Senate Republicans revived the year-old charge the White House unduly influenced the FCC net neutrality order. They cited new documents showing the internal agency discussions in November and December 2014 and the “pause” in developing the order after President Barack Obama’s Nov. 10 message urging the FCC to develop strong net neutrality rules under Communications Act Title II. They slammed the agency for what they called violations of the Administrative Procedure Act.
A year after the FCC approved its net neutrality order in a contentious 3-2 vote, tensions remain high. Commissioner Ajit Pai, who voted against the order, said in a speech at the Heritage Foundation Friday that the order has led to a reduction in spending by ISPs on their networks, a result he said he had predicted. Small ISPs in particular have cut investments, he said.
The death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia could slow the timeline and alter the outcome of litigation over the FCC net neutrality and Communications Act Title II broadband reclassification order, industry observers told us Tuesday. Some said there are many unknowns, including about who will replace him on the court and when. Scalia was remembered as a justice who deferred to the commission’s judgment on some other key cases and had a long, deep interest in communications policy.
The Telecom Act ushered in Internet innovation and growth even though it didn’t fully anticipate market developments, said some who helped draft the legislation that became law 20 years ago. Congress didn’t get all the details right, but the 1996 act created a strong competitive framework that was flexible enough to undergird huge investment in communications networks and Internet applications, panelists said at a Tuesday discussion hosted by the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy.
Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson, an active voice in debates about online gambling, favors Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in the GOP presidential primary race, according to the latest campaign finance reports filed Sunday. Adelson donated $2,700, the maximum allowable, to Cruz Nov. 18. Many prominent telecom and media industry officials have already maxed out their contributions to preferred candidates in earlier months of the primary contests, with much of the money flowing last year to former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in the GOP contest, and to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary race, based on filings in July (see 1507210050) and October (see 1510190060). Rubio, an outspoken advocate for federal spectrum reallocation, continued to attract donors from the Washington telecom area in the latest quarter. Verizon Vice President-Federal Government Relations Courtney Reinhard, former chief of staff to Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and aide to Commissioner Ajit Pai, donated $250 to Rubio Nov. 23, and CTIA Director-Government Affairs Jamie Hjort gave $2,200 Nov. 16. Wiley Rein’s Brian Pandya, Daniel Pickard, Nancy Victory and Scott Weaver donated to Rubio in recent months. GOP front-runner Donald Trump’s disclosures showed little telecom interest among donors. Clinton also continued to receive some donations from officials with telecom stakes. Kim Matthews, an FCC Media Bureau official, donated $500 to Clinton in October, and agency attorney Sarah Whitesell donated $1,000 Dec. 5 to Clinton, bringing her Clinton donations up to $2,000 this cycle. The Wireless Bureau’s Charles Breckinridge donated $500 to Clinton in November. Several employees for AT&T, based in Texas, donated to Cruz, while several people affiliated with the Communications Workers of America offered small donations to Sanders. CWA formally endorsed Sanders last year (see 1512220042).
Verizon probably won’t make a bid to take part in FirstNet, industry officials said in interviews Friday. That probably leaves AT&T standing alone as the top contender to build the public safety network, probably in partnership with other companies, they said. Other industry observers said they wouldn't count out T-Mobile as the carrier anchor for a partnership to build the network. FirstNet released its requests for proposals Jan. 13 and applications are due April 29 (see 1601130046).
Former FCC Chairmen Richard Wiley and Michael Copps agreed on promoting diversity and allowing more private commissioner meetings, but disagreed on broadband regulation, the Internet's direction and political advertising at a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council conference Thursday. Both said more should be done to promote minority ownership and diversity in general in the communications sector. They also expressed concern the upcoming incentive auction would reduce the number of broadcast TV stations run by minorities and small business owners.
The Supreme Court’s grant of certiorari Friday in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons sets the court up to potentially change the standards for awarding attorney’s fees to the prevailing party in copyright lawsuits, copyright lawyers and stakeholders told us in interviews. The Supreme Court granted certiorari in response to Thai citizen Supap Kirtsaeng’s petition for a review of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit’s ruling in May that Kirtsaeng wasn’t entitled to receive attorney’s fees from textbook company Wiley after winning a 2013 Supreme Court case. The court had ruled Kirtsaeng’s resale an import of textbooks from Thailand to the U.S. that was covered by the first-sale doctrine (see report in the March 20, 2013, issue).
CTA faces a June 9 deadline for responding to Patent and Trademark Office pushback on its Aug. 25 application (see 1511110002) to register the CTA initials as a stand-alone trademark, PTO records show. PTO examiners appear from the records to have no problems with the application to register the full Consumer Technology Association name. But a “prior-filed pending application may present a bar” to landing CTA as a stand-alone registration (serial number 86736073) or even in conjunction with the full Consumer Technology Association name (serial number 86736040), the agency emailed Wiley Rein partner Christopher Kelly, CTA’s lead outside trademark attorney. CTA had no comment Thursday.
Net neutrality dominated the House Communications Subcommittee hearing on four legislative measures Tuesday. Some members wondered about revising bills to achieve bipartisan consensus, but they largely showcased partisan divide in how they interpreted possible burdens from the FCC's order. The two heavily debated measures were the No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act (HR-2666) and a discussion draft of the Small Business Broadband Deployment Act, which would codify the temporary exemption small businesses have from the order's enhanced transparency requirements.