Free Press, OTI, PK Ask FCC to Delay Triggering Court Lottery on Net Neutrality Challenges

Free Press, New America's Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge urged the commission "not to forward these petitions or any other premature petitions it receives, to the Multidistrict Litigation ('MDL') panel for inclusion in the lottery until ten days after Federal Register publication," said a letter, released Wednesday, their counsel wrote the agency. They recognized the FCC specified the judicial review timetable wouldn't begin until Federal Register publication of a summary of the commission's ruling and orders undoing net neutrality regulation, but they said premature petitions could still be filed. "We thus have filed the petitions in an abundance of caution to protect our rights," said their letter. OTI, Public Knowledge, state attorneys general and Mozilla filed petitions for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Free Press filed a petition in the 1st Circuit. Santa Clara County, California, filed a petition in the 9th Circuit. Various parties told us they weren't aware of any other petitions but said the FCC was in the best position to know, since petitioners are supposed to notify the agency. The agency didn't comment. Mozilla counsel Markham Erickson of Steptoe & Johnson said the FCC's path for dealing with the initial petitions should be clear soon: “I expect to know within days whether the FCC certifies the petitions to the multidistrict lottery.” An agency spokesman confirmed that FR publication of the item summary, not the effective date, will start the period for filing petitions for review in court and petitions for reconsideration at the commission, but declined comment on timing.