Under the Internet closed captioning requirements established by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), after certain triggering deadlines, video programming shown on television with captions in the United States and distributed in full-length form over Internet Protocol (IP) must be provided with captions online. Beginning on March 30, 2013, the IP closed captioning requirements will apply
March 2013
New Jersey Commission Intends to Enforce Contribution Limits Against State Super PACs
Groups that are planning to run independent expenditures in the New Jersey gubernatorial election this year should be aware of a new advisory opinion issued by the State’s Election Law Enforcement Commission late last week. Under this latest guidance, groups that support or oppose New Jersey candidates may have to register as political committees and…
Why Is a Benefits Lawyer Talking about Trade Secret Theft?
At a recent forum in New York, a team of Covington & Burling LLP lawyers addressed the growing concern among companies that their most valuable assets might just walk out the front door on a thumb drive in an employee’s pocket or otherwise be taken by company insiders. Although much of the discussion in…
German Government Proposes Cybersecurity Law
Following the German Government’s adoption of a cybersecurity strategy back in February 2011, and only a couple of weeks after the publication of the European Commission’s CyberSecurity Strategy and proposal for a Directive on Network and Information Security (see InsidePrivacy EU Adopts CyberSecurity Strategy and Proposes Network and Information Security Directive, February 7, 2013),…
IRS Releases VCP Kit to Help 403(b) Plan Sponsors Who Failed to Timely Adopt a Plan Document
By Julie Edmond
A § 403(b) plan that failed to adopt a plan document by December 31, 2009 is not entitled to favorable tax treatment. However, under new guidance, a plan may regain its favorable tax treatment if it adopts a written plan document and requests a compliance statement through the Voluntary Compliance Program (“VCP”).
The IRS recently released…
Supreme Court Clarifies Broad Geographic Reach of Copyright’s First-Sale Doctrine
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., resolving a long-simmering debate by holding that copyright’s first-sale doctrine applies to copyrighted works lawfully made anywhere in the world. The upshot is that someone who buys an authorized, foreign-made copy (Kirtsaeng involved a foreign version of a…
Cell Phone Unlocking Push Moves to Congress
By Covington
House and Senate Judiciary Committee leaders joined the cell phone unlocking debate last week by introducing a pair of new bills. If enacted, the bills would overturn an October 2012 regulation issued by the Library of Congress, which effectively prohibits consumers from unlocking cell phones purchased after January 26, 2013 so that they may be…
Lessons from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Pay to Play Scandal
We can learn two important lessons from the recent Pennsylvania Turnpike pay to play scandal. The first of these lessons is straightforward, but important: beware of providing benefits to public officials who can influence contracting or regulatory decisions impacting your company. The second—and less intuitive—lesson, which has been lost amidst the furor over the scandal,…
ICO Issues Fine of £90,000 for Breach of PECR
On 20 March 2013, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced that it had issued a fine of £90,000 against DM Design, a Glasgow-based kitchen and bedroom fitting company, for breaching the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) by making thousands of unwanted direct marketing calls. This fine, made two years after the ICO was first…
European Parliament’s Lead Committee for the Proposed EU General Data Protection Regulation Postpones Vote
The Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee of the European Parliament (EP)– the EP’s lead committee for the European Commission’s legislative proposal for a General Data Protection Regulation to replace the current EU Data Protection Directive–was supposed to vote at the end of April on the proposed amendments to the draft Regulation. However,…