The Senate Commerce Committee fast-tracked consideration of the Transparency in Assertion of Patents Act (S-2049), saying Thursday that the committee plans to vote on the bill during its executive session Wednesday. S-2049 is one of eight bills on the docket for the session. The legislation, which Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., introduced Thursday, would expand the FTC’s authority to regulate patent assertion entities’ use of pre-litigation demand letters against potential lawsuit defendants. Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is a co-sponsor of the bill (CD Feb 28 p12). The executive session begins at 2:30 p.m. in 253 Russell.

Several key stakeholders are set to testify on the reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Wednesday at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn. The House Communications Subcommittee, which is preparing a draft of STELA legislation that has already upset broadcasters (CD Feb 28 p1), is holding the hearing. Witnesses scheduled are NCTA CEO Michael Powell, a former FCC chairman; Schurz Communications Senior Vice President of Broadcasting Marci Burdick, a board member of NAB, which has said it strenuously opposes current provisions of the STELA draft; TiVo General Counsel Matt Zinn, who told us at length last fall of his objections to integration ban legislation now expected to be part of the STELA draft; and DirecTV Executive Vice President Mike Palkovic. TVFreedom, a recently formed coalition representing broadcaster interests and including NAB as a member, slammed industry reports that the STELA draft will allow cable operators to remove broadcast stations from the basic tier. “We are outraged by stealth efforts of pay-TV to eliminate consumer access to broadcast TV on the basic cable tier,” TVFreedom’s spokesman said in a statement Friday. “Forcing the most popular stations off this ‘basic-lifeline-cable-tier’ could deprive customers of local news, emergency information, and severe weather warnings that are only provided by broadcasters. This bad deal being driven by pay-TV interests will most severely impact Latinos, seniors and lower-income families who are most heavily reliant on over-the-air broadcast and basic tier TV when disaster strikes.” He criticized the alleged move as “another consumer rip-off.” The subcommittee has not confirmed any provisions in the STELA draft legislation it is preparing.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., introduced the Transparency in Assertion of Patents Act Thursday to give the FTC additional authority to regulate patent assertion entities’ use of pre-litigation demand letters against potential lawsuit defendants. The FTC currently has power under Section 5 of the FTC Act to protect small businesses, end-users and others against deceptive demand letters. McCaskill’s bill would give the FTC further authority on demand letters, allowing the agency to create and enforce demand letter rules, including requiring disclosure about the identity of the owners of the enforced patent, the patent claims in question, how a proposed settlement was calculated and information on past litigation involving the patent. The bill would also allow the FTC to regulate unfair and deceptive assertions included in a demand letter, and would require the commission to increase public awareness about “unfair and deceptive patent assertions.” The bill would exempt disclosure of existing licensing agreements and other information the FTC determines “is not necessary for the protection of consumers.” The bill would also allow state attorneys general to take action in federal courts against an entity that violates the bill’s rules (http://1.usa.gov/1mIvoNQ). McCaskill, who leads the Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee, said in a subcommittee hearing in November that she was exploring a bill targeting demand letters that would specifically address “end users and consumer protection” (CD Nov 8 p13). Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said in a statement that he’s co-sponsoring the bill because it “cracks down on the commercial practice of mailing hundreds, if not thousands, of misleading letters that seek to extort money from small businesses. The bill isn’t about patent law or patent rights; it’s simply about protecting unsuspecting victims from bad actors and their despicable behavior."

House members want the FCC to kick off a proceeding on below-the-line fees, backing more disclosure. House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., drafted the letter to the agency, signed by members of both parties. “We believe consumers deserve greater transparency and disclosure prior to signing-up for service, as well as on their monthly bill,” it said. “CTIA’s Consumer Code for Wireless Service, which articulates a variety of principles, disclosures and practices for postpaid and prepaid wireless service, expressly provides for the disclosure of the type of fees that Congresswoman Eshoo’s letter addresses,” said Vice President-Government Affairs Jot Carpenter in a statement. “We have no reason to believe that any of our members are failing to abide by this commitment and have communicated as much to the members of Congress who signed the letter. Besides, the vigorous competition that characterizes the wireless industry encourages both disclosure and price discipline."

Two House members announced the creation of a spectrum caucus Thursday. Reps. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Doris Matsui, D-Calif., will be co-chairs. They have headed the House Communications Subcommittee’s spectrum working group and introduced spectrum legislation together before. Matsui said it will be an “important mechanism for our colleagues and congressional staff to engage on the spectrum policies, both licensed and unlicensed, facing our economy.” CTIA Vice President-Government Affairs Jot Carpenter lauded the move in a statement. Matsui and Guthrie “know that spectrum isn’t just what drives the wireless industry, it’s increasingly what drives the economy,” he said.

