Final approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership may not happen for years, a member of the Republican Senate leadership told reporters Tuesday. The deal involves many provisions on telecom, data transfer rules and copyright. “There’s a pretty big school of thought this is not going to happen on this administration’s watch, that it’ll be a 2017 issue,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., third-ranking member of GOP leadership and chairman of the Commerce Committee. “I think there are objections on both sides of the aisle, Republicans and Democrats, for very different reasons. But that’s going to make it I think fairly difficult to thread the needle. We have six years to do it, probably better sooner rather than later.” The trade deal involves several different nations, and the Obama administration released the text of many chapters last week (see 1511050058). President Barack Obama can sign the deal 90 days after the release. That signature would then set up a subsequent period of congressional review. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the front-runners for the Democratic nomination, oppose the deal, as does real estate developer Donald Trump, vying for the GOP nomination. The digital economy is one of the two areas Thune is “most interested in,” he said, saying he and his staff will be “probably very focused on the digital economy” in addition to agriculture issues. He didn’t say how he would eventually vote when the deal comes before Congress. “If we’re going to do it, I think it’s always better to get these new provisions in place that open up access to a lot of our producers and businesses to markets that they don’t have access to today,” Thune said of potentially moving to enact the deal sooner rather than later.
Fitbit filed a Section 337 complaint with the International Trade Commission, alleging Jawbone is importing wearable activity tracking devices that infringe its patents. The complaint, filed Nov. 2, reacts to similar allegations filed by Jawbone in July (see 1507270026), taking issue with Jawbone’s Up line of fitness trackers. The ITC is asking for comments on the complaint by Nov. 16, it said in a notice in the Federal Register.
AT&T and the International Intellectual Property Alliance praised Trans-Pacific Partnership language, in separate statements Friday. The Obama administration released major portions of TPP’s full text Thursday (see 1511050058). TPP “brings higher standards and protections to countries that represent nearly 40 percent of the global economy,” AT&T Senior Executive Vice President Jim Cicconi said in a statement Friday. “It will open markets, and establish rules of the road for a 21st Century digital economy. The e-Commerce commitments in TPP also provide a benchmark for reference in future trade agreements.” AT&T hopes for ratification soon, Cicconi said. IIPA said it still needs to review TPP’s full text but said IP language in the treaty “is built on the recognition that the creative sector makes an enormous contribution to the U.S. economy, jobs, and global competitiveness, and that further opening the markets of our major trading partners in this sector must be a top national priority.” The treaty's IP section “also contains important provisions aimed at expanding digital trade in creative materials, an increasingly critical sector where U.S. creators face both serious challenges and exciting opportunities in reaching new markets around the world,” IIPA said.
It's time to end leap seconds, which are added on an irregular basis so the Earth's slowing rate of rotation doesn't lead to a gap between regular and atomic clocks, NTIA is advising an ongoing gathering (see 1511050041) of national telecom regulators in Geneva. NTIA, the lead U.S. agency on the issue at the World Radiocommunications Conference, said the topic will be visited later this month at WRC-15, and NTIA worked with the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission to develop the proposal to kill leap seconds in Coordinated Universal Time. "Because the world’s time keepers can’t predict when they will need to add a leap second, computer systems and telecommunications networks around the world must be adjusted manually to account for the extra second added to UTC," said an NTIA blog post Friday. "The most recent addition of the leap second at the end of June caused some Internet outages that were quickly resolved."
The FCC published a notice in Thursday's Federal Register on the agency's plans to waive, effective Dec. 7, its Form 740 certification requirements for RF devices imported between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2016 (see 1510190056). The temporary waiver allows time for the FCC to consider its proposal to eliminate importer declaration requirements entirely (see 1507210072), without imposing new burdens once the use of Customs and Border Protection's automated commercial environment filing system becomes mandatory for FCC-regulated imports is required, the FCC said.
