On July 1, 2010, Representative Lofgren (D) and 9 co-sponsors1 introduced H.R. 5694, the One Global Internet Act of 2010, to combat trade barriers that threaten the maintenance of a single, open, global Internet, mandate unique technology standards as a condition of market access and related measures; and to promote the free flow of information.
The National Marine Fisheries Service is reopening the comment period on its advance notice of proposed rulemaking on developing procedures for evaluating commercial imports of fish and fish products with respect to marine mammal bycatch to implement provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA1).
Memory supplier Micron Technology is seeing several promising trends and said Q3 results improved from a year earlier. But shares fell 13 percent Tuesday and closed at $8.67 after it offered in an earnings call a conservative forecast for DRAM bit growth.
Micron Technology swung to a $939 million profit, or 92 cents per share, from a $301 million loss, 37 cents, in Q3 a year ago, it said Monday. Revenue jumped to $2.29 billion from $1.11 billion. The results included $488 million in purchase accounting gains related to its acquisition of Swiss memory supplier Numonyx, along with $64 million in selling, general and administrative expenses related to accruals for estimated settlements in an antitrust case and other matters, and a $41 million benefit to cost of goods sold for price adjustments from suppliers of NAND products, Micron said. The Numonyx purchase was completed in Q3. Revenue from sales of DRAM products increased 10 percent in its memory business versus Q2 this year thanks to a 9 percent increase in average selling prices and “a slight increase in unit sales volume,” it said. Revenue from sales of NAND Flash products was about 16 percent greater than Q2 “due to a 21 percent increase in unit sales volume, partially offset by a 4 percent decrease in average selling prices,” it said. Its gross margin on sales of memory products improved from 35 percent in Q2 to 40 percent, mainly thanks to “an overall increase in average selling prices and the benefit for price adjustments from suppliers of NAND products,” it said. An earnings call was scheduled after our deadline.
On June 23, 2010, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on “the U.S.-China Trade Relationship: Finding a New Path Forward.” Testifying at the hearing were U.S. Trade Representative Kirk and Commerce Secretary Locke.
A national strategy promising tougher enforcement of IP laws and protections hit the desks of President Barack Obama and Congress on Tuesday, receiving mixed reaction from private industry groups. U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) Victoria Espinel said in the report: “In order to continue to lead, succeed and prosper in the global economy, we must ensure the strong enforcement of American intellectual property rights.”
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued three related notices on infant walkers. The first, a final rule, establishes a new mandatory safety standard for infant walkers, and the second, another final rule, revokes CPSC’s current regulations on infant walkers.
On June 11, 2010, U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Revenue Division in Indianapolis posted a notice stating that it has started to process and store bond documents electronically.
The Food and Drug Administration has issued a final rule, effective June 11, 2010, which makes a technical amendment to its regulations to reflect changes in the contact information for the FDA Emergency Call Center. The phone number will change to 866-300-4374, and the fax number will change to 301-847-8544.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a final rule which establishes a mandatory safety standard for infant bath seats.