The Senate should consider creating a select committee to focus on cybersecurity, Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Angus King, I-Maine, said Thursday during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. Congress has been considering several bills that would address cybersecurity, including a House-passed version of the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (HR-624), but industry observers have noted few prospects for marquee legislation to pass Congress during the remainder of the 113th Congress (CD Jan 6 p2). A select committee would be useful because “one of the biggest problems we face is that this issue crosses many jurisdictional lines of different committees,” McCain said during the hearing. King said he agreed with McCain, noting that it would be a “procedural” solution to continued disagreements on the issue between the Senate committees handling cybersecurity, including Homeland Security, Intelligence and Commerce. If the U.S. experiences a cyber “Pearl Harbor” in the near future “and we haven’t done anything, we're going to look pretty dumb around here,” he said. Keith Alexander, National Security Agency director and commander of U.S. Cyber Command, told the committee he believed having a committee “that pulls all that together would make a lot of sense.” Alexander said during the hearing that Congress needs to “get on with cyber legislation,” adding that “a lack of legislation will impact our ability to defend the country in this area.”

The House passed HR-1123, the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act, by a vote of 295-114, despite last-minute revolt from a few members. The latest version of the bill was different from the one passed by committee, and it no longer addressed bulk unlocking, prompting active resistance from some members and the loss of support from Public Knowledge and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The bill “protects consumer choice by allowing consumers flexibility when it comes to choosing a wireless carrier,” said bill author House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., in a statement following the bill’s passage. “This is something that Americans have been asking for and I am pleased that the House of Representatives acted to restore the exemption that will allow consumers to unlock their cell phones.” Public Knowledge is happy consumers would be able to unlock their phones but “language recently added to the bill could be interpreted to make future unlocking efforts more difficult,” said Vice President-Legal Affairs Sherwin Siy, saying the group is “hopeful” the legislation can be changed in the Senate. Of the 295 members voting for the bill, 200 were Republicans and 95 were Democrats, and of those voting against it, 20 were Republicans and 94 were Democrats.

The House Communications Subcommittee scheduled a hearing on the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act for Wednesday at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn, it said in a notice. The current law will expire at the end of 2014. “We remain on track to release a draft of the legislation by the end of March,” said Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., in a statement. The subcommittee did not announce witnesses. Meanwhile, Senate Commerce Committee leaders sought input from industry on STELA in a letter released Tuesday night (http://1.usa.gov/1c8CZ7y). “The pending STELA reauthorization offers the Committee a chance to consider whether present law appropriately protects and promotes a video market that is responsive to consumer demands and expectations,” said the letter, signed by Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and subcommittee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss. “Various stakeholders already have identified a number of issues that the Committee could consider as part of the reauthorization of the Communications Act elements of STELA. These issues implicate both traditional entities that provide video services, as well as possible future entrants into the video marketplace.” They ask a wide range of questions, some specific to STELA and some on video policy broadly. Under the STELA questions, they asked, “Should the Congress modify this obligation or otherwise clarify what it means to negotiate retransmission consent in good faith? If so, how?” Walden has stressed STELA should not address retrans. The senators sent the letter to “a diverse array of stakeholders, including satellite TV, broadcasters, cable television, online video, broadband, public interest groups, and free market think tanks,” said a press release. The letter mentions Rockefeller’s video bill introduced last fall. “The Consumer Choice in Online Video Act, S.1680, is one approach to fostering a consumer-centric online video marketplace,” it said. “Are there elements of that bill that should be considered in conjunction with the STELA reauthorization?"

To improve copyright protections for the intellectual property of visual artists, the American Royalties, Too Act was introduced by Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., and House IP Subcommittee ranking member Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said a Nadler news release Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/1fUCZDj). The ART Act provides a “competitive resale royalty” of 5 percent of the sales price -- up to $35,000 -- for all visual art work “sold at auction for $5,000 or more,” it said.

The Songwriter Equity Act (SEA) is opposed by NAB and backed by RIAA, said the associations’ spokesmen in news releases Tuesday. Earlier that day, the SEA, which seeks to update sections 114(i) and 115 of the Copyright Act, was disclosed by Doug Collins, R-Ga. (CD Feb 26 p13). “NAB objects to changes in law that would deal with the financial imbalance between songwriters and artists by subjecting free broadcast radio stations to new fees,” said its spokesman (http://bit.ly/1c8ekjA). RIAA welcomes “Congress’ review of the laws governing music licensing, and whether those laws written long ago still work in the context of today’s dynamic music market,” said its spokesman Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1cQ26tv). “The bill introduced deals with some of the interconnected pieces of music licensing reform, and other issues are also important, such as ensuring that all creators are paid fair market value for their music, regardless of platform; payment for pre-1972 works [which do not fall under federal law]; performance rights for airplay; and improvements in the system for mechanical licensing."