Google, Netflix Back DOJ In 2nd Circ. Music Licensing Fight

By Matthew Guarnaccia

Law360, Fort Wayne (May 30, 2017, 8:18 PM EDT) -- Google, Netflix and other industry giants threw their support behind the U.S. Department of Justice in a dispute with Broadcast Music Inc. over the use of fractional licenses for music, telling the Second Circuit that allowing this partial ownership would raise prices and create a greater risk for copyright infringement.

Facebook Users Seek Final OK Of URL-Messaging Suit Deal

By Steven Trader

Law360, New York (May 30, 2017, 7:12 PM EDT) -- The attorneys representing a nationwide class of Facebook users who sued over the collection of data exchanged in their private messages urged a California federal judge on Friday to stamp final approval on a nonmonetary settlement reached in March, and asked for nearly $3.9 million in attorneys' fees. 

Spotify To Pay $43M To End Songwriter Royalties Dispute

By Bill Donahue

Law360, New York (May 30, 2017, 3:15 PM EDT) -- Spotify has agreed to pay $43 million to settle class action copyright litigation claiming the streaming service failed to pay proper royalties to thousands of songwriters.

The settlement, filed in court late Friday, will resolve two class actions that claimed Spotify chose "systemic and willful copyright infringement" rather than following proper procedures to pay so-called mechanical royalties, which go to songwriters and publishers when compositions are recorded or reproduced.

Republicans’ vote to repeal Obamacare just blew up in their faces

POSTED BY: KATELYN KIVEL MAY 4, 2017

New reports confirm that the Senate is refusing to even hold a vote on the Obamacare repeal bill the House just passed, killing it within hours of its passage.

Bloomberg is reporting that Senate Republicans will snub the U.S. House of Representatives’ version of the American Health Care Act, instead opting to write its own version with a 12-member working group. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who is considered one of the more moderate Republicans in the chamber, said she’s looking forward to writing up a completely different healthcare reform bill with “a clean slate.”

Because the Senate only has 52 Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell  (R-Kentucky) can’t afford to have even three defections. Both Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) voted against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ confirmation earlier this year, proving that the Republican majority in the Senate is tenuous at best.

The fact that the Senate is refusing to even take up the bill was likely no surprise to members of the House GOP. Even Republicans laughed at Paul Ryan when he said the Senate was eager to get to work on healthcare, according to CBS’ Mark Knoller.

“The safest thing to say is there will be a Senate bill, but it will look at what the House has done and see how much of that we can incorporate in a product that works for us in reconciliation,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) in an interview with the Washington Examiner.

A Senate proposal is being developed by a 12-member working group with no specific deadline and using the House-passed bill as a springboard, not as a framework.

“We are just working toward getting 51 votes,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas). “There is no timeline. When we get 51 senators, we’ll vote.”

Normally, a bill requires 60 votes for cloture, which is necessary to allow an up-or-down majority vote on a given piece of legislation. However, Republicans are likely aware they won’t meet the 60-vote threshold, and are instead attempting to pass the bill through the budget reconciliation process, which only requires 51 votes.

Hospital groups ranging from American Medical Association, American Hospital Association to the AARP are opposed to the replacement for Obamacare, especially with the last-minute amendments that further erode protections for the sick and elderly.

“We cannot pull the rug out from under states like Nevada that expanded Medicaid and we need assurances that people with pre-existing conditions will be protected,” said a statement from Dean Heller (R-Nev.), one of the Senate’s most vulnerable Republicans.

“I’ve already made clear that I don’t support the House bill as currently constructed,” Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said in a statement, “because I continue to have concerns that this bill does not do enough to protect Ohio’s Medicaid expansion population, especially those who are receiving treatment for heroin and prescription drug abuse.”

With the incredibly narrow 217-213 margin in the House, it is unclear if a Senate version could possibly pass in the House, especially considering preexisting conditions and Medicaid expansion were points of heated contention in the House bill.

More than a few Republican Senators, including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, are deeply skeptical of the House’s bill.

Meanwhile, some in the House seem equally skeptical of the Senate’s depictions of themselves as the ‘clean-up crew’ for the House bill.

“They tell us they’re so smart and they’re so good at this stuff and we’re so incapable that they need to work on it — and I agree with them,” said Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas). “They need to work on it. I want them to. I’m anxious to see what they’re going to do with finishing the job that we started.”

Health insurers have faced months of uncertainty as to the future shape of coverage in America due to the protracted debate over the repeal of Obamacare and what form Trumpcare might take already, and with the Senate drafting it’s own bill instead of voting on the House version, those months of uncertainty are set to continue.

D.C. circuit refuses to rehear net-neutrality challenge

By Jenna Ebersole

Law360, Washington (May 1, 2017, 12:04 PM EDT) -- The D.C. Circuit on Monday denied requests for full court rehearing of a panel decision upholding the Federal Communications Commission’s 2015 open internet rules, issuing the order days after new FCC Chairman Ajit Pai floated a draft plan to strip them. #Staywoke

FCC Proposes Broadband Privacy Rules: Action Marks the First Big Privacy Move by Federal Communications Commission Under Net Neutrality By Kate Kaye. Published on March 10, 2016.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler today proposed privacy regulations for broadband ISP services that commissioners will consider in the coming weeks. If passed, the move will be seen as a milestone in digital privacy regulations, as the FCC helps carry a torch long held by the Federal Trade Commission.