Intelsat and Sky Perfect JSAT agreed to jointly put up a satellite with C-band and high throughput Ku-band capacity to serve mobility and broadband connectivity demands in the Asia-Pacific region, Intelsat said in a news release Wednesday. Horizons 3e is expected to launch in the second half of 2018, operate at 169 degrees east and round out Intelsat's EpicNG global platform, Intelsat said. Horizons 3e would be the fourth satellite jointly owned by JSAT and Intelsat, following Horizons-1, Horizons-2 and Intelsat 15/JCSAT-85.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly are making the trip to Geneva this week as the World Radiocommunication Conference starts, commission officials said. As of Tuesday, 148 members of the delegation had arrived and been badged for the international spectrum conference, out of a total 194 who registered, said a spokesman for the U.S. delegation.
Sprint became the first U.S. wireless carrier to sign a direct roaming agreement with Telecommunications Co. of Cuba, Sprint said in a Monday news release. Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure was in Havana as part of the U.S.-Cuba Business Council delegation to Cuba, where he made the announcement. “As the commercial relationship between the U.S. and Cuba continues to progress, it is expected that the number of travelers to Cuba will increase exponentially,” Claure said. “We want to make sure any Sprint customer traveling to Cuba can use their phone the same way as they do in the United States.” More than 3 million people are expected to visit Cuba this year; within 10 years, that number is projected to grow to more than 5 million, Sprint said.
Intellectual Capital Consulting filed a complaint at the International Trade Commission alleging violations of Section 337 rules by imports of “vehicular smartwatch systems” marketed by a lengthy list of automakers and electronics manufacturers. ICC alleges the companies are making smartwatch-operated vehicle security systems that copy patented designs used in its “Blackhawk Remote Engine Starter,” which also locks and unlocks cars remotely from the watch, and includes a geofencing feature for parents that sends an alert if the car is driven outside a predefined area, the Oct. 23 complaint published Thursday said. ICC is requesting a limited exclusion order and cease and desist order banning importation and sale of infringing smartwatch systems by Hyundai, General Motors, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, Volvo, Porsche, Apple, Directed Electronics, Samsung, LG, Sony, Lenovo, Motorola, Station Digital Media and Rego Apps. The ITC is accepting comments until Nov. 6 on public interest issues raised by the complaint.
The Information Technology Industry Council told the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Wednesday that increasing data localization practices by foreign governments threaten U.S. and global economic growth. In ITI's comments on the National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE), the group said members have "experienced a significant increase" in the use of localization measures across the globe. Data localization is the practice of governments employing measures to favor local businesses and enterprises primarily in the information and communications technology space, which ITI said can be done "under the guise of promoting local industries and protecting privacy." These practices have "forced [ITI member companies and others] to make costly adjustments to their operations on the ground, regionally or globally, in order to comply with these measures," ITI said. It identified localization requirements in China, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia, Turkey and Vietnam, and warned it's possible more governments will consider or put in place similar requirements by the time the USTR's NTE is published. "ITI is greatly concerned about the impact of such digital protectionism on international trade and investment, innovation, and the ability of people and businesses all over the world to benefit from free and open flows of information and data through the Internet and Internet-based technologies," it said. ITI recently released a blog post citing Indonesia's need to address localization practices in order for it to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (see 1510280075). The public comment submission period for the USTR report ended Wednesday, but comments were only being made available by those who filed them, not the government. “As Internet services become a greater part of the global economy,” it will become “more important to monitor digital trade barriers,” the Computer & Communications Industry Association said in comments. CCIA detailed how recent moves "to restrict online information for alleged copyright reasons violates current trade agreements"; how Internet censorship has affected countries in Asia, the Middle East and Russia; and problems companies face following the European Court of Justice’s ruling earlier this month that declared the U.S.-EU safe harbor agreement invalid, in its comments. “As the economy evolves, the NTE will need to increasingly investigate and respond to barriers to digital trade if the Internet and Internet-enabled services are to continue to be export growth leaders,” said CCIA CEO Ed Black in a news release.