The Wireline Bureau’s 4.5-a-month GB Lifeline minimum service standard order will “heave” customers and providers “into a new digital divide created by the FCC’s results-driven, record-be-damned decision-making,” said the National Lifeline Association in a brief (in Pacer) filed Wednesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 2011240059). The agency doesn’t use record evidence to rebut claims from providers that the MSS increase will kill the Lifeline program, NaLA said. “Instead, the FCC speculates that a general trend downward in wireless rates will make it possible for carriers to absorb a 50% data increase on December 1 with no increased subsidy.” The FCC’s brief pointed to a T-Mobile statement it will offer a Lifeline plan at 4.5 GB as evidence that the MSS is viable, but T-Mobile -- and thus its Lifeline provider subsidy Assurance -- doesn’t have to buy spectrum like other Lifeline providers do, NaLA said. The 4.5 GB MSS “will create a new chasm with 31% of Lifeline subscribers served by T-Mobile’s Assurance having free access to 4.5 GB while 63% served by wireless resellers (overwhelmingly T-Mobile’s wholesale partners) will not,” NaLA said. The FCC hasn’t shown that freezing the MSS at 3 GB will cause any harms, NaLA said. “All Lifeline stakeholders, including carriers, public interest groups, state commissions and commissioners, and policymakers from both parties, agreed that the FCC should pause the MSS at 3 GB to avoid jeopardizing affordable free Lifeline mobile broadband service and delay any MSS changes.” T-Mobile and the FCC didn’t comment.
TCL introduced the Moveaudio S150 true wireless earbuds, available on Amazon for $40. The earbuds have dual Bluetooth 5.0 transmission technology, 13mm speakers said to reduce background noise, and a USB-C charging case. Built-in smart control features allow users to pause, play and skip songs and launch voice control on a paired device.
ISP associations suing over Vermont’s net neutrality law agreed with the state to extend a stay to March 31. It would have expired Jan. 30, but parties agreed to extend it in light of a Jan. 26 hearing in a separate case challenging California’s open-internet law, said Monday's stipulation (in Pacer) at U.S. District Court in Burlington. The court originally agreed to pause the case to see what happened in California (see 2009250073).
ISP associations suing over Vermont’s net neutrality law agreed with the state to extend a stay to March 31. It would have expired Jan. 30, but parties agreed to extend it in light of a Jan. 26 hearing in a separate case challenging California’s open-internet law, said Monday's stipulation (in Pacer) at U.S. District Court in Burlington. The court originally agreed to pause the case to see what happened in California (see 2009250073).
Progress on a treaty updating broadcasting protections was paused due to the pandemic at this past week's meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights. The mostly virtual SCCR meeting, chaired by newly appointed Chairman Aziz Dieng of Senegal, suffered from technical glitches and didn't address substantive issues. Conclusions noted the committee "took note of" a recap of the current document setting out proposed text on definitions, object of protection, rights to be granted and other issues, and of delegates' statements. "We are nothing closer (nor further away)" from a treaty, "and for the moment there is no new thinking," European Broadcasting Union Intellectual Property Head Heijo Ruijsenaars emailed us. "After 22 years, I'm still optimistic," he said at the webcast meeting. Talks now move to the next SCCR session, for which no date has been set, WIPO Copyright Law Division Director Michele Woods emailed us.
Progress on a treaty updating broadcasting protections was paused due to the pandemic at this past week's meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights. The mostly virtual SCCR meeting, chaired by newly appointed Chairman Aziz Dieng of Senegal, suffered from technical glitches and didn't address substantive issues. Conclusions noted the committee "took note of" a recap of the current document setting out proposed text on definitions, object of protection, rights to be granted and other issues, and of delegates' statements. "We are nothing closer (nor further away)" from a treaty, "and for the moment there is no new thinking," European Broadcasting Union Intellectual Property Head Heijo Ruijsenaars emailed us. "After 22 years, I'm still optimistic," he said at the webcast meeting. Talks now move to the next SCCR session, for which no date has been set, WIPO Copyright Law Division Director Michele Woods emailed us.
"What's the location of your emergency?" asked a District of Columbia Office of Unified Communications 911 call taker on June 5 just before 4 p.m. The caller, crying as she reported that her 59-year-old mother passed out after experiencing chest pains, answered, “414 Oglethorpe Street Northeast.”
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Nov. 9-13 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
U.S. Fashion Industry Association counsel David Spooner told attendees at the USFIA industry virtual conference Nov. 10 that while he thinks it's unlikely that the current administration would add new tariffs on China before leaving office in two months, it's possible that President Donald Trump could increase the tariff rate on list 4A, or put tariffs on list 4B, as a way of “venting his frustration with China.” Spooner, who is at law firm Barnes and Thornburg, said it's also possible that the administration will retaliate against European Union tariffs authorized by the World Trade Organization for past Boeing subsidies.
Democratic leaders of the House Commerce Committee asked FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and FTC Chairman Joseph Simons Tuesday to stop working on major items in light of Joe Biden's election as president (see 2011100066), which President Donald Trump continues to fight through legal challenges. Trump’s legal fight could slow the overall transition, stakeholders say. The House letters (see here and here) were expected (see here). Such requests are known colloquially as "pencils-down" requests.