The FCC's adoption of net neutrality rules for broadband last year opened a new privacy arena for the agency, which is making good on its promise to move forward on privacy protection rules.
"You will see us within the next several months addressing the question of privacy practices of those who provide network services and how it affects you and me," Mr. Wheeler told PBS's Charlie Rose in a November interview. "In other words, do I know what information is being collected, do I have a voice in whether or not that's going to be used in one way or another. Those are two very important baseline rights that individuals ought to have."

Consumer advocates have banged the drum for FCC broadband privacy rules since the FCC's Open Internet Order was adopted in February 2015. In January of this year, several organizations, including Electronic Frontier Foundation, World Privacy Forum and American Civil Liberties Union, sent a letter to Mr. Wheeler urging him to propose rules protecting consumers from personal data collection without consent, data breach notification and disclosure of data collection practices.
Today's proposal has three pillars -- choice, transparency and security. It calls on ISPs to give consumers control over what personal information is used and shared, provide a clear view of how information is used, and protect how consumer data is stored. It would also require broadband providers to allow customers to opt-out from use of their data for marketing purposes, and require opt-in for other data uses and sharing.

"The Chairman's proposal does not prohibit ISPs from using or sharing customer data, for any purpose," stated an FCC fact sheet about the proposal. "It simply proposes that consumers have choices -- either to opt out in some instances or to require that the ISP first obtain customers' permission before using and sharing the customer's data in others."

The FCC already flexed some privacy oversight muscle earlier this week when it announced a settlement with Verizon. The company agreed to pay a $1.35 million fine for tracking users with a persistent "super-cookie" that was near impossible to remove.

The Federal Trade Commission historically has been the internet's privacy watchdog; however, while the FTC has had limited power, the Open Internet Order reclassifying internet access as a common carrier service (often referred to as net neutrality) gave the FCC strengthened authority to protect online privacy. "With its rulemaking authority, the FCC should set privacy baselines that help to define the minimum standards that Americans can expect from their ISPs," stated an Open Technology Institute paper published in January.

Another sign of the FCC's impending privacy focus: its hire of Jonathan Mayer as chief technologist in the Bureau of Law Enforcement in November. A longtime tech-savvy academic who conducted research exposing porous corporate data security and questionable digital tracking practices, Mr. Mayer was brought on board in November by Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc.
Today's proposal, details of which have not been made public, will be up for vote by the full Commission at its March 31 Open Meeting. If adopted, a public comment period will follow.

In this article:
DigitalPrivacyPrivacy and RegulationRegulationTelecommunications

Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2015-2019

According to Price Waterhouse Coopers Key industry themes Beyond digital: empowered consumers seek out tailored, inspiring content experiences that transcend platforms and can be shared

It’s increasingly clear that consumers see no significant divide between digital and traditional media: what they want is more flexibility, freedom and convenience in when and how they consume any kind of content

After a decade and more of digital disruption, during which the entertainment and media landscape has struggled constantly to keep pace with advancing consumer expectations, it’s increasingly evident that there is no significant divide between digital and traditional media in eyes of consumers. Instead of a divided landscape, what we have is a fluid and multifaceted ecosystem – one where new digital offerings have created a bigger, more diverse content universe, and where digital has accelerated delivery across platforms.

Amid the resulting proliferation of content and access options, what’s clear is that consumers want more flexibility and freedom – for which read “choice” – in when and how they consume. They don’t want schedules – they want it on-demand. It’s also increasingly clear that they want it mobile too. And they’re consistently demonstrating that they will migrate to those offerings that combine an outstanding user experience – attractive content assortment, great discovery, social community – with an intuitive interface offering increased personalisation and access across devices. Furthermore, consumers are engaging readily with content experiences that they can’t get easily elsewhere: hence the enduring appeal of shared, real-life experiences like cinema, live concerts, and sporting events – all of which have not just survived the growth of digital and social media, but have been reenergised by it.

For entertainment and media companies operating in this environment, what matters now is the ability to combine content with a user experience that is differentiated and compelling on the consumer’s platform of choice.

Today's entertainment and media companies need to do three things to succeed:

1. Innovate around the product and the user experience
   
   
2. Develop seamless consumer relationships across distribution channels
   
   
3. Put mobile (and increasingly video) at the centre of their consumer offerings

These imperatives are increasingly evident across the industry, as it enters the age of ‘contextual awareness’ through rich consumer data – including location and behavioural propensities. In advertising, we’re seeing a blurring of the traditional boundary with content, and major steps forward in addressability, programmability and audience metrics that measure depth of engagement. In content, we’re seeing the ongoing rise of over-the-top (OTT) offerings widen consumer choice still further, and growing use of data analytics to deliver more relevant experiences. And industry-wide, we’re seeing ongoing jockeying for position in readiness for opportunities ranging from the connected home to the expanding middle classes in emerging markets.

Put simply, today’s entertainment and media industry is about consumer choice, innovation and experience, irrespective of whether delivery is digital or non-digital. Mastering these three elements is now critical to commercial success – and to sustaining future growth.

It’s time to embrace the fact that mastering the user experience is critical to success in this industry.