The Targeting Rogue and Opaque Letters (TROL) Act (HR-4450) does not “adequately” solve the problem of vague and misleading patent demand letters, said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., in opening remarks at a House Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee markup Wednesday. The bill is intended to curb the practice of so-called “patent trolls” -- entities that enforce patents without producing products -- sending confusing and deceptive patent demand letters to businesses, requesting money to settle possible patent infringements (CD July 9 p15). “The Trol Act’s broad preemption of state laws would prevent the enforcement of tough anti-troll acts where they do exist,” she said. State attorneys general should have been consulted more while drafting the measure to avoid this problem, Schakowsky said. The bill has also “raised serious concerns at the FTC,” she said. The legislation would put the FTC in charge of bringing enforcement actions against companies for sending deceptive demand letters. But the FTC was “not in the room” while the bill’s language was drawn up, Schakowsky said. “Patent trolls should not be able to extort American businessmen and women,” she said. But as currently written, the TROL Act will not solve that problem, said Schakowsky. Industry groups have largely supported the bill. (See separate report in this issue.)

Industry-backed groups are coalescing in support of a bill to curb vague patent demand letters. The Innovation Alliance, a tech research and development coalition, said in a statement that the bill “appropriately targets abusive behavior rather than particular types of patent owners, while maintaining the integrity of legitimate patent enforcement practices for all patent holders"(http://bit.ly/1mJkk6p). Application Developers Alliance President Jon Potter said the bill rightly targets “patent trolls,” who send deceptive demand letters to “extort unjustified payments from companies that cannot afford to fight back in court” (http://bit.ly/1qkdwKj). Alliance staff members have previously testified on patent legislation, the organization said. The Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform (21C), which includes many large pharmaceutical companies, called the bill a “welcome step” in updating patent laws. The coalition would like more explicit language in the bill, however. The bill, from Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., would give the FTC the authority to go after companies for sending patent demand letters written in “bad faith.” 21C worried the term “bad faith” itself was too vague, and should be clarified “in order to make it more effective in targeting bad behavior while safeguarding legitimate patent licensing and enforcement communications.” The House Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee is expected to vote on the measure Tuesday at 10 a.m. (CD July 9 p15).

The House passed the Department of Homeland Security Interoperable Communications Act (HR 4289) in a vote of 393-0 Tuesday. Its sponsor, Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., introduced it in March and House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, and Emergency Preparedness and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Susan Brooks, R-Ind., also backed it as co-sponsors. The legislation would “amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Under Secretary for Management of the Department of Homeland Security to take administrative action to achieve and maintain interoperable communications capabilities among the components of the Department of Homeland Security,” said the bill’s report (http://1.usa.gov/1zpWNvk). The report underscores the need for DHS radio communication to be interoperable, including the exchange of voice, data and video. “The Committee is disappointed that the Department has spent $430 million on communications capabilities without effectuating the changes within practices in the components [of the department] to achieve interoperability,” it said. “The [Homeland Security] Committee believes that to advance interoperability goals at the Department, there needs to be leadership at the highest level and that implementation of interoperability-related directives by components should be mandatory, not voluntary.” DHS would have to come up with a better communications strategy for its agencies within 120 days of the bill’s enactment. The legislation has not yet been introduced and advanced in the Senate.

Two House Judiciary Republicans formally introduced their five-year Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization legislation Wednesday, said a committee news release (http://1.usa.gov/1oI0PJT). The committee had earlier this week announced a markup of this legislation, now with the number of HR-5036, to take place Thursday at 10 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn. Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and IP Subcommittee Chairman Howard Coble, R-N.C., issued statements backing its passage and stressing the need for reauthorization. The bill is a clean reauthorization that does not include any revamps to video marketplace rules. Top committee Democrats did not comment on the bill.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler plans to “present proposed final rules to my fellow Commissioners yet this year” on the agency’s broadband deployment rulemaking focused on wireless facilities siting, he told House Republicans in a June 27 letter released this week. House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., had expressed concerns in a May 29 letter to Wheeler. Commission staff is reviewing the record from comments filed with the FCC earlier this year, Wheeler said.

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., joined Free Press at an event at the Capitol Tuesday to press the FCC to approve strong net neutrality protections, while also forbidding paid prioritization deals. Franken blasted “fast lanes” and suggested net neutrality protections led the Internet to flourish. “This has been the architecture of the Internet from the beginning,” Franken said. “Everyone should understand that. … Some of my colleagues in the Congress don’t understand that.” He criticized the May FCC net neutrality NPRM for saying “maybe we should allow fast lanes” and insisted the Internet’s innovation is on account of net neutrality. “I hope the press is here to listen and report, and I hope your content gets to the consumer of the content as fast as the anti-net neutrality content does,” Franken said. “And I think it will now -- and that’s the point.” Free Press President Craig Aaron also spoke at the event, backing this message, and moderated a panel of speakers pushing for such protections. Free Press circulated a handout slamming what it called “myths” about FCC reclassification of broadband as a Title II telecom service, which Free Press backs. The group believes Title II reclassification will give the agency authority to create what Free Press believes will be stronger net neutrality rules.

The House Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee will take up a bill to curb misleading or inadequate patent demand letters Wednesday afternoon, said a Monday news release (http://1.usa.gov/U0T7Q6). Subcommittee Chairman Lee Terry, R-Neb., released an updated draft of the Targeting Rogue and Opaque Letters Act (HR-4450) Monday(http://1.usa.gov/1n4Ljn3). The bill would make patent demand letters written in “bad faith” an “unfair or deceptive act” under the FTC Act. “We have spent months examining different ideas and challenges to address the growing threat of patent trolls, and the text we will consider this week is a product of those discussions amongst members and stakeholders,” said Terry in a statement. The updated draft is not significantly different from the original discussion draft (CD July 3 p9), but did name the measure. The bill is one small component of broader patent revamp legislation that has been all but booted until after the midterm elections, which may make passage of a demand letter bill difficult, stakeholders have agreed (CD May 23 p3).

The House Judiciary Committee will mark up a clean bill (http://1.usa.gov/1r67pL0) to reauthorize the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA) Thursday, it said. The markup session is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn. The bill is two pages and narrow, as lobbyists have widely expected, and is similar to the STELA legislation cleared by the Senate Judiciary Committee last month. Both of the Judiciary bills are called the Satellite Television Access Reauthorization Act of 2014. The only committee with STELA jurisdiction that has yet to release legislation is now the Senate Commerce Committee. Two groups fired off letters to Senate Commerce ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., urging a clean STELA bill. “We recognize the opportunity to update our nation’s video marketplace policies, but STELA should not be used as a vehicle for regulatory riders or special-interest ‘reforms,'” Americans for Limited Government said (http://bit.ly/VG90fM), defending the rights of broadcasters and attacking any revamps of retransmission consent rules. The American Consumer Institute backs “comprehensive” overhaul of the video marketplace but said “moving ahead with a STELA reauthorization that includes any anemic attempts at deregulation that apply to only one of the many players in the dynamically competitive marketplace could inadvertently jeopardize much needed comprehensive reforms,” according to its letter (http://bit.ly/1oF3B2t). “In other words, adding new regulations and provisions now to STELA will only complicate holistic reforms in the future.”

The Senate Special Committee on Aging scheduled a hearing on phone scams. It will take place July 16 at 2:15 p.m. in 562 Dirksen. Witnesses weren’t announced.

The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to consider its bipartisan compromise version of Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act (S-517) at its Thursday executive session, set for 9:30 a.m. in 226 Dirksen. The committee had announced the compromise last month and initially had scheduled it for consideration then but later decided to postpone consideration.