Communications, Media & Entertainment

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Both the French Council of State in its annual report for 2014 as well as the National Digital Council (hereinafter, “CNNum”) in its “Digital Ambition” report voiced support for the creation of an action enabling consumers to collectively seek redress for violations of regulations protecting personal data. However, their recommendations are different regarding the goal of this action. After some hesitation and numerous debates, the collective action for data protection finally became a reality in…
On August 10, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted a stay of the FCC’s 2017 Lifeline Order (“Order”).  The court found that the petitioners provided enough evidence that the FCC did not consider the Order’s significant impact on tribal customers.  Specifically, the Order limited the eligibility to provide Lifeline to particular service providers and reduced eligible service areas to places considered to be “rural areas” to the exclusion of some…
When ideas from different realms converge in a single moment of time, a new blog post is born. “Catcalling” — albeit a rebranded, reimagined, or redefined version of it — recently has been front and center in a political Twitter storm and remains a lightning rod in the non-stop news cycle. So, imagine my surprise also to see the sturdy Cat construction-oriented brand calling my fashion-forward daughter to select it for her…
The FCC recently reached a $5.25 million settlement with AT&T to resolve investigations into two 911 service outages that resulted in thousands of failed emergency calls. This edition of Full Spectrum’s series on FCC enforcement discusses the unexpected settlement and its implications on carrier network practices and the FCC’s enforcement priorities. Partner Steve Augustino and Associate Brad Currier also cover LED sign enforcement, which has recently become an area of focus for the Pai FCC…
Earlier this week, a three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in the case of Gold Medal LLC v. USA Track & Field.  The decision, on appeal from the District Court for the District of Oregon, rejected allegations that USA Track & Field (USATF) and the United States Olympics Committee (USOC) engaged in an anticompetitive conspiracy in violation of antitrust law by imposing certain advertising restrictions during Olympic Trials. …
social media2
Last week, we wrote about legal issues for podcasters, and made the point that media companies should be making clear by contract or otherwise who owns the podcasts that their employees and independent contractors have created. This week, there was press coverage (see, for instance, the article here) about a law suit filed by a newspaper company against a former employee seeking ownership of a Twitter account used by the employee while at…
Last week, we wrote about FCC changes to its EAS rules, including the adoption (not yet effective) of a requirement that a broadcast station report to the FCC when they broadcast a false EAS alert. In the order adopting that requirement and other changes to EAS practices, the FCC also issued a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, suggesting other EAS changes to deal with false alerts – including asking if it should create a…
The European Commission estimates that the global market for the Internet of Things (“IoT”) will grow to 75.4 billion devices by 2023. It also estimates that the economic value of spectrum enabled services is at present worth €500 billion per year. This is expected to increase by 200% – up to €1 trillion a year by 2023 – making the availability of spectrum (needed to send and receive data) and the development of 5G technology…
milk
Soy milk. Almond milk. Coconut milk. With the increase in health-conscious shopping and non-dairy diets, these terms and others have become household names. But the Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”) recently suggested these products don’t constitute milk at all, since they do not come from animals. According to multiple sources, during the Politico Pro Summit in July, the FDA Commissioner commented that the FDA is probably not currently enforcing its “standard of identify” for…
goats
I’ve been thinking about the nature of language lately, ever since I listened to a podcast about various philosophers who devoted their study to language. For example, Ludwig Wittgenstein, one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, is famous for his work on the logic of language. A fundamental premise to his philosophy is that “the limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” In other words, language, although purposed on painting…