Nokia promotes Sandra Motley to president-fixed networks, names her and Mobile Networks President Tommi Uitto (see this section, Nov. 26) to group leadership team ... Iridium Chief Operations Officer Scott Smith retiring; Suzi McBride from OneWeb succeeds him ... Symantec's Nicholas Noviello is stepping down as executive vice president-chief financial officer ... Kevin Brockman, executive vice president-global communications, Disney|ABC Television, to depart after close of Disney buying much of 21st Century Fox ... SoftBank hires Sarah Lubman, ex-Brunswick Group, as partner-corporate communications.
Information Technology Industry Council board elects from Electronic Transactions Association Jason Oxman, formerly with what was then CEA and now is CTA, as president-CEO, effective Feb. 28; at around that time, outgoing ITI chief Dean Garfield joins Netflix (see this section, Nov. 20); also at around that time, ETA will start searching for a new CEO; the group's Chairman-President Kevin Jones, Celero Commerce, will work with the association's staff.
CTA hired Akin Gump to draft a complaint that, if pursued in the U.S. Court of International Trade, would seek an injunction blocking tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports before they rise to 25 percent on Jan. 1, we learned from those familiar with the plans. The association is shopping the draft around with other anti-tariff trade groups, seeking legal and financial backing for a court challenge over the IP-related sanctions, they said. Association staffers briefed CTA members on the strategy during an annual conference two weeks ago in Boston (see 1810160041), we're told. Though CTA hasn’t persuaded another trade group to “step up to the plate yet,” there’s time to win backing because no court action would be contemplated before January, said one high-placed individual in CTA membership. We polled a half-dozen trade groups whose opposition to the tariffs is well-publicized to gauge their interest in joining the litigation. Few commented Monday, nor did CTA. The Telecommunications Industry Association said Monday it doesn't now "plan to join the litigation."
White House tariffs on steel are beginning to increase prices for companies involved in the post-incentive auction repacking, but the tariffs aren’t pushing up costs as much as competition for crews and resources is, said antenna and tower industry officials in interviews. “The main thing increasing the costs are the crew prices,” said Electronics Research Inc. Vice President-Marketing Bill Harland. “It’s an impact,” said FDH Infrastructure Business Development Manager Don Doty of the tariffs. “But the repack itself -- the demand -- is raising prices higher.”
Fiber network equipment is classifiable as optical instruments of chapter 90 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S., the Court of International Trade ruled. ADC Telecommunications argued Customs and Border Protection should have classified its “value added modules” as duty-free data transmission equipment. CIT held Wednesday that optical equipment includes fiber cables that transmit non-visible light, confirming CBP’s liquidation as “other optical appliances and instruments” at a 4.5 percent duty. A lawyer for ADC didn't comment.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling saying cellphone cases imported by OtterBox are classifiable in the tariff schedule as generic “other” articles of plastic, dutiable at 5.3 percent, rather than as containers subject to a 20 percent duty rate. A three-judge Federal Circuit panel agreed last week with a year-old U.S. Court of International Trade decision that the cellphone cases don't meet most of the four criteria for classification as containers under heading 4202 -- organizing, storing, protecting and carrying -- and are also dissimilar from such containers because they're designed to allow use of the cellphone while inside the container.
Former FTC Commissioner Josh Wright shared during a Federalist Society teleforum Tuesday that the highlight of his tenure at the FTC was the issuance of the commission’s FTC Act Section 5 statement. Wright, who left the commission in late August, suggested his replacement come in with an agenda so he or she could focus his or her efforts, and pushed back against those who said he had a negative view of the agency, saying he agreed with the majority of commissioners 99 percent of the time.
The intellectual property enforcement coordinator is beginning a review of Customs and Border Protection enforcement of International Trade Commission exclusion orders. The initiative was announced June 4 by President Barack Obama, as part of a broader effort toward reducing frivolous “patent trolling” in intellectual property litigation (CD June 5 p12). The interagency review by IPEC will evaluate procedures CBP and the ITC use to determine the scope of exclusion orders, which are issued by the ITC in Section 337 cases to bar imports of intellectual property-infringing merchandise, said a Federal Register notice. Comments on several issues related to the review are due July 21. The interagency group will come out with recommendations from its review within six months, IPEC said. Violations of Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 occur when foreign goods that infringe intellectual property rights -- like patents, copyrights and trademarks -- are being sold in the U.S., and a viable domestic industry exists that is using the protected technology. If the ITC finds violations of Section 337 in an investigation, it may issue cease and desist orders and exclusion orders. Exclusion orders bar imports that infringe the intellectual property rights at issue, and may be either limited (applying to one company) or general (applying to all infringing products). CBP is tasked with enforcing the exclusion orders. Because exclusion orders don’t cover all imports of a given product -- they only bar infringing imports -- CBP must determine whether a particular product infringes the intellectual property rights and should be barred. CBP enforcement of exclusion orders was recently at issue in a Court of International Trade case on CBP’s refusal of entry to a Corning Gilbert coaxial cable connector based on an ITC exclusion order. Despite CBP’s argument that it can’t undertake detailed patent infringement analyses for every product potentially subject to ITC exclusion orders, the court said CBP should have done more, and reversed the agency’s decision to refuse entry. The government subsequently withdrew an appeal of the decision. IPEC said the interagency review of CBP exclusion order enforcement will be chaired by that office, a division of the Office of Management and Budget, and will include representatives from the ITC, U.S. Trade Representative, and the departments of Homeland Security, Treasury and Justice. The group will evaluate procedures used to determine the scope of exclusion orders, and ensure such procedures are “transparent, effective, and efficient,” IPEC said. One focus will be whether CBP uses transparent procedures when determining whether an article is subject to an ITC exclusion order. The group will also look at ways to improve ITC enforcement instructions to CBP. IPEC seeks comment in connection with its review on recommendations for changes to agency policies, practices, guidance and regulation.
CBS Executive Vice President-Planning, Policy and Government Affairs Marty Franks retiring, effective Sept. 30 … Senate confirmed Claire Kelly and Mark Barnett as judges on the U.S. Court of International Trade … Source Photonics hires Doug Wright, ex-United Technologies, as president and CEO, succeeding CEO Near Margalit, named chief product officer, new position at provider of optical communication products for telecom systems and data networks … Neustar hires John Caldwell, ex-National Geographic Society, as vice president-media and new ventures … RLJ Entertainment hires Drew Wilson, ex-Discovery Communications, as chief financial officer, succeeding John Avagliano, who left to pursue other opportunities … Turner Broadcasting System hires Chris Linn, ex-MTV, as truTV president and head of programming … Journal Communications promotes WTVF Nashville President/General Manager Debbie Turner to vice president of the company … Uber hires Andrew Noyes, ex-Facebook and Warren Communications News, to manage communications and be based in San Francisco office, effective June 17.
InterMedia Outdoors Holdings, which owns the Sportsman Channel, agreed to buy control of Outdoor Channel Holdings and form a new company, InterMedia Outdoor Holdings Inc., in a cash and stock “election merger,” the companies said. Outdoor Channel shareholders will be entitled either to $8 or one share in the new company for each share of Outdoor they hold, the Outdoor Channel said. That values the deal at about $207 million based on Outdoor Channel’s 25.82 million shares outstanding. The new company has secured $150 million from CIT Communications, Media and Entertainment to finance part of the deal and to refinance some debt, it said. The transaction is expected to close before April, the company said. Outdoor Channel’s shares closed up 4.6 percent Friday to $7.52.