The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit pressed attorneys from both the FCC and petitioners the National Lifeline Association in oral argument Tuesday over an FCC rule limiting carrier reimbursement for customers who are close to being eliminated from the service. Judge Harry Edwards pressured FCC trial attorney Maureen Flood into walking back an argument that NaLA’s challenge to the rule was “untimely,” while Judge Neomi Rao cut off NaLA attorney John Heitmann of Kelley Drye at the very beginning of his time to question the trade group’s standing, saying his own argument undermined his case. “I think you are admitting you don’t get the reimbursement,” she told him.
The timing of the FCC’s move to new headquarters remains uncertain, and 87% of frontline FCC employees hope to telework full time until an effective COVID-19 vaccine is in wide use and the pandemic “subsides,” said a survey by the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 209, which represents FCC employees. “At this juncture, I can’t provide you with a definite timeline for these next steps” in the agency's relocation, wrote FCC Chief of Staff Matthew Berry in an agencywide email at the end of September. “But I hope to be able to do so in mid-October.”
The net neutrality order set for an Oct. 27 vote at the FCC means that what could be the last big meeting of Chairman Ajit Pai’s tenure will include action on the same politically charged, divisive issue that took over his first year as chairman. The order is likely to be approved 3-2, but with strong dissents from FCC Democrats. Other contentious items are also on the agenda, including the 5G Fund, tower compound expansions and a final order on wireless infrastructure.
Apple “foreclosed competition” in iOS subscription-based mobile gaming, and owns “monopoly power” in the relevant market with no “pro-competitive justifications” for that harmful “misconduct,” alleged a complaint (in Pacer) Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Jose that seeks class-action status. Coming nearly two months after Epic Games sued to break Apple’s alleged stranglehold on the iOS app distribution and payment market (see 2008130048), the new complaint argues Apple monopolization is forcing consumers to pay “supracompetitive prices” for the Apple Arcade mobile gaming subscription service.
Expect antitrust legislation to be introduced in the “late days of this Congress” to curb Big Tech’s dominance, House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., said Friday, discussing his panel’s recent report (see 2010070067). Regulation is on the agenda for this and next Congress, said during a Public Knowledge event, calling the report “just the beginning.”
The Wireless ISP Association plans a rare large telecom in-person meeting, Oct. 20-22 in Las Vegas. It also will be streamed. WISPA is limiting attendance to 250 and following government protocols -- masking, deep cleaning and barring attendance from some countries based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisories. Experts worry about such gatherings during the pandemic.
The Supreme Court met arguments from Google and Oracle with skepticism Wednesday in a case that could decide whether programming code is copyrightable (see 2008070054). Oracle sued Google for its use of Java programming code. Google has a right to provide a “certain functionality to make a computer do something” under Section 102(b) of the Copyright Act, argued Google attorney Thomas Goldstein. If there were alternatives, that would be “another matter,” he said, but because there’s only one way, there’s no copyright protection.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, if he wins the Nov. 3 election, is likely to be “very receptive” to coming legislation from House Antitrust Subcommittee members to implement recommendations from their Tuesday report on competition in the digital economy, subpanel Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., said Wednesday. The report called for bills to institute structural separation and line of business restrictions to address alleged abuse of market power by Google, Facebook, Amazon and other major tech companies (see 2010060062).
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should grant the FTC’s request for en banc review in its antitrust case against Qualcomm (see 2009250068), tech groups, auto manufacturers, consumers and scholars told the court in briefs filed through Tuesday (in Pacer). The agency is appealing a three-judge panel’s decision in favor of Qualcomm (see 2008190043).
Congress should consider legislation including structural separation and line of business restrictions to address abuse of market power in the digital economy, House Antitrust Subcommittee Democratic staff recommended in a long-awaited report Tuesday. Republicans didn’t sign on but released their own report. Recommendations include prohibition of self-preferencing, portability requirements, mandating that platforms provide due process before taking action against market participants, and amendments to the Clayton, Sherman and FTC acts.