In a recent important decision, Consumers’ Research t al. v. Federal Communications Commission, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals where the court found that the FCC’s assessment and collection of Universal Service Fund (USF) fees constituted an unconstitutional “tax.” In the latest development, on August 23, 2024, the FCC filed an unopposed motion with the Fifth Circuit for a stay of its decision, which the Court

Continuing with our webinars for Thomson Reuters/West LegalED, our recent one on the important Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, Consumers’ Research v. FCC, was recorded on October 24, 2024.  A copy of the recording and related materials are available at  westlegaledcenter.com A copy of the accompanying alert may be found at  A-Tax-By-Any-Other-Name.-10.23.24.pdf. 

Our Firm has moderated a number of webinars on “net neutrality” for Thomson Reuters, WestLegal Center. The first of these discussed the Republican FCC’s dismantling of the Obama-era 2015 rules by the Restoring Internet Freedom Order.  see  https://westlegaledcenter.com/program_guide/course_detail.jsf?videoCourseId=100204569&ADMIN_PREVIEW=true.  See the Presentation Materials. The second held last December, 2023, discussed the FCC’s proposed reinstatement of those 2015 Rules. Search: https://westlegaledcenter.com/search/advancedCLESearchCriteriaForm.jsf?applicationSection=3 with keyword Redux or see PDF-screenshot. See Presentation Materials. The

Walt Sapronov of our Firm will be a Speaker/Moderator at the upcoming Connect(x) event sponsored by the Wireless Industry Association.https://www.connectivityexpo.com/speakers/walt-sapronov/  His discussion topic will be “Overcoming DAS and In-Building Challenges in Large Venues” https://www.connectivityexpo.com/schedule/overcoming-das-and-in-building-challenges-in-large-venues/. For a copy of the presentation materials, please see Connect-X-Combined-Presentation-5-13-24.pdf The discussion will address the complexities of negotiating in-building distributed antenna systems (DAS) and other wireless infrastructure in stadiums and other venues. For

Walt Sapronov of our Firm recently delivered a presentation for the Center for International Legal Studies (CILS) Conference in Bad Gastein, Austria - Challenges to Legal Services in a changing World. See Conference Agenda at Attachment;  https://cils.org/conferences.php. Walt’s topic was dealing with Russia in Today’s Geopolitical Climate.  See highlights of his discussion Attached. For a copy of the accompanying client alert, please see see Attachment.

  Effective January 1, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) imposes beneficial ownership reporting on an estimated 33 million small businesses including limited liability companies, corporations, and others.  The purpose of the CTA is to crack down on money laundering and other financial crimes. The overwhelming majority of small businesses course have nothing to do with such illicit activities.  Even so, unless otherwise exempt, all such existing

DEALING WITH RUSSIA IN TODAY’S GEOPOLITICAL CLIMATE Continuing with our “Fireside Chat” series on Russian Sanctions and Related  Complications in dealing with Russia, Walt Sapronov will be speaking at the upcoming Center for International Legal Studies (CILS) Conference in Bad Gastein, Austria, “Challenges to Legal Services in a Changing World,”  January 28 – February 3, 2024. See Conference Agenda at Attachment;  https://cils.org/conferences.php.  For a copy of

Walt Sapronov spoke on a recent BWG Strategy “Fireside Chat,” Russian Sanctions: Current Status and Potential Scenarios. Walt was joined by James Wholey, Partner, Phillips Lytel, LLP and Yuri Lebedev, Advisor to our affiliate, Sapronov Government Affairs. For more information on our firm’s experience with cross-border transfers please see the materials from our “Negotiable Hostilities” webinars at https://wstelecomlaw.com/2023/08/negotiable-hostilities-webinars/. For more information on BWG, see https://bwgstrategy.com/.  

Negotiable Hostilities, Part 1. “Doing Telecom Deals with Russia in the Sanctions Era.”  See Attachment A and A-Alert. Negotiable Hostilities, Part 2. “Telecom Deals with Foreign Investors in the Current Administration.”  See Attachment B and B-Alert. Negotiable Hostilities, Part 3. “REXIT – Doing Business With (or Leaving) Russia.”  See Attachment C and C-Alert. Negotiable Hostilities, Part 4.   “REXIT Roadmap – Managing Contract and Investment

  Walt Sapronov spoke on a recent BWG Strategy Roundtable Discussion regarding EU Payments, including the EU’s Payment Services Directive Two (PSD2).  Mr. Sapronov discussed the complexities of cross-border money transfer between Western Nations and Russia. For more information on our firm’s experience with cross-border transfers please see the materials from our webinar “Negotiable Hostilities – Part IV: REXIT Roadmap-Managing Contract and Investment Disputes when Leaving Russia”

As a follow up to our recent webinar, “Content Regulation in the Age of Misinformation”, here is a an Alert briefly discussing the outcome of the Gonzalez and Twitter cases before the U.S. Supreme Court – and what’s coming up next with online content regulation. Please see the attached Alert.

  We are pleased to announce that our recent webinar, “Content Regulation in the Age of Misinformation,” the first in our new series “Online Content Regulation” is now available at https://westlegaledcenter.com/program_guide/course_detail.jsf?videoCourseId=26675082&ADMIN_PREVIEW=true. Collaborating again with WestLegalEdcenter, this series discusses one of the most important issues now pending before the U. S. Supreme Court in Gonzalez v. Google: who may - or may not - control Internet speech. The