E-Commerce
Webcasters Ask Court To Block Rate Increase
     The Digital Media Association, National Public Radio and several small commercial webcasters asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit this week to block a royalty rate hike for Internet radio until the court has a chance to hear their appeal. The Copyright Royalty Board ruling, slated to take effect July 15, would impose "a radical and arbitrary increase" in the fees paid by online radio services to music labels and artists through 2010, the group said in its filing. Under the ruling, the percentage-of-revenue basis upon which most small webcasters previously operated would be replaced by a per-performance rate that will force many of them to shut down, the filing said. Digital Media Association Executive Director Jonathan Potter said the ruling would cause "companies, consumers and artists irreparable harm" and needs the court's scrutiny. The digital music royalty collector SoundExchange has said the rate increase is needed and based on the fair-market value of artists' work.

Intellectual Property
Judge Says Patent Bill Would Hamper Patent Courts
     The chief judge on the U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit, which hears patent cases from across the country, sent a letter recently to House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., about the impact that legislation overhauling the patent system would have on courts that hear patent cases. Judge Paul Michel said the measure, H.R. 1908, which was approved by a House Judiciary subcommittee last month, could have a "severe impact" on trial courts and the U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit. In particular, he said the legislation's section on apportionment of damages -- which in a patent case means giving money to the successful litigant -- would require "considerable interpretation [by courts] that would take years." In an interview, Michel said the Judicial Conference of the United States' relevant committee is expected to review the patent proposals at its June meeting and could potentially recommend that the entire conference consider weighing in at its September meeting.

Labor
Groups Follow Senators Home To Lobby On Immigration
     Tech company executives followed senators to their home districts this week to lobby for changes to the immigration overhaul bill the Senate is in the middle of debating. In particular, industry officials are pushing senators to support an amendment that Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., John Cornyn, R-Texas, and others are expected to offer when the Senate returns next week from its Memorial Day break that would try to address concerns about companies' access to skilled foreign workers. The amendment would exempt from the annual cap on visas for skilled foreign workers, known as H-1Bs, foreign workers with advanced degrees from U.S. universities or with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and math. The amendment also would add a market escalator to the annual cap on H-1B visas, set at 115,000 in the bill. Meanwhile, some opponents of increasing H-1B visas say the immigration proposal could have a devastating effect on U.S. computer science education. "It's going to actually crush the [computer science] college majors, if that goes through," said Nate Viall, president of Iowa-based IT recruiting firm.

Telecom
Vonage Makes Bid For New Trial in Verizon Spat
     Internet telephone company Vonage filed its final round of paperwork this week in a patent-infringement case brought by Verizon Communications. Verizon sued Vonage last year alleging the firm infringed seven patents. But prior to trial, two claims were dropped. Of the five that remained, the court ruled favorably for Vonage on two claims and left three to be fought over in the appeals court. In April, the court set an expedited schedule for reviewing the case. In its brief, Vonage asked the court for a new trial because it said it believes the district court erred in its original decision. The company also argued that the Supreme Court's recent ruling in KSR International v. Teleflex, which changed the patenting process's "obviousness" standard, could have affected the case's outcome. But in an April filing, Verizon urged the court to reject Vonage's obviousness challenge, saying KSR did not give Vonage "a second bite at the apple."

Telecom
FCC Seeks to Improve Accuracy Of E911
     The FCC this week sought to tighten its requirements for measuring the accuracy of emergency calls made via wireless phones. So-called enhanced 911, or E911, is supposed to provide a mobile caller's geographic location to dispatchers at public safety answering points, or PSAPs, and the agency has established accuracy thresholds. But the FCC does not currently specify how to gauge compliance, prompting complaints from public safety officials that carriers use lax methods to certify they meet the requirements. At a public meeting, the commissioners voted 5-0 to seek comment on a proposal to measure compliance at the PSAP level.

Television
Lawmakers Push FCC To Educate Public On DTV
     Key House Democrats have asked FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and the four other agency members to submit to lawmakers a detailed plan for educating Americans about the nation's shift to digital television. In a May 24 letter, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., and Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., expressed concern that millions of television sets could go dark without sufficient funding and outreach. Dingell and Markey, who heads the committee's Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee, urged the FCC to design and implement a sweeping education campaign and submit the plan to lawmakers by June 11. But the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition, which represents Best Buy, Circuit City, Sears, Target and other stores, rejected one proposal from the lawmakers. It called for the FCC and Commerce Department to monitor retailer compliance with a $1.5 billion federal coupon program that will help citizens buy equipment needed to keep many over-the-air analog sets functioning. The group's executive director, Marc Pearl, said "to mandate anything, I think, is outside the bounds of reason and law."

Net Governance
GoDaddy Agrees To Help Customers Of Failed Registrar
     The Internet address registration retailer GoDaddy agreed this week to take control of the remaining accounts of the hundreds of thousands of Internet addresses impacted by the collapse of rival RegisterFly. A federal judge in California last week issued a permanent injunction against RegisterFly after the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the group that manages the Internet's address system, stripped the company of its contract. RegisterFly, the target of repeated complaints to ICANN, was ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Manuel Real to inform customers about the ordeal. The switch from RegisterFly to GoDaddy was expected to happen in about a week, GoDaddy said in a press release. Once the switch is complete more than 850,000 domain names will have been moved. In a statement, ICANN President Paul Twomey thanked those who "have come to the table to ensure people's domain names were protected to the extent possible."

Environment
Lawmakers Move Closer To National E-Waste Bill
     The chairwoman of the Congressional E-Waste Working Group, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., says the recent announcement from the technology industry that it had reached a consensus on the recycling of obsolete electronic products marked a major step toward national legislation. After Slaughter and other working group members urged industry officials to reach consensus on a plan, Slaughter said in an e-mail from her office that EIA's framework is "a critical step in our efforts to write a federal bill this year." The framework was approved by EIA's Environmental Issues Council, which includes companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Panasonic and Sharp, and covers the recycling of household televisions and information technology products such as computers and computer monitors. Rick Goss, EIA's vice president of environmental affairs, said that any federal electronics recycling legislation should establish a uniform set of requirements for industry.

Antitrust
Justice Reviewing Merger Between Muzak and DMX
     The Justice Department may have slowed a proposed merger between the nation's two largest providers of commercial environmental music this week by requesting more information on their business plans. Muzak and DMX announced last month that they were contemplating a future consolidation or combination. The union would be contingent on a sale of the combined entity to an as yet unidentified third-party buyer, following clearance by federal regulators, they said. The government scrutiny precedes a highly anticipated review of a planned merger between Sirius Satellite Radio and XM. "While this request will delay our ability to close a transaction we believe the additional information requested will serve to confirm that a merger of the two companies will not adversely affect competition, will result in significant synergies for the combined companies, and will benefit our customers," a Muzak official said in a press release. But antitrust attorney David Balto said the delay raises "serious concerns."