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Bush Fills Vacant Antitrust Slot
by Sarah Lai Stirland
The Antitrust Modernization Commission on Friday completed its roster of commissioners when President Bush appointed lawyer Bobby Burchfield of McDermott, Will & Emery to the panel. He replaces Deborah Platt Majoras, who relinquished her commission appointment earlier this year when she was appointed as FTC chairwoman.
Congress created the commission in 2002 and charged it with examining the nation's existing body of antitrust law to determine whether updates are necessary. The commission received a little less than $1.2 million to do its job for fiscal 2005. It has three years to complete the task.
Burchfield is a co-partner in charge of McDermott's Washington office and chairs the global firm's litigation practice. He also worked for former President George H.W. Bush as senior general counsel during Bush's failed re-election campaign in 1992.
Burchfield has extensive litigation experience. The trade publication Legal Times named him one of the top trial lawyers in the Washington area in 2003. He has been involved in major antitrust litigation for companies ranging from United Airlines to the American Automobile Association.
He also argued before the Supreme Court in 2003 on behalf of the Republican National Committee and others in McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, which was a constitutional challenge to the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. And Burchfield has clerked for 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Ruggero Aldisert.
The commission's next meeting is set for Jan. 13 at the FTC, where members will decide what subjects the commission should examine for possible legislative overhaul. They will choose from ideas that some of them generated, as well as suggestions in comment letters.
The Association for Competitive Technology, the U.S. Telecom Association, the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) and Sun Microsystems have submitted letters. So have the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Antitrust Institute, some think tanks, and Sens. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, and Herb Kohl, D-Wis., the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee.
Among other issues, the technology industry representatives said in their comment letters that they are concerned about: the antitrust implications of joint Internet ventures such as the airline industry's Orbitz.com; the definition of technology markets for antitrust purposes; the overlapping antitrust responsibilities of the FTC, Justice Department and state attorneys general; inconsistencies between U.S. antitrust laws and those in other countries; and the conflicts between intellectual property and antitrust laws.
Sun Microsystems urged the commission to study what policies standards-setting organizations should adopt when asking their participants to disclose any intellectual property claims that might affect technological standards. The issue has become a significant one for the technology industry in the wake of two legal decisions concerning the behavior of the computer-memory design company Rambus in a standard-setting process in the 1990s.
Another Trip Through The Revolving Door
The FCC has found a new associate chief of the public safety and critical infrastructure division of its Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.
Angela Giancarlo, an associate in the communications practice group at the Hogan & Hartson law firm, is leaving the firm at the end of the year to take the FCC position. She previously worked at the FCC as a law clerk in the Wireless Telecommunications and Mass Media bureaus.
At Hogan & Hartson, Giancarlo worked on telecom law and focused on federal regulation of wireless companies. Specifically, she dealt with spectrum auctions, privacy issues and implementation of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. She worked with Hogan communications practice partners Michele Farquhar and Ari Fitzgerald.
In other industry news, Lucent Technologies is losing the head of its government affairs office. Tricia Rimo, the vice president of global government affairs, is leaving by the end of the year. A Lucent spokeswoman said the company has no comment on the search for a successor.
And XM Satellite Radio has named former Senate Commerce Committee Senior Counsel Bill Bailey as its senior vice president of regulatory and government affairs. Bailey formerly worked for committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz. He also has worked at the FCC and Commerce Department. At XM, he will be in charge of public policy and advocacy.
Top Domestic Official At Homeland Security Resigns
The Homeland Security Department announced last week that Suzanne Mencer, the director of the office for domestic preparedness, will resign at the end of January.
Confirmed in the job by the Senate in September 2003, Mencer directs federal initiatives to help states, local jurisdictions, regional authorities, and tribal governments prepare for, prevent and respond to terrorism. She has administered more than 25 programs to equip, train and assist state and local "first responders" to emergencies.
"Throughout her career in public service, and most recently at the Department of Homeland Security, Sue Mencer has made invaluable contributions to our nation's security," Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said in a statement. "Sue's leadership enabled us to streamline the grant application process and to refine the matrix which allocates funding to the urban areas of greatest risk. She also builds bridges across the first-responder groups to ensure better protection of our communities."
Rep. Conyers Recognized For Telecom Work
House Judiciary Committee ranking Democrat John Conyers of Michigan received a Jerry B. Duvall Award for Public Service from the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies last week.
The center is a nonprofit think tank focused on policy issues related to the economics of "regulated industries," such as the telecommunications industry. Previous winners have included Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin.
"It's kind of like one of those lifetime achievement Oscar Awards," center President Lawrence Spiwak said. He said the center appreciates Conyers' pro-competitive approach to telecom policy. In a talk at a conference held by the center last week, Conyers blasted the FCC's deregulatory approach to the telecom industry.
"The House Judiciary Committee has done a lot of good work, versus the [House] Commerce Committee," which Spiwak said is captured by the views of the regional Bell telecom firms.
He also said Conyers won the award because of his "political courage." "I probably disagree with Mr. Conyers about a lot of other things," Spiwak said. "But [the center is] not about a lot of other things. We're about telecom."
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