Public Knowledge - Blogging, Events, and Action Alerts

FCC Reform Moves Forward At Thursday's Meeting

Harold Feld — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:29:18 -0500

Assuming the Federal Government opens for business on Thursday (and I am not taking bets), we can expect to see Genachowski taking another substantial step to make good on his pledge to reform how the FCC does business. The agenda for the Commission’s open meeting for Thursday, February 11 lists three items. Two have to do with changing FCC rules to make the agency more open and more streamlined, the third has to do with reforming the E-Rate Program under which schools get money to subsidize broadband.

We can expect that to the extent the press cover this, the focus will go to the E-Rate story. At least people understand about broadband in schools. But for long term difference that matters, the FCC process stories — while phenomenally boring and unsexy — have much broader impact.

The first item is a general “housekeeping” item.

Tell USTR balanced copyright is important

Rashmi Rangnath — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:41:18 -0500

A balanced copyright regime that respects the rights of creators and users is vital for innovation and advancement of learning. The carefully balanced regime that has existed in the U.S. for the past 200 years has allowed libraries to lend books, teachers to educate their students, and innovators to bring products such as the VCR, the TiVO, and the Sling Box to the market. Sadly, agreements such as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and several Free Trade Agreements show that the U.S. has given short shrift to this balance in pursuit of copyright policy abroad. Another process that shapes intellectual property (IP) policy abroad, called the Special 301, is currently underway in the Office of the United States Trade Representative (U.S.T.R.).

Under the Special 301 process the U.S.T.R. seeks input from U.S. copyright, trademark, and patent owners about whether policies and practices in foreign countries deny them adequate IP protection.

DOJ on Amended Google Books Settlement: Better, but Still Opposed

Jef Pearlman — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:05:13 -0500

Sherwin posted last week about the amended Google Books settlement and our amicus brief expressing our opposition to the settlement as written and our concern that it would lead to a monopoly on providing access to orphan works. The DOJ’s Antitrust Divison has once again weighed in on the settlment (their previous brief is here, with our analysis here). Their conclusions appear to be largely the same as ours: “Although the United States believes the parties have approached this effort in good faith and the [Amended Settlement Agreement (ASA)] is more circumscribed in its sweep than the original Proposed Settlement, the ASA suffers from the same core problem as the original agreement: it is an attempt to use the class action mechanism to implement forward-looking business arrangements that go far beyond the dispute before the Court in this litigation.”

Law Seminars International's Fifteenth Annual Conference on Telecommunications Law

Alex Curtis — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:02:18 -0500

April 15, 2010 (All day) - April 16, 2010 (All day)

Harold Feld will be speaking at Law Seminars International’s Fifteenth Annual Conference on Telecommunications Law on a panel entitled “Competition in Telecommunications: Net Neutrality.” Details include:

Moving beyond an abstract policy debate: Perspectives on the FCC’s new net neutrality policy, implementation issues, and Comcast v. FCC re the FCC’s authority to enforce net neutrality rules

Other Panelist: David M. Don, Esq., Senior Director, Public Policy Comcast Corporation / Washington, DC

Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel - Seattle Downtown in Seattle, WA

American University Washington College of Law Administrative Law Review Symposium

Alex Curtis — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:55:34 -0500

February 16, 2010 (All day)

Harold Feld will be speaking on a panel at the American University Washington College of Law Administrative Law Review Symposium on the topic of Regulatory Change Under the Obama Administration.

Since taking office in January 2009, President Barack Obama has advanced transformative regulatory reforms, some successful and some still stalled. This event will focus on the role administrative law has played in shaping the Obama Administration’s ambitious first year agenda, beginning with the revocation of Executive Order 13,422 on January 30, 2009.

Pike and Fischer Broadband Policy Summit

Alex Curtis — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:45:20 -0500

June 10, 2010 (All day) - June 11, 2010 (All day)

Gigi Sohn will be speaking at the Pike and Fischer Broadband Policy Summit on a panel on Net Neutrality. Other notables:

Moderator: Nancy J. Victory, Partner, Wiley Rein LLP

After years of verbal sparring and heated debates about applicable principles, the FCC has now proposed specific net neutrality regulations. But are these rules really necessary? And, if they are, who stands to gain or lose by their application? How will activity in Congress and the courts possibly affect the Commission’s rulemaking efforts?

Panelists:

Kathleen M. Grillo, Senior Vice President of Federal Regulatory Affairs, Verizon
Paul Misener, Vice President for Global Public Policy, Amazon.com
Gigi Sohn, President & Co-Founder, Public Knowledge
Lawrence J.

2010 Intellectual Property Institute

Alex Curtis — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:39:31 -0500

March 23, 2010 (All day)

Gigi Sohn will be speaking at the 2010 Intellectual Property Institute. Other notables:

Judge Leval Keynotes Morning; Commissioner Rosch Headlines Lunch; Updates by Lemley, McCarthy, Nimmer Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Leval will open the 2010 Institute with a keynote presentation. The morning will continue with an in-depth review of current developments in copyright, trademark and patent law with the leading academics in the field: Professors Lemley, J. Thomas McCarthy and Nimmer. Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch of the Federal Trade Commission will keynote the Institute’s luncheon presentation, discussing potential antitrust liability for single firm behavior in the IP context. The afternoon will feature three concurrent tracks of programming focused on copyright, patent and trademark issues.

Spectrum Management Conference

Alex Curtis — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:32:16 -0500

March 8, 2010 (All day)

Gigi Sohn will be speaking at The Sixth Annual Comprehensive Conference on Spectrum Management, “The Latest Policy Issues Before Congress And The FCC, Including Broadband Report Update” on a panel entitled: “The Rebirth of Antitrust Enforcement, Overview of DOJ and FTC inquiries in the telecom sector.” Also on the panel:

Donald J. Russell, Esq., Moderator
Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck, Untereiner & Sauber LLP / Washington, DC
Jonathan B. Baker, Ph.D., Esq., Chief Economist FCC / Washington, DC
Michael F. Altschul, Esq., Senior Vice President and General Counsel CTIA - The Wireless Association / Washington, DC

Location: The Walter E. Washington Convention Center at 801 Mount Vernon Place NW in Washington, DC 20001.

Free Culture X Conference

Alex Curtis — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:17:11 -0500

February 13, 2010 - 8:00am - 5:15pm

Free Culture X, a conference of Students for Free Culture, will be held February 13th at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Keynote addresses will be given by Harvard Berkman Center co-founder Jonathan Zittrain, PK President and cofounder Gigi Sohn, and the director of American University’s Center for Social Media, Pat Aufderheide.

Copyright Threats End UCLA Library’s Online Video System

Michael Weinberg — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:39:40 -0500

We are always on the lookout for stories about how threats of copyright lawsuits snuff out interesting uses of the Internet. Along those lines, a recent story in UCLA’s Daily Bruin titled “UCLA Professors Banned from Posting Videos Online” caught our eye. After all, there are at least two sections of copyright law (Fair Use and Section 110(2)) that could be used to protect professors who post videos for educational purposes. However, in the face of a “litigation threat” from the Association for Information Media and Equipment (AIME), UCLA decided to prohibit professors from posting videos to their course web sites.