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Home , Chris Coons, Dick Durbin, Marsha Blackburn, Mazie Hirono

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CONTENT & TECHNOLOGY POLICY REPORT DECEMBER 11, 2020

I. Congressional Updates: Headlines and Highlights: • Senator (D-IL) will serve as the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee next year. On • Senate Judiciary IP Wednesday, Senate Democrats approved a rules change Subcommittee Chairman Tillis that will allow Durbin to hold one top committee position releases text of the Protecting in addition to being the Senate Democratic . He will Lawful Streaming Act. therefore give up his top spot on the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee. Read more here. • Senator Durbin to lead Democrats on the Senate th • Next Tuesday, December 15 , at 2:30 p.m. ET, the Senate Judiciary Committee next year. Judiciary IP Subcommittee will hold a hearing on “The Role of Private Agreements and Existing Technology in • Senate Judiciary IP Curbing Online Piracy.” More info. here. Subcommittee to hold hearing on “The Role of Private Agreements • On Thursday, Senate Judiciary IP Subcommittee Chairman and Existing Technology in (R-NC) released text of bipartisan legislation Curbing Online Piracy” next that would punish large-scale criminal streaming services week. that willfully and for commercial advantage or private financial gain offer to the public illicit services dedicated to • FTC and 46 states file antitrust illegally streaming copyrighted material. The Protect suits against Facebook. Lawful Streaming Act is co-sponsored by Senators (D-VT), (R-TN), In the Blogs: (D-HI), (D-NV), (R- TX), Blumenthal (D-CT), (D-DE), Google v. Oracle XII : SCOTUS Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), and David Perdue (R-GA). Read Should Not Remand on Fair Use more here. Review Illusion of More II. Judicial Updates: December 2 by David Newhoff

• On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and The USTR Notorious Markets a group of 46 states filed two separate antitrust suits against Report: Does it Provide Free Facebook, accusing the social media company of stifling Advertising for Pirates? competition by buying and freezing out small startups. The Hugh Stephens Blog FTC case seeks to force Facebook to unwind its December 7 by Hugh Stephens 1

acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram. “Our aim is to roll back Facebook’s anticompetitive conduct and restore competition so that innovation and free competition can thrive,” FTC Bureau of Competition Director Ian Conner explained. The FTC voted 3-2 to move forward with the case, with two Democratic commissioners joining Republican Chairman Joseph Simons to vote in favor of bringing the suit. Meanwhile, the case brought by the states, led by Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James, claims that a lack of competition has harmed consumers by diminishing privacy protections. Read more here.

• Singer-Songwriter Neil Young dropped his copyright infringement suit against President this week. Young filed suit this summer after the Trump Campaign played “Rockin’ in the Free World” at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The suit alleged that the campaign lacked a performance license for the song. The suit was dismissed with prejudice on Monday, meaning that claims cannot be renewed. Read more here.

III. Administration Updates:

• News surfaced this week that President-elect will select , the chief counsel for the House Ways & Means Committee, to serve as the United States Trade Representative (USTR). In her current role, Tai was instrumental in crafting the Democratic demands for final changes to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). She has also worked on issues pertaining to , including strategies to reshore American supply chains and legislation to bar imports that are determined to be made with forced labor from Uighurs and other minorities in China. Read more here.

• On Thursday, USPTO announced that four of its IP attachés have been elevated to the diplomatic rank of “Counselor” at the U.S. embassies and missions where they serve. The change in rank will give the attachés access to more senior officials of foreign governments. “This new title for our IP attachés sends a clear signal that the United States takes very seriously the protection and enforcement of IP rights around the world,” USPTO Director Andrei Iancu said. The following attachés received the rank of Counselor: John Cabeca (U.S. Embassy, New Delhi, India); Cynthia Henderson (U.S. Embassy, Mexico City, Mexico); Duncan Willson (U.S. Embassy, Beijing, China); and Susan Wilson (U.S. Mission to the European Union, Brussels, Belgium). Read more here.

IV. International Updates:

• Heeding complaints from Google and Facebook, Australian lawmakers filed revised news compensation legislation in parliament on Wednesday. Lawmakers claim that the revised proposal now also recognizes the monetary value that platforms provide to new businesses by directing readers to their websites. “Australian news media businesses need to be fairly compensated for generating original content and the rules of the digital world should mirror the rules of the physical world,” Australia Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said. “This new mandatory bargaining code is a world-first.” Read more here.

V. Industry Updates:

• Google lifted its post-election ban on political advertising on Thursday. The ban sought to minimize the spread of political misinformation in the aftermath of the U.S. elections. Although it is being lifted a little less than a month before the Georgia Senate runoff 2

elections, a Google spokesperson told that Google “will continue to rigorously enforce our ads policies, which strictly prohibit demonstrably false information that could significantly undermine trust in elections or the democratic process.” Read more here.

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