A new congressional caucus opposed to international piracy of intellectual property will “look like a laser beam” at the subject, one of its co-chmn. said at a news conference Tues. House Internet Caucus Co-Chmn. Goodlatte (R-Va.) was joined by Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking Democrat Biden (Del.), Sen. Smith (R-Ore.) and Rep. Schiff (D-Cal.) in introducing the 59-member caucus. After the conference, Schiff, whose district includes many TV and movie studios and recording labels, told us he was preparing legislation targeting unauthorized file sharing. Piracy “is a big deal,” Biden said, and “the question remains, ‘What are we going to be able to do about what is in essence a theft of American assets?'”
Omnibus could become an ominous word for those that want to see Congress reestablish a 35% broadcast ownership cap. Despite the recent Senate passage of a “legislative veto” (S.J. Res. 17) of the FCC’s June 2 media ownership rules, most observers still see an appropriations legislation rider as the most likely vehicle to establish an ownership cap during this session. But with the appropriations process slowly trudging along, coupled with the need for supplemental appropriations for Iraq, some industry and Hill sources said the prospect of an omnibus appropriations bill is becoming greater.
The telecom industry was disappointed at the collapse of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Cancun that ended Sun., as “no progress” was made on the services side, including telecom, industry officials said. However, Patricia Paoletta, attorney at Wiley, Rein & Fielding, said the results weren’t surprising as “nobody expected any breakthrough” on the telecom side, with progress on agriculture issues being a “precondition for telecom services [issues] to move” forward.
The U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement signed by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and Chilean Foreign Minister Soledad Alvear includes “robust market access and copyright requirements, including implementation of the WIPO Internet Treaties,” according to a coalition of entertainment industry companies, trade associations and unions that hailed the agreement. The Entertainment Industry Coalition for Free Trade (EIC) said the agreement with Chile, which still must be ratified by Congress and approved by the Chilean legislature, “is based upon the protections that copyrighted works possess under U.S. copyright law” and “makes clear that authorities will possess and utilize strong levels of enforcement in the protection of intellectual property in Chile.” Calling intellectual property “our number one export,” RIAA Chmn. Hilary Rosen said the RIAA was “especially pleased.” MPAA Pres. Jack Valenti said the agreement “is in the broad national interest.”
U.S. insistence on building stringent intellectual property (IP) protections into multilateral and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) could have unintended consequences here and abroad, speakers said Mon. at a meeting on “Making Intellectual Property Law through Trade Negotiations?” The FTAs have become a key issue for program producers, with the MPAA seen playing a major role in the process, speakers said.
Mobile phone operators in some countries “have used mobile termination as their ‘cash cow’,” AT&T said commenting on the report (CD April 2 p2) released by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Tues. on WTO compliance in other countries: “Poor policy and lack of regulation have failed to ensure that termination fees are cost-based or reasonable.” The company said such “abuse” and the “excessive margins” earned on fixed-to-mobile termination was becoming a “worldwide problem” with mobile termination rates significantly higher than fixed rates. “U.S. consumers bear the brunt of these exorbitant charges that may soon reach billions of dollars annually,” AT&T said. The company also strongly supported a report finding that an independent regulator was critical for opening markets and encouraged USTR “to pursue this issue with our trading partners, including China and Mexico.” It said it was “encouraged” that the USTR highlighted the need to monitor the practices of several countries such as Brazil, Canada and the Dominican Republic to better access compliance with individual trade commitments. In a separate statement, CompTel also supported USTR in its concerns on “excessive” mobile termination rates in the European Union (EU), Japan, Argentina, Australia, Netherlands and Peru. CompTel applauded USTR for encouraging govts. that hadn’t taken any action, such as Germany, to consider appropriate responses to that “significant” trade barrier. It also supported USTR’s decision to monitor leased line provisioning problems in Germany and France and to encourage govts. such as Singapore, Switzerland and Australia to lower their “extremely” high leased line prices to more reasonable, GATS-consistent levels.
President Bush said he would promote Josette Sheeran to Deputy U.S. Trade Representative… Duncan Lewis, ex-BT and Mercury, joins Carlyle Group… Kathleen Westover returns to AT&T Govt. Solutions as sales vp responsible for Conn., Me., Mass., N.H., N.J., N.Y., R.I., Vt… New co-chmn. at United PowerLine Council: Leif Ericson, Southern Telecom; Joseph Cufari, Current Technologies… James Cook promoted to vp- creative services, Clear Channel… Randall Stephenson, ex- SBC, named chmn., Cingular Wireless… James Duratz, ex- Armstrong, elected chmn., Pa. Cable Network.
Foreign countries continue to produce serous trade barriers for U.S. telecom carriers, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) officials said in a news conference Tues. Commenting on the newly released report “National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers,” the officials expressed particular concerns about significant interconnection rate increase proposed by the Japanese govt. They said the action of the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs & Posts & Telecom (MPHPT) was raising “serious questions about [Japan’s] impartiality and commitment to competition.”
The U.S. will offer to expand global access to the already open American services sector as part of current World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations to liberalize worldwide trade in services, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Zoellick announced Mon. The USTR said the offer, which was supported by the communications industry, would seek broad removal of foreign barriers in sectors including telecom and information services. It said the offer would allow foreign ownership of cable TV networks and allow non- U.S. satellite companies to broadcast directly to U.S. viewers. The offer also would expand foreign companies’ ability to provide information services such as Internet access directly to U.S. customers, the USTR said.
Thera Bradshaw of L.A. steps down as pres. of Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials, replaced by pres.- elect Vincent Stile of Suffolk County, N.Y… RIAA named Joe Papovich, ex-U.S. Trade Representative office, senior vp- international, responsible for international copyright enforcement… James Mooney, ex-Nextel, appointed NTL nonexecutive chmn… Beth Rockwood, ex-CBS, becomes Discovery senior vp-mkt. resources… Harris Corp. promoted Robert Henry to senior vp, retaining oversight of Govt. Communications Systems Div… Mark Gibbens advanced to Lucent vp-treas… John Veroneau promoted to U.S. Trade Representative gen. counsel; James Mendenhall moves to Asst. U.S. Trade Representative, investment & intellectual property… Daniels & Assoc. promoted Steven Hubbard to vp- mergers & acquisitions… Rodney Huey, ex-Feld Entertainment, appointed NPR vp-communications… Radio Ad Bureau named radio veteran Brandeis Hall dir.-co-op/NTR services.