July 2013

The Department of Commerce released a green paper on Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy to advance discussion on a set of policy issues critical to economic growth.

The Green Paper discusses the goals of maintaining an appropriate balance between rights and exceptions as the law continues to be updated; ensuring that copyright can be meaningfully enforced on the Internet; and furthering the development of an efficient online marketplace. The green paper is the most thorough and comprehensive analysis of digital copyright policy issued by any administration since 1995. The report is a product of the Department of Commerce’s Internet Policy Task Force (IPTF) with input from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Through the IPTF, the USPTO and NTIA will solicit further public comments and convene roundtables and forums on a number of key policy issues.

In the Green Paper, the IPTF proposes the following actions:

• Establishing a multistakeholder dialogue on improving the operation of the notice and takedown system under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
• Soliciting public comment and convening roundtables on:
• The legal framework for the creation of remixes;
• The relevance and scope of the first sale doctrine in the digital environment;
• The application of statutory damages in the context of individual file-sharers and secondary liability for large-scale online infringement;
• The appropriate role for the government, if any, to help improve the online licensing environment, including access to comprehensive public and private databases of rights information.

On August 5 an International Trade Commission import ban on older iPhones and iPads found to infringe one of Samsung’s standards-essential patents will go into effect — unless the White House overturns it. Will it? We’ll find out for certain come August 2, the deadline for the Obama Administration to weigh in on the matter.

But in the meantime, the chorus of voices urging the White House to take particular care with this decision is growing. A bipartisan group of senators has sent a letter to United States Trade Representative Michael Froman — the guy in charge of the presidential review of the ITC order — urging him to carefully consider the public interest as he weighs whether or not to veto the ITC’s order blocking the U.S. sale of AT&T iPhones prior to the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2. The letter, which takes no position on the merits of the case, cautions Froman to be wary of companies that use so-called standards-essential patents that are to be freely licensed at a “fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory rate” (FRAND) as anticompetitive weapons. And it urges him not to set a precedent that might encourage such behavior. Signing the letter, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights; Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust; Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA); and Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID).

On July 15, 2013, Local TV Holdings, LLC, and its subsidiaries (“Local TV”), Tribune Broadcasting Company II, LLC (“Tribune”), and Dreamcatcher Broadcasting, LLC (“Dreamcatcher”) filed transfer of control applications to facilitate the acquisition of Local TV by Tribune.

The stations and application file numbers are listed in the Appendix to this Press Release. The Parties are seeking the Commission’s consent to implement the Securities Purchase Agreement, as Amended, between Oak Hill Capital Partners II, L.P. (“Oak Hill”), as the Seller Representative, Local TV, Tribune, and the Tribune Company. In two markets, because of the Commission’s cross-ownership Rule, the newly merged company would not be allowed to hold both the TV station licenses that are currently held by Local TV and the local daily newspapers that are currently owned by Tribune. In those markets, the parties propose to transfer the TV licenses to Dreamcatcher pursuant to an Asset Purchase Agreement between Tribune, Dreamcatcher, and Oak Hill. Tribune also proposes to enter into a combination of agreements with Dreamcatcher that will include an Option Contract and a Shared Services Agreement regarding the stations that Dreamcatcher would acquire. Finally, Tribune seeks a continuing failing station waiver in Eureka Springs, Arkansas and a continuing satellite television waiver in Ft. Collins, Colorado.

Google Fiber, the gigabit network that is live in Provo Utah and parts of Kansas City, is facing its first big debate over network neutrality — it’s like a rite of passage for Internet service providers.

A Lawrence (KS) resident filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission over Google’s terms of service, arguing that because Google prevented people from attaching servers to their fiber lines, Google was violating network neutrality rules. This tempest in a teapot could best be used to start two serious debates over broadband policy. The first is about the archaic definition of server in a world is replete with them. The second is a debate about what constitutes business broadband as the lines between businesses and home users blur.