No court previously addressed the particular copyright issues involving a conduit ISP that came up in BMG v. Cox Communications, so there "was nothing objectively unreasonable" about the cable operator's staking out a position adhering to the Copyright Act, the ISP said in an opposition (in Pacer) Monday to the plaintiff's motion for $10.48 million in attorney's fees and $2.92 million in expenses (see 1610030005). The Supreme Court's decision earlier this year in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons made clear that awarding fees in a case that meaningfully clarifies the law doesn't serve the Copyright Act, Cox said. The company said that in seeking the award, BMG is ignoring the novelty of the legal issues and instead "attempt[ing] to re-litigate virtually every skirmish, disagreement and discovery dispute, wrongly portraying Cox as wearing the black hat in every instance." Cox said the $25 million jury award given the music company includes compensation and deterrence, but even if the court wanted to award fees, BMG is seeking far too much, given the jury's split decision and the few remedies BMG sought -- such as its unsuccessful vicarious liability claim and permanent injunction -- that it achieved. BMG didn't comment Tuesday.
Despite the end of the cable industry's premier trade show, NCTA's INTX, and CTIA folding its conference into GSMA Mobile World Congress (see 1606220030), telco and trade show industry experts and insiders see those as outliers in an otherwise healthy trade show ecosystem. American Cable Association President Matt Polka -- himself a longtime INTX attendee -- said it's too early to say whether new shows will spring up to replace INTX, or whether existing shows -- such as those ACA helps organize and sponsor -- will expand. ACA planning for its 2017 events is going ahead "as is," Polka told us.
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition took place as expected Saturday (see 1609300065). NTIA confirmed it allowed its contract with ICANN to administer the IANA functions to lapse just before midnight Friday, after U.S. District Court Judge George Hanks ruled in Galveston, Texas, against a temporary restraining order request to delay the switchover. Four Republican state attorneys general filed the TRO request (see 1609290073). Industry officials lauded the transition’s completion, with several telling us the handoff provides certainty to the internet industry and allows them to move on to other pressing issues.
DLA Piper hires from Wiley Rein Michael Senkowski and Nancy Victory; Senkowski previously was chairman of Wiley's telecom group and Victory was chairwoman of the wireless group; Wiley also said another Wiley lawyer and two engineering advisers will leave, though DLA Piper said it didn't hire them ... Munger, Tolles announced Donald Verrilli, ex-solicitor general, is opening its Washington, D.C., office, to be joined by litigator Michael DeSanctis and Chad Golder, ex-deputy associate attorney general ... Raycom Media elevates Scott Thomas to vice president-general manager, KFVS-TV Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and WQWQ-LP Paducah, Kentucky, succeeding Dave Thomason, who moved in those jobs to the Raycom's WAFF Huntsville, Alabama.
Twelve Republican senators spoke out again Friday in opposition to NTIA's plans to proceed with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority switch Oct. 1. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and nine other GOP senators jointly issued a statement urging Senate Democrats to join them in opposing the transition. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in a Fox News opinion piece he wants to delay the move but supports the IANA transition eventually occurring once there's further assurance that ICANN is ready. The 12 senators were on record as supporting either a delay or full cancellation of the IANA transition. Cruz, Grassley and other GOP senators criticized aspects of the transition during a sometimes contentious Wednesday Senate Judiciary Oversight Subcommittee hearing (see 1609140062).
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai’s call to action to the FCC and Congress to speed deployment of gigabit broadband service to low-income, rural communities met with widespread industry support. Pai spoke at an Ohio startup incubator Tuesday (see 1609130061). “We are grateful to Commissioner Pai for his efforts to jump-start this discussion with specific ideas and for placing a spotlight on the fact that more public and private resources are needed to address and overcome our nation’s rural broadband challenges,” NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield said. Pai is working “to remove barriers to the widespread deployment of wireless infrastructure which will unleash the vast benefits of mobile broadband for consumers and the economy,” said Jonathan Adelstein, president of the Wireless Infrastructure Association. The speech is “a breath of fresh air,” said Berin Szoka, president of TechFreedom. “For the last six years, the FCC has cynically invoked inadequate broadband deployment as a pretext for pushing its preconceived regulatory agenda -- while doing next to nothing to make broadband deployment easier. The right question has never been whether the FCC should act, but whether it’s focused on the right goals and is acting within its legal authority.” Pai’s proposal for gigabit opportunity zones “was inspired by Jack Kemp’s market-driven enterprise zones concept 40 years ago,” said David Honig, president emeritus of the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council. “Gigabit Opportunity Zones have considerable promise as part of the toolkit that could ensure that all Americans -- especially those who need broadband the most to lift them out of poverty -- are afforded access.” "Unfettered free market beats industrial policy every time!” tweeted Robert McDowell, now at Wiley Rein, who served with Pai on the FCC. “See common-sense & powerful plan by @AjitPaiFCC.” Kemp was a Republican member of Congress who championed enterprise zones.
Capitol Hill Republicans are finalizing language in the short-term continuing resolution aimed at preventing the planned Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Tuesday. The language would extend a rider in the Department of Commerce's FY 2016 budget that bars NTIA from using federal funds on the transition. The CR may move on the Senate floor this week. A GAO report released earlier in the day found the transition won't result in a transfer of U.S. government property and likely resolves one of the many issues posed by critics. Resolution of the of property issue won't by itself drastically shift the debate on the Hill on delaying the changeover, lobbyists said in interviews.
An FCC outage reporting order may come this year, industry officials predicted. They said Chairman Tom Wheeler could push through rules at the November or December commissioner meeting, likely the last for a while when Democrats would have a clear majority (see 1609030001). Experts spoke with us as replies in docket 15-80 largely made the same points as in initial comments (see 1608290045) on an FCC proposal to extend outage reporting requirements to broadband providers. Industry commenters slammed the move, approved as part of a contested May item on Part 4 outage filing requirements (see 1605250061).
Charter Communications hires Elizabeth Biley Andrion, ex-FCC, as senior vice president-regulatory affairs, and moves in government affairs Senior Vice President Alex Hoehn-Saric to newly created position of senior vice president-policy and external affairs ... Wiley Rein promotes David Gross and Kathleen Kirby to co-chairs, Telecom, Media & Technology practice ... Covington & Burling hires Jadzia Butler, Center for Democracy & Technology privacy, surveillance and security fellow, as associate, effective Oct. 10 ... Goodwin law firm adds Karen Neuman, ex-Department of Homeland Security, as partner, Privacy & Cybersecurity practice, and as privacy lead in Washington office ... Wilkinson Barker hires Mark Settle, ex-FCC Office of Engineering and Technology, as senior engineering adviser, and Danielle Thumann, Catholic University graduate, as associate.
If Hillary Clinton is elected president in November, her likely choice for FCC chairman is almost as hard to predict as who Republican Donald Trump would pick (see 1603070038), former FCC officials and industry analysts and lawyers said. Trump doesn’t have experience in Washington, but Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, know a lot of people in the industry, which also makes an eventual chairman selection hard to handicap, industry officials said.