Legal protection for cloud computing could be undermined if EMI secures a preliminary injunction against “used” digital music reseller ReDigi, a lawyer for Google told the U.S. District Court in New York, seeking permission for Google to file a friend-of-the-court brief in the copyright infringement case or have a pre-motion conference with the judge. Google takes “no position on the ultimate merits” of the case, Fenwick & West lawyer Kathryn Fritz told Judge Richard Sullivan in a letter Wednesday. The case involves the propriety of ReDigi users uploading their music to the company’s cloud services -- which then deletes the uploaded tracks from users’ devices -- and ReDigi either streaming it back to users or selling the uploaded tracks to other users. EMI’s motion conflicts with controlling precedent regarding liability protections, performance rights and fair use, Fritz said. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in favor of Cablevision’s remote-DVR service established that services aren’t liable when their users make copies and that a stream “uniquely identified to a particular user” isn’t a public performance, she said: EMI wants a ruling “potentially blurring these clear rules.” The record label’s motion, if approved, also would undermine “space-shifting” protections for moving files between devices such as computers and iPods, and by extension to cloud services, Fritz said. She also faulted EMI for an “internally inconsistent argument that would weaken the statutory restrictions on the distribution right” -- that ReDigi can’t avail itself of the first-sale doctrine because it’s not reselling “material objects” such as CDs, and at the same time ReDigi is violating EMI’s exclusive right to “distribute copies or phonorecords,” which are by definition material objects. “Either both provisions apply, and ReDigi’s service may be protected by the first sale doctrine, or neither applies, and ReDigi’s service does not infringe the distribution right,” she said. Approving EMI’s motion could create “unintended uncertainties” for the cloud-computing industry, Fritz said, urging Sullivan to consider the issues “in the unhurried posture and full record of summary judgment or appeal.”
The Court of International Trade has upheld the determination by the International Trade Commission to deny the status of an “affected domestic producer” or ADP to Ashley Furniture Industries, Inc. because in a 2003 questionnaire response, the firm expressed opposition to the AD petition on wooden bedroom furniture from China.
The International Trade Administration is publishing notices in the February 1, 2012 Federal Register on the following AD/CV proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, the scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The International Trade Administration is initiating and issuing the preliminary results of an antidumping duty changed circumstances review of certain frozen warmwater shrimp from Vietnam (A-552-802).
A demand to interview high ranking officials including FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack has soured cooperation between the government and Open Range stakeholders within Open Range’s bankruptcy proceeding, filings show (http://xrl.us/bmqcqt). The Open Range’s Unsecured Creditors Committee has sought to compel the Justice Department to make FCC and USDA officials available, something the DOJ said Friday it won’t do and isn’t required to do. Rural Utilities Service Administrator Jonathan Adelstein, RUS Broadband Division Chief Kenneth Kuchno and other RUS officials have already been interviewed and thousand of government documents have been provided, said the DOJ.
RadioShack’s Q4 gross margin plunged to 35 percent from 41 percent a year earlier on a “significant decline” in sales of Sprint services, CEO James Gooch said in a preliminary earnings report. RadioShack’s Q4 sales mix shifted toward “certain lower margin smartphones and mobile devices” and as mobile products made up a larger portion of its Q4 sales because of an increase in the cellphone kiosks that RadioShack operates inside Target stores, it said. Same-store sales at company-owned outlets rose 2 percent and there was a 6 percent gain in revenue to $1.39 billion from $1.31 billion a year earlier, the company said. RadioShack’s Q4 mobile sales increased 16 percent, while CE sales fell 30 percent. Signature platform revenue improved one percent in Q4, due to strong headphone, tablet accessory and warranty sales, the company said. RadioShack’s Q4 earnings are expected to be 11-13 cents a share, down from 51 cents a year ago, the chain said. Incremental sales from RadioShack’s new distribution agreement with Verizon, coupled with strong revenue from AT&T, tablets and e-readers, were offset by “significant declines in our Sprint business,” Gooch said.
The International Trade Administration is publishing notices in the January 31, 2012 Federal Register on the following AD/CV proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, the scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The International Trade Administration has initiated a new shipper review for the antidumping duty order on honey from Argentina (A-357-812) at the request of D'Ambros Maria de Los Angeles and D'Ambros Maria Daniela SH, an Argentine partnership doing business as Apicola Danangie (Danangie). The ITA will determine if Danangie is eligible for an estimated AD cash deposit rate other than the "All Others" rate it currently receives.
On January 30, 2012, the U.S. Trade Representative announced that the World Trade Organization Appellate Body (AB) found China’s export restraints on several industrial raw materials used as key components in the steel, aluminum, and chemicals industries to be inconsistent with China’s WTO obligations.
The Government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices for January 26-27, 2012 (note that some may also be given separate headlines)