An import ban on certain older-model Samsung mobile devices was set to take effect Tuesday night after U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman declined to veto a limited exclusion order issued by the U.S. International Trade Commission. The Samsung phones and tablets had been the subject of a Section 337 case Apple brought to the ITC. USTR gave Apple a reprieve from a similar import ban in August (CD Aug 15 p10). Samsung said in a statement it’s “disappointed” by the USTR’s decision, saying “it will serve only to reduce competition and limit choice for the American consumer."
Implementation of President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order is on an indefinite hold at most federal agencies because of the government shutdown, the effects of which vary, said industry observers. The order directed the Department of Homeland Security and National Institute of Standards and Technology to execute most provisions, though the departments of Defense and Treasury, U.S. intelligence agencies and sector-specific agencies also hold implementation responsibilities (CD Feb 14 p1). Much of the public attention related to the order has focused on NIST’s work with critical infrastructure industries to develop the voluntary Cybersecurity Framework, but observers said development of the framework will be almost entirely unaffected by even an extended shutdown. Other parts of the order will be more adversely affected by further delays, they said.
CEA is hopeful Congress might be within “striking distance” of meaningful legislation to address patent litigation abuse, said Michael Petricone, senior vice president-government and regulatory affairs. Momentum to address patent litigation abuse has increased quickly over the course of 2013, with many on Capitol Hill still viewing it as a “niche problem” at the beginning of the year, Petricone said at an event Monday meant to address legislative issues of importance to U.S. startups. “Now, they see that it’s impacting the entire economy.” Legislation to address patent litigation abuse during the 112th Congress -- including the Saving High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes (SHIELD) Act -- focused on technology companies, but bills in the current 113th include all sectors.
A report commissioned by the left-leaning Progressive Policy Institute argues that “progressives” should wholeheartedly back efforts to solve the problems caused by abusive patent litigation filed by patent assertion entities (http://bit.ly/151Jx1M). PAE lawsuits are “sucking the lifeblood of innovation out of the American economy,” said Shook, Hardy partner Phil Goldberg, the report’s author, during a conference call on the release the report Tuesday. PAE-initiated litigation has “mushroomed” over the past decade amid the “perfect storm” caused by the rising number of patents that resulted from the increasing economic strength of software and consumer electronics companies, Goldberg said in the report. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has seen a rapid rise in the number of patent applications over the past 20 years, and many consumer electronics include technology covered by hundreds of thousands of patents -- an average smartphone may hold technology covered by 250,000 patents, the report said. This convergence of technologies “has created seemingly endless opportunities for patent holders to allege that others’ products are infringing on their patents,” the report said.
The private sector must be just as involved as the U.S. government in improving cybersecurity -- particularly when it comes to economic cyberespionage and intellectual property theft, said former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff Thursday. Chertoff is now of counsel at Covington & Burling and chairman of the Chertoff Group, which consults with companies on cybersecurity issues. Industry actors can no longer consider increasing their cybersecurity protections a “luxury” -- it’s now a necessary protection of economic growth and profitability, he said at a Covington & Burling-George Washington University Cybersecurity Initiative event. Cybertheft has become the “preferred pathway” for entities to steal intellectual property -- and it’s the most visible cyberthreat the U.S. faces, Chertoff said. Recent studies have confirmed the Obama administration’s position that the pace of economic cyberespionage and intellectual property theft are accelerating, Chertoff said. He said the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property (IP Commission) and others have estimated the theft of U.S. intellectual property is worth up to $300 billion annually.
Release of a preliminary version of the National Institute of Standards and Technology-facilitated Cybersecurity Framework will “inevitably” be delayed if an overall government shutdown occurs, said White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Michael Daniel at a Billington cybersecurity conference Wednesday. A shutdown could occur Oct. 1 if Congress and President Barack Obama can’t agree on a continuing budget resolution. A shutdown would furlough all but essential federal employees, including NIST staff working to finalize the preliminary framework, Daniel said. Obama’s cybersecurity executive order requires NIST to release the preliminary framework for public comment by Oct. 10 (CD Feb 14 p1). Delay of the preliminary framework’s release would be one of the many “bad things” to result from a government shutdown, but “ultimately we'll get there and get it published,” Daniel said. The cybersecurity summit also touched repeatedly on fallout from the leaks of information on the National Security Agency’s controversial surveillance tactics.
The FCC is “totally in and invested” in efforts to prevent distracted driving caused by the use of personal electronic devices (PEDs) like smartphones, said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Thursday at a National Organizations for Youth Safety-led rally for the “It Can Wait” anti-texting campaign. The National Safety Council said 100,000 car crashes are caused by distracted driving. That’s an “epidemic” that results in completely preventable deaths and injuries that can be prevented by education and advocacy efforts, Rosenworcel said. The FCC has led its own anti-texting education efforts directed at elementary, middle and high school students, along with sponsoring a distracted-driving technology event in April (CD April 22 p10), she said. Rosenworcel said she’s also invested in preventing distracted-driving deaths as the mother of two small children. “I never want to see them at risk because someone behind the wheel thinks that paying attention to a text is more important to paying attention to the road,” she said.
The FCC should “let the market, rather than government fiat,” guide how the upcoming 600 MHz incentive auction is structured, said Commissioner Ajit Pai said Wednesday at a Mobile Future event. A market-based approach includes “letting all companies participate” in the auction by not adopting overly restrictive rules that limit participation by top wireless carriers Verizon Wireless and AT&T, he said. Pai has long advocated for the agency to follow industry’s advice in developing the rules for the incentive auction. The auction rules must also be fair to all stakeholders, Pai said, saying broadcasters and carriers have collaborated well during the process. “That’s something we should embrace,” he said. The FCC must also stay within statutory bounds allowing the agency to hold the auction and complete the rulemaking process within a reasonable time frame, Pai said. Uncertainty about the timeline doesn’t serve anyone well, he said. If the ultimate goal of the auction is to provide funding for programs like FirstNet, the FCC must “impose little or no restrictions” on the auction to make it successful, said Recon Analytics analyst Roger Entner in a related panel discussion. “The more you're imposing restrictions, the less money you'll get."
The House Cybersecurity Subcommittee voted Wednesday to send two cybersecurity bills to the full Homeland Security Committee. The subcommittee approved the bills -- the Critical Infrastructure Research and Development Advancement Act (HR-2952) and the Homeland Security Cybersecurity Boots-on-the-Ground Act (HR-3107) -- on a unanimous voice vote with amendments. Both bills have bipartisan support, said subcommittee Chairman Patrick Meehan, R-Pa.
The federal government needs to do a “bona fide audit” of its spectrum holdings, said former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, a Hudson Institute visiting fellow, Monday at a Hudson event. The White House and Congress need to “make it a priority to have there be a transparent -- as transparent as possible -- but meaningful audit of federal spectrum, and then move on to implement policies that would promote the auction of exclusive-use licenses,” McDowell said. The federal government’s use of its spectrum holdings in the 1755-1780 MHz band has been an ongoing debate as federal agencies seek to clear government users from swaths of the band to allow commercial use. Federal users need to be given an incentive to move off the band, but the process remains “opaque,” McDowell said. “I know a lot of federal spectrum is used for very important purposes, but I think we can all assume that not all of that spectrum is being used efficiently -- or sometimes not at all -- and that there would be a greater societal and economic benefit were it auctioned.” Troubles also lie ahead for the desired pairing of the 1755 band with the 2155-2180 MHz band in an AWS-3 spectrum auction, he said.