The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has issued a final rule, effective February 14, 2005, to exempt persons (e.g. producers, importers, exporters, processors, handlers, first handlers, feeders, seed stock producers, etc.) from paying assessments for 100% organic products under any research and promotion program administered by AMS, if the criteria of the final rule are met.
Foreign telecom companies strongly disputed the allegations CompTel/Ascent, ECTA and others filed in comments (CD Dec 27 p4) with the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) last month. They said the comments of the 2 groups representing competitive industry in the U.S. and Europe were identical and in many ways repeated their year- earlier comments. Some companies also said that many statements in the comments were incorrect. The comments came as part of USTR’s annual review of the operation and effectiveness of all U.S. trade agreements on telecom products and services.
TiVo co-founder Michael Ramsay plans to resign as CEO and a search for a successor is underway, the company said Wed. Ramsay, who has been with the company since helping found it in 1997, will remain chmn., it said. Ramsay said in a statement that the timing of the move is “right for me, personally and professionally, to bring an outstanding CEO to lead the company so I can focus on future strategy.” Ramsay later sought to quiet market rumors that his resignation was tied to plans to sell the company. “The company is not for sale,” Ramsay told Reuters. “The change in management has nothing to do with the possible sale of the company.” At CES last week, TiVo announced an alliance with Microsoft and unveiled plans for introducing a CableCARD-equipped HD DVR by early 2006. TiVo demonstrated a prototype of the DVR at CES that featured a 250 GB hard drive and 2 tuners. But at the same time, DirecTV, a key TiVo customer, showed a new receiver featuring the DVR platform of affiliate NDS that’s expected to ship later this year. TiVo also has failed to land an agreement with an MSO, which have introduced Motorola and Scientific-Atlanta set-top boxes with DVRs. TiVo’s stock had fallen 27% since Jan. 4 and closed Wed. up 3 cents at $4.23.
The wireless industry has a big job ahead making an effective transition from the voice world to taking advantage of data and new services, wireless industry officials said late Fri. in a panel at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The wireless industry has a big job ahead making an effective transition from the voice world to taking advantage of data and new services, wireless industry officials said late Fri. in a panel at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has published its semi-annual regulatory agenda, which contains certain U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulatory rulemakings (rulemakings).
The Wall Street Journal reports that the duties China will levy on certain categories of apparel exports (coats, skirts, knit shirts, nonknit shirts, pajamas and underwear) seem unlikely to satisfy the governments in the U.S. or Europe intent on protecting their industries from an expected flood of Chinese-made garments. The article states that almost all categories will have duties of just 20 fen per item, with several persons quoted as stating that the tax (which Chinese companies can absorb and/or pass on to customers) is just a political or token measure, and will do little to slow exports. (WJS, dated 12/28/04, www.wsj.com )
LAS VEGAS -- LG and Toshiba are laying out plans at CES to join Samsung in marketing DLP-based rear projection TVs capable of 1080p. LG also plans a 1080p LCoS set. But other manufacturers, most notably Thomson and Sharp, said Wed. they will wait out the 1080p market. The manufacturers cited higher priorities, such as seeding the DTV market for wider audiences of consumers, and a dearth of compelling 1080p content.
PalmOne agreed with Philips to sublease 287,684-sq.-ft. in Sunnyvale, Cal., as PalmOne’s new hq. PalmOne, which has a 3-year lease for 153,274 sq. ft. in Milpitas, Cal., that expires this year, signed a 5-year, 11-month pact with Philips that starts July 1, according to an SEC filing. The agreement calls for a base rent of $21.85 million over the life of the sublease, plus insurance and maintenance costs, the documents state. The pact is subject to approval by building owner Crossroads Land Co. The space has been vacant since Philips dissolved its Sunnyvale-based components division in 2002. The division -- formerly responsible for LCoS, OLEDs and LCDs -- had moved to Sunnyvale from the Netherlands in 1999. Palm’s new location will bring it into the same city its former software division, PalmSource, has its hq. The company split into separate publicly traded firms in 2003. Meanwhile, Chip maker Broadcom, which is a supplier for EchoStar’s satellite receivers, will move its Irvine, Cal., hq to a new, larger location in a $183-million, 10-year lease with the Irvine Co., the companies said. Broadcom agreed to rent almost 700,000-sq.-ft. in 8 office buildings that Irvine will build the next 2 years near the U. of Cal.-Irvine. The new location involves an expansion of about 200,000-sq.-ft. and the addition of about 150 employees, a Broadcom spokesman said. The company has about 1,150 workers, about 60% of them engineers, at 2 Irvine campuses now. Broadcom had less than 500 employees in 2000.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a press release stating that CBP employs approximately 1,400 agriculture specialists (former inspectors of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service). According to the press release, in FY2004, CBP agriculture specialists intercepted more than 1.5 million prohibited items at U.S. ports of entries, including international airports, land borders, and international mail facilities, inspecting both commercial cargo and passenger/pedestrians. (Press release available at