The House Judiciary’s Intellectual Property subcommittee had a hearing today on abusive patent litigation. All but one witness called for changes to the trade act of 1930. Patent trolls are now using this trade act to block devices and components of American companies. We saw this earlier this year with the International Trade Commission delaying…
DetailsCCIA has grave concerns about legislation passed yesterday by the Russian Parliament that would establish a blacklist of websites that government could shut down, and hopes U.S. trade officials weigh this development. While the legislation is ostensibly targeted at child pornography and sites promoting suicide or substance abuse, the establishment of a government blacklist framework…
DetailsA day after the Russian Parliament voted to establish a blacklist of websites that its government could shut down, the Computer & Communications Industry Association said this step raises a red flag for the Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) debate. While the legislation would require further votes and other steps before becoming law, this step…
DetailsOttawa – The Canadian Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal from the Society of Composers, Publishers and Music Authors. This means online music stores and others targeted in the lawsuit will not have to pay royalties for providing previews to online users. The consequences of the decision are to reaffirm an expansion of Canadian fair…
DetailsThe problem with the dream of a free market in telecommunications networks is that barriers to entry are too high. So high in fact that that the largest cable TV operators who not so long ago were given exclusive franchises to build local networks that might compete in a digital world with legacy monopoly telephone…
DetailsSen. Enzi, R-Wyo., Sen. Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Alexander, R-Tenn., offered their Marketplace Fairness Act yesterday as an amendment to the Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act. The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) opposed the Marketplace Fairness Act when it was first introduced, and we remain opposed to it, as it would impose…
DetailsLast week the European Parliament (EP) rejected ACTA in its plenary session in Strasbourg. What might seemed very unlikely only a few months ago, in the final vote a total of 478 MEPs were against the agreement, with 39 voting in favor and 165 representatives abstaining from a vote. There is a broad agreement that this result…
DetailsThe New York Times ran an article detailing the large numbers of information requests that wireless phone carriers in the United States get from the various law enforcement bodies seeking our private information regarding our cell phones. In most cases, as the article points out, these requests are not warrants — which must be approved by an…
DetailsThe Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is currently in the 13th round of negotiations. The text has yet to be released publicly, although there have been some leaks. However, an important piece of news was made public by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday, July 3, 2012. The USTR Press Office website announced: “For the first time in any…
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