The International Intellectual Property Alliance was one of several industry groups that indicated Thursday it would submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative pushing for China, India and Russia to remain on the office's mid-tier Special 301 priority watch list for copyright and other IP rights violations. USTR was to collect comments through midnight Thursday on its annual Special 301 review on the global status of IP rights enforcement. China, India and Russia have long occupied USTR's priority watch list, which included eight other countries when USTR released its 2016 report (see 1604270049).

The International Intellectual Property Alliance was one of several industry groups that indicated Thursday it would submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative pushing for China, India and Russia to remain on the office's mid-tier Special 301 priority watch list for copyright and other IP rights violations. USTR was to collect comments through midnight Thursday on its annual Special 301 review on the global status of IP rights enforcement. China, India and Russia have long occupied USTR's priority watch list, which included eight other countries when USTR released its 2016 report (see 1604270049).

CBP is seeking comments by April 10 on an existing information collection for bonds. CBP proposes (here) to extend the expiration date of this information collection with no change to the burden hours or the information collected.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is postponing from Feb. 28 to March 8 a public hearing of its Special 301 Subcommittee on foreign countries that “deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights” or deny fair market access to U.S. citizens who rely on intellectual property protection, USTR said (here) (see 1612270008). USTR plans to publish the National Trade Estimate, then the 2017 Special 301 Report, on or close to April 30.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, plans to introduce a bill that would make all executive branch trade actions, including tariff raises, subject to congressional approval, as part of his call for Congress to reclaim constitutional powers to lead U.S. trade policy, he wrote in an opinion column for Forbes (here). The yet-to-be-introduced Global Trade Accountability Act would help ensure that Congress would be involved in any decision that would increase trade barriers, Lee said. One example of a statute giving the executive branch “far too much power” to raise tariffs is Trade Act of 1974 Section 122, which allows the president to impose temporary import “surcharges” of up to 15 percent on any goods to deal with “large and serious” U.S. balance-of-payment deficits, Lee said.

Cellsite simulators (CS), or stingrays, as used by local law enforcement, likely violate the Communications Act, said Georgetown University Law School Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman in a Tuesday blog post. “Even though state and local authorities frequently use federal grants to purchase and deploy CS simulators, it would seem that these officials may not lawfully use them,” Schwartzman wrote in the Benton Foundation post. “Section 301 of the Communications Act prohibits the unauthorized use of any radio transmission device, including CS simulators. Section 301 does not apply to federal officials but since no FCC regulation allows operation of a CS simulator, its operation by state and local authorities (and, most certainly, any non-governmental user) [is] unlawful.” By all appearances, at least some CS simulators jam the signals of licensed carriers, he said: “There is no exception to this requirement for state and local government.”

Cellsite simulators (CS), or stingrays, as used by local law enforcement, likely violate the Communications Act, said Georgetown University Law School Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman in a Tuesday blog post. “Even though state and local authorities frequently use federal grants to purchase and deploy CS simulators, it would seem that these officials may not lawfully use them,” Schwartzman wrote in the Benton Foundation post. “Section 301 of the Communications Act prohibits the unauthorized use of any radio transmission device, including CS simulators. Section 301 does not apply to federal officials but since no FCC regulation allows operation of a CS simulator, its operation by state and local authorities (and, most certainly, any non-governmental user) [is] unlawful.” By all appearances, at least some CS simulators jam the signals of licensed carriers, he said: “There is no exception to this requirement for state and local government.”

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is requesting written submissions from the public by Feb. 9 concerning foreign countries that “deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights” or deny fair market access to U.S. citizens who rely on intellectual property protection, USTR said (here). In advance of a Feb. 28 public hearing to be hosted by the interagency Special 301 Subcommittee, USTR is asking that the public identify actions that might implicate a particular trading partner as a priority foreign country. Foreign governments will have until Feb. 23 to submit written comments, notices of intent to testify at the hearing, and any prepared hearing statements. USTR plans to publish the National Trade Estimate, then the 2017 Special 301 Report, on or close to April 30.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is issuing a list of 85 headings and subheadings that could be subject to retaliatory tariffs being considered against the EU, as industry representatives have claimed that the EU is discriminating against U.S. beef exports, USTR said (here). The Obama administration is considering the tariffs (see 1612220023) after members of the U.S. beef industry filed a petition to USTR for their reinstatement, the agency said.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released the results Dec. 21 of its 2016 Special 301 out-of-cycle review on IP infringement, which redesignated major Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba and its Taobao online shopping arm to its blacklist. The annual report included Alibaba/Taobao among 21 online markets, along with ExtraTorrent, The Pirate Bay, Putlocker and other websites that have repeatedly appeared in the USTR rankings. The report also included 19 physical markets engaged in selling counterfeit copyrighted materials, including six markets in China.