The Commerce Department published notices in the Sept. 16 Federal Register on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
Ongoing revelations about the National Security Agency’s covert surveillance have seriously stymied the chances of passing cybersecurity legislation in this Congress, experts and issue advocates told us in interviews last week. Though the NSA’s surveillance work has little to do with protecting critical infrastructure, the controversy over the leaked information will make lawmakers reluctant to vote for increased information sharing with federal agencies, they said.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website Sept. 13, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at addcvd.cbp.gov. (CBP occasionally adds backdated messages without otherwise indicating which message was added. ITT will include a message date in parentheses in such cases.)
Ongoing revelations about the National Security Agency’s covert surveillance have seriously stymied the chances of passing cybersecurity legislation in this Congress, experts and issue advocates told us in interviews last week. Though the NSA’s surveillance work has little to do with protecting critical infrastructure, the controversy over the leaked information will make lawmakers reluctant to vote for increased information sharing with federal agencies, they said.
The Xbox 360 was the top-selling home videogame console in the U.S. for the 32nd straight month in August, said NPD analyst Liam Callahan, despite the impending launch of the Xbox One Nov. 22. But the handheld 3DS remained the No. 1 videogame system overall for the fourth straight month, he said. Nintendo didn’t say how many 3DS systems were sold in August, and NPD stopped providing hardware sales data to reporters a while ago.
The Commerce Department issued the preliminary results of its administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain steel nails from China (A-570-909). These preliminary results are not in effect. Commerce may modify them in the final results of this review and change the estimated AD cash deposit rate for these companies.
Emergency motions to stay and limit a nearly nationwide preliminary injunction against streaming TV service FilmOn X were denied in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said Judge Rosemary Collyer in an opinion filed Thursday. “The conduct prohibited by the Preliminary Injunction is uncompensated infringement of those holders’ exclusive right to public performance of their works, and the public interest is not harmed by requiring FilmOn X to cease infringement.” Collyer agreed with broadcasters that Aereo’s wins in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals don’t mean that FilmOn will win its D.C. case. “FilmOn X has simply recycled the same arguments that this Court rejected,” said the broadcasters’ opposition motion, pointing to FilmOn’s contentions that the injunction undercuts other courts and will harm its business. “The mere existence of two non-controlling, widely-criticized cases supporting FilmOnX does not create a strong likelihood that the D.C. Circuit will reverse the injunction.” FilmOn had argued that being enjoined throughout the nation -- except in the jurisdiction of the 2nd Circuit -- will cause it to lose customers to similar service Aereo, which isn’t enjoined anywhere. That’s “unsupportable” said the plaintiff filings: “FilmOnX’s argument boils down to the plea that it should be allowed to continue to infringe because there is another infringing service in operation.” Filings by FilmOn also show that it has a substantial international following that would be unaffected by the injunction, broadcasters said. The court should also reject FilmOn’s argument that the injunction bond the broadcasters are required to pay should be increased from $250,000 to $2.75 million, the filing said. FilmOn X hasn’t presented any evidence “beyond the mere say-so of counsel that $250,000 would not be sufficient to cover its potential losses, and Plaintiffs have more than sufficient resources in the unlikely event that the injunction was erroneously issued and FilmOn X incurs more than $250,000 in losses,” said Collyer. “It doesn’t really harm us,” FilmOn CEO Alki David told us in an email. His service has many agreements with independent channels that won’t be affected by the injunction, and will still be able to stream the major broadcasters in the 2nd Circuit, where the injunction doesn’t apply, he said. “The Networks are a must have to be a real pro service but we can wait to get them … no biggie.” David said he will wait for Aereo to win the copyright case brought against it by Hearst in Boston, where FilmOn already has an “antenna farm.” Fox praised the decision and said it fully expects to “continue to prevail,” in an email. David’s attorney Ryan Baker, of Baker Marquart, confirmed his client will abide by the court’s order to cease streaming copyrighted material, but will appeal the decision.
Dell shareholders approved the $24.9 billion amended buyout proposal of CEO Michael Dell and investment company Silver Lake Partners, the computer company said a preliminary vote tally from the special shareholders meeting Thursday showed. Dell shareholders are to be paid $13.75 cash for each share of company common stock, along with a special cash dividend of 13 cents a share, for total consideration of $13.88 a share in cash. The offer also guaranteed a regular quarterly dividend of 8 cents a share in Q3 that started Aug. 3. The transaction was approved by the holders of a majority of the computer company’s outstanding shares, it said. The CEO and Silver Lake intend to take the company private, they said when the offer was first announced early this year (CED Feb 6 p3). The initial offer was for $13.65 a share. The transaction is expected to close before the end of Q3, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval, the computer company said Thursday. Investor Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management early this week gave up their bid to gain control of the computer maker as part of an alternative offer (CED Sept 10 p10). Dell shares closed unchanged Thursday at $13.85.
A federal court should issue a preliminary injunction barring the state of Maine from implementing its pharmaceutical import law, said a suit filed in the U.S. District Court for Maine by a group of pharmacists and drug retailers. The law, enacted earlier this year, expressly authorizes foreign pharmaceutical vendors to export prescriptions drugs into the U.S., circumventing federal regulations on prescription drugs "and thus posing serious health risks to consumers," the suit said.
FilmOn X will appeal last week’s injunction (CD Sept 9 p18) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia banning the service from streaming copyrighted material in most parts of the U.S., the company said in two emergency motions filed in the court Wednesday. FilmOn asked the court to stay its injunction pending the results of the firm’s appeal, and to limit the injunction’s scope to the area covered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The motions had to be filed quickly because FilmOn was ordered by the court to demonstrate its compliance with the injunction by Thursday, the company said. The injunction applies throughout the U.S. except for the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, which has repeatedly upheld the right of competing service Aereo to stream broadcasters’ content (CD April 2 p8). The U.S. District Court should reconsider its decision to apply the injunction against FilmOn because that would give Aereo an unfair competitive advantage, said FilmOn. Aereo has announced plans to expand to major markets where FilmOn is now enjoined from offering its competing service, and Aereo “can be expected to steal FilmOn customers disappointed they can no longer use FilmOn,” said the filing. The opinion announcing the injunction also included several technical errors in its description of FilmOn’s service, the filing said. Since the same copyright issues involving FilmOn and Aereo are also being considered in a case against Aereo in the U.S. District Court in Boston, in FilmOn’s appeal of a similar injunction in the 9th Circuit in San Francisco (CD Aug 29 p5), and already decided in the Aereo case in the 2nd Circuit, it’s unfair to take this issue away from other circuits by enjoining FilmOn throughout the country, said the filing. That decisions on injunctions in similar cases have come out differently in the 2nd and 9th circuits is also evidence that FilmOn has a chance to win its appeal in D.C., said the company’s filing. “The only court of appeals to consider the issues raised in this case has decided that the technology offered by FilmOn enables only private performance and is therefore legal. Therefore … there is a substantial likelihood they will prevail on appeal.” FilmOn also asked the court to increase the $250,000 injunction bond ordered in the case. Injunction bonds are paid to the court by plaintiffs to protect the defendant if it’s later found out that a preliminary injunction shouldn’t have been granted. The injunction bond in FilmOn’s 9th Circuit case was $250,000, but FilmOn said the D.C. Circuit’s injunction merits a higher payout by broadcasters since it covers 11 circuits instead of one.