June 2013

Padden: Coalition Now Comprises 70 Station Members

According to Executive Director Preston Padden, the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition has swelled to 70 stations, mostly in the larger markets where the Federal Communications Commission is most in need of spectrum to reclaim for wireless through incentive auctions. The stations are ones that are at least considering giving up spectrum for auction. Padden said he remains bullish on prospects for a successful auction by the end of 2014.

Video Regulation “Certainty,” IP Transition, Net Neutrality Top Lobbyists’ FCC Wish List

Beyond the wishful thinking title “If I Were the FCC Chairman…,” Tuesday’s Free State Foundation seminar provided a prescient checklist of what major telecom organizations are expecting Tom Wheeler, the nominee for that job, to put atop his To Do list.

Predictably, the lobbyists on the panel – from Time Warner Cable, Verizon and Public Knowledge – prioritized their own objectives, although there was overlap (and differing viewpoints) on topics such as the Internet Protocol (IP) transition, spectrum policy and data caps. There was also a fascinating call for the in-coming FCC chairman “to bring in engineers and economists.” Deborah Taylor Tate, a former FCC Commissioner and now an FSF Distinguished Adjunct Senior Follow, in wrap-up remarks after the panelists spoke, jokingly asked “Who in the world needs another lawyer at the FCC?” It was a notable conclusion since Wheeler is not an attorney.

Gigi Sohn, president and CEO of the advocacy group Public Knowledge, put the IP transition atop her list, insisting that “interconnection between networks must be in place as soon as IP is in place.” She also cited data caps, consumer protection and spectrum caps as her top objectives. Sohn agreed the “broken video system” must be fixed, starting with elimination of regulations and action on the All-Vid proceeding, which has not moved. To the surprise of many, Sohn said, in reference to the Circuit Court’s deliberations on Verizon’s challenge to ‘net neutrality rules that Title II “has to be the last resort.” “A narrow fix is better than going through the ‘nuclear option’ of Title II,” Sohn added. During a follow-up discussion session about video policies, Sohn also noted that there is currently “no clear alternative to the [cable] set-top box” and that the “cable card stinks.”

UK Government demands action on web safety

Google, BT and a clutch of other web giants and Internet service providers have been put on notice - the UK government wants action on sorting out the problem of harmful content on the Internet.

The Culture Secretary Maria Miller has summoned them to a meeting on 17 June where they will be expected to come up with plans to do more to stop access to material such as child abuse images or material designed to promote terrorism. In her letter to the companies, the culture secretary says there is widespread public concern.

Venezuela Frees US Filmmaker

Venezuela freed a US filmmaker it had accused of plotting against the government as top officials from both countries agreed to work to improve strained relations and restore full diplomatic ties.

Timothy Tracy, a U.S. documentary filmmaker, was released from a Venezuelan prison and kicked out of the country, local officials said, more than a month after he was arrested on charges he was a U.S. spy. His lawyer and family have denied those charges. "The gringo, Timothy Tracy, caught spying in our country, has been expelled from national territory," Interior Minister Miguel Rodríguez wrote in a message on his Twitter account confirmed by his spokesman. U.S. and Venezuelan officials said Tracy's liberation helped set a warmer tone for a meeting June 5 between Secretary of State John Kerry and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elías Jaua in Antigua, Guatemala, where both men were attending an Organization of American States conference.

Administration defends collecting phone records

The Obama Administration defended the National Security Agency's need to collect telephone records of U.S. citizens, calling such information "a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats."

While defending the practice, a senior administration official did not confirm a newspaper report that the NSA has been collecting the telephone records of millions of U.S. customers of Verizon under a top secret court order. The administration official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to publicly discuss classified matters. Verizon spokesman Ed McFadden said the company had no comment. The NSA had no immediate comment.

NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

The National Security Agency (NSA) is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America's largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April.

The order requires Verizon on an "ongoing, daily basis" to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries. The document shows for the first time that under the Obama Administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing. The secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) granted the order to the FBI on April 25, giving the government unlimited authority to obtain the data for a specified three-month period ending on July 19. Under the terms of the blanket order, the numbers of both parties on a call are handed over, as is location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls. The contents of the conversation itself are not covered.

Apple Says Differences in Publisher Deals Belie E-Book Conspiracy Charges

Central to the U.S. Department of Justice’s e-book price fixing case against Apple are the Most Favored Nation (MFN) agreements the company struck with publishers that ensured it would always be able to sell e-books at least as cheaply as rival retailers. The government contends that Apple’s MFN agreements were a crucial part of the company’s conspiracy to raise e-book prices and reap the benefits.

But in vetting that argument, it failed to answer a key question about those arrangements prior to trial. Specifically, were they the same for each publisher or were they different? If, as the DOJ argues, Apple was facilitating collusion among a cabal of publishers, you’d think that MFN agreement terms would be identical across the cabal with all participants guaranteed the same terms. But they weren’t. Turns out, Apple negotiated different MFNs with each publisher. And in court, Apple’s lead counsel, Orin Snyder, repeatedly pointed that out. While the core price-matching provision was present in each of the five publisher agreements, guaranteeing Apple the ability to compete at the lowest price, the MFNs themselves were materially different.

Samsung May Have Passed Apple in U.S. — for Now

Samsung Electronics may have surpassed Apple to become the top smartphone maker in the United States in May, according to an analyst’s report.

Sales of Samsung’s new flagship phone, the Galaxy S4, combined with its bigger-screen Galaxy Note II and the older Galaxy S III, lifted Samsung’s sales above Apple’s last month, the report said.

Canaccord Genuity, an investment research firm, said it surveyed the retail stores of carriers including AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA and Sprint. The Galaxy S4 was the top-selling phone for Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint last month. But at AT&T, the Galaxy S4 was the second best-selling phone after the iPhone 5, the report said.

Make Patent Trolls Pay in Court

[Commentary] From an early age we are taught the importance of fighting fairly. But as the vast number of frivolous patent lawsuits have shown, too many people are rewarded for doing just the opposite.

The onslaught of litigation brought by “patent trolls” — who typically buy up a slew of patents, then sue anyone and everyone who might be using or selling the claimed inventions — has slowed the development of new products, increased costs for businesses and consumers, and clogged our judicial system. Their business plan is simple: trolls (intellectual-property lawyers use less evocative terms like “non-practicing entities” and “patent-assertion entities”) make money by threatening companies with expensive lawsuits and then using that cudgel, rather than the merits of a case, to extract a financial settlement. In the apt summary of President Obama, who on Tuesday announced a plan to stave off frivolous patent litigation, trolls just want to “hijack somebody else’s idea and see if they can extort some money.”

How bad is Samsung patent victory for Apple?

News that a U.S. trade agency decided to ban imports of Apple's iPhone 4 and versions of the iPad 2 came as the latest surprising twist in the company's international and epic patent legal battle with rival Samsung.

The companies are suing and counter-suing each other in so many courts in so many countries that the impact of any given ruling can be hard to fathom. Throw in appeals to agencies like the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, which issued the finding against Apple this week, and it all gets more tangled. That leaves us to ask: How important is this latest ruling? Apple, not surprisingly, says no big deal. However, Samsung, which lost a big patent verdict to Apple in U.S. federal court last year, was still crowing a bit. "We believe the ITC’s Final Determination has confirmed Apple’s history of free-riding on Samsung’s technological innovations. Our decades of research and development in mobile technologies will continue, and we will continue to offer innovative products to consumers in the United States," the company said. The problem is that "Final Determination" may or may not be final.

Benton

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