The White House endorsed HR-3309 Tuesday, telling the House Rules Committee in a statement it believes the bill “builds on the important patent reforms contained in the America Invents Act ... and successfully implemented by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The bill would improve incentives for future innovation while protecting the overall integrity of the patent system” (http://1.usa.gov/1avFvNn). The House Rules Committee at our deadline was considering rules for floor activity on HR-3309, which is to come to the floor Thursday. The White House said HR-3309 includes many of the legislative recommendations it made in early June to remedy what it called abusive patent litigation (CD June 5 p12), but expressed concerns about the bill’s provisions on post-issuance review proceedings, including provisions on patent claim construction. House Intellectual Property Subcommittee ranking member Mel Watt, D-N.C., told House Rules that the White House letter was not a total endorsement of the bill.
The White House endorsed HR-3309 Tuesday, telling the House Rules Committee in a statement it believes the bill “builds on the important patent reforms contained in the America Invents Act ... and successfully implemented by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The bill would improve incentives for future innovation while protecting the overall integrity of the patent system” (http://1.usa.gov/1avFvNn). The House Rules Committee at our deadline was considering rules for floor activity on HR-3309, which is to come to the floor Thursday. The White House said HR-3309 includes many of the legislative recommendations it made in early June to remedy what it called abusive patent litigation (WID June 5 p1), but expressed concerns about the bill’s provisions on post-issuance review proceedings, including provisions on patent claim construction. House Intellectual Property Subcommittee ranking member Mel Watt, D-N.C., told House Rules that the White House letter was not a total endorsement of the bill.
The federal government should farm out management of its spectrum to the private sector “if the goal of spectrum use and management is economic efficiency,” said the Phoenix Center in a policy paper released Monday. It said the FCC National Broadband Plan’s proposal to increase the amount of spectrum available for commercial use by 300 MHz by 2015 “identified some arguably low-hanging fruit.” To achieve that goal will require reallocation of some of the 1,687 MHz of “beachfront” spectrum the government owns between 225 MHz and 3.7 GHz, said the Phoenix Center report.
ICANN’s formation of a panel on the future of global Internet cooperation in mid-November came in the midst of an increasingly important debate over the future of multistakeholder Internet governance, said stakeholders in interviews last week. “The future of Internet freedom really is at a crossroads,” said former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, a member of the new panel. Although ICANN was a catalyst for the group’s formation, the group is independent of ICANN (WID Nov 19 p9).
The Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)’s formation of a panel on the future of global Internet cooperation in mid-November came in the midst of an increasingly important debate over the future of multistakeholder Internet governance, said stakeholders in interviews last week. “The future of Internet freedom really is at a crossroads,” said former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, a member of the new panel. Although ICANN was a catalyst for the group’s formation, the group is independent of ICANN (CD Nov 19 p17).
Capitol Hill and the wireless industry have been hailing NTIA’s announcement Monday that the Department of Defense and NAB reached a deal that will allow DOD to move forward with its plan to largely vacate the 1755-1780 MHz band and move operations to the 2025-2110 MHz band. The deal, in which DOD agreed to work around broadcasters’ needs on the 2025 MHz band, would allow the FCC to eventually auction commercial access to the 1755 MHz band (CD Nov 26 p1). Industry stakeholders told us they see the DOD-NAB deal as a sign that federal agencies and industry are becoming more invested in spectrum sharing -- and the agreement could have implications for spectrum beyond the 1755 MHz band.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said Tuesday he was considering a bill that would stop an FCC NPRM that would propose to give airlines leeway to allow in-flight use of cellphones for text, data and voice. (See separate report below in this issue.) The backlash from Congress, some in the airline industry and members of the public began last week when the FCC said it would vote on the NPRM at its Dec. 12 meeting. Chairman Tom Wheeler has since said the NPRM would allow further in-flight cellphone use but wouldn’t mandate it, leaving the decision with the airlines (CD Nov 25 p1). Former FCC officials and communications industry groups tell us they believe the agency is justified in pursuing a possible rule change given recent technological advances -- and that Wheeler and the FCC shouldn’t remove the NPRM from its agenda because of recent public criticism. They also say Wheeler won’t likely back down.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said Tuesday he was considering a bill that would stop an FCC NPRM that would propose to give airlines leeway to allow in-flight use of cellphones for text, data and voice. (See separate report below in this issue.) The backlash from Congress, some in the airline industry and members of the public began last week when the FCC said it would vote on the NPRM at its Dec. 12 meeting. Chairman Tom Wheeler has since said the NPRM would allow further in-flight cellphone use but wouldn’t mandate it, leaving the decision with the airlines (WID Nov 25 p5). Former FCC officials and communications industry groups tell us they believe the agency is justified in pursuing a possible rule change given recent technological advances -- and that Wheeler and the FCC shouldn’t remove the NPRM from its agenda because of recent public criticism. They also say Wheeler won’t likely back down.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said Tuesday he was considering a bill that would stop a proposed FCC rulemaking notice (NPRM) that would give airlines leeway to allow in-flight use of cellphones for text, data and voice. (See separate report in this issue.)
NTIA said in a letter to the FCC Monday it “fully supports” the Department of Defense’s sharing proposal to partially vacate the 1755-1780 MHz band, and it laid out a specific plan to change allocations in the 2025-2110 MHz band to make the plan work. NTIA’s plan reflects an agreement between DOD and NAB in which DOD agreed to work around broadcaster needs, an NTIA official said during a background briefing with reporters. DOD agreed in July to move some of its operations to the 2025 MHz band in order to free up the 1755 MHz band for commercial use, but discussions between the department and NAB broke down because CTIA wanted to reallocate 15 MHz of the 2025 MHz band to its members. Talks later resumed after CTIA said it would not push for reallocation on the 2025 MHz band (CD Oct 30 p2). The agreement is an outgrowth of those renewed negotiations, the NTIA official said.