The public-facing portion of the FCC’s online public inspection file system for broadcast TV stations apparently was unavailable for part of the day on Wednesday. Although the outage was fairly brief — we first saw the error below late in the morning, and we could access the system again by mid-afternoon — it is a reminder that… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: March 2013
March 30, 2013, Deadline Nears for Online Captioning of Live and Near-Live Programming
Posted in Broadcasting & CableUnder the Internet closed captioning requirements established by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), after certain triggering deadlines, video programming shown on television with captions in the United States and distributed in full-length form over Internet Protocol (IP) must be provided with captions online. Beginning on March 30, 2013, the IP closed captioning requirements will apply… Continue Reading
Supreme Court Clarifies Broad Geographic Reach of Copyright’s First-Sale Doctrine
Posted in Intellectual PropertyOn Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., resolving a long-simmering debate by holding that copyright’s first-sale doctrine applies to copyrighted works lawfully made anywhere in the world. The upshot is that someone who buys an authorized, foreign-made copy (Kirtsaeng involved a foreign version of a textbook)… Continue Reading
India Upholds its First Compulsory Licence
Posted in Intellectual Propertyby Morag Peberdy and Christina Helden On 19 March 2013 the India’s Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) released its written judgment upholding the Controller of the Indian Patent Office’s decision to grant Natco Pharma Ltd a compulsory licence under Bayer A.G.’s patent for its anti-cancer drug Nexavar. Section 84(1)(a)–(c) of the Indian Patents Act 1970… Continue Reading
Cell Phone Unlocking Push Moves to Congress
Posted in Intellectual Property, TelecommunicationsHouse and Senate Judiciary Committee leaders joined the cell phone unlocking debate last week by introducing a pair of new bills. If enacted, the bills would overturn an October 2012 regulation issued by the Library of Congress, which effectively prohibits consumers from unlocking cell phones purchased after January 26, 2013 so that they may be… Continue Reading
FTC Releases New Guidance For Online Advertising Disclosures
Posted in Spectrum & MobileOn March 12, 2013, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released new guidance for online advertisers, providing specific tips and examples of how to make disclosures clear and conspicuous, and, therefore, not deceptive in the context of emerging technologies, space-constrained screens, and social media platforms. The guidelines—titled “.com Disclosures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital… Continue Reading
English Court Upholds a Copyright Sub-licence Despite the Termination of the Head Licence
Posted in Intellectual PropertyBy Morag Peberdy and Jacqueline Clover In a departure from the normal approach, the English High Court has found that in certain circumstances a copyright sub-licence may survive termination of the head licence. This was the Court’s holding in VLM Holdings Limited v Ravensworth Digital Services Limited [2013] EWHC 228 (Ch). Because of the specific… Continue Reading
SpectrumWatch: FCC Approves T-Mobile/MetroPCS Merger, Citing Competitive Benefits
Posted in Spectrum & MobileOn Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) approved the proposed merger of cellular service providers T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS. In its written opinion and order, the FCC’s Wireless Bureau concluded that the proposed merger would benefit competition in the wireless market by, among other things, providing the combined company with greater spectrum resources for its… Continue Reading
White House Calls for Legalization of Some Cell Phone Unlocking
Posted in Intellectual Property, TelecommunicationsThe Obama administration issued a statement on Monday declaring that consumers not bound by service agreements should be able to unlock their cellular devices for use with other network providers. In the official response to a petition on the We The People website, a senior White House advisor on the Internet, innovation and privacy agreed… Continue Reading
SHIELD Act Seeks to Shift Litigation Costs in Patent Suits Brought by Non-Practicing Entities
Posted in Intellectual PropertyA bill has been introduced in Congress that would permit prevailing defendants in patent infringement suits to recover litigation costs and attorneys’ fees. The Saving High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes (“SHIELD”) Act was introduced on February 27 by Congressmen Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). The bill would provide for the award of… Continue Reading