Nearly 600 pages comprise two administrative record indexes, one “non-confidential” (in Pacer), the other “confidential” (in Pacer), filed Friday with the U.S. Court of International Trade by government defendants in the massive Section 301 litigation challenging the lawfulness of the Lists 3 and 4A tariffs on Chinese imports. The roughly 3,600+ complaints seek to get the tariffs vacated and the duties refunded, alleging they run afoul of the 1974 Trade Act and violate 1946 Administrative Procedure Act protections against sloppy rulemakings.
Florida’s comprehensive privacy bill failed Friday amid disagreement over a private right of action. HB-969 sponsor Rep. Fiona McFarland (R) looks “forward to continuing the good work on this complicated issue in the next session,” she wrote. Legislators passed SB-7072 Thursday to make it unlawful for social media sites -- other than theme park owners -- to deplatform political candidates. It requires sites to be transparent about policing users.
CEDIA Expo owner Emerald Holding had an 87% revenue drop to $12.9 million in Q1 on continued impact from COVID-19, said the company Friday. Net loss narrowed to $15.3 million from $570.1 million. The trade show company canceled 13 of 14 shows in Q1.
Despite changes to patent, copyright and criminal law, China remains one of the top countries the U.S. is targeting for weak intellectual property protections, said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Friday in its annual special 301 report (see 2004290059). China needs to strengthen such protection and enforcement, fully implement IP measures, stop forcing technology transfers to Chinese companies, open its market to foreign investment, and “allow the market a decisive role in allocating resources,” USTR said. “Severe challenges persist because of excessive regulatory requirements and informal pressure and coercion to transfer technology to Chinese companies, continued gaps in the scope of IP protection, incomplete legal reforms, weak enforcement channels, and lack of administrative and judicial transparency and independence.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) vowed to fight six telecom associations challenging the state for requiring all ISPs to sell a $15 monthly internet plan to low-income households. Claiming the program is preempted rate regulation, the New York State Telecommunications Association, CTIA, ACA Connects, USTelecom, NTCA and Satellite Broadcasting & Communications Association sued Friday in the U.S. District Court for Eastern New York (case 21-cv-2389). Industry is “turning a blind eye to the needs of its most vulnerable customers once again,” said New York Public Utility Law Project (PULP) Executive Director Richard Berkley.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ new role shepherding the $100 billion broadband spending component of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure proposal shows that part of the plan is a priority for the administration and will help smooth talks on the path forward, lawmakers and observers told us Thursday. Democrats are preparing to advance an infrastructure package via a budget reconciliation process if talks on Senate Republicans’ counterproposal, which includes $65 billion for broadband, don’t progress in coming weeks.
The “prime question” for Amazon shares is whether e-commerce gains from the COVID-19 pandemic will persist against tough compares of 40%, 37% and 44% over the next three quarters, wrote Canaccord analysts Friday after the company posted Q1 revenue growth of 44% to $108.5 billion. Revenue exceeded the high end of the guidance range by $2.5 billion. Net income was $8.1 billion, vs. $2.5 billion. Shares hit a 52-week high Friday morning at $3,554 before closing down 3.9% at $3,467.42. Canaccord raised its price target to $4,400 from $4,100.
First-quarter global demand “continued to accelerate” in all the semiconductor end markets STMicroelectronics serves, “following the already faster and stronger than expected restart of demand” that began in 2020's Q3, said CEO Jean-Marc Chery on a Q1 call Thursday. “In automotive, the rebound from Q4 2020 was much faster than anticipated, and it has caused supply chain constraints across the entire semiconductor industry.”
Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen let loose Thursday at T-Mobile and CEO Mike Sievert for their defense of plans to shut down the legacy CDMA wireless network by year-end (see Ref:2104140036]). T-Mobile’s potential to disenfranchise millions of customers makes the carrier comparable with the Grinch who stole Christmas, said Ergen on a Q1 call.
Industry commenters told the FCC that open radio access networks are the future for telecom infrastructure in comments on a March notice of inquiry (see 2103170049). FCC Democrats and Republicans emphasize the importance of open networks to building secure networks, free of equipment from Huawei and ZTE (see 2104260054). Comments, due Wednesday, stressed the need for standards and asked Congress to fund ORAN research.