Jimm Phillips

Action from Congress on liability protections and improvements to federal hiring will aid the Department of Homeland Security in its work to strengthen public-private partnerships on cybersecurity, said Phyllis Schneck, DHS deputy undersecretary-cybersecurity, during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing Wednesday. The hearing focused on how DHS, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and critical infrastructure entities have been implementing President Barack Obama’s 2013 cybersecurity executive order. NIST released its “Version 1.0” Cybersecurity Framework in mid-February, while DHS began to encourage voluntary industry use of the framework at the same time through its Critical Infrastructure Cyber Community program (CD Feb 13 p5).

The Senate Judiciary Committee appeared close to reaching agreement Wednesday on language for a compromise version of the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720), but had not yet circulated the compromise language, stakeholders told us in interviews. The committee is scheduled to begin considering S-1720 Thursday at an executive business meeting, but under committee rules all new bills up for consideration are automatically rescheduled for markup at least a week after first coming before the committee, putting a markup of S-1720 no earlier than April 3. A committee spokeswoman would not confirm where negotiations stand on S-1720, but said in an email that Leahy and committee staff “continue working with other offices on a bipartisan agreement.”

A U.S.-championed compromise on a long-anticipated World Intellectual Property Organization treaty updating broadcasters’ signal rights is unlikely to require major changes to U.S. copyright law, said lawyers for the NAB and Public Knowledge. WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) will continue deliberations on the broadcasting treaty at a April 28-May 2 meeting, building on progress it made during negotiations in December (CD Dec 23 p11).

Oceus Networks said it believes the broadcast auxiliary spectrum (BAS) band, the 1780-1850 MHz band and the 3.5 GHz band, which Verizon Communications has proposed for federal use, are not “suitable for LTE mission-oriented uses” (http://bit.ly/1gQE3wg). Verizon filed an ex parte with the FCC Tuesday proposing the three bands for federal use as part of the FCC’s ongoing proceeding on rules for the 1695-1710 MHz, 1755-1780 MHz and 2155-2180 MHz bands (http://bit.ly/1r7DRxg). The BAS band is not allocated for commercial use and “will not have an available ecosystem,” Oceus said Friday. The 1780-1850 MHz band is not available in the U.S. for LTE use and will be “heavily used” by Department of Defense systems after they reallocate from the 1755-1780 MHz band, Oceus said. The 3.5 GHz band “may develop the LTE commercial device and chipset ecosystem, but the range and power levels may not be suitable for all military tactical uses,” Oceus said. Verizon also said in its filing Tuesday that access to military bases and the process to gain approval to construct towers on bases makes siting more difficult. Oceus said Friday that even though the Federal Property Working Group is working to improve access to military bases and related processes, “there is no guarantee that commercial carriers will provide service in these areas.” Spectrum in sparsely populated and geographically remote locations will remain “fallow” and would support DOD mission-oriented needs that carrier networks would be unlikely to support if service were provided on bases.

An Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) conference to convene Monday is likely to be dominated by discussions on how oversight of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) may evolve following NTIA’s announcement that it would begin transitioning its oversight of IANA to the “global Internet community,” parties told us. The Singapore conference will be ICANN’s first public meeting since the NTIA announcement, which called for ICANN and other stakeholders to reach a consensus on a transition plan before the current contract between NTIA and ICANN expires Sept. 30, 2015. The contract allows ICANN to administer IANA on NTIA’s behalf. Debate over the IANA transition is also likely to color how stakeholders discuss Internet governance issues at several other international forums this year, stakeholders said.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler continues to view the incentive auction as important to his priority of making more spectrum available for commercial use, but recent progress on development of the AWS-3 auction is also a “big deal,” said Renee Gregory, his wireless adviser, during an FCBA event. Industry observers have said the FCC slowed its work on incentive auction rules while simultaneously steaming ahead on rules for the AWS-3 auction, which must be wrapped up later this year (CD Feb 27 p1). The commission is to consider some of the AWS-3 rules, along with an order on Wi-Fi use on the 5.1 GHz band -- also known as the Unlicensed-National Information Infrastructure-1 (U-NII-1) band -- at its March 31 meeting. Wireless aides to the other FCC commissioners also noted during Thursday’s event that the commission continues to view the incentive auction as its main priority. The FCC remains “on track” to issue a report and order on the incentive auction rules this spring, Gregory said.

Recent developments indicate there’s some movement on legislation to improve the U.S. patent system and curb abusive patent litigation, though concerns about provisions in individual bills remain, said industry stakeholders in interviews. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., placed the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720) on the docket for the committee’s March 27 executive business meeting, meaning the committee could mark up the bill as soon as April 3. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced the Patent Fee Integrity Act Thursday night, earning support from stakeholders. That bill would establish a separate fund for Patent and Trademark Office user fees to allow PTO full access to that line of funding. Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., were original co-sponsors of the bill (1.usa.gov/1fYavy4). The future for the Transparency in Assertion of Patents Act (S-2049) remains murky, with no firm date yet set for a rescheduled markup following two postponements, stakeholders said.

Hewlett-Packard mostly supports the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s proposed rules for expanding its patent ownership information disclosure requirements, said Scott Pojunas, HP director-patent development, at a PTO hearing Thursday. PTO was collecting public feedback on its proposed rules, which would require patent applicants and owners to expand their disclosure-of-ownership information to include entities PTO considers to have a claim to “attributable ownership” (http://1.usa.gov/1n5qjAq). Previously referred to as “real-party-in-interest” (RPI) by the PTO, entities with attributable ownership would include any patent title holder, the ultimate parent entity behind the title holder and enforcement entities that have a stake in asserting patent ownership rights. PTO replaced RPI with attributable ownership because RPI is used elsewhere in U.S. patent law and the agency wanted to avoid confusion, said Bob Bahr, PTO’s senior patent counsel.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sought stakeholders’ recommendations Wednesday on best practices it should include in its voluntary guidelines for technology meant to allow drivers safe and limited use of mobile devices while a vehicle is in motion. The guidelines, which NHTSA plans to propose later this year, are “Phase 2” of the agency’s plans to collaborate with stakeholders on distracted driving technology. NHTSA released its “Phase 1” guidelines last year, which focused on distraction mitigation related to devices built into a vehicle (http://1.usa.gov/1iBUXBV). The “Phase 3” guidelines would examine technology related to auditory and vocal interfaces, NHTSA said. A meeting Wednesday was the first in what NHTSA plans to be a series of input sessions, said acting NHTSA Administrator David Friedman. NHTSA is also seeking written comments on the guidelines, which stakeholders can submit until May 12, said a notice in the Federal Register (http://xrl.us/bqpmr4).

Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son went directly to the public, bypassing federal regulators Tuesday to make his case that the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier needs to get bigger to compete with AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Sprint majority owner SoftBank has the technology to increase U.S. wireless broadband speeds but needs additional spectrum and infrastructure to do it, Son said in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. SoftBank has run into early opposition from U.S. regulators to Sprint’s rumored interest in a Sprint/T-Mobile US merger. Son, who also leads SoftBank, did not specifically mention T-Mobile during his speech Tuesday. However, in an appearance on PBS’s Charlie Rose Monday night, he said explicitly he would still like to buy T-Mobile. Industry observers told us in interviews Tuesday they are skeptical that Son’s recent comments, meant to shift its argument for a T-Mobile deal, will sway regulators’ concerns.