The Supreme Court decided not to grant certiorari for Google’s appeal of Oracle’s lawsuit against the company over claims that Google copied Oracle’s Java application programming interface (API) technology in its Android mobile operating system. The court didn’t comment on its reasoning for refusing to hear arguments on the case. It said Justice Samuel Alito “took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.”
Sirius XM’s disclosure Friday that it had a $210 million settlement with multiple record labels to settle the labels’ lawsuit over unpaid royalties for pre-1972 sound recordings is likely to accelerate a push for Sirius and other digital streaming services to settle similar lawsuits, industry officials told us. Sirius said in an SEC filing posted on its website Friday that it reached the settlement June 17 with ABKCO Music & Records, Capitol Records, Sony Music Entertainment, UMG Recordings and Warner Music Group to end the labels’ joint lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The settlement, to be paid out by July 15, resolves all royalty issues with the labels through the end of 2017. Sirius said it also has the option for an additional license with the record labels through 2022. Royalty rates for additional performance licenses “will be determined by negotiation or, if the parties are unable to agree, binding arbitration,” Sirius said in the filing.
The Senate Commerce Committee cleared the Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters (DOTCOM) Act (S-1551) Thursday on a voice vote. It fended off an amendment that would have required an up or down vote from the House and Senate on ICANN's forthcoming Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition plan (see 1506230066). S-1551 and its House-passed version (HR-805) would give Congress 30 legislative days to review an NTIA report on whether ICANN's IANA transition plan meets U.S. goals on Internet openness. Meanwhile, ICANN stakeholder groups charged with developing plans related to the IANA transition reported progress on those plans Thursday during the ICANN 53 meeting in Buenos Aires.
ICANN stakeholders urged leaders of the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) during ICANN’s meeting in Buenos Aires Wednesday to consider moving to the back burner some issues it’s considering addressing in a proposal on new ICANN accountability. It's a bid to simplify the proposal to include only changes deemed critical for the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition. CCWG-Accountability and the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) are working on plans for the IANA transition process, evaluating several community proposals on the transition. The IANA transition process has been, as expected (see 1506190061), the dominant topic at ICANN’s Buenos Aires meeting, which is taking place amid a legislative push to give Congress more oversight over the transition.
The House was on track Tuesday to easily pass the Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters (DOTCOM) Act (HR-805). Meanwhile, supporters of the bill’s Senate version (S-1551) were grappling behind the scenes with what they view as a problematic amendment that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is considering introducing ahead of the Senate Commerce Committee’s planned Thursday markup of S-1551. The House passed HR-805 Tuesday on a voice vote but a requested recorded vote wasn’t set to occur until after our deadline.
NTIA’s spinoff of its oversight of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions now appears likely to happen by the end of June 2016, said ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé Monday during the ICANN 53 meeting in Buenos Aires. ICANN’s IANA transition planning process, which includes work to modify the nonprofit’s accountability mechanisms, is to be the dominant topic throughout ICANN 53. Stakeholders also plan to focus during the meeting on the search for Chehadé’s successor as head of ICANN and on the future of ICANN’s generic top-level domains program. The meeting ends Thursday (see 1506190061). Chehadé said he’s basing his assessment that NTIA’s current contract with ICANN for the IANA functions may now end just over “a year from today” on feedback from ICANN community leaders on the current status of IANA transition planning.
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition process and accompanying ICANN accountability proposals are set to again dominate proceedings as ICANN 53 convenes in Buenos Aires this week, but questions about the search for a successor to outgoing ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé and the future direction of the generic top-level domains rollout also loom large, stakeholders told us. Debate over the IANA transition at ICANN 53 is likely to center on how much time stakeholders believe it will take to complete the planning and finalization of ICANN’s transition proposal, stakeholders said. ICANN 53, which was to begin Sunday and will run through Thursday, is the nonprofit’s last major meeting before the current Sept. 30 expiration date of ICANN’s current contract with NTIA to administer the IANA functions.
Search for New Librarian of Congress Highlights Questions About Copyright Office Future, IT Policies
Librarian of Congress James Billington’s planned Jan. 1 departure as head of the LOC re-highlights the need for the LOC to fix ongoing IT issues amid the current debate about the U.S. Copyright Office’s future, copyright stakeholders told us in interviews. Billington announced his planned departure last week (see 1506100029). The GAO criticized the LOC’s IT policies in a March report, saying the library lacks “clear direction” for its IT program and needs to “expeditiously” hire a chief information officer (see 1503310046). Copyright stakeholders have noted those IT issues as one of the main reasons for the CO to become an independent federal agency (see 1502260057 and 1502200040). The search for Billington’s successor should include some focus on finding a tech-savvy candidate, but that shouldn’t be the primary prerequisite, stakeholders told us.
The House Commerce Committee passed the Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters (DOTCOM) Act (HR-805) Wednesday, easily clearing the bill as expected (see 1506160059) on a voice vote. HR-805 and its Senate version (S-1551) would require NTIA to submit a report to Congress certifying that ICANN’s Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition plan meets the U.S. goal of maintaining global Internet openness. HR-805 would give Congress 30 legislative days to review the report before NTIA can relinquish its IANA oversight role. The bill also would require NTIA to certify that ICANN has adopted proposed changes to its bylaws.
The Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters (DOTCOM) Act (HR-805) is expected to easily pass through the House Commerce Committee Wednesday amid widening perceptions that compromise language agreed to at last week’s House Communications Subcommittee markup broke a logjam over how to create acceptable oversight of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition, industry officials said in interviews. The compromise HR-805 that House Communications approved would require NTIA to submit a report to Congress certifying that ICANN’s IANA transition plan meets the U.S. goal of maintaining global Internet openness. HR-805 would give Congress 30 legislative days to review the report before NTIA can relinquish its IANA oversight role. The bill also would require NTIA to certify that ICANN has adopted proposed changes to its bylaws (see 1506150064).