As part of his confirmation process, U.S. Trade Representative-nominee Ron Kirk submitted responses to numerous Senate Finance Committee questions for the record.
The CTIA filed a petition at the FCC asking it to reject CellAntenna’s request for special temporary authority to demonstrate cell jamming equipment at the Pine Prairie Correctional Center in Louisiana. APCO, meanwhile, sent FCC acting Chairman Michael Copps a letter warning that the use of cell jamming equipment also blocks calls to 911, so it has negative implications for public safety as well.
On March 11, 2009, House Ways and Means Committee Trade Subcommittee Chairman Levin discussed a variety of trade issues that are expected to be part of the Obama Administration's new trade policy, as well as issues that will be considered by the Trade Subcommittee.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has issued a proposed rule to implement the identification and certification procedures required by the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Actto address illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU1) fishing activities and bycatch2 of protected living marine resources (PLMRs).
The FCC is accepting applications for DTV stations to use distributed transmission systems to fill in their coverage areas, as the commissioners decided in November to allow, said a Media Bureau public notice Friday. DTS transmitters won’t be separately licensed to broadcasters, and stations must request FCC permission to build them, it said. The commission has received Office of Management and Budget approval for DTS paperwork and stations must file forms 301 and 340 electronically using the Consolidated Database System.
The FCC is accepting applications for DTV stations to use distributed transmission systems to fill in their coverage areas, as the commissioners decided in November to allow (CD Feb 10 p9), said a Media Bureau public notice Friday. DTS transmitters won’t be separately licensed to broadcasters, and stations must request FCC permission to build them, it said. The commission has received Office of Management and Budget approval for DTS paperwork and stations must file forms 301 and 340 electronically using the Consolidated Database System.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has posted a notice seeking comments and information on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA1) "tracking label" requirement, which takes effect for children's products manufactured after August 14, 2009.
The Food and Drug Administration has revised its recently issued guidance for industry on the "Referral Program from the FDA to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Seafood Inspection Program (NOAA SIP) for the Certification of Fish and Fishery Products for Export to the European Union and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA)."
Online game piracy is a significant problem in Western Europe and “underscores the need for better mechanisms to protect and enforce intellectual property rights in the networked digital environment,” the Entertainment Software Association said Tuesday. ESA’s research was included in a “Special 301 Report” filed by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) with the office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). ESA CEO Michael Gallagher called piracy “the single greatest threat to the innovation, artistic commitment and technological advancements enjoyed by millions of consumers worldwide.” He called piracy “a job killer that the world economy cannot afford” and criticized countries that “skirt obligations to combat piracy.” The report revealed large demand for unauthorized copies of console and handheld games, which ESA said indicated “widespread availability of circumvention devices and game copiers in many leading markets.” IIPA, which ESA is a member of, recommended that 40 of the countries be named to an appropriate USTR Watch List. Also included in the report was data that ESA said “revealed alarmingly high volumes of illegal game downloads” across P2P networks BitTorrent and eDonkey. Other findings cited in the report: (1) Users across 223 countries, territories and colonies downloaded illegal copies of games, and downloads of the two most popular titles were estimated to have been made across 219 of the regions. (2) Users downloaded 6.4 million illegal copies of the 13 titles that were studied in December. (3) Italy had the most illegal download activity at 17 percent, followed by Spain with 15.1 percent, France with 7.9 percent, Germany with 6.9 percent and Poland with 6.1 percent. (4) The heaviest downloading countries per capita were Israel, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Poland. (5) Telecom Italia was implicated in 11.6 percent of completed downloads, followed by Telefonica de Espana with 7.8 percent, France Telecom with 3.9 percent, Polish Telecom with 3.6 percent, Deutsche Telecom AG with 2.6 percent, Italy’s IUnet with 2.1 percent, France’s Neuf Cegetel with 1.6 percent, Spain’s Jazz Telecom with 1.57 percent, France’s Free SAS with 1.56 percent and Spain’s Uni2 with 1.53 percent. Meanwhile, the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association said two raids in Scotland Friday led to the arrest of two pirates. A “large number of items including consoles and games were seized,” along with “mod chipping” equipment, it said. The games’ packaging bore ads it said encouraged consumers to buy additional counterfeit titles.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued an interim final rule, effective February 10, 2009, which exempts certain accessible components of children's electronic devices from the lead content limits1 for children's products required by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA2), as it is not currently technologically feasible for such components to comply. Comments are due March 16, 2009.