports that a preliminary decision by a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel on the U.S. challenge of the European Union (EU) moratorium on approvals for crops derived from biotechnology is expected around February 1st. According to the Washington File, Argentina and Canada also joined the U.S. in challenging the EU moratorium. (Washington File Pub 01/26/06, available at http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=January&x=20060126123445AKllennoCcM0.5482599&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html.)