Federal and state legislators should take a light-touch regulatory approach to AI because there are unsettled questions about free speech and innovation potential, a Trump-appointed trade judge, a religious group and tech-minded scholars said Tuesday.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative should add Meta to its 2022 Notorious Markets List (see 2202170053) due to the proliferation of counterfeit goods on platforms like Facebook Marketplace, Instagram and WhatsApp, trade groups told the agency in comments last week.
Amazon threw its weight into Section 301 litigation inundating the U.S. Court of International Trade, alleging in a complaint Monday that the Lists 3 and 4A tariffs are unlawful under the 1974 Trade Act. It said they violate Administrative Procedure Act rules against sloppy rulemakings and are unconstitutional because only Congress, not the executive branch, can levy taxes. Amazon reported 2020 revenue of $386.1 billion and is believed now to be the second largest Section 301 plaintiff behind Walmart, which sued March 8. Walmart reported $559.2 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31. Both companies are the relatively few among the roughly 6,500 importer plaintiffs to challenge the tariffs on constitutional grounds. Crowell & Moring is representing Amazon. Walmart’s attorneys are from Hogan Lovells. Both law firms sit on the 15-member plaintiffs’ steering committee formed in March to help manage the litigation.
Signal Group hires for Strategic Communications practice include MPA ex-Chief Spokesperson and Senior Vice President-Communications Chris Ortman, most recently of Ortman Strategies, as executive vice president ... Cassandra Heyne, ex-JSI, joins SpaceX as regulatory compliance analyst ... CPA firm Baker Tilly's new partners include Cynthia Bratel for consulting with Baker Tilly Digital, along with colleagues in that practice Ollie East, Kayla Flint and Cory Wendt.
Department of Labor summary denial of displaced worker benefits to AT&T call center employees wasn't supported by evidence, U.S. Court of International Trade Judge Miller Baker ruled Tuesday (docket 20-00075), remanding the case to DOL. He said Labor didn't identify what AT&T evidence it relied on to reject Communications Workers of America claims the call center work was sent overseas. He said Labor's negative determination "simply did not acknowledge, much less discuss, the union’s [contradicting] evidence."
Open Markets Institute hires include LaRonda Peterson, ex-Rand, as managing editor and Brian Callaci, ex-Data & Society, as chief economist ... Senate confirms Isabella Casillas Guzman 81-17 for administrator, Small Business Administration ... Nominations sent to Senate for the following to be general counsels: Christopher Fonzone at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, as Jason Klitenic had resigned; Janie Simms Hipp, Department of Agriculture, a job that Stephen Vaden did before becoming Court of International Trade judge; and Leslie Kiernan, Department of Commerce, filling spot previously held by Peter Davidson.
Chief Judge Timothy Stanceu of the U.S. Court of International Trade will assume senior status at the court April 5, said an updated listing Wednesday on the U.S. Courts website. Stanceu, who turns 70 this year, was a 2003 appointee by President George W. Bush. It's speculated that Judge Mark Barnett, the longest-serving active judge on the court, will become chief judge. Barnett sits on the three-judge panel presiding over the massive Section 301 litigation, assigned there by Stanceu last month (see 2102050038).
TCL’s North American smartphone subsidiary became one of the largest importers to join the massive Section 301 litigation when it filed a complaint (in Pacer) Friday in the U.S. Court of International Trade. Like the roughly 3,500 other lawsuits inundating the court, TCT Mobile (US) seeks to get the List 3 and 4A tariffs on Chinese goods vacated and the duties refunded with interest. TCT's claims “accrued with each and every entry of products” with List 3 or 4A tariff exposure, said the company. The action was filed within two years of the date that TCT paid the duties, it said, satisfying the court’s statute of limitations requirement on the timeliness of complaints. “With a mobile handset product portfolio that includes TCL and Alcatel devices,” TCT is “the fourth largest handset manufacturer in North America,” it said. The complaint lists two dozen import categories for which TCT has List 3 or 4A tariff exposure. Most are for capital goods, packaging materials or components, including lithium-ion batteries. Finished smartphones that TCT imports from China under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule’s 8517.12.00 subheading are on List 4B. The Trump administration postponed indefinitely the 15% tariffs on List 4B goods from taking effect in December 2019 after reaching the phase one trade deal with China (see 1912130042).
Davis Wright adds satellite and telecom lawyer Lafayette Greenfield from Milbank as partner ... Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council hires Fallon Wilson, UmanityEDU founder, as vice president-policy, leading MMTC’s work on technology, data privacy, artificial intelligence and digital-age civil rights; infrastructure, broadband connectivity and digital inclusion; and multicultural media ownership and content diversity ... Herman & Whiteaker promotes Clare Liedquist Andonov to principal, focusing on wireless and wireline broadband, auctions and communications tower compliance ... Access Partnership appoints Dileep Srihari from CompTIA as senior policy counsel, U.S. team.
The U.S. Court of International Trade granted DOJ’s second motion requesting leave to file an updated “schedule of cases” related to the first-filed HMTX Industries-Jasco Products Section 301 complaint, said Chief Judge Timothy Stanceu's order (in Pacer) Tuesday in docket 1:20-cv-00177. The motion “concerns overall case management of an unusually large volume of cases, none of which have yet been assigned to an individual Judge,” said DOJ's Tuesday motion. Roughly 3,700 cases have inundated the court, all seeking to vacate the Lists 3 and 4A tariff rulemakings on Chinese imports and refund the duties. The plaintiffs who responded to DOJ’s Sept. 23 motion (in Pacer) for case management procedures have “generally agreed” the cases other than the HMTX-Jasco action “should be stayed while a test-case procedure is implemented,” said DOJ. The revised schedule of pending cases (in Pacer) attached to the motion spans 194 pages and includes actions filed through Monday. Cases have continued trickling, at least one a day. All assert timeliness under the court’s two-year statute of limitations, dating to first payment of the List 3 tariffs upon the entry of goods in 2018.