Today, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that he would circulate a set of proposed updates to the rules governing use of the “TV white spaces” (TVWS), portions of the broadcast television band (channels 2-35) not currently being used for authorized services. Unlike cell phones, anyone can market devices using unlicensed white spaces spectrum. TV white spaces are uniquely suited for rural broadband use because the signal travels farther than existing unlicensed frequencies.

Yesterday, the Second Circuit upheld a fair use finding in the case of James Oscar Smith v. Drake. The estate of James Oscar Smith sued the artist Drake (among others), claiming that Drake infringed on the estate’s rights when he sampled “Jimmy Smith Rap” for the opening of his track, “Pound Cake.” The trial court disagreed, holding that the sample was a fair use, and the Second Circuit affirmed that finding on appeal.

Today, the Federal Communications Commission voted to approve a Report and Order that would commit $20.4 billion from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) to fund broadband deployment.

Yesterday, Senators John Kennedy (R-LA) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) introduced the “The Spectrum Management And Reallocation for Taxpayers (or SMART) Act” to create a public auction for C-Band spectrum and use the revenue to provide funding for rural broadband and next-generation 911 services. Public Knowledge welcomes this bipartisan effort to help close the widening digital […]

Today, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Public Knowledge’s appeal of the Federal Communications Commission’s November 2017 Order, “Accelerating Wireline Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers to Infrastructure Investment,” on the grounds that Petitioners lacked standing. The case is Greenling Institute, et al. v. FCC, Case No. 17-73283.

Yesterday, Public Knowledge and the R Street Institute filed a comment at the International Trade Commission, arguing that it should deny Sonos’s request that categories of consumer products be blocked from import. On the merits, Public Knowledge finds Sonos’s ITC request runs contrary to the public interest. However, this is not an indictment against Sonos’s legitimate competition concerns. These competitive concerns demand resolution if consumers are to benefit from real, interoperable choices in the growing Internet of Things marketplace.

Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld will testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Wednesday, January 22 at 10:00 a.m. His testimony in the hearing on “The 5G Workforce and Obstacles To Broadband Deployment” will urge Congress to balance the wireless industry’s goals with the public interest to maintain America’s wireless leadership while equally distributing the benefits of 5G to all Americans. 

Today, Public Knowledge joined the R Street Institute and the Niskanen Center in filing an amicus brief at the Supreme Court in the case of Google v Oracle. The case asks whether the application programming interface, or API, of a programming language such as Java is subject to copyright protection — and, if it is, whether reimplementing that API can be a fair use.

Public Knowledge is happy to welcome both a new Director of Finance and Administration and a new Communications Justice Fellow.

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate passed appropriations legislation containing provisions to prevent consumers from losing access to TV content, experiencing blackouts, and facing unexpected bills.